Lighthouse Horror Podcast - I Lived In A Town Where The Dead DON'T DIE | Scary Stories

Episode Date: December 16, 2023

Have you ever been to Point Pine where the dead don't die? I have...        Story from Gabie Rivera Make sure to check out more of their work at u/EaPAtbp      Original Post: Every month a parade would pass through my hometown, but we were never allowed to look at it : r/nosleep   Original YouTube link: I Lived In A Town Where The Dead DON'T DIE           For more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel: Lighthouse Horror | YouTube  Patreon: Lighthouse Horror | Patreon Merch: lighthousehorror.com  Sound Effects: Freesound Zapsplat  Music: Lucas King - YouTube Myuu - YouTube  Incompetech Thank you for listening to this scary story! If you enjoyed this new creepypasta story, please check out some of my other horror stories. We'll be uploading new episodes every week, featuring ghost stories, haunted encounters, mysteries, true stories, creepypasta, and anything supernatural and paranormal. Don't miss out on the thrill and suspense that await you in each episode!

Every month a parade would pass through my hometown, but we were never allowed to look at it. I've lived in Arizona for the past 15 years of my life, but I had a very different life before that. I used to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't even tell you what side of the country it's on, or if it's even in the United States. It was a small forest town with dense trees in all directions. But where exactly this particular forest is, well, your guess is as good as mine. The only thing I know for certain is the name of the town. Point Pine. I lived in Point Pine for the first ten years of my life before we moved this summer after my 10th birthday. Once we left, my parents never spoke of it again. In fact, they acted as if it never even

existed. And to them, I guess it didn't. I don't really blame them either. I caught on pretty quickly and realized that they were trying their hardest to forget the memory of Point Pine. Whenever kids at school asked me where I was from, I simply told them I was from a small town that they'd never heard of. I also learned early on that any questions about Point Pine would be met with punishments. A few months after we moved to Arizona, My older sister Felicity had a school project about family history. She did it on our life in Point Pine and wrote about some of the things she remembered from there.

Our mom found her project the day before she turned it in and burned it in the backyard. When Felicity came home that afternoon, my parents took her up to her bedroom where I heard Felicity crying out every few minutes in what I assume was pain. I said nothing. And from that moment on, neither one of us mentioned Point Pine again. Except for me. Right now, I've decided to tell all of you about it. I don't know what's causing me to remember all these things that I'd locked up in the deepest

parts of my brain. Maybe it's the fact that my father died about a week ago. Since he died, my mom has remained silent. Hasn't said a word to anyone. She hasn't even cried. In fact, she ended up sending my father's remains off to God knows where my money is on point pine, although I'd be crazy to ask. I've started recalling random little things about the town that at the time seemed like normal

everyday things that we as residents were all used to. Now, as I look back, I realize that they're not as normal as I thought back then. One peculiar thing about Point Pine had to do with a Point Pine Bakery. Whenever you went in there, the owner, Mr. Terrance, always knew what you were about to order. I remember that kids having some sort of rumor about Mr. Terrence being a magician who could read mines. Also, whenever you paid for your baked goods, you had to tip Mr. Terrance with an old item of clothing that you had grown out of.

There was a giant box up by the register that everyone tossed old baby clothing and shoes into. That was one of the odd things, although you'll come to realize that it won't seem that weird in comparison to some of the other things about Point Pine. Every year on your birthday, you had to get blood work done. I don't think anyone really knew what the point of this was, or if they were actually looking for something. We just all knew that our birthdays were. would start off with a trip to the Point Pine Labs. Everyone had to be up at 8.13 a.m.

There was a system of speakers placed around the town like an amusement park or something, and at 8.13 a.m. without fail, the wailing alarm sound would ricochet through the neighborhoods, waking everybody up. This was followed by parents running to wake up their children and get them out of bed as quickly as possible, like the house was on fire. or something. Sometimes I expected it to be. All the Point Pine schools were placed in different areas of the town. Point Pine Elementary was towards the east side. Point Pine Middle School was in the west. Point Pine High was in the dead center of town. And Point Pine University was up on a small hill towards the south.

If you hadn't noticed by now, every place in town was named Point Pine. The Point Pine Cafe, Point Pine Mall, Point Pine Grocery, etc. Certainly, one of the weirdest things by far that took place in Point Pine was the Point Pine Monthly Parade. It happened every month, without fail. It was never on the same date, and each month a student from Point Pine High was chosen to be in it. The weird thing about this parade was that we weren't allowed to watch it go back.

by, not out on the streets, not from the windows, and not even on television. That was one of the most enforced rules you must never, under any circumstance. Look at the parade. In fact, for the most part, we weren't even allowed outside when the parade passed through. We always knew when the parade was about to start, because it always happened the same way. You would hear a chorus of voices, like a church choir, singing a melody. It wasn't a familiar one that I knew. I was only familiar with it in the sense that I heard it once a month. It sounded like it could be from a nursery rhyme, or something similar.

