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Lightning



Estimated reading time — 2 minutes

We had just moved into a little ranch house in the suburbs. Storybook neighborhood – quiet, friendly neighbors, picket fences, the whole nine yards. Suffice it to say that this was supposed to be a new start for me, a recently single dad, and my three-year-old son. A time to move on from the previous year’s drama and stress.

I viewed the thunderstorm as a metaphor for this fresh start: one last show of theatrics before the dirt and grime of the past would be washed away. My son loved it anyway, even with the power out. It was the first big storm he’d ever seen. Flashes of lightning flooded the bare rooms of our house, imparting unpacked boxes with long creeping shadows, and he jumped and squealed as the thunder boomed. It was well past his bedtime before he’d finally settled down enough to go to sleep.

The next morning I found him awake in bed and smiling. “I watched the lightning at my window!” he proudly announced.

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A few mornings later, he told me the same thing. “You’re silly,” I said. “It didn’t storm last night, you were only dreaming!” “Oh…” He seemed somewhat disheartened. I ruffled his hair and told him not to worry, there should be another storm soon.

Then it became a pattern. He would tell me how he watched the lightning outside his window at least twice a week, despite there being no storms. Recurring dreams of that first memorable thunderstorm, I figured.

It’s easy to hate myself in hindsight. Everybody assures me there’s nothing I could have done, no way I could have known. But I’m supposed to be the guardian of my child, and these are useless words of comfort. I constantly relive that morning: making my coffee, pouring milk over my cereal, and picking up the newspaper to read about the pedophile local authorities had just arrested. It was front-page stuff. Apparently this guy would select a young target (usually a boy), stake out their house for a while, and take flash photos of them through their window while they slept. Sometimes he did more. My stomach sank as the connection was made.

At the time, it was merely something from a child’s imagination. In retrospect, it is the scariest thing I’ve ever heard. About a week before the predator was caught, my son came up to me in his pajamas. “Guess what?” he asked.

“What?”

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“No more lightning at my window!”

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I played along. “Oh, that’s nice, it finally died down huh?”

“No! Now it’s in my closet!”

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I’ve yet to see the photos police have collected.


Credit: Alapanamo

This story was submitted to Creepypasta.com by a fellow reader. To submit your own creepypasta tale for consideration and publication to this site, visit our submissions page today.

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211 thoughts on “Lightning”

  1. This is a good creepy pasta because instead of using the monsters that have been formed by imagination, it is the monsters in which are real in our society. Creepypasta is designed to leave you with chills and an unnerving feeling, if this isn’t unnerving, I don’t know what is.

  2. Why is this even on the top rated list? -.-
    sorry but this story prob shouldnt even been on this website…

  3. Beast:
    THEN WHO WAS LIGHTNING?

    …annnnnd this is the most ridiculous comment I’ve yet to encounter.

    If I see one more , “WHO WAS PHONE” reference on an actually decent pasta I think I might just say Candlejack and then maybe I’ll potentially disappe

  4. I’m kind of wondering… Was his child abducted or harmed in any way? I understand the “not knowing” of it is for the creepyness and that the moment of realization thing is awesome but I’m completely unsure of if in the week prior, his son was killed or captured or pedophile’d to the extreme. The way he spoke of “Not knowing…” Makes it sound like his son was… Harmed or something.

  5. This is good because it’s an entirely different type of horror than that of the supernatural variety, especially if you’re a parent.

  6. Julia:
    I don’t personally think stories about pedophiles are entertaining in any context. I don’t understand what this is doing on this site… there is adults hurting adults, and then there is adults sexually abusing small children. It is different. And it isn’t “horror”. It’s just goddamn sad and disgusting. I don’t get why you’re all cheering.

    The reason I personally applaud this pasta is because it is TERRIFYING (and terrifying is what creepypasta is about). Ever since I read it the first time I’ve had a hard time sleeping I jump out of bed constantly to check that no one is in my house. I don’t let my son out of my sight even in our house because of THIS pasta.

