2015 October Horror Story Anthology

Molly Followed You

This is the end for me. This is really it. Do you ever wish you could go back and erase just one mistake? I know I do. As a matter of fact, I can't think of anything I want more than to go back to a time before I stepped into this mess and do things differently. I can't go on like this. Looking over my shoulder all the time. For me, the never-ending nightmare began about eight months ago. I was still living in Florida with my parents at nineteen years old. I decided college wasn't for me, and I was working for a friend of the family. I was bored one night while home alone so I got on a site called ChatRandom. It's kinda like Omegle or Chatroulette. You just turn on your webcam and the website will pair you with a random stranger to chat with.

It's pretty dumb but I was hoping I would maybe end up face to face with a pretty girl. I knew the odds weren't in my favor but hey, sometimes you get lucky. Pathetic, I know. Anyway, I spent most of my time hitting the next button only to be greeted over and over by some dude. Well, if you've ever been on one of these sites... you know how that goes. I'll spare you the graphic details but I saw more of... that... than anything else and I don't remember exactly how long I was lying there hitting the next button but eventually I just dozed off and fell asleep in front of the laptop.

I woke up around 9:30. I must have turned over in my sleep because when I opened my eyes I was looking out my bedroom window and I had my back to the laptop which was still sitting open on the nightstand next to my bed. I rubbed my eyes and rolled to face the laptop once again. I opened my eyes and was startled by what I saw. My muscles tightened for a moment and I froze. I found myself face to face with... a girl. On my computer screen, the ChatRandom page was still active and the site had connected me with some girl in the UK.

She sat alone in a dark room, directly in front of her webcam, staring at me and grinning. I'll never forget that face. As long as I live, I will never forget that face. Red hair, dark eyes, pale skin. I can picture it so vividly... I close my eyes and I still see it. The most unsettling image I have ever seen was burned into my brain that day. That smile, it was almost like it didn't belong to her face. Her black, soulless eyes studied me, and as I examined the image I could see subtle movement so I knew this wasn't a freeze frame. She was watching me live on webcam. Those cold eyes followed me as I sat up in bed. She never said a word. She just stared at me. The tiny blue light on my webcam informed me that I was still visible. I quickly closed the browser and shut my laptop.

After the initial shock, a million thoughts began to race through my head and the questions I was left asking myself still haunt me to this day. How long had she been watching me? Why was she just staring at me? What was she smiling for?

I guess that is the difference between horrific and creepy, isn't it? The horror is in the answers you are forced to see while creepy is the product of unanswered questions. I got up out of bed and took a shower. The incident had creeped me out, to say the least, but I did my best to shake it off and get her face out of my head. I remember being afraid to close my eyes in the shower because I had creeped myself out even further with the thought that I might open my eyes and see her face if I did, so I didn't wash my face or hair.

Sometimes my imagination gets rolling and I wind up scaring myself more than any horror movie could hope to. By that night, I had put the scare out of mind and was happily distracted by video games with friends. Mike, Trevor, Marshall and I had spent the evening hanging out, watching vines and playing video games. My parents, who were out of town for the week, called to see how things were going and after that I logged onto Twitter while the guys continued gaming.

A message notified me that I had one new follower. I don't have many followers on Twitter so I was interested to see who "@2prettymolly" could be. Maybe a girl from school? It wasn't a girl from school. No... No but I knew the face in the profile picture. It was the girl from ChatRandom. The exact same, sinister smirk I was greeted by that very morning was still plastered on her face. I jumped back in my rolling chair with a gasp as I covered my mouth in disbelief. Trevor asked me if I was alright but all I could do was shake my head and say, "There's no way," over and over again. I couldn't believe... I didn't want to believe that this was really happening. I felt like I was going to throw up and I remember I was trembling. Trevor said I looked like I had seen a ghost.