Advertisement
Please wait...

I’m Sure You Understand



Estimated reading time — 13 minutes

The agitated wind roared outside, carrying millions of tiny snowflakes with it. I stared blankly at my computer screen reading the document my now ex-wife had left on it just before she had left me.
“ Dear Blake,
I’m sure this doesn’t come as a surprise to you, considering I’ve been home less and less lately, but I can’t think of a way I could say this face to face without you exploding on me. I’m done with this whole thing. I can’t take the late nights and the yelling any longer. I’ve never met another couple that argued as much as us and I think it’s time we start calling this what it really is-abuse. I’ve found someone else, Blake; someone that will treat me the way I deserve in addition to providing for me. I hope you make some changes in your life, or else you will be alone for the rest of it. I’m sorry things couldn’t have ended differently. I’ve started the paperwork and I’ll contact you soon about arranging a day to come sign it.
-Rachel”
The words didn’t hurt any less the twentieth time I had read it than the first. Each moment I thought about it felt like a chain wrapped around my neck with a heavy weight at the bottom tugging and choking me. Warm tears silently streamed down my face as I closed the document once again, a nightly ritual I had performed since the night Rachel left me.
“I wasn’t a bad person, was I?” I thought. “I had tons of friends at work and even those I had kept in touch with from high school. Rachel and I were just a bad fit, I guess.”

Just as I went to open another document, my computer monitor went black, as well as the rest of the lights in my house. “Shit..” I muttered to myself. It must have been the storm outside. The snow had pounded my small home town in Washington for nearly a week straight, but the wires had held on for as long as they could. Realizing that I would be without electric heat, I donned my large brown Carhart jacket and boots and proceeded outside to the wood pile. The icy wind instantly froze my contacts to my eyes and made my vision blurry. I had made this walk several hundred times and even with the distortion of my vision as well as the tenacity of the snow storm, I made my way over to the wheel barrow and began to load it up with pieces of the oak I had cut down during the past fall.

After I had gathered all I needed as well as some kindling to start a fire, I started wheeling the load back over to my front porch and stacked it neatly in a pile on my porch so the snow wouldn’t cover it. I went back inside and hung my coat back up, but suddenly I felt uneasy. I looked out my window and what I saw surprised me. About two-hundred yards away stood a man wearing a heavy dark coat and a black back pack. It was hard to make out his face due to my inhibited vision, but through the trees, it was unmistakably a man. I opened my window and called out to him. “Hey, are you lost or something?” No response other than the echoes I heard through the hills was returned. I went over to my living room and grabbed my cell phone off the coffee table just in case I needed to call a tow truck for the man and made my way back outside. To my surprise and confusion, he no longer stood there. Not only that, but after surveying the woods around my house, I couldn’t find him anywhere. This was strange, as I lived relatively deep in the woods and didn’t have any neighbors for miles. What would a man be doing walking around in this blizzard by himself? After locking the door with the dead bolt, I went back inside and started a much-needed fire. After giving a few painful thoughts to Rachel’s memory, I lied down in my recliner and nodded off.

Advertisements

I awoke the next morning around 7 AM to all of the lights in the house turned on that I had left on the previous night. After making a round to ensure I wouldn’t have a hefty electricity bill, I cleaned up and put my EMT uniform on. The storm had died down to a few flurries here and there, although the sun was still very much hidden behind the dark grey clouds as I walked out to my truck. I made one last glance around my property for the man I was sure I had seen last night before getting into my old Dodge pickup. The familiar sound of the engine turning on made me realize that I hadn’t lost everything along with Rachel, and I hastily sped out of my driveway to the county EMS station, as I had spent a little too much time preparing for work that morning.

