Latest / Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories / Guardians of Shadows: Cheddar's Mystical Bond and Unveiled Family Secrets

Transcript

Guardians of Shadows: Cheddar's Mystical Bond and Unveiled Family Secrets · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

0:14
Cheddar was my best friend. My absolute best friend.
0:19
He was my only family, too. It had just been me and Cheddar
0:24
against the world since the day I found him shivering and caked
0:28
in mud in the alley behind my house.
0:32
I cleaned him up and nursed him from a tiny handful of kitten to
0:35
a massive orange Tom half the size of me.
0:40
Cheddar was the biggest cat I ever saw.
0:42
People used to remark on it all the time.
0:45
He's the size of a dog. They'd exclaim in delight and
0:49
then usually some other stupid joke, either about how much he
0:52
ate or the size of what he left behind in the litter box.
0:57
Mostly I just rolled my eyes and smiled.
1:01
He saw me through the hardest times of my life, from high
1:04
school to college, from that crappy job in retail and both of
1:09
my breakups. Every time I reached for
1:11
Cheddar, he was there. A bright, purring, constant
1:15
presence in my life, keeping me company, supporting me, soaking
1:20
up my tears when the nights got too hard and too long.
1:25
He was there for every one of my triumphs too.
1:28
Somehow, with him at my side, I managed to graduate not only
1:32
high school, but college too, something I'd never really
1:35
imagined I'd be able to. Do he was.
1:39
There when I came home from my last shift at the store and when
1:42
we moved into our nice new apartment that overlooked the
1:44
river. And he was there the day Danny
1:48
came back. Danny was my stepbrother was my
1:53
stepbrother. I thought I'd left him and every
1:56
other reminder about those dark days behind me when I left my
2:00
hometown and never looked back. I don't know how he found me,
2:05
but I knew why. Since the day his dad married my
2:09
mom, Danny had threatened, no, promised, that he was going to
2:14
kill me. I'd say I don't know why, but I
2:17
do. Danny was unwell.
2:19
Deeply, desperately unwell. There was something really wrong
2:23
with Danny, and everyone knew it, had always known it.
2:27
But Danny was a big boy too, and everyone, including his own
2:30
father, was afraid of him. They tried to get him diagnosed
2:35
once, but Danny put an end to that real fast.
2:38
I had never done anything to Danny, but that didn't mean
2:41
anything. But Danny just liked to hurt
2:45
things. People, animals, it didn't
2:48
matter. And the smaller, more helpless
2:50
it was, the more Danny liked to hurt it.
2:54
Which I guess made me the perfect target.
2:56
He'd hated me especially, but I'd figured, hoped and prayed
3:02
to. Then once I got out of town,
3:04
he'd forget about me. Out of sight, out of mind.
3:07
You know, it's stupid and cowardly to say, but I guess
3:11
some part of my teenage mind hoped he'd find a new target.
3:15
Sick and stupid. A horrible thing to wish on
3:18
anyone. I'm not proud of it.
3:22
I've grown up a lot since then. So had Danny, I guess, and just
3:26
in a different way. He was bigger than I remember
3:29
him being. He confronted me in the parking
3:31
lot when I came home. The complex had security, but
3:34
only inside the building. They've probably fixed that now,
3:37
I imagine. I think I must have known this
3:40
day was coming, at least to some extent.
3:43
Ever since the lawyers had started calling, I knew there
3:46
had to be a reason. And every time I heard the words
3:49
life insurance and estate and a message, I had a pretty good
3:53
feeling. I knew what that reason was.
3:56
But I didn't want any of it. I wanted no part of that life,
4:00
not even the money. I'd worked hard to get to where
4:03
I was. Just me and Cheddar.
4:05
I didn't want or need any reminders of the 1st 16 years of
4:09
my life and yet looked like the reminders had found me live and
4:15
in the flesh. Go away Danny.