The voices seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It was like they were coming from the sky, the ground, the trees, the buildings, like everything in Point Pine was singing. Once you heard the first note, you had five minutes to get inside a house or a building that had locks on the doors. This might come as a surprise, but in Point Pine, not many buildings contained locks. So, if you happened to be out and about on the street when the singing started, you had about three options on the places you could go. One of the schools, the staff break room in the Point Pine Bar, or the fridge in the Point Pine Pizza Shop. One year in the month of August, my friend Lee and I decided that we were going to break the rules

and not go inside when the parade passed. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised that kids didn't do this more often, considering that, well, when you tell kids that they must absolutely never do something, they often do that exact thing. Since we didn't know when the parade was coming, where it started or the exact path that it took around town, we decided the smartest thing to do would be to wait in the forest near the Point Pine Library until the parade eventually came down that street. So we basically decided to spend about half of the month of August hanging out near or around the library.

Around the third week of the month, while we were sitting on the steps of the library talking about some random things that aren't important, we heard the music start. Lee and I looked at each other and then took off running into the trees while everyone else raced to the nearest school. We went far enough into the forest that someone on the street wouldn't see us, but stayed close enough so that we were still able to see a part of the road. We waited for a while, whispering to each other and then shushing one another as we waited for the infamous parade to pass. This year, my sister's friend Reed was chosen to work on the parade. She was a few years older than my sister, but they were friends because Reed used to live next

door to us when we were younger. We were crouching in the bushes and leaves when we heard the chorus of voices getting louder and therefore closer. "'Dude, I totally see it,' Lee hissed. I straightened my back a little in my crouched position to see what Lee was seeing. I was always a short kid, even now I'm shorter than most guys my age, or any age really, so Lee always pretty much towered over me. I can't see anything, I said, shifting my position. Shhh, they might hear us.

Lee hissed. I stopped moving and instead waited for them to get closer where they were being. bound to pass right in front of my line of sight. Oh no! Oh crap! Suddenly, Lee dove to the ground, landing in the fetal position, with his head cradled in his hands. What?

I asked, looking from him to the street. I saw her. I saw the girl! He exclaimed. Read, I asked, looking over to try to spot her. Lee grabbed me and slammed me down to the ground. Ow! What was that for?

I asked. You don't want to look at it, Lee replied. I noticed that for the first time in all the years I'd known him, Lee looked absolutely terrified. I turned my back on the parade and sat down to look at Lee instead. What did you see? I whispered. Those things, they did something to her. They're eating her, Cody, but she doesn't even care.

I looked at Lee, who still had his head in his hands, and he was crying now. I sat with my back to the parade, no longer wanting to see. I heard the singing get louder. Cody! I heard the voices calling. Don't look, Lee whispered. Cody, Cody. Now the voice sounded like Reed.

Look at us, Cody. I shut my eyes. The voices went on for a few minutes longer, and at one point, Lee started wailing. I kept my eyes shut the entire time. After that, it moved along. and continued its way through town. Once we began to hear everyone come out of their hiding places, I stood up and leaned down to help Lee get up.

Once he stood up, he kept his head down. Lee, what's wrong? I asked. I could hear him sniffling. Lee. He finally responded as he lifted his head. It took my eyes. I will never forget the dark bleeding holes in Lee's face and the cuts around his skin.

I threw up in the forest for a good three minutes before I was able to help lead Lee out of the forest. A few adults saw us and got our parents who came and got us right away. The day after that, my family moved out of Point Pine. I never knew what became of Lee after that day. Minutes after we left, my parents acted like Point Pine never existed. It was never discussed, and I never had the nerve to ask about Lee again. As far as I know, Lee was the only person who ever saw the parade, and he was never able to see anything else after that.

I don't know if Point Pine still exists. I'd like to go check it out again, but even if I knew where it was or how to get there, I don't think I'd ever go back. I have a feeling that I wouldn't exactly get a warm welcome. Although I can't shake the thought that my parents were somehow still connected to the town, even after all those years. Every 13th of the month, a new apartment appears in my building. I inherited Point Pine Oaks from my grandfather after my father wanted nothing to do with it.

