The Dark Stalker Page 3

  Keisha, Travis, and Troy were speechless. They all stared at one another trying to make sense of each other’s encounter with this thing.

  Then Travis posed a key question, “Okay, Mom, you saw the thing this morning. Dad, you saw it while you were at the store. Troy, you saw it twice…once while we were at Carl’s house and then we both saw it at the mall. But when Troy saw it at Carl’s house, Dad saw it while he as at the hardware store. That has to mean there’s more than one of them, right?”

  “That makes sense, but why is this the only family that can see it?” Ron inquired. Everyone fell silent again.

  Ron asked each of them to rehash each incident. It didn’t take long for Ron to discover he was right; they were the only ones that saw the entity, even though they were in public places.

  “Look. I tried to point it out to the guy that tapped me on the shoulder but when he looked over, it was gone. He didn’t see it.”

  Travis added, “The same thing happened to us at the mall. Everyone outside just walked by the thing like they didn’t see it! That’s when I got scared.”

  “What the hell is this? Are we all going crazy? Why are we being singled out?” asked Ron.

  Silence filled the room once again.

  “Knock…knock…knock.”

  Keisha jumped, releasing a soft yelp after hearing the knock on the front door.

  “I’ll get it,” Ron said since he was already standing.

  Peeking through the blinds, he saw it was a UPS driver dropping off a package. Ron opened the door and waived to the driver as he was pulling away in his brown truck.

  “Hey, this can’t be those items I ordered yesterday, could they?” Ron thought.

  He bent down to pick up the package. When he stood back up, there it was…the entity…the obscure thing standing directly across the street from his house! It was motionless, dressed in black, and seemed to be looking at him.

  “Hey everyone come up here now and look at this,” Ron shouted back inside the house. He heard jumbled footsteps coming up behind him. Then everything became very quiet.

  “That…that’s it! That’s what I saw this morning! What is it?” Keisha said.

  “Yep! That’s what we saw at the mall,” Troy said as he gripped his big brother’s arm.

  Ron knew it was the same thing he saw at the hardware store and his fear morphed into annoyance. For some odd reason this thing wants to terrorize his family and he wanted to put a stop to it now. As he was just about to speak up, the entity began moving in his direction, moving over the curb across the street effortlessly. The jet-black figure wasn’t walking, instead it appeared to be gliding across the ground like a hovercraft. Ron stood in the doorway petrified as he watched the entity approach. It continued across the road, it pace was not hurried. Ron heard his family’s footsteps retreat into the interior of the house, but he stayed put ready to close the door if he felt too threatened.

  Ron’s anger reverted to fear once again as it moved closer, but he felt hypnotized, unable to stop staring at the sight. It had a figure similar to a man but there were no discernable human features. The location of its face, if it had one, was hidden underneath the black shadow of its large black hat, or something similar to a large top hat. It was completely wrapped in a very long pale black outer garment that absorbed sunlight. No sleeves nor feet could be seen at all. Could a solid mass with no appendages exist?

  The entity moved closer then stopped about ten feet from the front door.

  It remained motionless. Ron could only stare. As much as he wanted to step back and slam the door shut, he couldn’t. The thing released an object that dropped to the ground. Ron’s heart skipped a beat when it hit the ground. The entity retreated from the door without turning around. Ron was captivated as the entity glided backwards in the same manner it approached him. As soon as he felt it was far enough away, he reached down and retrieved the object, testing its weight and discerning its shape. It was very light and felt like a booklet. He gazed back up towards the thing but it was gone. How does that thing disappear like that?

  “I don’t know what the hell that thing was but it’s gone now. It left a package. It feels like a magazine or booklet or something,” Ron yelled back into the house as he closed and locked the front door. He walked back into the family room with the package in his hand.

  “Are you going to open it?” Travis asked, the pitch of his voice raised.

  “Yeah, but I’d better take it outside to the backyard, just to be safe. “

  Ron headed out into the backyard, closing the sliding glass doors behind him and removed the package’s black wrapping.

  “What is it?” Keisha shouted through the glass doors, her voice muted.

  Ron pulled out a comic book…it was the comic book he ordered yesterday. Ron felt the tension drain from his body. He turned and held up the comic book for everyone to see. Keisha slid the glass door open and allowed Ron back in.