4:19
I muttered, clutching the little cardboard box to my chest,
4:23
wishing I hadn't left my pepper spray in the car.
4:26
My eyes felt raw and gritty. I couldn't have been in my right
4:29
mind. Or maybe I was just so upset
4:32
that I didn't care anymore. Or maybe it had been just 16
4:36
years and I wasn't a kid anymore.
4:40
I guess it amounts to the same thing because I just shouldered
4:43
past him and his stupid leering greeting.
4:47
Hey, that pissed him off. The smile melted right off of
4:51
his face. Don't walk away from me.
4:55
He tried to grab me by the shoulder, but I've been taking
4:57
self-defense classes pretty much since I left home.
5:01
I broke his hold and turned around.
5:03
I said. Go away, Danny, I repeated, very
5:07
slowly and very clearly, seeing me not afraid anymore.
5:12
I think that made him very angry.
5:14
Very, very angry. Not just pissed, but murderously
5:18
mad. He turned red and started
5:21
reaching for his pocket. A gun, I thought, my blood
5:25
turning to ice in my veins. I should have known better.
5:29
That wouldn't have been personal enough for Danny.
5:32
Slow enough for Danny. He pulled a knife instead and
5:37
lunged at me, and he was big, but slow.
5:40
I got out of the way, but the tip of the knife snagged the
5:43
bottom of the box and must have pierced the bag inside.
5:46
Powdery white ash came flying out, Exploded out actually, all
5:52
over Danny's face. We both howled, him in rage, me
5:56
in horror and grief. He was rubbing out his face with
6:01
both hands, staggering away from me, and for a brief instant I
6:05
thought I saw a shape take form out of the cloud of ash.
6:08
A cat. A big, beautiful, long haired
6:11
cat, attacking Danny, hissing and spitting and going for the
6:16
eyes. The back of Danny's heel caught
6:19
the curb. I watched him stagger, and when
6:21
he went down and heard the crack of his head against the pavement
6:25
and I knew in the bottom of my heart that Danny wasn't going to
6:28
be a problem anymore, I gathered what I could of the ashes back
6:33
into the box and called 911. Cheddar waited with me by my
6:38
side until they arrived. Technically, he's sitting on my
6:44
mantle right now, but he doesn't like to stay there.
6:47
He likes to go places with me. I know because sometimes when I
6:51
turn my head I catch a glimpse of a big beautiful orange Tom
6:55
out of the corner of my eye and I smiled because I know they say
7:00
adopting a pet is for life. No one said it was theirs.
7:10
We talked and giggled in the absence of any supervision until
7:13
the substitute teacher opened the door.
7:16
A few minutes after the morning announcements had confirmed that
7:19
Missus Pendleton was out sick, a chubby elderly woman sauntered
7:24
in. Her veiny skin sagged and
7:26
jostled with each step, and a foul stench accompanied her as
7:30
she passed me on her way to the podium.
7:34
Missus Hartfield, she etched painfully slowly on the
7:38
chalkboard. She turned to us.
7:41
Good morning, children, she said in a grainy voice.
7:45
I am so excited to be here today.
7:47
I spent 25 years teaching. First graders like you.
7:51
It's nice to be back. My friend Ryan spoke what was on
7:55
all of our minds but Missus Hartfield.
7:59
We're in the 5th grade. Please raise your hand before
8:02
speaking, child. Said Missus Hartfield.
8:06
We're. Going to do some basic reading
8:07
instruction today. Please turn to page 7.
8:11
Missus Hartfield set a textbook she carried in with her on to
8:14
the podium and flipped it open. Ryan and I exchanged A perplexed
8:18
look as we opened our math books to a page we'd already covered.
8:24
Please read aloud. With me, said Missus Hartfield,
8:27
the dog. Ran to the house.
8:29
The dog saw the child. The dog ate the child.
8:34
Missus Hartfield, said Lucy, who sat behind me.
