Left Behind

“Inspired by a true event a friend once told me…”

When you hear stories of things that go bump into the night. You get that cold shiver that goes down your spine. The feeling that someone.. Or something watching you. What you also get is that tiny hit of energy that leaves you wanting more. But sometimes… You get stories that seem so real and all you do is picture yourself in that situation and you become terrified. Wrapping yourself in their thoughts and feelings. The story I’m about to tell you is true.. I should know.. I was there.

It happened just a few years ago on a trip up to North Carolina. I was visiting family for the week for Thanksgiving. When my parents initially told me, they added that I could bring a friend. So naturally I would pick my best friend Brock. Brock had been my closest friend for what seemed like forever. We both stood at about 5′ 11″. He had short blonde hair with blue eyes. While I had short black hair with dark brown eyes. Anyway after I told him about the trip he was excited. See Brock likes to Google abandoned places and go exploring them. It was a hobby among many other hobbies he had. On the trip up he googled many places that surrounded the area we were heading to. Nothing seemed too interesting though. A old day care, a couple restaurants, a old well, and a bar. Unsatisfied by his finding we decided to just go to the old well out in the woods. After a whole day of driving we finally made it to my grandparents house. Our excitement had been building the entire way so as soon as we pulled up me and Brock bursted out of the car, “Not so fast you two. You get your things and take them inside first.” said my father sternly. I nodded my head and grabbed my things from the back as Brock followed me and did the same. We entered through the door as my grandmother greeted us, “Hey there Blake.” she said as she gave me a side hug, “Oh and I see you brought Brock.” she said smiling, “Just take your things upstairs and to the door on the right. You two will be staying in that room.” she continued. “Thanks grandma.” I said excitedly while I ran up the stairs. Without hesitation Brock and I threw our things on the bed and I grabbed a flashlight from the side pocket of my bag and put it in my back pocket, “Just in case.” I grinned at Brock. We then started to make our way down the stairs when we were stopped by my mom, “And where do you think you’re going?” she asked me as she eyed us. Brock then pulled up the picture of the well and turned the screen to her, “This place right here. Its not far from here.” he said. My mom looked to me then back to Brock, “Alright you two. Just be careful and try to be back before it gets dark.” she said letting us pass, “Thanks mom!” I yelled as we ran out the door. We stopped running at the edge of the woods. I checked my watch, it read twelve thirty. So it was just a bit past noon. Brock looked at his phone and said, “The well is about five miles that way.” pointing away from the house. So we started our journey. Thinking back now… If I had known was we would discover, I wouldn’t have stepped into that forest.

After walking for what seemed like forever we finally came to an opening. I looked down at my watch, it was about two pm. So we had been walking for about a hour and a half. I looked around to see nothing but trees, “We’re about there.” Brock said to me. I nodded and began following him again. Once we reached our destination we couldn’t believe what we saw, “What!?” yelled Brock frustrated. What we saw was a collapsed well. Dirt filled the hole and nothing was left but a few bricks and a couple planks of wood. Furious Brock ran over and kicked the plank of wood sending it flying. While Brock was raging I decided to sit down for a minute and that’s when I saw it. Peeking out behind a tree was a very large sign. A sign like the ones outside of hotels and stuff. I stood up and walked over to it and looked at it. It was about fifty feet off the ground so I couldn’t reach to move the leaves that covered its front, but when I reached the sign I was greeted by something else. Back about half a football field away stood a very large and abandoned motel. It was about three maybe four stories tall and was slender. Its walls were covered in vines and brush that seemed to hide its broken and weathered boards, “Brock..” I called over to him. In his fit of rage he somehow managed to find himself lying down in the dirt, “Yes?” asked Brock as he lied there, “You may want to come check this out.” I said. At that Brock leaped up out of the dirt, patting himself off. He then made his was over to me, “What’s up?” he asked. I pointed over to the motel. Brocks eyes widened as he looked over to it, “Woah. That’s cool.” he said. I smiled as I started to make my way over to it, “I think this is a pretty good find. Don’t you?” I asked coolly. Brock could only nod as he followed me towards it. Then he stopped, “I wonder what that is?” he said pointing over to a large concrete slab sticking out of the ground, “I don’t know. Let’s go see.” I said changing directions towards it. It was a very large concrete slab that came out at a angle out of the ground. It had stone walls on either side and a large entry way that a couple cars could pass through, “Its a parking garage!” yelled Brock excitedly. I looked around at the garage. It seemed to only go down. There was no parking above it. Looking down into it.. Gave me chills. I shook away the chills as I followed Brock around the side of it, “Hey look!” Brock said as he opened a door along the outer wall of the garage, “Its stairs that lead down into it.” he said. I don’t know why but for some reason my body was yelling at me to not go down there. But being that I was with Brock, who was really never afraid of anything, I had to go. As we entered the small staircase the feeling of dread only got worse. I let the door leading outside shut behind us. I quickly spun around to try and open it but it wouldn’t budge. My heart dropped into my stomach. I took the flashlight out of my pocket and turned it on pointing it towards the door, “Well the doors locked.” I said turning to look at Brock. All he did was shrug his shoulders at me, “Guess we’ll have to go down to get back up.” he said nonchalantly. I hated when we was like this. He get like this whenever bad happened. He’d it there with a grin that pretty much said he wasn’t afraid. But for some reason it seems as if he doesn’t feel what I was at the moment… It felt like we weren’t alone. I shook the feeling off as we made our way down the stairs. I tired every door along the way. But like the first one it seemed to be locked. It wasn’t till about the thirteenth door that I got lucky. The door opened with ease. Foul smelling air hit us hard. I had to grab my mouth to keep from vomiting, “What the hell is that?” I asked through clenched teeth. Brock stepped out into the pitch black garage,”I don’t know man but it smells bad.” I stepped through the door and into the garage with Brock shining my light, “Well..” I said quietly, “Here goes nothing.”