In the garage that housed the ambulances stood my best friend, Taylor; he walked up to me and gave me a comforting hug and a few pats on the back before speaking. He was fully aware of the situation with Rachel. “How are we doing, man? Did your power go out last night, too?” He asked. “Yeah, I’m managing, and it went out around 10 and didn’t come back on until morning.” I replied “Hopefully this storm won’t last too much longer. I’m almost out of firewood.” That day went on like any normal day at work. I remember hearing a story on the local news about a man named Roger Patterson who had gone missing a week ago. His family was willing to listen to any leads of his whereabouts. That moment, I thought of the man I had seen last night, staring at me, unmoving. I got really creeped out, and tried not to think about it for the rest of the day.

After coming home that day, I checked my cell phone and my eyes widened a little. A text from Rachel glowed on the glass screen, and I quickly opened it and what I read filled my heart with a warm rush of hope. “I need to talk to you, Blake. I think I’ve made a mistake.” This one little message almost erased what had been a week of depression and anxious thoughts. Things were going to be different now. I was going to make it up to her and show her what a real husband was. The old Blake had died in this experience, and I emerged from his ashes as the man my wife always needed. I spent the rest of the day doing household chores with a permanent grin on my face.

As night fell, I lied on my bed underneath the thick blankets. The conversation I had with Rachel on the phone a few hours ago remained fresh in my mind. We had decided to meet for lunch the next day and talk about the feelings we had about reconsidering things and to see if we could make our relationship work. It took a lot for me to hold back what I wanted to say to her over the phone. I wanted to do it in person, so she could see that I could be a sweet and thoughtful guy after all. I loved Rachel more than anything in the world. It just took almost losing her to realize that.

Just then, the power went out as darkness engulfed the room. I grunted in frustration and got up to once again make a trip for firewood. This time, I grabbed my pistol just in case the man I had seen the previous night showed up again. I made the second trip to the wood pile without seeing the man, but once I had made it back inside my house, I once again glanced through the window to see the dark figure facing me. He was standing in the same clearing but about a hundred yards closer this time. The white snow glowed blue in the moonlight and the snowflakes danced along with their shadowy counterparts. His face was more apparent to me this time, and a thick beard frosted with snow outlined his chin. A hood covered his eyes, and tattered, ripped clothes shown under his now opened jacket. He stood motionless, silent, and focused on me. My hair stood on end as fear combined with the chill of the storm swept over me. I called out to him for the second time as I reached for my gun. “Listen man, I don’t know what you want, but I can promise you if you keep doing this, I’m calling the cops.”

Some visible steam from my breath escaped as I scratched my chin hairs. The man stood motionless until I made a couple steps towards him. He then began awkwardly pacing away from my house into the tree line. There was something about his steps that was off, like his legs were made out of glass and he was afraid they would shatter underneath him. Before a minute had passed, he had disappeared into the trees.

Advertisements

I went back inside and proceeded to start another fire. It was easier this time, as the first one had not completely gone cold. I grew more and more concerned about this man. “What if he broke into my shed and took my expensive power tools? What if he broke into my house?” I tried not to think about it, and started thinking about Rachel instead. Her fair skin and brown eyes complimented her complexion in a way that made me feel lost in her when things were good between us. I couldn’t let her slip away. I wouldn’t let her slip away.

I looked out my upstairs window for any sign of the bearded man in the woods. I saw nothing through the thick arctic clouds of powdered snow that raced in front of me, almost tauntingly. I had trouble sleeping that night. Maybe it was just the anticipation about seeing Rachel, but I couldn’t help but feel on edge. I tossed and turned before checking my cell phone again and reading the message Rachel had sent me. “I think I’ve made a mistake.” The words resonated with me as I felt I had never made a bigger mistake in my life than treating her badly. My mind fixated on memories of being with her as I slipped into the unconscious world of sleep.

The next morning behaved similar to the previous one. I woke up at 6:30 instead this time so I would have enough time to check my shed for anything the bearded man might have stolen last night. Nothing was out of place. If the man was so interested in stalking me, why would he not have taken what he wanted when he had the chance? I wasn’t going to chase after him in the blizzard. I spent the morning getting ready and making sure everything valuable was locked up before heading to work.