8:37
Are you sure you're in the right classroom, Child?
8:41
Said Missus Hartfield. Please remember to raise your
8:44
hand before asking a question. Lucy raised her hand, which
8:48
Missus Hartfield promptly ignored.
8:51
I understand if. Some of these words are
8:53
difficult for you. Said Missus Hartfield as she
8:57
spoke, I noticed that she had missing teeth and those that she
9:01
did have were discolored. This may be advanced for six and
9:05
seven-year olds, but please try to read.
9:08
Along with me, she continued, even as none of us could join
9:13
her. The dog had died.
9:16
The child had wept, but the dog did not stay dead.
9:20
The dog had dug out of the grave.
9:22
The dog came home. The dog ate the child.
9:26
She paused. And looked around the classroom.
9:29
Well, she said. You all.
9:31
Certainly aren't very energetic today, are you?
9:34
She pointed at me. Boy, why don't you?
9:37
Come up here and read from my book.
9:38
I'll guide you through each word.
9:40
We can get through this passage together.
9:44
A nervous chill ran through me. I probably looked petrified.
9:48
I had no intention of obeying her instruction, child, she said
9:53
sternly. Come up here or I'll have no
9:55
choice but to notify the principal that you are refusing
9:58
to participate. I may even have to make a phone
10:01
call to your. Parents, All the warning signs
10:05
ran through my brain. I knew on an instinctual level
10:08
that something was very wrong with this person and that I
10:12
should stay as far away from her as possible.
10:15
Can I go in his place? Asked Ryan.
10:19
Missus Hartfield's eyes shifted to Ryan's seat, and a moment
10:22
later her head awkwardly turned to catch up.
10:25
Very well, she. Croaked.
10:28
A sense of relief went through me.
10:30
Our class watched in quiet suspense as Ryan slowly
10:34
approached her. He was sweaty, and he grew
10:37
visibly uncomfortable with each step.
10:39
I could only imagine how much worse her smell was up close.
10:44
Missus Hartfield handed Ryan the textbook, which I could now see
10:48
was tattered and missing portions of pages.
10:51
Then she pulled up the chair from the teacher's desk and sat
10:54
in it. Please child, come sit on my
10:57
lap. She said don't do it.
11:00
I wanted to scream at Ryan. He stood still and shook his
11:03
head violently. Missus Hartfield grabbed Ryan
11:07
and pulled him onto her. Ryan had recently started a
11:10
growth spurt and should have weighed too much for Missus
11:13
Hartfield to be comfortable. Despite this, Missus Hartfield's
11:17
face settled into a long, satisfied smile.
11:22
Ryan turned absolutely pale. I could tell that he wanted to
11:25
get away, but a combination of fear and Missus Hartfield's grip
11:30
kept him paralyzed. Missus Hartfield resumed reading
11:34
from the. Book The dog dug out of the
11:36
grave. Please child, say it with me.
11:40
The dog dug out of the grave. Ryan turned helplessly towards
11:45
the other students. Tears were in his eyes.
11:49
She's. Cold.
11:50
He's stammered. He wet his pants.
11:54
What a mess. You've made.
11:55
Screamed Missus Hartfield. How?
11:58
Dare you? Let him go.
12:00
I yelled. Ryan shoved at her as he tried
12:04
to escape from her lap and her apparently strong grip.
12:08
Missus Hartfield started to cough, as if the force from Ryan
12:11
had triggered a physical reaction within her.
12:14
Her coughs grew increasingly violent, and for a moment Missus
12:19
Hartfield appeared to have settled down.
12:21
Then, without warning, her expression turned to panic.
12:25
Ryan gazed at her with terrified eyes as her mouth opened wide.
12:30
She let out a massive groan as she vomited pink liquid all over
12:33
my friend. The disgusting chunky substance
12:37
covered his face and ran down his body as he cried out an
12:41
absolute horror. The rest of the class screamed
12:45
as we watch this unfold. As she continued to spew the
12:49
rosy liquid, her head started to tilt.