    Side note: it never says that the boy was touched inappropriately, kidnapped, or killed. It was a very strategically written tale of horror.

    1. I agree with you. I can say for certain that this is good. The theme was supposed to be disgusting. By definition, creepypastas are meant to disturb and unnerve readers. By playing on something that is real and sadly does happen,(trust me, I know), it really comes across well for readers. By all meanings of the word, this story is a great example of horror.

  7. No. No. No. No. No. Not for me to read in the middle of the night. Not for me to read with my toddler asleep next to me. Not for me to read…….I loved it though, the stomach twisting disgust of realization. The heart dropping moment of clarity. Too relatable and realistic for comfort. 10/10

  8. I don’t personally think stories about pedophiles are entertaining in any context. I don’t understand what this is doing on this site… there is adults hurting adults, and then there is adults sexually abusing small children. It is different. And it isn’t “horror”. It’s just goddamn sad and disgusting. I don’t get why you’re all cheering.

  9. I don’t get how how the guy says a week before the (picture tacking) guy was captured the kid was seeing him in his closet .did he like sneer in the house or what

  10. My reaction at the end…
    Holy shit! *eyes slowly move to closet and the dooris wide open run out screaming LIGTHNING IN MY CLOSET!!!!* Then I realize that I looked like a complete nutto and retrn to my computer and look at my closet to see the door closed……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………BUT even scarier my friend jumped out of my closet with a jack the ripper mask on and charges at me with a fake knife and it scared me HALF TO FUCKING HELL!! she claims she came in my room when I ran out screaming and decided to prank me when saw what I was reading… That bitch owes me a freaking starbucks now!!!!!!!!!!! LAWL

  11. creepy 10 year old

    My favorite lines:
    `guess what? No more lightning at my window!`

    `Good it finally died down, huh?`

    `No! Now it’s in my closet!`

    What a stupid noob baby!

  12. This is basically what happens:

    A thunder storm around the area of a family’s new home gives a young child great entertainment throughout the night, the next morning he explains this to his father who shrugs it off, thinking that the son merely sat up late into the night watching the thunder storm through his window. A little while later the son explains that he has been watching the thunder again but the thunder has passed days before. The father thinks of this as the child merely being imaginative and ignores it as if it is nothing. This continues for a while until a pedophile is caught in the newspaper. The father realizes that this pedophile who took pictures with flash of male children in their windows, must have been causing flashes that to the child looked like lightning. After realizing this, the son tells his father that the lightning is in his wardrobe/cupboard. The father tells the police who will have been giving the pictures over to the father soon. The son lived, perfectly fine however this story was meant to be odd and not actually that scary.

  13. Jess the Killer

    Wow. I enjoyed this a lot. Thought it’d be longer than it was, but I still enjoyed thoroughly. When I see lightening now, I’ll definitely think about it in a different way!

  14. Honestly I felt it was messed up but not creepy. That is not until the end, I felt my stomach drop at that once I read it, you caught me off guard with it indeed.

  15. So…. the lightening was the flash of the fellow’s camera, right? First taking pictures from the window, and somehow snuck into the room and into the closet. Nice way of putting it, though some things were a wee bit hazy.

  16. I think about this…. I see little constant flares of bright lights flashing in the crack of my room door….

  17. ok, wait……..the pedo was arrested…but the boy saw it in his closet AFTER he was arrested…how is that possible???

  18. Hahaha! I am sat in the middle of a crowded office reading Creepy Pasta – and everyone looked around at my exclaiming “OOOOOOOOH!” at the end of your story. Very nicely constructed, sir.

  19. This is seriously one of the best pastas I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. You should write more because you’re great!

  20. I honestly jumped when I read where the boy says it’s in my closet. I’ve never had a story physically make me jump like I was watching a scary movie. Excellent. 10/10

    1. Hey, just because you don’t get it, it doesn’t mean it sucks. If you want to get it, try rereading it instead of writing it off as shit.

