Nightmareville

The Sallow Man

"Have you ever heard of The Sallow Man?", That's what Timmy Morrison asked me in seventh grade. Timmy was my best friend. We did nearly everything together. It was Friday, and we were sitting in lunch period discussing what we were going to do when he came over to stay the night after school.

"No, what the hell is that?" I asked him, rolling my eyes because I figured this was going to be another one of Timmy's story's that his sister told him. Timmy's face put on that he'd always put on when he was talking about something that someone hadn't heard of before.

"My sister told me about him, she said he comes to you if you say some words in front of a mirror, I don't remember it all but I wrote down what she told me. I figured we could try it out at your house." I rolled my eyes to make it seem like I thought it was childish, but in truth I was interested. Creepy stuff like that always interested me, even though I knew it wasn't real, I just liked hearing the stories. I didn't want Timmy to know that I wanted to hear about it though, because then he'd just have something to be smug about.

"Is this just more of that 'Bloody Mary' crap where she just comes out of the mirror to kill you?" I asked him, pretending to pay attention more to my mashed potatoes than the conversation.

"NO! The Sallow Man comes out of the mirror after you recite his poem, then he kills anyone you ask him to, that's what my sister said anyway.", Timmy said as he turned to eat at his own tray. 'There was a poem involved?' I thought. Now, I really did have to know more.

"What do you mean, what poem?" I asked him. Timmy lazily reached into one of his many folders that he carried around for school and pulled out a piece of paper that was a bit crinkled. He slid it over to me on the cafeteria table, and I examined it without picking it up. This is what it read.

In dark halls within the after,

From those halls you hear my laughter.

Dark thoughts entreat your mind,

To for now break down my bind.

I will take what ails you in this land,

And I will leave no trace, for I am Sallow Man.

I nearly laughed as I read the last lines. I was up for anything spooky sure, but this was really corny.

"Timmy, you don't really believe this crap do you? Your sister was probably just messing with you." Timmy didn't say anything at first, he just concentrated on his tray for a moment, then he said,

"Brandon, do you remember last year when my parents were fighting a lot? My Dad was drinking all the time and I stayed over at your house nearly every night for a while?" Of course I remembered that, Timmy WAS over at my house every night. My parents allowed it because they knew what was going on. It was a small town, everyone did.

"Yeah Tim, I remember." I said, the mood now solemn. "My Dad hit my Mom a lot, and whenever me or my sister was home he would call me a bastard and he would call my sister a whore. It was a nightmare." I could sense Timmy's gaze turn towards me so I looked up from my tray as well. He stared at me for a moment, waiting for me to say something, so I did.

"I thought your Dad stopped drinking though, and everything was okay?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Timmy responded then, with anger starting to edge into his voice.

"Yeah, he stopped drinking, but nothing got better. Sure he stopped hitting Mom, but she barely speaks to him or anyone else in the house anymore. I know it's because of him, I know she's still afraid of him." I was a bit shocked, Timmy had never mentioned anything about that before. I just figured once Timmy started staying at his house again everything was fine.