  “I can’t believe this is the comic book I ordered, but what was that thing that delivered it? Why did it stalk all of us just to deliver a comic book?” The rest of the family gazed at the comic book in his hand.

  “We went through all of that because of a comic book?” Travis asked, a tone of disgust in his voice.

  “I’m still scared!” Troy added.

  Keisha stared at Ron and said, “You ordered that yesterday?”

  “Yep, I ordered it yesterday right after you left to get Popeye’s Chicken. Remember, the boys were out of the house when you left.” Ron continued, “The book was sort of expensive so I didn’t tell you about it. I found it online at this strange website. I knew I would get it soon because the seller was across the city in Scottsdale, but I didn’t think I would get it today.” Ron stopped talking, sunk his head as his brow furrowed, then looked back up. “Come to think of it, I just remembered that the website stated there were no returns, and the seller was not responsible for any strange happenings. I don’t know why that last part was printed there, but it didn’t make much sense at the time.”

  The family followed Ron into the living room. He took a seat in the chair at the computer desk and examined the cover page of the comic. Keisha turned and headed into the kitchen. The boys sat on the couch to watch television without saying a word. Just as Ron was about to turn from the cover page, he spotted something. There was a very small black figure drawn near the comic’s spine at the bottom. He moved the comic closer and realized that the little figure resembled that thing that dropped the comic near their door. No way! It must be part of the cover art. That’s all. He slouched back in the chair and began reading, forgetting that he purchased the comic for his boys. After a short while, he sat straight up, remaining rigid.

  Troy noticed his father’s movements and said, “What’s wrong Dad?”

  His father didn’t answer. Troy watched his father’s eyes widen and nostrils flair as he continued staring at the comic. Troy shook Travis’ shoulder and pointed to his father without speaking.

  Travis called out, “Dad, what’s wrong? What do you see?”

  Again, Ron remained silent and continued reading. His breathing quickened as he turned each page, but Travis noticed he was turning them too fast. Travis bolted from the couch and headed for the kitchen to get his mom. Troy was on his heels. They all returned to the living room and stood next to Ron.

  “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? What’s wrong baby?” Keisha asked.

  “What the hell is going on here? What is this shit?” Ron shouted.

  “What are you reading, dammit? What’s it say?” Keisha shouted, grasping Ron’s arm to turn him to face her.

  “This comic is telling the story of everything we experienced today. It has you seeing the figure from the living room window, Travis and Troy seeing it from the mall, and me seeing it from the hardware store. How in the hell did all of that get in this comic when it only took place today, and how would anyone know about it in such detail?” Ron questioned in a heated voice.


  They all gathered around and stared at the book’s pages. Keisha’s skin began to crawl, and she twisted to look behind her. The dark figure…the entity…was standing behind them.

  Then it lunged at them…

  *****

  Three days later, a couple of police cruisers showed up at the Harrison’s house. The school became concerned because the boys had some unexplained absences and no one answered the phone when Keisha’s mother called the house. One of the officers knocked on the door but no one answered. They entered the house. Everything seemed to be in order. There weren’t any signs of a struggle or burglary. One officer walked through the living room and spotted the comic book lying on the floor beside the computer desk. The television was still playing. The house was empty. Photos were taken of the interior of the house, then one of the officers picked up the comic and started sifting through the pages. Something caught his attention. The similarities between the drawings throughout the comic and the house were startling, but what really surprised him were the names of the people in the comic. They matched those of the missing homeowners and their children.

  “Hey Bill, come over here and take a look at this,” the officer said as he held the comic book open.

  “Yeah, whadaya got!”

  “Take a look at this. This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” the officer said pointing at one of the panels near the back of the book.

  Both men read through the book’s last pages then turned to one another mortified. Those pages showed a black figure enveloping the entire family and then disappearing, leaving only the television playing and a comic book sitting on the floor by a computer desk…

  #####

  Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

  Thanks!

  Pernell Rogers

  Discover other supernatural titles by Pernell Rogers:

  Through Brian’s Eyes

  The Meek Curtis Weems

  Casualty of Coincidence