  21. I thoroughly enjoyed this pasta, however I’m slightly confused by the ending. I thought the police caught him? How is he in the closet? I read through most of the comments, and couldn’t find an answer to this. I am terribly sorry if this has been stated before, I am obviously too thick to realize it unless it is blatantly stated. Could someone please tell me how the pedophile is in the boys closet if he was caught by the police? Sorry.

    1. If you reread it, it said that the boy told him about him being in his closet a week before they caught him. The dad was merely reflecting on what his son said.

  22. Each of us have their own guardians. I am the guardian of many. It was not the weak human that was of true danger to you. He was merely a simple distraction I created so you would be safe from danger. Knowledge is power, and power is useless in the face of the creatures that roam this world. You have no need of knowledge that will disable you from living.

  23. I would have killed that son-of-a-bitch! Fuckin pedobear. Epic story though, actually woke up some solid emotion in me.

  24. the "now its in my closet" bit didnt make any sense. did the cops capture him, or is he chillin in the kid’s closet, taking pix of him? defuk is going on!? *brain explodes* mmmm brains

  25. I’ve read a ton of these pastas recently and while they’ve all been good this one is the only one that’s really given me chills, its simple yet interesting premise is lovely.

  26. Wow. Awesome! this was a terrific read! Very original, clever, and frightening, in an urban-legend kind of way. I praise the author and I even want more from the same chef :) more pasta please!

  27. Ahhhhh this was wonderfully terrifying! 10/10! Just because a few people take issue with your writing style doesn’t mean the story isn’t brilliant. In fact, I wouldn’t change a thing.

  28. That was a great story! I love that dramatic moment when you realize along with the boy’s father that the “lightning” came from the pedophile’s camera and I also liked that twist at the end with the closet. Nice job! :)

  29. This is probably the most terrifying pasta I’ve read. My son is 3 and I can’t even… I know if this were to happen to my baby, there would be a follow up pasta about mommy the sociopath and her revenge. That being said, you should really write more, this was good.

  30. This was a neat idea, but the presentation seemed kind of sloppy.

    I UNDERSTAND the order of events, but it wasn’t worded very naturally (or maybe TOO naturally, as it was written more like the dad was “telling” us a story in spoken English), Either way, it just wasn’t a very well constructed pasta.

    1. You put it exactly how I was thinking it it wouldve been better if worded more fluently or added more detail I’m thinking it’s great but it’s odd and it’s harder than it is odd to find what’s odd about it

    2. It’s SUPPOSED to sound like the father was telling it to us, I think it makes us question if it’s really fiction.

  31. I agree with Anon2. To me, there doesn’t seem to be a chronological mix-up. It’s pretty straight forward, and a very refreshing read. A human pedophile instead of something supernatural- and let’s be honest here…a pedophile or a human serial killer scares the crap out of me MORE than anything ‘supernatural’ might. I guess it’s just the thought that some of the members of our species are just as messed up as those monsters we’ve read about.

  32. There is no error in the chronological order of the events, and those who think there is need to reread the story. But here it is, simply put:

    1. There is the night of the thunderstorm.

    2. “The next morning…”
    The boy said he watched the thunderstorm. The father probably assumed the storm extended further into the night. 

    3. “A few mornings later…”
    The boy said he watched it again. This is the first time the father says, “You’re silly. There wasn’t a storm.”

    4. “[Then it became] at least twice a week…”
    The father figures the boy’s just remembering the original storm because he liked it so much. 

    6. “I constantly relive that morning [when I saw the predator on the news.]”
    This is self-explanatory. He’s looking back, recalling the horrifying realization. 

    7. “About a week before the predator was caught…”
    The father is merely reflecting; going back before he saw it on the news. He’s saying that a week before the guy got caught, the boy then said the lightning moved to his closet. He is upset because he “should have known” here but he didn’t, not until he saw the news. This is why he feels guilty. 

    8. “I’ve yet to see the photos…”
    Now we’re in the present, and this is after the day he saw the guy on the news.

    Goddamn, guys.

