screaming season

umbrella man

When grace was little her mom used to tell her  scary story to keep her from staying outside after curfew. she told her about a man who wore a dark blue suit and carried a black umbrella, he patrolled the street after bedtime and made sure the kids were all in bed, if he found a child out of bed after dark he would make them disappear, no one knows where they go. grace used to be scared of the umbrella man growing up but as she grew older she realized how silly the story was and started to stay out later much to her mother's dismay, eventually,after a lot of begging graces mom gave her a later curfew. Grace took advantage of this new time but always made it home before the curfew ended, she wasn't unreasonable after all. One day grace was at her friend's house studying for a test but they had lost track of time and it wasn't until half an hour after the curfew that grace thought to check the time. She considered calling her mom and asking if she could stay at her friend's house until the morning but her friend didn't live too far from her house and grace thought she could get home quickly. She said goodbye to her friend and picked up her bag as she quietly crept downstairs and put the front door. The cold night air hit grace in the face as she zipped her hoodie up and wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck, she didn't mind the cold usually but this October had seemed colder for some reason, grace knew that wasn't realistic but it felt that way to her. She began to walk towards her house and smiled as she admired how pretty everything was after dark, she would have to take more night walks before fall ended. Grace was so consumed in her own mind that she almost didn't hear the footsteps behind her. She stopped walking and turned around to see a man in a blue suit carrying an umbrella, his face was hidden in the darkness but as soon as grace saw the umbrella she was immediately reminded of those childhood bedtime stories her mom used to tell her. She shook the stories from her mind and called out to the man who was behind her "what do you want?" The man stayed silent and grace turned back around to continue walking,but as she continued to walk towards her house the footsteps continued to walk behind her. "She turned around to yell at the man again and noticed he was walking closer to her this time. She could see his face from this distance,it was unhuman, she didnt know what was wrong with it but she could tell there was something wrong with it, like it was trying to blend in with humans but there was something slightly wrong with it, something out of place, like when you see a lifelike doll. Grace began to walk faster but the footsteps matched her pace. She finally heard the man speak and his voice sounded like it came from right next to her "good children should be in bed, you must be a bad child, do you know what happens to bad children?" Grace broke into a run but the man followed her and began to laugh maliciously as he ran after her. Graces house was in sight and she ran faster even as the umbrella man was close enough to reach out his body han and grab her. She ran to her front door and quickly shoved her key into the hole opening the door and slamming it shut as she was finally home safe. She ran upstairs and into her room, but as soon as she walked in she realized she had left her window open, before grace could close it her closet door swung open and the umbrella man stepped out of it. Grace screamed but the noise was cut short. When graces mom woke up the next morning to check on grace she found her bed empty. "She must have stayed the night at a friend's house" her mom thought as she went downstairs to make a pot of coffee.