I, on the other hand, was broke and in need of a place to stay and a job. And well, beggars can't be choosers. So that's the answer to the question that I get asked any time that I'm out and about on the streets of our town. How on earth did you get stuck with that place? Everyone can see what Point Pine Oaks is, which is an apartment building that is six stories tall, with 12 apartments on each floor. The outside of the building looks pretty normal. It's just a brick building at the end of Breyer Road, which is a cul-de-sac that contains

no other buildings on the street except for Point Pine Oaks. My grandfather bought the building in late 2013. It had been abandoned for over three decades, and the town was eager for someone to buy it. It became his passion project, and the building soon became the biggest apartment building in all of Point Pine. Any resident of Point Pine knows that the Oaks are anything but normal, however. For starters, no one ever decides to move in. If people want an apartment, they have to go all the way to the opposite side of town where the apartment complex is.

You see, people don't move into the Oaks. They just kind of appear. Every 13th of the month, a new apartment appears until each floor has 12 of them. And then, the following year, a new floor appears to accommodate the next 12 apartments. Oh, and I suppose I should also mention, none of the residents are human, at least not normal living humans. My grandfather made it very clear to me that humans do not live in place. Point Pine Oaks, with the exception of the owner, which is now me. He never explained to me why humans are not allowed in the Oaks, and I never really asked

because it just felt kind of like the rule that you follow without asking any questions. The entire first floor houses people who have died outside of the town. You see, any time a prior resident of Point Pine dies, they wake up again here in Pointe Point Pine. Usually they're put in some secluded house up in the mountains, but for reasons unknown, they all ended up here at the Point Pine Oaks in 2014. The second floor houses the creatures with eyes that are too wide, teeth that are too sharp, and skin that is too green. They first appeared in Point Pine in 2015 and have been in charge of the farmers' market since. They're relatively nice and tend to mind their own business, but that doesn't mean that they

don't still freak me out every time I see them in the building, with their incredibly long arms dragging on the floor. On the third floor is where the collectors live. The leaders of the collectors is 10-year-old Mary Lou Birmingham. Mary Lou is the one who collects children's teeth. Of course, she doesn't take them right out of their mouths, that would be horrifying. She sneaks into their homes after their baby teeth fall out and takes them from under their pillows instead, like the tooth fairy.

Most of the collectors are children, with the exception of Old Man Jones, who is an old man. Some of the children collect dead bugs, others collect less unsettling things like flowers, some collect the dirt from graves in the cemetery. On the fourth floor, live all the people who died in 2017 when the bell tower appeared in Windsor Park. No one ever figured out what the deal was with that bell tower, but exactly 12 people died that year, as soon as they saw it. Once the people of Point Pine picked up on the pattern, they stopped going into Windsor Park. Of course, after that, the bell on the tower would just ring every month and still manage to kill more people. But that's a different story.

On the fifth floor are the invisible vampires, but we don't talk about them. The sixth floor appeared this year, and so far the tenants of that floor were not of one specific species, and they don't seem to have anything in common. The first family to appear has no mouths and communicate by somehow talking inside my head. In February, one of the sacrifices from the Point Pine Parade showed up. In March, it was a headless man. April brought a family of cuckooys that almost gave me a heart attack the first time I saw them.

They were by far the most horrifying residents of the building with their huge red eyes. that rattled around in their skulls and their decaying black skin that was crawling with maggots. Upon opening their mouths, the building shook with a horrible screeching sound that was like nails on a chalkboard at 600% volume. In May, a seemingly normal-looking family moved in, which terrified me just a bit more than the cuckooies had until they invited me to dinner, and I watched their lower jaws dropped to their shoulders as each one ate an entire raw chicken in one bite. June brought a demon who would routinely set fires in the building, but other than that,

it appeared to stay out of everyone else's way. Last month brought the Wendigows, which were by far the hardest to deal with. We had to come up with an agreement that they would only eat the undead folks on the first floor, since they would just wake up in their apartments again the next day. Therefore, they wouldn't technically be hurting anybody. Today, the new apartment didn't appear until noon. This was odd because they usually appear right at midnight on the 13th. I stood on the sixth floor, staring at the empty wall until a door suddenly appeared.

Apartment number 68. I took a few deep breaths to prepare myself for whatever hideous monster would answer the door and then lifted my hand to knock. Coming. Someone called from inside. I heard footsteps approach, and then the door opened in front of me. Hi. There was a woman standing in the apartment.

She looked normal enough, tall and blonde, with a tattoo of a rose on her left forearm. Uh, hi. I'm the owner of the building, the landlord. My name is Eric. I extended my hand out, bracing myself for some sort of. of heat or coldness or shock. I'm Gwen. Nice to meet you. She shook my hand with a strong grip. It was a normal handshake, but I wasn't going to relax just yet. I needed to give it a few minutes to know what exactly these new residents were. Oh, come in. I'll introduce you to my family.