    And no, the boy’s not dead. I mean, it is left open if you really want to perceive it that way. It’s not a FACT that he’s alive; however, I’m here to say that’s not what the author meant. Proof: he’d have already realized before seeing the news. The author would’ve probably mentioned the moment he walked in on the boys body. But whatever, you can think that. That’s also why I’m here to say, no, he wasn’t raped.. Just pictures, which is awful enough to a parent. But again, go for it and make what you want out of it. 

    1. The kid didn’t die. The son said that the lightning had moved from the window to his closet a week before a pedophile was captured, and it ends with the dad thinking about how he hadn’t seen the pictures yet, implying that the pedophile was the source of the lightning.

  33. I’m still confused what happened to the son. Based on previous experiences I’ll assume he died, but once you got to “a few days” then “about a week” and “several weeks” I just couldn’t follow. Otherwise decent pasta.

    1. What I’m seeing is that the son wasn’t harmed physically, just had photos taken of him for sexual purposes. The father feels bad because he thinks he should have questioned what his son was saying and investigated, rather than chalking it up to recurring dreams. I think if the son had actually been harmed they would have been a little more descriptive about it. Basically, the kid is fine. The dad just thinks he’s a terrible father.

      1. I think the father doesn’t entirely know what the pedo did to his kid yet, because he’s hasn’t dared to look at the pictures yet. So we don’t know if he just took pictures or actually escalated to physical abuse.

        1. TheIntimateAvenger

          Guys, not telling us everything is the whole point! The readers are supposed to fill in the blanks themselves!

    1. I don’t think that anything was ever *physically* done to the boy in the story. It gives the impression that some of the children were attacked, but that, for the most part, the pedophile was a stalker. The “what *could* have happened” factor is the big one here, since the predator had just moved into the house and was taking pictures from the closet right before he was arrested.

      Definitely a pretty haunting story, regardless.

      1. I think the petophille could of attacked him in some sort of way. The father said how sorry he was about it, how much he hated himself. It sounds to me like more than just what we know, but of course I’m not a parent

    1. Hey dont forget, we had a deal, you get the pictures, i get the souls. You remember what happened to Jeff when he didn’t play along, dont you Pedo?

        1. You guys only get all of that after I transport them back in time and life off their remaining time energy of the life they would have had if I hadn’t sent them back in time. Go it?

        2. Now, now. We were having a fine time playing with his forks and the electric socket when you came Pedobear…

        1. If it has to do with selling me a house in the middle of the woods, I’m not buying it, Jane.

          I know you’re in on the deal too.

      1. I tought it would be some kind off monster or something, but the pedophile made the story more like a thing that could really happend! that is what maked it good and creepy! short and straight to the point^^

  34. I first imagined the boy was going report sightings of beings seen in the lighting but that ending caught me by suprise, I’m curious as to what the father would have done next nevertheless a treat hidden within the pasta indeed, compliments to the chef ’tis was a good read.

    1. That’s not how you use the word “’tis.” It doesn’t mean “This.” It’s the words “it” and “is” joined together. The apostrophe takes the place of the missing “i.”

      You’d have to say either “It’s a good story,” or “’twas a good story.”

        1. Would you rather have him ignore Dormin’s mistake? If he hadn’t corrected him, Dormin may have kept using the word tis incorrectly.

        1. This story was amazing. The end was a little messed up for me, because I missed some vital information in there… XD

        2. no...no...NO...PLEASE DONT........NOOOOOOO!

          it disturbs even more if you are a kid also ive read so many others like bedtime im gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight wish me luck

  35. I love this story it is amazing. It gave me the chills at the end. I thought it was gonna be another stupid one about a possessed kid or aliens but it was so much better. Very good

    1. In a way it’s more disturbing because it’s something that could easily happen in standard reality.

  36. I really like this one. There hasn’t been a classic ‘moment of realisation’ story like this in a while. Short and sweet.
    Nice.

        1. Lightning is a pedo, phone is a (insert wat u think) and i am jeff’s partner in crime. Th real question is who r u ? Evr thoughtbof tht

        2. I thoughtbof tha manny time. It nice unknown thing with answer. Sometime it huurt for thnking.

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