12:52
Her skin steadily shifted to the bottom right of her chin where
12:56
it formed a drooping bulge. Her eyes disconnected and
13:01
drifted to the same spot. The weight of it all pulled off
13:04
the remaining skin from her face until it all detached and fell
13:08
onto the floor as 1/2 liquidated ooze.
13:14
Her grip finally loosened, allowing Ryan to stumble away
13:18
all over. Her skin steadily departed,
13:20
melting into a pile within the large puddle of pink liquid that
13:24
had formed around her. We watched, repulsed, as the
13:29
remaining visible portions of her body disintegrated into pure
13:33
skeleton. We were soon shuffled out of the
13:37
classroom by the police. They had arrived at the school
13:40
after a body had been found in the parking lot and the car of
13:43
the real substitute sent to teach us that day.
13:47
She had been stripped of much of her skin and flesh, all of which
13:50
was later determined to have been attached to the Bony frame
13:54
of the woman who presented herself as Missus Hartfield.
14:00
We didn't go back to school for weeks.
14:03
The police asked us a lot of questions, and many of us
14:06
underwent psychiatric treatment. Ryan needed years of counseling.
14:11
His parents homeschooled him for the next two grades, and I never
14:15
understood much more about what happened until recently.
14:19
I browsed an archive of old issues of the local newspaper.
14:23
The night before Missus Hartfield showed up to teach us,
14:26
an incident had transpired in the local cemetery.
14:30
The article described how during the night, a hole appeared in
14:33
front of a headstone. It LED 6 feet under to an old
14:37
casket, which had been found empty the next morning.
14:42
The casket had belonged to a Susanna Hartfield who had passed
14:46
away in the 1970s after decades of teaching young children in
14:51
the very room where my class of 5th graders had been on that
14:54
day, forever etched into our memories.
15:00
I don't know how she regained sentience after so long, or how
15:05
what was left of her remains made it to the surface, but I do
15:09
know what drove her to steal the flesh of the poor substitute and
15:13
to try to take her place. Once a teacher, always a
15:17
teacher, as the saying goes. My freshman year of high school
15:26
began just days after my parents and I moved to a new town,
15:30
Naperville, IL. They told me about the move just
15:34
weeks before it happened. I was opposed to the idea, to
15:37
say the least. I spent my entire life in
15:40
Kentucky. It was where all my friends
15:42
were. The only reason my parents ever
15:45
wanted to move was because they were paranoid after a man a few
15:49
blocks away from us was found murdered.
15:52
This was undeniably disconcerting, but the idea of
15:55
moving away because of it was completely absurd, which is
15:59
exactly what I told my parents. But it didn't matter what I
16:02
said. They insisted that we leave as
16:04
soon as possible. They chose Naperville because it
16:08
was the town in which they'd spent their childhoods.
16:11
I was enrolled in Southview High School, the same high school
16:14
they had attended. It was my first day there.
16:18
I was eating lunch in the cafeteria and as one could
16:22
expect, I was alone. I didn't know a single person in
16:25
the entire school at the moment. This didn't matter to me, I was
16:30
in no mood to socialize. I thought about my friends back
16:34
in Kentucky. It was still summer for them as
16:37
my new school started a week earlier.
16:39
For whatever reason, they were all probably playing Xbox
16:43
together and I was missing it. I looked up to see an older boy
16:48
walking in my direction. He was probably a senior, or at
16:52
least a junior. I expected him to just walk
16:55
right past me, so I was surprised when he took the seat
16:58
across from mine. Hi, he said.
17:02
My name is Rupert. Flummoxed by his decision to
17:05
converse with me, I simply replied.
17:08
My name is Jeffrey. It was then that I noticed that
17:11
he didn't have a lunch tray. Where's your lunch?
17:14
I asked. He shrugged.