Taylor wasn’t at the station that day. He had taken off for illness and asked a coworker of ours named Caitlyn to take over his shift. She was relatively good friends with Rachel and we spent the morning in between calls talking about things I should say to her to show her how I really feel. “I’m actually really proud of you, Blake.” She said. “It looks like you’re really trying to make a change, and she’ll see that. Don’t worry about saying exactly what she wants to hear. If you just tell her how you feel, I’m sure she’ll come around.” “Thanks, I really appreciate it.” I said. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about the past couple days and I know she’s the only woman for me.” There weren’t many calls that day; not many people were out doing things in fear of the storm. There were only a couple of minor car wrecks from people trying to drive their little town cars through the mountains.

After work, I went to see Rachel. The anticipation could be cut with a knife at this point and when our eyes met, she instantly ran up and hugged me in the cold air. With tears streaming down both of our faces, we kissed for a long time. “I missed you so much.” I said almost choking through tears. “I missed you too..” She whimpered back. That moment was one of the best in my entire life. I felt like a piece of me had been restored and that I would never let it slip again. I’ll never forget that scene, surrounded by the street lamps already illuminated even though it was only around 5:30. We talked for hours at the restaurant and then agreed to spend the day together tomorrow. I couldn’t wait. As we departed, I gave her one long kiss goodbye and told her to drive safe. She echoed the same back to me and we both walked away into the night feeling fulfilled.

Advertisements

The drive home was filled with so many good thoughts and memories of Rachel that I almost forgot about the man that was sure to show up tonight. I called Taylor and asked him if he wanted to come over and watch a movie or something since we hadn’t really seen each other outside from work in a while; that was the excuse I used anyway. I wanted another person around just in case the bearded man got brave. He obliged and said he would be over after he took his daughter to her grandmother’s. I prepared a fire beforehand just in case the power went out again so I wouldn’t have to trek out into the blizzard, or look at the creep who decided his favorite pass time was fucking with guys trying to make an honest living.

After a couple hours of social networking and web browsing, my computer screen went black again. “Of course..” I said, almost as if I were talking to the man that was surely standing outside. I looked outside and there he stood. This time, things were different, though. He was much closer to my house this time, only about ten yards away. His face shot up to meet me at the second story window. I was terrified now. I looked down unable to remove my gaze from his frozen body as he started sprinting towards my front porch. I ran over and grabbed my gun from under my pillow as I heard a large CRACK and the sound of shattering glass downstairs. Fighting through every thought that told me to stop and hide upstairs, I silently crept down each step, making as little noise as possible.

I felt a freezing breeze roll in from the window the man had just broken. It made me flinch and almost lose my composure. “I’ve never been so fucking cold in my life..” I thought as I took a deep, silent breath. Without a second thought, I whipped around the corner brandishing the gun, but found an unexpected sight. The bearded man lay face down with half of his body hanging over the window sill. He was motionless, not even breathing, and I honestly couldn’t decide whether to call the police or shoot the guy myself for the obvious home invasion he had just committed.

“Look, I’m gonna call the police.” I said with a shaky voice. The wind chilling my bones was unbearable and made my movements stiff and slow. Just then, I gasped as the man’s head fell off of his body and rolled over on the floor next to my foot. I could see now that this was not a prankster, burglar, or even any sort of natural man. I saw his face clearly now, the skin on his cheeks was blue and cracked from what looked like days spent in the elements without shelter. His glassy eyes were black and shriveled. His lips were frozen shut and crusted with blood. A look of despair and misery shown in this horror and I vomited after seeing it.

After I had composed myself, I saw a thick, black, tar-like substance start to pour out of the hole where the man’s head once rested. It oozed out onto the floor for several minutes before dripping to a stop. I backed away, not knowing what diseases or parasites this man carried. Looking down at it, I saw something else that chilled me more than the sub-zero temperature. I looked down to see two large eyes open in the pool of filth, as well as a large, tooth-filled mouth open. I screamed and ran upstairs. I slammed the door shut and frantically looked around for my cell-phone. I curse when I realized I had left it downstairs, and without the power for the land-line, there was no way I could reach the police.

