The Creeps! || Book of Spooky Stories (COMPLETED ✔️)

75 ~ One Strange Text Message

Never have I truly been more frightened and horrified than that night one year ago. There was absolutely no way anyone had had that sort of experience. I’ve done my absolute best to verify whether or not what had happened to me was authentic, or if it was some sort of elaborate hoax that had been going around through texts. Nothing could truly shed light on just what had happened.

It all started with one strange text message I had received on some idle night when I was engaged in my studies.

Now let me begin by saying I am not a social butterfly. I am a reclusive, studious student who spends most of their day cooped up in their room with their nose in a book or researching some occult subject or an occurrence with an unknown explanation. It had truly been a simple day, with nothing out of the ordinary going on.

Being an avid collector and reader of internet phenomena and lore, especially with those of a mysterious or unknown origin, most scary stories or objects floating around in cyberspace did not frighten me. In fact, they intrigued and entertained me, so I often found myself browsing websites pertaining to those interests of mine. Among the things I’ve come across were the poorly-written tale of Carmen Winstead and terribly cliché accounts of people who have encounters with scary beings.

These tidbits of digital folklore were utterly laughable compared to the dreadful experience I had. As said earlier, it was an ordinary day. I had come home from school, as usual, and discovered a note scribbled down on a sheet of torn notebook paper attached to my fridge by a magnet. It was from my mother, I believe.

It said:

Dear…

We’re sorry that your father and I had to leave so unexpectedly without telling you, honey. We tried calling you, but I suppose you forgot to raise the volume on your phone and didn’t hear it. We had to attend a business meeting and it happened on such short notice that I didn’t have time to make any dinner for you. Your father and I left you fifty dollars on the kitchen table so that you can order anything you’d like for supper. It’s a bit of a drive, so we’ll probably be home late tonight. Call us for anything, okay? Make sure all the doors are locked and stay safe...

Love, Mom.

I crumpled up the paper and placed it down on the table, ignoring the money since I wasn’t hungry at all yet. I did my usual routine of going up into my room and spending several hours in front of my computer and with my books, doing my homework and then spending endless hours online doing whatever enticed my curiosity.

Hours went by, and I soon realized it was fairly late at night. When I had gotten home, it was around 5:00 PM. I had seemed to have lost track of the time while reading numerous articles on peculiar phenomenon, as usual. The reason why I spent so much time in this was primarily because, as I said before, I was not a sociable person. I often spent most of my days like this, lost in my own ruminations and interests and I did little other than that.

Very few people had my phone number, those people composing of my parents and a handful of relatives, so you could imagine my surprise when I heard my phone’s message notifier. At first, I had assumed it was my parents informing me that they were on their way home. Before I had reached my phone, I thought it rather uncanny that they simply didn’t call me and speak to me that way. They’ve sent me texts before, but not as often as they'd call me. Looking back, I truly wish I had simply let it be and not even dared to approach my phone.

When I picked it up, I saw I had one message received. I tapped the screen and revealed the small list of messages I’ve received from family members.

The first strange quality of this message was that instead of a telephone number informing me as to whom the caller was, there was only a string of unusual characters that I had never seen before. There were a handful of letters that appeared to be recognizable, such as “X” and “H” and “Z,” but some of the other characters were completely unusual.