Quarantine [Tag Book]

I'm Being Followed

     I know, I know, this chapter was supposed to be the story about my crush- and that story will come out eventually, I promise. But something weird has been happening to me, and it's been revolving around one object...

     I found a cigarette lighter on the ground in my house about three days ago. We're not smokers, we only use the large lighters that have the triggers on them for grilling, this was one of those pocket lighters, and I've never seen this one before. It was sitting upright at the top of my stairs. And I just picked it up before my parents noticed it and put it in my pocket.

     After this, my dad agreed to pay me to pull weeds- with SomeThingElseYT merch. So I went out there that evening and started to get to work.
     I paused for a second to catch my breath, putting my hands on my knees and looking up- and I saw a pale child... Too old to be my brother, and too young to be unsupervised. "Hey," I spoke to the dark haired kid- I then looked around my yard to see if a parent was nearby, and as my eyes went over where the kid had been-
     He was gone.
     I didn't think much of it, though. Our backyard opened right up to the road- but he was wayyyyy too close to me to get around the fence and to the road- that fast without me hearing footsteps.
     So I started pulling weeds again until the sun set- the new neighbors dogs had been staying away from me, not bothering me at all- but suddenly they came running at me, snarling and growling- I thought they were growling at me, but then I realized they were looking behind me.
     I spun around- but no one was there. That's when I decided it was time to go inside.
    
     I slept peacefully that night, very aware that everyone in the house had gone to bed...
     It was almost 4 AM.
     I heard something metallic fall on the floor, so I sat upright and waited to see if it would happen again-
    And then my door flew open with a force even I'm afraid to use, making the wall behind my bed legitimately vibrate.
     And no one was there.

     Then this morning around the same time, just before 4 AM, I started hearing scratching underneath my bed. Now, we have a cat- but it stays outside because it's a stray and we just feed it because my brother loves that thing-
     And these scratches were too loud to be a mouse. It sounded like someone was lying under my bed and running their nails- or vlaws- along the wooden boards, tearing up the wood.
     My bed has nothing but built in drawers beneath it. It is physically impossible for someone to lay underneath my bed to try and scare me.
     This morning I took the lighter and lit it for the first time- it started shooting sparks everywhere, like a freaking sparkler or a firework or something, and it didn't stop even after I let go of the button. Being the idiot I am, I put it right back into my pocket even after that event.
     My mom sent me to get taco Bell for lunch about five minutes after that. And on the way home the semi next to me started tilting as if the wind were blowing it- towards my car.
     It's not windy enough today for that to happen.
     It might not even be the lighter, it sounds ridiculous even to me, but the fact so much is happening within days of me finding this stupid lighter... It just seems like it's playing a role.
     I don't care if you don't believe in the paranormal.
     Something's following me.
     Something wants me dead.