I stared at my door with the gun pointed at it. I didn’t know what good it would do for a creature like this, but it was my only defense. I heard the thing making sloppy, wet steps up the stairs towards my room. I heard it lay against the door way and stop moving. The door to my room had no crack underneath for ventilation, so it was stuck on its side of the hallway, or so I thought. I let out a terrified scream as I saw the thing passing through my door without opening it. I saw its face clearly now. Not completely amorphous, but not in the natural shape of a man. The thing almost looked like a thick stick figure similar to that old kids show Gumbee. Its impossibly wide eyes fixated on me inside the room and it opened its mouth to speak in a light-toned voice that I can only describe as similar to a cheerful salesman with several voice tones all sounding at once.. “It’s cold.” It said. “I’m sure you understand.” Those words almost made me piss myself. I watched as it slowly worked its way through the door before flopping out with a notable lack of grace in its movements.

Advertisements

It slowly came towards me, its whole body jiggling with each step. Its indefinite shape trying to mimic that of a man was menacing. It spoke again. “It’s so cold.” It was going to do the same thing to me that it did to that poor bastard downstairs. It was going to invade my body to stay alive. That’s why it was watching me. It was studying my actions, waiting or the right time to strike. I wondered how it came to be. Was it made in a lab? Was it the product of some satanic ritual? It was very close now, maybe only a few feet away. It lumbered towards me like a toddler trying to hug a teddy bear when an audible thump made it stop. Behind it, I saw the bedroom door open and Taylor who had just dropped his beer bottle in shock. He ran up to try and grab the thing before I could stop him. His hand when through its body like jello, and it quickly slid its form around him, sticking its arms and appendages into his mouth, nostrils, ears, and everywhere else it could move into his body. He screamed and writhed in protest, but I just stood there, motionless. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.

I ran past the thing and Taylor and slammed the door shut behind me. I had to call the police. I had to get far away from that thing. I had to… WHAP. I tripped down the stairs in my haste and smacked my head against the bottom step. I felt a warm stream of blood slide down my face. I looked at the top of the steps to see Taylor, his eyes now merely shriveled pits under the control of that thing. It walked downstairs awkwardly, but with more grace than in its true form. I crawled towards my front door on my hands and knees. I couldn’t let that thing have me. I managed to crawl over to my truck and get inside. Luckily, I had kept my keys in my pocket from work. I started the thing up just seconds after the thing had made it over to me and smashed my window with Taylor’s hand. Thick, black oozing blood dripped from the wounded hand as he reached for me. I slammed on the gas and sped away into the night.

My heart didn’t stop pounding until I was about an hour away from my house. I didn’t even think to grab my cell-phone before I had left, so I stopped at a gas station to ask to use their phone to call the police. The gruff, middle-aged store clerk looked me up and down. I must have looked really shaken up and he took pity on me. I called the Eckerd County Police Department and a young-sounding female dispatcher picked up. I explained the incident as best I could without it sounding like a prank and as calmly as I could, asked if they could look for Taylor. The woman’s response seemed puzzled. “We got a call from a man named Taylor Matthews a little over an hour and a half ago. We already have officers at the scene and they found the bodies of two people.”

I let the phone slip away from my face for a second as I attempted to lift my head up and keep from puking. Taylor was dead, and that thing was still out there. “Get everyone out of the house.” I whispered. I hung up the phone, paid for fifty dollars in gas and roared back towards home. I couldn’t let one more person become the victim of that thing. After about twenty minutes of driving, I heard the engine of my truck make a massive CLANK as it rolled to a stop. “No, no, no, no shit!” I said to myself as it came to rest on the side of the road. I got out and popped the hood to look inside. There was thick, gooey oil all over the inside of my engine. I cleaned it out the best I could and got back into the cabin of my truck. I punched the steering wheel several times out of anger and heard the horn echo through the woods. I had no idea what to do. I didn’t have a cell-phone to call for help and I was at least thirty minutes from town.