I slowly followed her into the apartment. I looked around. It seemed pretty normal. Then again, all the apartments seem normal. It's the things that live inside that aren't normal. Hey, guys, come out here. Gwen called into the apartment. Would you like some water? She asked. Oh, no thanks. I replied. I turned at the sound of footsteps to see two kids and another woman walk out into the kitchen. This is my wife, Laura, and our kids, Kimberly and Christopher. Nice to meet you. I stuck her hand out and I shook it. Again, it was normal. I'm Eric. I'm the owner of the building. I replied. Nice to meet you. There was a brief moment of awkward silence. So, uh, do you have any questions? I asked.

The kids took off as I stood there with Gwen and Laura. Oh yeah, so what are the rules? Are we allowed to, you know, paint the walls and hang stuff up? Gwen asked. Oh, yeah, you can decorate this place however you want. I replied, awesome, she exclaimed. So if you don't mind me asking, what are you? I asked, fidgeting with my hands. Excuse me? Laura asked.

What are you? I don't mean to be offensive or anything. I just like to know. Laura and Gwen exchanged looks. Like, lesbians? Are you allowed to ask that? Gwen asked, narrowing her eyebrows. No, no, I mean, like, what are you?

I know you're not human. Laura laughed. Not human. What do you think we are? Like mythical creatures? Well, I don't know. That's why I'm asking. I mean, your neighbors are Wendigows.

And there's a family of cuckooies down the hall. I pointed out the door. Is this some kind of joke? Is it because we're new? Gwen asked. No, I replied, confused. Well, then, we're just regular humans. Laura chuckled awkwardly.

I stared at them. Haven't you ever seen a human before? Not a regular one. At least not in this building. Okay, now you're freaking me out, Gwen said. Do you know where you are? I asked. Well, sure.

We're in Colorado, right? No, this isn't Colorado. What do you mean? Where are we then? Point Pine, I replied. Where? You're in Point Pine. It's a small town in the middle of nowhere.

Laura ran to the window in the living room and pulled the curtains back and gasped. What is it? Gwen asked, turning around. Their window had a view of some of the buildings in the down below, along with a giant sign right outside. Welcome to Point Pine. Population. Unknown.

I don't understand. How did we get here? I shrugged. I shrugged. I don't really know how people get here. They sort of just show up. Okay. Then how do we get to Colorado? Laura asked, looking away from the window. You don't. I replied. What do you mean? You can't willingly leave Point Pine once you're here. Everyone who leaves gets banished. And even then, when you die out there, you just wake up here and you're stuck again." Gwen sighed, and Laura ran her hands through her black hair.

So you don't know why we're here? Laura asked. I shook my head. But if you really are just human, then this can't be good. After a few minutes of silence, I left the apartment and decided to go outside to get some fresh air. I stepped under the elevator and pressed the button to the first floor. I got off and made my way down to the doors, stopping as I reached out to open it. I looked down at the watch on my wrist. It was still noon. But that wasn't possible. I'd been up in the apartment for at least 20 minutes. But that wasn't the only thing that was wrong. It was pitch black outside. I couldn't even see the sidewalk right outside the door, or the giant tree that was a few feet in front of the building.

I pressed my forehead against the glass, squinting to see if I could make out something in the darkness. Suddenly, someone crashed right into the glass, causing me to jump back at least a few feet in fright. Holy shit, I gasped. Hey, open the door! I walked closer and realized that I recognized the person who was outside. It was Lee.

Everyone knew who he was since he had lost his eye. eyes to the Point Pine Parade years ago. Lee? Open the door. I had heard that he'd gotten his eyes back at the farmer's market, and now that I was seeing him, I could tell that it was true. I reached out to open the door, but it was stuck. I tried again, pulling on it as hard as I could, but it didn't budge.

It stuck, I said. Suddenly, Lee went flying backward. I watched as the darkness lifted and the sun came out again. I looked down at my watch, still noon. When I looked back up, I found myself standing in the hallway of the sixth floor again as apartment number 68 appeared in front of me once again. I reached out and knocked. Coming, someone called from inside. Footsteps approached and then the door opened in front of me. Hi. Gwen?

I asked. Yeah. Who are you? I'm Eric. We just spoke, I said. I'm sorry. You must have me confused for someone else. I didn't reply, staring into the apartment as Laura and the kids came out.

