What thing sends shivers down your spine? What makes you scream? What keeps you awake at night? Everyone has a fear or phobia that affects them in some way or another. There will be the traditional fears that are well-known and there will be a few...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I've been haunted by dreams of being buried alive since I was a kid and was told on Halloween that people use to be buried alive by accident in the 1800's. The fear was on my mind constantly, I never even went near a hole big enough for me to fit in let alone near a graveyard. Tonight, I was going to a movies with friends and I was pretty excited to be getting out. Work had been wearing me down and I needed a break.
I was on my way out of the door to my apartment after my friend had texted me, when I saw my creepy neighbor start coming up the stairs. I was utterly terrified of him because he was a retired crypt keeper from the graveyard at the end of our road. The way he would look at me was like he knew about my phobia.
It wasn't just him I was suspicious of though, anyone could bury anyone. I worked online for a company and never had friends come over or went over to their place just in case. I was diagnosed with paranoia when I was a child, when I was pushed in a hole by some kids made and they decided to bury me in it. Everyone knew of my fear and wanted to see me freak out.
A teacher saw what was happening and luckily got me out in time. My family moved soon after that so that I would never see those kids again. "Lauren, did you hear me?" A woman asked as I blinked back into reality and looked at my friend Marie. "I asked if you wanted candy, Gretchen already bought her stuff and is waiting for us."
"Oh, no, I'm fine, thank you though." I said and I followed them to the movie.
"Did you see where they are building the new monument in the center of town?" A woman was asking the man beside her and for some reason it caught my interest, but we had continued walking and I didn't catch the rest of the conversation.
We sat in the middle of the theater and the closer it got to the movie beginning the more people started to pile in. I didn't even remember what the movie was called or anything about it. It was hard to explain to people what was wrong with me, especially after you get a few people that ostracize you for it.
I knew that the last preview was about to end because the lights had started to get dim and the screen became wider. "What is this movie about?" I whispered when I noticed the credits weren't very inviting.
"This woman gets kidnapped and she is trying to escape, it's apparently based on a true story and the whole movie is played in a trunk." Marie whispered back to me. My heart dropped into my stomach and my chest started to feel tight.
'Don't panic, oh god, I should've told them my fear so they wouldn't think about bringing me to this type of movie. What bad luck.' I thought after I gave her a pleased hum and tried to get relaxed in my seat.
I had gotten through half the movie when all of a sudden the heroine starts to have a panic attack. I gripped the armrest so tightly I thought my fingernails would pop off. Marie looked at me with concern.
"Are you ok, you look like you're about to pass out, do you want to leave?"
"No I'm fine." I said then I let go of the arm rest.
After a few more minutes the movie seemed like it was about to end and I was relieved. The heroine was suddenly thrown around in the trunk and was suddenly flipped over and was now on the top part of the trunk, the car had flipped over. You could hear sirens in the distance but then you started to realize water was coming into the trunk, it had been raining and the car landed in a flooded ditch.
I lost it. I stood up and held my chest as I started to hyperventilate. I didn't care if the heroine made it or not, I was getting the hell out of here. I squeezed past peoples legs and ran down the stairs and out of the exit door, I was finally outside and the cold breeze hit my face and made me suck in air quickly.
I felt someone watching me and I turned in the direction that I felt the eyes but all I saw was darkness. I ran towards the parking lot but the feeling of someone watching me was just getting stronger. No one was in the parking lot and that freaked me out even more, but then I saw a crane in the distance and decided to run towards it for a reason I couldn't understand.
For some reason the crane just seemed like a good idea. I reached the crane and realized I was in the town center, there were people walking around the strip mall and on the sidewalks nearby. I saw a concrete truck nearby mixing concrete and there was a monument on the ground strapped to the crane.
I saw a few workers walking around and a few noticed me but I guess I was far enough away from the work site for them to not really care. I felt the eyes on me again and turned around to see a black shadow disappear and I felt a shiver go up my spine.
"Wh-who is there?" I called out and I heard leaves rustling from nearby bushes.
My heart was racing and the fact it was dark outside just made this even worse. I didn't even take my pill today because I was preoccupied with getting ready for the movie. I ran towards the work site to get closer to the bright lights and suddenly I ripped past a plastic barricade tape. I didn't stop in time and fell into a hole, I twisted my ankle and wrist and cried out in pain.
The hole wasn't very deep and if I could just jump up I could grab the side and pull myself up. But I couldn't even stand without falling back down to the ground in pain. I called out but with all the noise of the machinery I was easily drowned out.
I started to cry then I heard a truck backing up with a back-up beeper. I looked up and saw that it was the concrete truck. I started screaming and after a few seconds the concrete started pouring in.
I tried to step on the concrete to try to get higher up but it just sucked my feet down into it like quick sand. I cried out but the concrete was already at my knees and the weight from it was causing me to fall down into it. "Someone help me!" I cried out but the concrete just kept pouring in and it was now starting to cover my chest and it was getting hard to breath.
"Check to see how much is left to fill." I heard a man say from the truck.
"Help." I weakly said and a man wearing construction gear came over to the hole and smiled down at me, it was my neighbor.
"Keep going, I will tell you when to stop." My neighbor called out.
My chest was now covered and the concrete was creeping up my neck. It felt like someone was strangling me and I couldn't believe I was being buried alive and no one but him would know. My vision was starting to get blurry and I could taste the concrete in my mouth, the last thing I remember before passing out was my neighbor saying, "You should have faced your fears."
A week later...
"Have you seen Lauren?" Marie asked Gretchen as they walked down the sidewalk.
"Not since the movie, she hasn't talked to you either I'm assuming."
They passed by the monument and Gretchen looked at it.
"I just noticed the new monument, I forgot they did it, but for some reason when I look at it I think of Lauren, spooky."
They walked away and never thought of Lauren again.