We start walking towards the rising concrete that leads up. Shining my light ahead of us so we don’t trip and fall. After going up a couple of floors in silence, Brock finally speaks up, “So why do you think this place wasn’t on Google?” he asked me. I thought about it for a good minute but couldn’t come up with anything, “I don’t know man.” I said tiredly. The air around me began to chill. I took my free arm and wrapped it around myself, “Hey man are you cold?” I asked shaking. Brock stayed silent for a few moments, “Yeah now that you’ve mentioned it, it has gotten a bit colder.” he said. Then out of nowhere I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my flashlight to look in that direction. But I was only greeted by nothing but empty concrete walls, “You ok?” Brock asked. I put the flashlight back on its path in front of us, “Yeah just thought I saw something.” Suddenly the flashlight went out. I jumped, dropping the flashlight on the ground, “Woah you gotcha watch what you’re doing.” Brock said. I crouched to try and find the flashlight, “I didn’t do that. It cut off on its own.” I said. As I continued to feel around for the flashlight my foot hit something and sent it rolling down the concrete behind us. I then get up and look over to Brock, or well the place I last saw Brock before the light went out, “I think that was the flashlight..” I said quietly. A bang came from the floor below us. The flashlight must have rolled into a wall… Great.. I thought to myself, “So now we’re stuck in pitch blackness, ten floors underground in a parking garage?” Brock asked. I didn’t answer. I then heard Brock sigh as he pulled out his phone. After a few moments he grunted, “And now my phone is dead… Great!” he yelled. The yell seemed to echo through the garage, bouncing off every wall, “Well we can’t stop now. Lets keep going.” he said furiously. I started towards the way I was facing early towards another rise when I heard it. A faint whisper came from behind me, “Shhhh.” was all that was said. I jumped forward nearly knocking into brock, “What the hell is your problem?” he spit at me, “You didn’t hear that?” I asked him frantically. My heart was pounding and I could feel the hairs on my neck stand up, “Hear what?” he asked. I looked around, not able to see anything, “Someone whispered shhh behind me.” I said. Caution edging my voice, “No and your mind is just playing tricks on you. Get yourself together.” He said louder. I stopped to calm myself. Breathing in and out slowly. After a good few breaths I continued on. I continued to walk forward, placing my hand against the wall so I don’t stumble. The darkness was eerily quiet. More quiet then before in a way. It wasn’t till a few moments later that I realized I couldn’t hear Brocks footsteps any more. I stopped again, panicking, “Brock?” I said quietly. No answer, “Brock?” I said again but a little louder. But again no answer. My eyes started to water as they normally do when I’m scared. My heart began to race again and my breathing became hyperventilating, “Brock!?” I practically screamed. Again my only answer was silence. I dropped down to my knees as I grabbed the wall beside me for support. Where’s Brock? I wondered frantically. That’s when I started to hear shuffling. I bolted my head up, “Brock!? Brock is that you?” I shouted. My words echoed through the garage. I began to hear the shuffling again. They drew nearer and nearer. Till they were right behind me. Then I heard it again, a soft whisper. But this time, instead of hearing somewhere close behind me… It was in my ear, “Shhhhh.” A raspy voice said. I could feel the hot breath of whatever was behind me. That was when I realized that the thing behind me… Was not Brock. Without thinking, I bolted forward and ran towards the direction I last knew was up. As I did someone or something was following behind me, and fast. It reached for my legs a few times. But I continued to run. My heart was pounding and my breathing was heavy. I ran up and up till for a few good minutes till I started to see light. The opening! I thought to myself. The thing behind was still following. I could hear its raspy breath as I ran. I didn’t care about it. I didn’t care about Brock. I honestly didn’t care about anything. I just needed to get the hell out. Finally I reached the opening and threw myself out of it. Landing a about ten feet from the entrance. I laid there for a few moments catching my breath. When I finally got the nerve to get up and look back, the thing was barely out of it. Now when I say that the thing was horrendous… I mean it really terrified me and kept me frozen in place. The image of that.. That thing still haunts me till this day. All I could see was the top of it head to the bottom of the nose. Its long black hair was all greasy and matted and it was perfectly parted so I could see its wide white eyes. Its eyes were unnaturally wide with small black pupils. The skin, which sagged around the eyes, looked like it had rotted a long time ago. It was mostly white. Its nose was no longer there.. As I sat there gripped by fear. It brought its long boney finger to its mouth slowly, “Shhhh.” was all it said, it stared at me for a minute then disappeared back into the garage. I don’t know how long I sat there unable to move. Eventually I got up and and started to run back to the house. By the time I got back it was dark. I busted through the door and ran into my moms arms crying. She had asked me where brock was. But I was still sobbing too much to answer her question. I finally told my family what had happened after I had calmed down. I didn’t tell them about the thing.. I couldn’t bring myself to describe something so horrifying. So I just told them me and Brock got separated in the garage. The local police was called and after I showed them where I last saw Brock, they went into the garage looking for him. After a long search of the garage they finally came back up with nothing. Nothing but a flashlight.. My flashlight. A few more days went by of searching the garage and the surrounding area but it turned up no results. So the case was eventually closed. This all happened a few years ago and I’m now out of high school with a job and a place of my own.. But no matter what I do, I can’t fill the hole that’s now in my life. I still feel the guilt for leaving my friend down there.. To wonder all alone in the pitch black with that thing..

CREDIT : Blake Carr and Blake Koning.