17:17
I don't need one. Do you not have money?
17:20
He shook his head. No, I'm good.
17:22
Don't worry about it, OK? I stared at him with
17:26
fascination. His look was right out of the
17:29
1980s. He wore a thick leather jacket
17:32
over a white T-shirt and had long blonde hair that he wore in
17:35
a mullet. I presume this because he wanted
17:38
to be unique, which I thought was laudable.
17:42
You new here? He asked.
17:44
Yeah, I said. My family's just moved here from
17:47
Kentucky. How do you like it so far?
17:50
He asked. I thought about my answer for a
17:52
moment and decided not to tell him how I really felt.
17:56
It's nice, he chuckled. But you'd rather be in Kentucky,
18:00
right? I nodded sheepishly, wondering
18:03
what gave it away. Moves can be that way sometimes,
18:06
said Rupert. You'll get used to it.
18:08
You got any siblings? No, I answered.
18:13
You know anyone here? No, I repeated.
18:16
Why'd you guys move? Ah, well, I rolled my eyes just
18:21
thinking about how ludicrous this answer would sound.
18:24
A guy in our neighborhood got murdered.
18:27
My parents got scared and wanted to get out of there.
18:30
So I take it they never caught the murderer?
18:31
Said Rupert. Yeah, I don't think they have.
18:35
Parents are weird, Rupert said after a brief pause.
18:39
This I could agree with. Have you ever looked into your
18:43
parents? He asked me curiously.
18:45
I was perplexed. Why?
18:48
You mean like, Google them? Yeah, something like that.
18:53
No, I answered. Why?
18:56
He shrugged again. You'd be surprised what you
18:58
might find. You should do it sometime, OK?
19:03
I said, still a bit mystified. Lunch ended shortly after.
19:08
Four hours later, I was sitting up in my room working on my math
19:11
homework. My teacher assigned a double
19:13
sided worksheet on the first day, something that had never
19:17
happened at my old school or any other school I'd been to.
19:21
The moment I finished the worksheet, I stood up and walked
19:24
to my door. I could finally go and play
19:26
Xbox. I hope that some of my friends
19:29
were online. But just before I left the room,
19:32
I remembered Rupert telling me to look up my parents.
19:35
I couldn't deny that I was a little curious.
19:38
I decided to do a quick search and walked over to my computer.
19:42
Looking back, it would have made more sense to search for them
19:45
individually, but I googled them simultaneously, typing in my
19:49
mother's name followed by my father's.
19:53
The first link I found was to an article about a 17 year old boy
19:56
who had been murdered. Both surprised and intrigued, I
20:00
clicked on it. It was an old article from 1987.
20:04
The first paragraph explained that the boy that had been found
20:07
stabbed to death in a forest in Naperville, IL.
20:11
This made me think for a moment. My parents had both turned 50
20:15
earlier this year, so it quickly occurred to me that both of them
20:18
would have been 17 in 1987, going to high school in
20:22
Naperville. It was the next paragraph that
20:27
made my blood run cold. After reading it, I learned that
20:30
my mother and father, the people I had lived with and known my
20:34
entire life, had been interrogated on speculation of
20:38
first degree murder. They were the last people to
20:41
have been seen with the boy, but they were never prosecuted due
20:45
to lack of evidence. I sat there in shock for a good
20:49
5 minutes questioning everything I knew about my parents.
20:53
I told myself several times that they were not murderers and the
20:57
fact that they had been with the victim the same day he was
20:59
killed was purely coincidental. I became more confident that
21:04
this was the truth and finally looked back at the article to
21:08
see if there was any more information, which there was.
21:12
At the bottom of the page was a picture of the murdered boy, it
21:17
was Rupert. When I tell people online, they
21:26
always jump to these three conclusions.
21:30
One, they're ghosts, 2, I have a really classy attic, and three,
21:36
I'm lying, but I promise I'm not when lie to you.