That was at least an hour ago, but the same chain of events keeps repeating every few minutes, and the The time has not moved past noon. I don't know how to undo it. I don't even know what it is. I'm pretty sure I know what's causing it, though. Humans shouldn't live in point pine oaks. There's a new guy in town, and we don't like him. We really don't know when he got here.

He was just here this morning, although I guess he could have gotten here sometime last night, Or even earlier today, but of course we wouldn't know since we don't wake up until 8.13 a.m. I guess if he got here before then, he would have snuck in unnoticed. We don't like him. I can't speak for everybody, but everyone who I have spoken to would agree. We aren't too fond of strangers popping in out of the blue. It makes us nervous. How did he find us? We don't know why he's here, although I've heard that he's been claiming to him. claiming that he's from here. Still, he's been out there in the outside world for way too long. He's new to us, even if we aren't new to him.

I heard someone say that his name was Cody. I don't know anyone named Cody, and I've lived here for over ten years. I first saw him while I was on my morning run. He was walking up Breyer Road, which leads to Point Pine Oaks. And I stopped for a second, watching him. That's how I knew that he wasn't from here. Anyone who's from here would know that the Point Pine Oaks has been stuck in a time loop for the past four months. They'd also know that the Point Pine Oaks doesn't take guests, at least not guessed,

to walk in and ask for a room. I stood on the corner until he walked back down the road. What are you doing? I called. That didn't used to be here, he gestured towards the Oaks. Yeah? I'm assuming it's not a normal apartment building. He said walking closer to me.

Right? I'm looking for someone. Do you think you can help me? I looked around the empty street. I don't know you. Yeah, I haven't been back here in 15 years. Gosh, that's a long time. Not that much has changed, though.

He chuckled. I said nothing. Anyway, I'm looking for my dad. He died about seven months ago. Well, if he's dead, then why are you looking for him? Don't you know where he is? In the ground somewhere, no? He stared at me.

Everyone knows you never really leave Point Pine. He was right. But I wasn't going to help him. Sorry, I wouldn't even know where to start looking. I replied. That was a lie. I knew exactly where to start looking. He was probably in one of the houses up in the mountains or in the oaks.

Oh, that's fine. I'll go find some people that I know. They should still be here. Have fun with your walk. I watched as he walked away towards the center of town where most of the shops were. He stopped a few feet away and slowly turned back to look at me. Hey, has the parade happened this month? He asked.

It made me nervous that he knew about that. No, I said. He mumbled something that I didn't quite catch and continued walking. I was too anxious to finish my run, so I went home instead. I heard Cody's back. My father was on the phone as I walked into the kitchen. Haven't seen that boy in years, and suddenly he just manages to show up here. Crazy, ain't it?

He huffed. He looked up and saw me. I'll call you back. How was your run? Who's Cody? Just a boy. Is it cold out? I met him.

Cody. I met him on my run. He sighed. He's looking for his father. Right. Is he that Cody? I asked. I could tell he didn't want to talk about it.

I'm going to the farmer's market. I said instead. There were a lot of people around today, more than usual, at least. I walked around a few stands, trying my best to avoid the creature's green skin and the wide eyes and the sharpest which was hard since they were in charge of the farmer's market. I was at a produce stand. When I saw Cody again, everyone got quiet and started whispering among themselves. I hid behind a wooden pole before he saw me. I didn't want to be seen speaking to him. Reed. Everyone looked towards Cody as he walked up to Reed, who was in the middle of buying

something. Cody? So she did know him, which meant he was telling the truth. He was from Point Pine. That still didn't seem to make anyone any friendlier towards him, though. I thought you... The parade. I knew Reed had been in the parade years ago, and had only appeared in February of this year, in the Point Pine Oaks. Yeah, I'm back, she said. I'm looking for my father. Do you have any idea where I could find him?

He's at the Oaks. First floor. I see him from time to time. The Oaks, he repeated. Yeah, but you can't go in there. I figured. I can tell him for you, though. I live there. Reed said. What about Lee? He asked. He's somewhere around here. Reed replied.

She was right. He was. Somewhere being the time loop at the Oaks. I wondered why she didn't specify that. I looked around and I noticed that no one else was speaking. It was dead silent. Cody and Reed must have noticed too, because they stopped talking and looked around. I don't think they like me much.

Cody whispered. He was right. We didn't. I saw him again later that day, as I was leaving the Point Pine Library. I'd just returned some books that my father had checked out on gardening, and I saw him talking to Mr. Terence outside the Point Pine Bakery. I stood on the steps of the library, watching. They seemed to be having a normal conversation.