I opened the door and started to step out of the truck when I heard that voice again; the inhuman timbre of a being that I didn’t understand. “It’s so cold.” It said quietly. I looked back to see that thing’s cheerful eyes and mouth staring at me with an enormous grin, its body resting half-formed sitting in the passenger seat of my truck. Its mouth oozed black liquid as it spoke. It grabbed me with its disgusting, appendages.. “I’m sure you understand.”

Credit To – Ben Meadows

Please wait...

Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.

33 thoughts on “I’m Sure You Understand”

  1. Salvador Sanchez

    got me invested in the main character so much, it’s a fun read.
    basically Bebe and Venon rolled into one.
    either way, this is fucking amazeballs

  2. Awesome story! I just wanted to say thanks for making a character that makes reasonable decisions lIke a normal human being. I thought he was going to follow some creepy guy in the woods through a blizzard like an idiot. Glad it went another route!

  3. Taylor Matthews

    Lol I had to stop reading as soon as I realized I had he same first and last name as the man in the story

    No joke lol.

  4. Hey again, readers. Another one of my pastas called “Abomination” is being posted to the site on April, 21st 2014. I had actually written it before this one and it had sat in a file waiting to be posted since December. I hope you guys enjoy it as well and I really appreciate written feedback as well as a rating. Stay scared, my friends.

  5. Loved this! Was very creepy! Loved the input on the whole love story part. I thought it was really unique that you added that in. If not there wouldn’t be much else going on in the story. Toasty 10/10 :D

  6. Hey readers! thanks for such awesome feedback. I’m not a self-proclaimed author by any means, but I really do appreciate the constructive criticism as well as the positive comments. I’m just sort of getting into the horror writing game, and I’m just honored that the admins picked my story out of the thousands of others they could have chosen. To answer a couple of questions you guys had about stuff that I left a little vague in the OP: The creature most likely left Taylor’s body because he wasn’t a suitable host, or it might have had something to do with the fact that he totally smashed his hand through Blake’s truck window and was losing a lot of blood. Also, the creature I was looking to create could be better described as resembling the muddy gingerbread man entity from the movie “The Brother’s Grimm” that came out a few years back. I was going for a sort of childish menace in it, like it didn’t know what it was doing was bad, which, creeps the hell out of me. I’m an avid pasta reader/listener, and I was up for almost an entire night trying to come up with the idea for it while also being too freaked out by my own invention to sleep. Finally, the relationship between Blake and Rachel was to try and humanize Blake. I was trying to lead the audience to be emotionally attached to the main character which is an element that I don’t see in a lot of bad creepy pastas. I realize that it did kind of drop off suddenly, and that it something I’ll try to fix in my next pasta. Once again, thank you guys so much for the responses and ratings and I’ll try to live up to this story with my next one. :)

  7. I really enjoyed this. You did a good job building up the suspense of the creature and delivered in terms of the creatures actual appearance.
    Tasty pasta, my good cook

  8. Honestly, I really, really love this premise. I think it’s fantastic that the entity has a motive – it just makes more sense when the entity has some kind of purpose behind the actions, rather than mindless killing/stalking/etc. On the other hand, the whole marriage thing seemed very out of place in the story, and I agree that it kind of ruined any build up. All in all, I’d give it a solid seven out of ten, although it could use some improvement :)
    (tbh, tho, it seemed kind of cute? a lil blobby thing with a face trying to walk and stay warm thats kind of adorable sorry)

  9. Awesome Awesome story! Just.. just well done! I applaud you! Really creeped me out and no more sleep for me but the story did it’s job :)

  10. I loved this! I thought it was really creepy and I kept looking at my window in fear of a man standing there. There were only some minor errors but nothing that effected the story overall. It is very well-written and it made a lot of sense to me. It was awesome. :)