21:41
My parents are selfless. They do this for my well-being.
21:45
I was a bit of a Rascal as a toddler, my mom used to say I
21:48
did enough wandering for a lifetime in those two years
21:51
alone, so I don't really roam around all that much nowadays.
21:55
They wanted to make sure that the space I do have is all my
21:58
own. So a long time ago they decided
22:01
to let me have this entire floor all to myself.
22:04
I've been here for like 20 years now.
22:07
I grew up here, I'm safe here. They know this, they just want
22:12
to keep me safe and honestly I love them to the world and back
22:16
for that reason alone. I was about 17 when I heard my
22:20
mom's voice through the door upstairs.
22:23
It was hard to hear from my spot, but she sounded so happy.
22:27
She was pregnant with my little brother.
22:29
I could hear the tears in her voice when she described him.
22:32
I'll be happy if he comes out healthy.
22:34
But I'll be. Happier if he comes out smart.
22:37
She'd joke. And I was so happy for her, for
22:40
Dad, for all of us. They deserved it.
22:45
I wondered after our conversation if my brother would
22:48
come live in the house with me when he got older.
22:51
I was a little annoyed that I'd have to share my space, but Mom
22:54
and Dad said that I didn't have to let my brother stay with me
22:56
if I didn't feel like it. I was so relieved that they saw
23:00
it from my perspective. You guys get it, right?
23:03
I'm way older. It would be weird to constantly
23:06
have to censor myself and like, act super different just because
23:10
I had to live in the same room as a little kid.
23:13
This house doesn't have much. It's a pretty open floor plan.
23:17
It's not like I could hideaway whenever I wanted to, you know,
23:21
do some adult stuff. So Jake joined our family
23:25
finally. I loved when they brought him
23:27
down to visit. Even better, Mom got her wish.
23:30
Only wandering Jake ever did was from the house to the attic.
23:34
He's still a little smarty now, too.
23:37
Five years old, and he had the layout of the house memorized
23:40
like the back of his hand. Last night, he comes down to
23:43
visit with some dinner. He's still at that age where he
23:46
stumbles through some words, but his sentences are usually clear
23:49
as day. And then Mom and Dad went
23:52
upstairs and got the pictures. I had to laugh at that.
23:56
What? Upstairs, Jake can't get any
23:59
more upstairs than the attic, but I let him continue with his
24:02
story of looking at old photographs of our family and
24:05
laughing on Mom's laugh. He stops and I look up from my
24:09
plate. He fiddles with the chain.
24:11
I ignore the chafe against my wrist.
24:14
So I asked Mom and Dad if I could go outside to play and
24:17
then got really mad. No kidding, Jake, but I let him
24:21
continue. I just said I was kind of bored
24:24
at home. I didn't mean to sound rude, and
24:27
he probably didn't, I didn't either back then, but it's never
24:32
too early to learn that you shouldn't throw a lit match in a
24:34
loving home. He looked up at me for a moment
24:37
with those adorable eyes, quivering lips, the whole 9
24:41
yards before casting his gaze down again.
24:45
And mom said if I said anything like that again, I could just
24:48
stay in the basement here and be like you.
24:51
I'm a bit selfish, I know. I love my personal space, but
24:56
honestly, I wouldn't be mad if Jake joined me, even if he does
25:00
call this place the basement. It would suck to take care of
25:04
him those first few months and I would miss hearing his stupid
25:08
little kid voice, but it gets lonely sometimes.
25:13
I told her no. He added after a minute.
25:16
He picks at the rust on the chain until I shake his hand
25:19
off. Why does he always call this
25:21
place the basement? I told her I wouldn't wander.
25:25
I promised I wouldn't. Pinky promised.
25:28
She was so happy. She said she wishes you were as
25:31
smart as me. He looked up once more.
25:36
She said if you. Were you could have kept.
25:38
Your legs and tongue too.