Mr. Terence was laughing at something that Cody had said, and it made me weary of him. I already didn't trust Cody, and now I'd have to be. don't trust Mr. Terrence. They continued to talk, and I noticed other bystanders giving them weird looks. I decided that it was time for me to leave, and began walking down the steps and onto the sidewalk. That's when the chorus of voices started singing. I took off running immediately, as did the rest of the people standing around. I knew everyone would head for the Point Pine bar first, which meant it would get full and I'd only have to go back and find somewhere else to hide. The Point Pine Middle School was my best

bed. It was only about two minutes away if I ran fast enough, and so I took off in that direction. I ran as the familiar melody filled my ears. It seemed like it was coming from all around me, above me, and below me. I ran faster, seeing the school in the distance. I threw open the doors and walked in. There were only about 20 or so people in here, but I knew it would get full in no time. I sat down on the floor, trying to catch my breath. Marcus, can you watch the doors for me? The parade starts in exactly three minutes, make sure you lock them and get everyone inside before then. I got back up as Mrs. Monroe handed me the keys. I walked over to the door, propping it open with my body as people ran inside

the school. I could see more and more people coming down the street, frantically running as the start of the parade got closer and closer. Two minutes left. The crowd of people had thinned out. Now there were only a few people trickling in at the last minute. One minute left. I could see someone coming in the distance, and I squinted, trying to make out who it was. Fifty seconds. As the person got closer, I saw that it was none. other than Cody. Forty seconds. I began to close the door.

Twenty seconds. Cody picked up his speed, shouting for me to wait. I kept closing the door slowly. Wait, please! Cody shouted. I watched as he got closer and closer, and time seemed to slow down as he desperately ran towards the door. I looked at the time.

10 seconds. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5. I shut the door and locked it. 4. Cody banged on the small glass window. Let me in. Please. He cried.

3. I let the small curtain fall and covered up the window. 2. Come on. 1. I heard his footsteps as he ran away, but it was too late. There was nowhere else to go now. The parade had already began.

Who was that? Mrs. Monroe asked. The new guy. I replied. She stayed quiet and so did everyone else in the school. Like I said, we don't like him. The day the angel came. The rooftop of the Point Pine Hospital overlooks the town in the surrounding woods.

In the distance, you can see the sign that welcomes you to Point Pine, although it's too far away to read from up here. Not that it matters, I already know what it says anyway. Welcome to Point Pine. People usually come up here to smoke. I don't smoke, but I like coming up here and looking down at all the people in town who are walking around, running errands and whatnot. They look so small from up here, like ants, and sometimes I imagine a giant foot coming down from the sky and squishing everything in town.

It's gruesome, I know, but I've always had an overactive imagination. Besides, it gets boring being in a hospital bed all the time. The beeping of the machines and the smell of antiseptic is enough to make anyone go crazy after a while. So I look at like to get away for some time. Usually that means about 30 minutes before a nurse realizes that I'm missing. I'm sure they know where I am by now, and I think they like to give me some time before they come up to get me because they normally don't show up until about an hour after I get up here. I'm not sure if they're allowed to do that, but I appreciate it nonetheless. But enough about me, this story isn't about me, at least not really. It's about the people. It's about the

people of Point Pine, and it's about Apollo. I met Apollo a few hours ago, on the rooftop of the Point Pine Hospital. I'd been up there for no more than 15 minutes when I suddenly noticed him standing a few feet away from me, leaning over the edge, staring at the town below us. He was dressed in all black, including a black hat that covered most of his face and dirty, worn-out boots. I was startled because I hadn't noticed anyone else out here when I came up. It was like he had just appeared out of nowhere and given the number of odd things that occur

in this town, I wouldn't be all that surprised if he had. He was smoking a cigarette and the wind was blowing the smoke directly into my face. I stifled a cough and turned the other way. Don't know what it is yet, do they? I looked over at him, but he continued to look down. down and smoke. Again, it blew into my face, and I tried not to cough. Excuse me? I asked. He turned to face me, but I couldn't make out the top half of his face due to the shadow caused by his hat.

The doctors. They don't know what you've got. He replied, taking another drag from his cigarette. This time when he exhaled and the smoke blew into my face, I coughed. He He had an accent, but I couldn't quite place it. Sorry. He tossed the cigarette on the floor and used his heel to put it out. How do you know? I asked, after a few minutes of silence. Because I know a lot of things about a lot of people.

I stepped closer to him. Like what? He turned back towards the town below us and pointed off to the right. see that man over there in the brown coat walking out of the library. I squinted and found the man that he was talking about. However, I couldn't tell who it was from up here. He killed his five-year-old son about two months ago and let his wife go to prison for it. That's awful, I said. People are pretty awful, yeah. You know Mr. Terrance. The psychic baker, he asked.