  11. I think I shat myself. Holy shit that was amazing, you sir, should become an author. I want to see your books on shelfs in library’s. I love it, no, I love ALL your story’s (not to mention jeff the killer I love that one soo much) I hope you consider this and write a book. :3

    1. Um… You know these stories aren’t all written by the same person, right? I’m not sure why you would think that.

  12. A lot of pointless detail about a girl and relationship that has no real purpose in the story. It was written really well, but it just wasn’t interesting to me at all. The creature wasn’t anything that terrifying, but was original. I think you should definitely write something again.
    F.Y.I, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the details about their relationship, but I think you should have incorporated it more into the main concept of the story if you were going to get into it so much. Rachel didn’t even come back into the story.

  13. You'll never know

    Delicious pasta! Only thing I would change is adding some creative sauce at the end, other than that, 9/10

  14. First of all, I liked the story a lot. It was well made, and well thought up of. The originality of this story…It’s amazing!

    Secondly, there are a FEW mistakes, that with a little bit of practice, you can get rid off.

  15. Well, another enjoyable story. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m stuck in a neverending winter, but these recent “Cold” stories have really clicked for me. I really enjoyed reading this, and found it to be an interesting idea. I’d love more info on the entity, which for me means it was an intriguing story. What is this thing and where does it normally live? Does it only invade hosts in blizzards? What does it do to the host? All very good questions to have, and I’d love to here more of the mythos. So kudos for creating a monster that piqued curiosity and left a reasonable level of mystery. There were some isolated areas where the sentences and phrasing got a bit clunky, but overall I really found the writing style engaging. I do agree that the love angle seemed to create almost a red herring of sorts, leaving this feeling like a story with two disparate plots. But, I did enjoy the characterization we got through that. And it made the ending sting even more, so that’s something. Had me rooting pretty hard for Blake. And, like others, I’m also curious why it would leave a viable host, but for me I did not find that detracted overall. I really found this a captivating read, and got some chills from it. Thanks for a great read, and happy writing!

  16. Why didnt it just stay in Taylor? How did the protagonist shout 200 yards away to a man through a blizzard? Maybe you meant 200 feet? Still a stretch. Logic problems are illogical. Not bad otherwise. 7/10. Keep reading and writing

  17. It’s not the best but it’s one of the best Creepypastas I’ve seen this year so far. This is is incredibly good. It’s well written, tension-filled, surprising, heartfelt. If there is one thing I’d change it would be the way the entity was described in the climax of the story. I don’t know. I tried thinking of something scary but all I could think about was the purple cloud from the Care Bears movie. Still, excellent job. 9/10

  18. Such a good story my friend, I really felt sorry for Blake cause I thought in the end he will reunite with Rachel. The first half was amazing, really emotional, and even though the story wasn’t creepy it was written so well that I enjoyed it a lot. Keep writing man!

  19. What was the point of the love story? That part was brutal.

    The whole thing makes no sense.

    There was some tension early on, but the love story killed it.

  20. I’m not sure I understand entirely. I mean I get everything in the beginning, and I understand why the “thing” wants a body, but why didn’t it just stay in Taylor? You would think that some being THAT desperate to find a vessel to stay warm in wouldn’t be that picky!

    One thing that bothers me about this type of story is when there is a build up of another emotion. Like the good, happy feeling we get when realizing that the MC’s marriage isn’t over, but you KNOW that because of this supernatural occurrence, it just ruins all that. It doesn’t add to the creepiness, nor does it add to the story by causing conflicting emotions right after one another! Just a pet peeve of mine.

    I really liked the premise, and I wish more was explained…also the ending was kind of abrupt. Thanks!! :)

  21. First of all….you get 10/10 for originality. That was a very well written and creepy story. My ONLY complaint is that the ending doesn’t seem to fit quite right….but hey….that’s minor. Again….awesome story:)

  22. Am I first?
    Wohoo! This was a very good story! It reminded me of The Stuff! It’s got some spelling/grammatical errors (as I’m sure this comment does) but overall I really liked it! Good job!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top