Creepypasta: Nightmare Fuel

63: Ticci-Toby Encounter

Ticci-Toby Encounter by Kastoway

Last weekend after a friends' party, I'd been walking home. Of course most people would find the city street creepy at night, while the breeze blew signs around making them creak on their hinges. I passed under a flag that swayed eerily in the wind. But I knew this city well. Very well. Not only do I have a knife under my jacket, but I find myself fast and strong so I'm not easily scared.

As such, I didn't think much of, when I passed by a street lamp, and peered down the alleyway of one of the streets my friends and I often ran around in. I simply gave it a quick glance, and caught sight of a figure at the back, probably looking through the dumpster looking for scraps or something. I didn't see the person's face since he had his back turned. However, I didn't miss the cracking sound as the man's head suddenly jerked to the side, almost like an owl. I took a step back, shock and amusement lighting my face. I guess that was an unusual reaction for a teenage guy to have, after seeing a strange figure in an alleyway. But I guess I'm just weird in general.

Damn, the crackheads around here are weird.

I laughed at the thought, and continued down the sidewalk, boots clomping against the cement in a small rhythm. I was looking forward to having the house to myself again this week. My mom was working more and more these days, leaving me plenty of free time and the house.

It's night time. Everything around me had started off warm, while I was slowly floating through the dark fuzzy world of dreams. You know, that peaceful feeling when you know you're asleep and you simply feel like your drifting along restfully. Everything is at peace, and you're perfectly comfortable, brief fuzzy images pass through your head on occasions, accompanied by the heart warming or strangest things like small little movie clips. I wasn't able to marvel at the drifting images for long, because I was suddenly awoken from my slumber. It dragged me out slowly, and by the time my eyes are open, I'm already sitting up in bed. I blink a few times, my eyes already adjusted perfectly to the dark, from sleeping.

I sit there for a moment, wondering what had awoken me, and I'm just about to lay down back down to curl in my soft sheets. But just before I can, a sound catches my attention and I quirk an eyebrow.

Crrrac-ccckk-crackacak

It didn't sound too loud so it had to be downstairs, the cats were probably getting into something. Stupid animals. I hated it when the cats woke me up. Rolling my eyes irritably, I let myself fall back against my mattress which bounces off slightly beneath me. My pillow felt cool against my cheek, and I slip underneath it, ready to let sleep find me once more.

The sound didn't stop. And instead of continuing in an irregular pattern, it continues in a... strange predictable way. I began listening to it, timing it in my head, after a few seconds I began to bale to tell when the crack sound would happen.

...What the actual fuck?

I sat up again, thin cotton sheets slithering off my arms with the motion, I keep one hand on the bed next to me, while the other travels to the knife on my bedside table. My fingers found its handle and I wrap my hand around it. I was probably overreacting, but still. Better safe than sorry.

I'm trying to think of possible conclusions as to what was making that weird cracking sound, when all of a sudden, I realize.... It's getting closer. My grip on the knife tightened. It was definitely coming closer and closer, almost like it was walking down the hallway.

Walking.

Down.

The hallway.

Walking.

That single word seemed to kick a new sound into my head, and as if on cue, the slow sound of footsteps began drawing down my hall, leading towards my room. By now I had no doubt in mind, there was someone in my house. I can feel a gross tingling crawling up the back of my neck as my hair stood on end. My vision went sharp, as my heart shot a burst of adrenaline through my body. I'm frozen in place like a marble statue, not daring to breath, but I can see my sides moving on their own accord. My heart beat is slow and loud, and I can feel ever pulse reverberate through my body. If it grew louder, I was afraid the person down the hall would hear it.

I was willing my body to move, as I tried to sort my thoughts out through the hazy fog in my mind. What do I do? Run? Hide? Stay and ambush my invader? I leap out of bed, and just as I do, I caught a glimpse of the intruder's shadow on my front door, the crack that flooded a small amount of light into my room, now has two little patches of shadow covering it. I lean against my bed frame.

The door creaks open, and I froze. My breath steady and deep. My lungs ache, and for a moment there, I thought my heart was going to follow their lead. Lucky it didn't. Instead, cold sweat covered my entire body.

The hinges groan slightly as the door opens all the way, and a figure stands on the doorway. My mouth didn't cooperate. I tried to scream, to call out for help, but I can't get the words out. I'm paralyzed. I should have been able to think deeply, but the figure on my doorway triggered something in my memory.

Walking home. The alley. The dumpster. The crackhead digging through the trash. The outfit he'd been wearing, it was the same as the figure who was standing before me. A dark blue hood was pulled over his head, but his pale greyish skin glows eerily from the light of the moon that fell through my window. His eyes are covered by orange lensed goggles. His khaki colored vest was sprayed with blood. This sent electrical shiver down my spine. I narrowed my eyes, not sure what to do. My mind kept telling me to scream and run, but my limbs just wouldn't comply.

"No." Was all I could say, and once again, my mouth glued itself shut and refused to open. The figure was male. His face was hidden in almost all aspect, goggles over his eyes, hood over his forehead, and some strange mouth block over his mouth and chin. He came forward, lurching slightly, his arm twitched at his side twice, as he stepped agonizingly slowly towards me. One hand was lifted to his mouth and he put a finger over his lips.

"Shhhh."

I backed up against my bed, pressuring my spine against the wooden bed post. I was clutching the knife in my hand so tightly that my knuckles were turning white. My gaze suddenly drifted down to the object in the boy's hand. I could feel my pupils dilate in fear as I saw his weapon outclassed mine. It was a hatchet, and by the sight of fresh blood dripping off its blade, I'd say he has more experience too.

The intruder held the hatchet in his hand. Blood was trickling off it and splashing to the ground below. I could move, and my grip on the knife was suddenly loosening. Before I knew it, the knife fell from my grip and clattered against the hard wood. I gasped as the sound reached my ears. Shit.

"Shhhh..."

Said the figure again, as he continued his journey to meet me across the room. After his foot met the floor again, his neck cracked to the side in a weird, inhumane fashion. I could hear the bones crackling against his tendons and the sound sent a sense of doom through me. I wasn't moving. My heart was thundering my chest, crashing against my rib-cage, as my vision suddenly blurred from my lack of oxygen intake. But my lungs still refused to accept air.

The figure's head was now on a 50 degree angle from normal, and he twitched occasionally as he strolled over me, pace never quickening. Another step and his neck cracked the other way and to the other side, bones making a sickening eerie sound.

"Shhhh...!!!"

He said once more, and one more step would take him to the spot only a foot away from me. He too it, the hand with the hatchet was slowly rising. My vision was spinning, my body felt heavy. I could feel my knees shaking. Fuck that, I could feel my entire being shaking. The hatchet came towards me, slowly. I felt the blade resting against my stomach.

I screamed.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, lifting me slightly. I look up, only for a moment before the blunt blade crammed my PJ tops, and pierce through my stomach. Instant agony took over, and my body once again seized up and went rigid with a combination of shock and fear. The stars in my vision went black and white, and for a moment there, my world spun for only a brief seconds before the pain took over me. The last thing I heard was laughter. That insane, chaotic laughter of pure madness.

And then my world went black and numb.