Hello Darkness, My Old Friend (Worm) (Part 2) (Patreon)

Themes: Horror, Light Molestation, Shadowy Tentacle Monster

Word Count: 2,367

Summary: Madison has been having nightmares since the locker incident. Only now is she realizing just how deep in all of this she is. Emma and Sophia are crazy and Madison is fucked. After a particularly harrowing nightmare, Madison hears a knocking coming from her closet. Against her better judgment, she goes to check it out...

Part 2  

Madison Clements grimaced as she hurried through the front doors of Winslow High. The halls were empty, but then that made sense considering how late she was. The normally perky young woman let out a groan and rubbed at her eyes as she made a beeline for her locker. Madison had NOT been sleeping well lately and the cute brunette knew exactly why.

It was what they’d done to Taylor. The locker prank had left her tossing and turning each night, unable to find an ounce of decent sleep. She was either lying wide awake staring at her ceiling, or she was having yet another nightmare about that day, except so much worse. In her dreams, she actually mustered the courage to open the locker up, to save Taylor. But what came out of the locker at that point wasn’t Taylor; it was a monster wearing the girl’s face.

The worst part was that it was all her fault. Oh sure, Emma and Sophia were both fucking psychos and Madison was beating herself up nearly constantly for not seeing that sooner, for not REALIZING how fucking twisted both of them were BEFORE she climbed into bed with them. But in the end, it had been HER idea. She’d come up with the locker prank. It wasn’t… it wasn’t supposed to be like it ended up being though.

Madison’s version of the prank was a simple idea, something she came up with to impress Emma and Sophia. It was supposed to keep her in their good graces, but it wasn’t supposed to go so damn far. Madison’s idea had just been to fill Taylor’s locker with trash. She’d wanted to take a trash bin from the cafeteria on the last day before Winter Break and just dump it all into the small locker.

Then, on the first day back from break when Taylor opened her locker up, all the rotting food and garbage would fall out on her. The girl would get covered in trash and probably have to go home to shower and change, but that was it. At the time she’d been brainstorming it up, Madison had even justified it to her fraying conscience by telling herself that it would be good for Taylor to just go home. The amount of hatred Emma and Sophia had for the tall lanky girl was just ridiculous and they’d infected the entire school with it by this point.

Winslow wasn’t safe for Taylor and Madison knew that. She just didn’t get why the other girl kept coming back for more punishment. But the point was moot because almost immediately after she’d explained the prank to Emma and Sophia, the two sociopaths had gone right ahead and twisted the hell out of the idea, turning it into something deadly. 

Now Taylor was in the hospital and everything was so much worse. Emma was acting victorious and pleased with herself but Madison could see through that mask to the worry beneath. Privately, the brunette thought that Sophia could see it too, because the dark skinned girl had gotten twice as vicious to their other victims with Taylor in the hospital and Emma trying to hide her feelings.

And Madison was left to deal with the nightmares that left her late to school, day after day. Letting out another groan, Madison finally arrived at the hallway that held her locker. Her nose immediately scrunched up at the nasty smell. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t cleaned up the mess yet. Coming to a stop in front of her locker, Madison quickly worked at the lock, fumbling the thing in the empty hallway as she tried to ignore the overpowering smell coming from it.

Finally, the locker opened up and all the nasty things they’d put in Taylor’s locker came crashing down on her. Madison screamed as she fell back and scrambled away from the toxic waste, covered in a layer of dripping gooey filth. She didn’t stop screaming either, especially when she looked back into the gaping blackness of the locker and saw a filth-covered, bug-infested Taylor Hebert crawling out of the thing on her hands and feet and slowly shuffling across the hallway towards Madison.

Her voice died down as Taylor got all the closer. Madison found herself pressed up against the wall of the hallway, whimpering and hyperventilating and crying as she repeated the words ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again. Taylor’s grimy disgusting face and pitch black eyes were half an inch from Madison when she finally managed to wake up. 

Madison Clements sat straight up in bed, eyes wide like saucers and heart hammering in her chest. It had been another nightmare. It was just another nightmare. She had to calm down; she had to get herself together. A quick glance at her alarm clock told her it was only three a.m. and Madison couldn’t stop the whimper from escaping her throat. The brunette was worried she’d never get another good night of sleep again at this rate.

Of course, that’s when a knock came from her closet door. More than that, it was a persistent banging sound on the inside of her closet. Slowly, Madison turned to look at the door, biting her lower lip as she stared in utter silence. She’s considering ignoring it, when it suddenly picks up and the entire door shudders from the assault on its opposite side. Madison’s eyes grow even wider at the loud heavy banging sound.

Is this just another dream? The sound won’t go away, the knocking won’t stop. Madison can’t believe she’s doing it, but she slips out of her bed all the same and rushes over to the door, her hand reaching out to the door knob. Just as her fingers close over it, the banging abruptly stops, leaving Madison in the silent darkness of her room once more. 

Grimacing, the cute brunette reaches up to her room’s light switch, right beside her closet door. She flicks it on and waits for a beat, expecting to be bathed in light. Nothing happens and Madison looks up towards the ceiling where the light bulb should be on, eyes wide. She flicks the switch back down and then up again. Once again, nothing happens and Madison finds herself flicking the switch several times to no effect.

Whimpering pitifully, Madison takes two steps away from the closet door and grabs her smartphone off the charger. She lets out a half-choked sob of relief when it works, and quickly turns on the flashlight app before returning to the closet. Desperately trying to slow her breathing, Madison reaches up and grasps the door knob again, slowly turning it and opening her closet up.

