House 023

Crows shrieked threats into the gloomy evening as he dragged along the sidewalk. Recently, Evan had moved to a particularly quiet neighborhood, one that was quite appealing to him due to his distant personality. His parents had recently kicked him out, figuring he wasn't going to college since know he was 21 and hasn't attempted getting in. Not one person had came to greet him at any time of living there, which reminded him of home. Strangely, the streets were oddly ridden of really any form of life other than crows and dead rats. It honestly scared him sometimes, really, figuring that before his neighborhood had been very lively.

As he climbed the stairs sluggishly to his porch, he noticed a small note tucked between his screen door and the tampered vinyl siding of his home.

"What's this..." he mumbled curiously to himself. His fingers found the opening through the various folded edges, and lifted it slowly. The writing inside was small, yet neatly arranged across the cheap college-ruled paper. His eyes scanned the tiny writing slowly, which read,

Hello, Evan. I've heard you'd recently moved in, and I would like to invite you over to my home to have a few drinks, maybe? I know that in this neighborhood you really don't see anyone out too often, so I figured since no one's out, might as well invite you in, right? If you wish to join me tomorrow night, well, that would be pleasing. It really is too quiet here sometimes, y'know?

Yours Truly,

House 023

Evan looked over the parchment once more, then slid it into his pocket. He had noticed the stranger hadn't addressed himself with his name, yet instead with his house number. It seemed slightly odd to him for a moment, but then again he too would rather not give away his name to any person. Maybe they had similar personalities, it would be nice to bond with someone who understood. He had been too tired to consider the fact that this person had known his name, alas he skulked inside his home.

Slowly and sweetly, slid onto his tired mattress, lifting the covers onto his rather small frame. He grasped his phone once more, squinting at the bright light as he cut it on. As usual, he had no notifications. His eyes drooped as he sighed softly, setting the device back on the nightstand sullenly. No one wanted to talk to him, yet at the same time he figured this was his doing by being so shy. He turned slowly onto his side, bringing his knees up towards his chest. After a moment of thought, his eyelids finally collapsed and he fell into sleep.

At around midnight, two small white eyes peered over the boy on the ceiling as he slept. A raspy voice whispered to itself inaudible, venomous lullabies as it lowered to the floor, stroking his stubbly cheek. Evan's eyes cracked open slightly, then widened quickly. He was facing away from the thing, thankfully, yet all he could do was lay there and hope he'd leave. His body heat rose as he resisted trembling. Suddenly, his body contorted as he turned to face the creature, screaming bloody murder. The only thing was, the thing wasn't there. He sat up in the bed, bewildered, confused, and dumbfounded. He thought he should call the police, but they would think he was nuts, even if he did they were out miles from the area. So, he started bawling, bringing his knees to his chest. A small wind brushed his neck, causing him to flinch.

"This is just a nightmare..." he whispered to himself, repeating the line over and over for and hour straight until he managed to force himself back to rest.

The next morning, Evan woke exhausted. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, blinking sleep from his vision as he stood beside his bed. The evening before he hadn't even changed his clothes before sleep, and felt very dirty. Sighing to himself, he shuffled to his bathroom, sliding off the worn clothes slowly. His eyes dropped to the small note that fell on the floor and picked it up gingerly. After a moment of examining the paper again, he placed it on the edge of the sink. He supposed it would be good to leave the house tonight, it would help him forget what happened at midnight. So, Evan deciding to accept the kind invitation, he flashed a crooked smile for a moment as he entered the shower.

"This place might not be so bad after all..." he murmured confidently to himself, proceeding to bathe.

It had now turned to the afternoon, and he had decided now would be a good time to make his way to the stranger's home. Slowly, he brought up his phone to eye-level, tapping on the Map icon. Evan walked outside quickly, then searched up the house number. He started down the sidewalk casually, until the map to his destination popped up. His eyes stared in confusion at the screen for a moment as he stopped suddenly.

"House 023 is my house...?" he questioned out loud, one brow raising at the image. Slowly, he turned while staring at the screen. "The man must have gotten his house number confused with-"

An older, bony man bumped into Evan as he started walking back home. The stranger flashed a toothy grin at him quickly as he greeted him, sticking out a calloused hand.

"Hello, I sent you that note!" He spoke, the slight rasp in his voice sending a chill down the boy's spine. "Let's grab a drink now, come on!" The small man waddled over to Evan's home and up the stairs as he followed.

"Do you need me to unlo-"

"No, no, child! I have it!" He interrupted, sticking a rusty key into the lock. Confusion, which would slowly turn to fear, ran through his mind as he watched the man open his door.

"Abracadabra!" He shouted wheezily, coughing for a moment afterwards.

"Sir, do you mind telling me your na-"

"Come on, Son, I brought some special beverages!" he shouted once more, waddling over to Evan's couch and plopping down. The man set one bottle by the recliner, and then took one for himself. Slowly, the boy shuffled towards the recliner and sat at well, hesitantly grabbing the bottle. He cast his gaze back over as he watched the man pry the cap off with his skinny fingers. Evan noticed the man had an odd twitch, cringing slightly for a moment. Alas, he popped his cap off with ease, sniffing the drink.

"Oh, don't smell it!" he shrieked threateningly. The boy jumped at the man's sudden command, spilling some of the liquid onto his clothing. "Just... drink it."

After a few of the oddly tasty drinks, Evan became drowsy. The man stared at him blankly for what seemed to be eternity.

"Sir, I think I'll be going to sleep now. I enjoyed your company," he spoke slowly, raising his gaze to meet the man's eyes.

"Oh, boo. Fine."

With the man's approval, he rose and nodded to him. He told him that he would be okay with him coming back tomorrow, and showed him the door. The bony man scuffled over to the door frame, then stepped out slowly. Quickly, Evan shut the door, then skulked to his bedroom. Following last night's routine, he shut off the lights, covered up, checked his phone, then shut his eyes.

This time, Evan woke again to the whispering, although this night the creature hadn't touched him. Sweat formed upon his forehead as he lay there, waiting and waiting for the thing to leave. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Suddenly, the thing leaped upon the boy, turning him from his side to onto his back to face the monster.

"What are you!?" the boy shrieked, eyes shut tightly as tears formed. "Don't kill me, please!"

The monster cackled menacingly, grasping his face tightly with long, bony hands.

"Open your eyes, boy!" The thing screeched into his face, spit flying onto his skin.

Slowly while sobbing, the boy opened his eyes. It was a thin, frail thing with white eyes wedged deep into the sockets, and long teeth jutting from its wide mouth. It had thin hairs upon its head, and its skin was dark grey. The worst part was its hands, its bony, clawed, large hands. The monster brought the boy's face up closer to his eyes, forcing him to stare into the bright white orbs.

"I hope you didn't have anyone expecting you, especially living in this area." His voice echoed through Evan's mind like it would in a cave, and he sobbed harder. That was the truth, no one would even go looking for him.

The man caressed his face slowly, sharp claws grazing his flesh.

"You know, no one has ever accepted my invitation to visit. Sad, isn't it? You aren't like them though..."

Evan sobbed loudly, his whole body shaking.

"Maybe I'll keep you alive... You might just help this neighborhood come back to life. I had to... renovate... everyone else. They never seemed to appreciate a kind invitation..."

He opened his eyes once more, looking into the colorless eyes again as he whimpered slowly, "I'm sorry..."

The thing tilted its head slightly at the boy, then formed his teeth into a terrifying grin.

"I'm sure you are, boy. You should know this isn't your home. Goodbye, and I hope you learn."

The boy felt the creature's breath on his face once more, blinking quickly. Then, it was gone.