Yeah. Is he a murderer too? He shook his head. No, no. He's one of the good ones. But his mother used to torture his sister when they were younger. Mr. Terrence has a sister. I asked.

Had? She's dead. Has been for a few years. Suicide. There were. a few minutes of silence as we watched people walking through town. Who are you? I asked finally. Apollo. He replied. I nodded. And you're Daphne. I nodded again. How do you know all these

things? I asked. He sighed. Let's just say, I'm not exactly human. He replied. He replied, he lied after a few seconds. So what are you? An angel. An angel. Yep. An angel. So why are you here in Point Pine?

I asked. Someone is going to do something really bad soon. I need to be here for that. I thought about all the bad things that happen here. Things like the parade and the time loop that lasted a few months. How bad? I asked. Worse than the parade and worse than the time loop. I stared at the people below us, tiny, like ants, walking around town.

I thought again about a giant foot coming down from the sky and destroying everything. What could be worse than the things we'd already seen? See that car? The one driving into the woods. I nodded as I watched the tiny white car become even smaller as it drove. There's a woman in the car. She's going to kill herself. Why?

He turned to look at me, but this time I could see his face. His eyes and mouth were like two glowing slits in his face. I backed up. Because her daughter's sick, and the doctors don't know what it is. But they do know that she's dying, and that woman would rather run away from her problems and never face them again. What? I whispered.

The door to the roof swung open, and two nurses came out. When I looked back as they dragged me inside, Apollo was nowhere to be found, and the The only thing that was left of him was the cigarette he'd thrown on the ground. The nurses told me, I was dying. They said my mom wanted to tell me. They couldn't get a hold of her. But someone saw her steal a car, a white car, and drive off. I don't think this is the bad thing that Apollo was talking about.

It's starting to get gray outside. The sun is getting dimmer and dimmer as the minutes pass. I can tell that something is going to happen. Everyone is acting jittery and anxious. The nurses have started to ask everyone to keep the blind shut, but I've gotten up and taken a few peaks. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. The temperature has dropped significantly inside the hospital, and I heard someone say that

the trees in the woods have fused together to form a giant wall. wall around town. Not that anyone could leave town before that anyway, but now they can't even venture out into the woods. I didn't believe Apollo before, but I guess he was right. I got out of bed once when no one was looking because they were too preoccupied with a man next door who was coughing blood. I walked over to the window and pulled back the blinds just a bit. I was face to face with Apollo, who was floating in mid-air, his eyes glowing. Behind him were dozens of other angels. I didn't tell anyone what I saw. I simply closed the blinds and got back into bed. If I listen really closely, I can hear the worried conversations of the other patients.

The nurses seem to be the most worried, though. They keep Keep whispering to one another and looking into my room. I heard one of them say that I'm probably going to die soon, maybe within the next few days. I would be relieved if it weren't for the fact that nobody ever really leaves Point Pine. Room 813 Point Pine's newest attraction. I woke up at 8.11 a.m. and I wasn't in my room. But that isn't the first thing I focused on. I was more worried about the fact that I was awake before the 813 alarm.

No one was supposed to be awake before the 813 alarm. And yet, here I was. And not only was I awake, but I was in a room that was not my own. I didn't know how I got here. I also had no idea where I was in general. It was obviously a hotel room, but this wasn't the Point Pine Hotel. I sat up in the king-sized bed and looked around at the dark red carpet and the thick golden curtains that covered the window, which took up most of the wall to my left. I was too scared to move until it was 8.13, thinking that this was some trap to find people who were breaking the rules. At 813, I heard the town alarm. Only the sound was muffled, coming from outside and not inside the room, which was odd. I got out of bed and slipped my feet into my slippers, slowly getting up and walking over

to the window to pull the curtain back a few inches. I could see the town below me, the bakery, the high school, and the hospital a few blocks down. I realized I was pretty high up, but also I realized that this building was right where Windsor Park used to be. The strange thing, however, was that Windsor Park was here yesterday. And I knew this because I passed it on my evening jog. So how did an entire building appear within a few hours?

And how did I end up in this building when I lived across town? A soft knock on my door distracted me for a second, and I walked across the room and towards the door. Yes? I called. Room service. A voice replied. I opened the door to see a person standing outside. It was difficult for me to tell their

gender and their shaved head made it a bit harder. They were wearing a simple black uniform and standing behind a cart that contained food and a French press. Uh, I didn't order this, I said. Courtesy of the hotel, they replied in a monotone voice. Right, about that. I began as they pushed the cart into the room. What is this place? And how did I get here? In Point Pine.