She nearly pisses herself just from how god damn creaky the hinges on her closet door are. It was never a problem before but now it’s absolutely terrifying. Afraid of what she’ll find, but looking anyways, Madison raises her phone up and shines the bright white screen of the flashlight app into her closet. There’s nothing there but her clothes and her shoes, all neatly tucked away in their proper places. 

Madison’s closet barely has walk in room, and there are certainly no dark corners for anything to hide in. It truly is empty, and a relieved sigh leaves Madison’s throat as a sheepish smile begins to grow across her face. The thought that she’s becoming just as crazy as Emma and Sophia is just starting to cross Madison’s mind when something latches onto the back of the brunette’s head and shoves her into the closet.

Screaming loudly, Madison whirls around in the small empty space she’s now squeezed into, right as the closet door slams shut on her. Something grabs her wrist and before Madison can react, she’s dropped her smartphone face down on the floor, the flashlight app quite suddenly useless to her as she’s lost in darkness. There are things all over her and Madison sobs and screams and begs for help as she feels them touching her, molesting her, wriggling and writhing along her body.

They’re inside of her pajamas, running along her skin and her flesh and Madison slams on the inside of her closet door as hard as she can, pounding with white knuckled fists even as her nails dig into her flesh hard enough to draw blood. Everything is so tight even as she twists this way and that, thrashing about and trying to get free but completely and utterly failing. Space is compressing on her and Madison is suddenly sure she’s going to die here, trapped in a small space just like she did to Taylor.

Then, the door to her closet is thrown open and she’s pulled out by her father. The light in the hallway flows through her room and Madison scrambles free of her daddy’s arms in order to get into it, needing to be in the light more than anything else in that moment. Panting heavily, Madison curls into a fetal position, her legs pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them as she hyperventilates.

Madison’s mother tries to comfort her, but Madison can’t stand to be held after what it felt like in the closet with those things that were touching her all over. She shies away from her own mother’s touch and rocks back and forth, whimpering and sobbing into her knees. Absently, Madison notes her father pulling back from the closet and turning around to approach her mother. She listens with one ear, disbelieving as her dad manages to explain everything away.

“Light bulb looks to be burnt out and the hinges on the closet door need a really good oiling. I think Maddie just had a nightmare again.”

Her mom at least wasn’t so quick to jump to that conclusion.

“Look at her Frank! A nightmare doesn’t tear up your arms like hers are torn up!”

Blinking, Madison looked at her arms. There were lashings all over them, red welts and cuts, some of which were even bleeding a little bit. She hadn’t even felt the pain, but apparently whatever had been with her in the closet hadn’t been content to just molest her, it’d been trying to hurt her too. Of course, her father had the “rational” explanation once again.

“Look inside the closet Joyce. Her clothes are all over the floor. Hell, she’s even got sock in her hair and a sweater wrapped around her ankle still. She had a nightmare, she slept walked into her closet and she got trapped. She flailed about, wrapped herself up in her clothes and cut herself on the sharp edges of those damn racks she wanted so badly in place of a dresser. After what happened to that Hebert girl at school, is it any wonder Maddie is having issues?”

And just like that, her mom was convinced of her dad’s reasoning. Madison didn’t shy away this time when her parents crouched beside her and engulfed her in a hug. She just whimpered, tears continuing to fall from her eyes. Her father mentioning Taylor had put a thought in Madison’s head that wouldn’t go away. Was this punishment? Was she being punished with nightmares and things that go bump for what she’d done to Taylor?

She was scared. More than that, she was terrified. She didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to fix things. There was something in her closet with her, no matter what her father said. And she was afraid it would come back and finish the job. It was going to kill her, Madison just knew it. Fresh tears began to fall from her eyes at the thought that she was a dead girl walking, and sobs that wracked her petite form followed shortly after.

-x-X-x-

A nurse bustled down a hall in Brockton Bay General, humming quietly under her breath. It was late and she was doing her last circuit of rounds before she could settle into her desk for the next few hours and read the delicious romance novel she’d brought with her for the evening. A small smile spread across her face as she thought about the contents of said book, more than a little eager to get to reading.

Coming to a stop outside of the Hebert girl’s room, the nurse simply glanced inside, eyes first going to the girl to make sure she was still asleep and then around the room. She stopped though, when she saw what looked like a dark figure sitting in a chair next to the Hebert girl’s bed, watching Taylor as she slept. Eyes wide, the startled nurse flicks on the light to get a better look at the intruder.

But it’s just a coat. The father must have left it behind when he was forced to leave for the evening. The nurse can see how in the right lightning, that is to say none, it might look like a person. Letting out a quiet sheepish laugh, the older woman steps into the room, actually bothering to do her full job now that she’s embarrassed herself into doing so. She checks Taylor’s vitals and finds everything in order. 

Nodding to herself, the nurse turns and leaves, turning off the light on her way out. As soon as darkness fills the room once again, the dark figure is back in the chair. Slowly, it moves, proving that it is not at all an actual coat. Whatever the shadowy thing is, it stands up and steps closer to Taylor’s hospital bed. Lifting an arm, a Get Well card is revealed to be held in its clutches. The dark figure stands the card up on Taylor’s bedside table so that it’s the first thing the sleeping girl will see in the morning.

As Taylor will find out when she wakes up, the card has a simple message in it. Stamped in black ink, one large word sits on the otherwise blank white inside of the Get Well card. 

FRIEND.

The dark figure is gone as fast as it appeared, leaving Taylor to her rest. The nurse does not see it leave, nor does anyone else. Just like they didn’t see it enter.