They didn't answer and simply uncovered the plates of food and walked back out. I stared at the food and eventually decided to grab a few berries off one of the plates and then walked out into the hall to investigate the rest of the hotel while I ate the berries. They were incredibly sweet and I felt like I was eating candy instead of food. fruit. As I closed the door, I saw the room number on the small golden plaque. 813. Weird, I mumbled as I began walking down the hallway, noticing that the person from earlier had vanished entirely. I walked up to the elevator, which opened as I stepped in front of it, and I stepped inside, pressing the button to the lobby. I stood silently inside the elevator, watching the floor

numbers decrease as it went down. Finally, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. I stepped out into the lobby, which had a very simple, less lavish decor than the room did. There was a big wooden desk to the left of the elevator, but nobody behind it. I walked closer and saw a handwritten note on the desk. Back in eight minutes. Deciding that I didn't want to wait around, I made my way towards the hotel doors and pushed them open. I found that they were extremely heavy, and I had to lean on them and push them open using all of my body weight. The slippers that I wore aren't much help, and they slid against the floor of the lobby, but I managed to get the door open enough to slip outside. I stood on the sidewalk and looked around. There were a few people walking

around already, and a gust of ice-cold wind hit me suddenly, making me jump and causing goosebumps to erupt all over my body. I crossed my arms across my chest, wishing that I'd at least look for a robe or something. Looks like you need this. I turned to see the same person as before, standing to my left and holding out a black robe. I took it and put it on. When I looked up again, they were gone, feeling somewhat. unsettled, I began my walk into town, passing a few people who were out on a morning run.

A chihuahua on a leash yapped at me as I passed by. I made my way to the Point Pine Cafe. There wasn't a line which was out of the ordinary at this hour. As I walked up to the counter, I realized that I didn't have any money on me. Shit, I whispered. Rough night? I turned to see Edwin, one of the baristas, walking up behind. me as he started to clean off a table.

What? You're in your pajamas, Bev. Right. Yeah. I replied. Are you okay? He asked, waving closer to me. Yeah, I just, I woke up in the hotel.

I don't remember how I got there. You walked here from the Point Pine Hotel. Edwin raised his eyebrows. No, no, not that hotel. The Hotel Non-Dormium. The what? I pointed in the direction of the hotel. It's right down the street where Windsor Park used to be. He stared at me for a few minutes before walking outside the cafe and looking down the street in the direction of the hotel. I watched him stare for a while before turning

back and coming inside. Another gust of wind made it into the cafe, and I shivered. When the hell Well, did that get there? He asked. I shrugged. When did what get there? Another worker that I'm not familiar with came out of the kitchen. The hotel down the street. The hotel non-dormand.

That's always been there. She replied. No, it hasn't, I said. Of course it has. It's been here since I've been here, and I was born and raised in Point Pine. Well, so were Beavis. and I, and we remember Windsor Park being there," Edwin pointed out. The girl shook her head.

Why would we have called a place Windsor Park? Everything is named after the town of Point Pine. The hotel isn't, I said. She said nothing. The door to the cafe opened again, and we all jumped as another cold gust of wind pushed its way inside. We all turned to see who'd walked in. I saw a man I didn't recognize. He was dressed in an expensive-looking suit, but his hair

and beard looked unkempt. Hi, welcome to the Point Pine Cafe. The girl greeted him. Edwin and I looked at each other. Are you new? Edwin asked, stepping in front of the man and blocking his way towards the counter. No. Where did you come from then? I asked. The hotel down the street. Now, can you move? I need some coffee." Edwin stepped out of the way and looked like he was about to say something else, only he was interrupted by some shouting that was coming from outside. I followed him as we walked towards the door and pulled it open. As we stepped out, I noticed just how cold it was. I was shivering uncontrollably, and I already couldn't feel my nose, lips, fingers, or toes. I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth and watched as two men

pushed each other around on the sidewalk. A crowd was beginning to form. Edwin walked in between the men and placed one hand on each man's chest trying to stop the fight from escalating. They towered over him comically, but neither attempted moving. What's going on? Edwin asked. He's pulling some kind of prank on me, making me think I'm crazy." The man on the left replied. He was bigger than the other man and dressed in workout clothes. It's not a prank. He thinks the hotel just showed up today for some stupid reason.

I know it's been there the whole time. The second man shouted defensively as he adjusted the Point Pine High School sweatshirt. Edwin looked over at me, and then we both looked down the street. There was a crowd starting to form outside the hotel, and it looked like even more people were beginning to argue and fight with each other. I jogged down the street as the cold wind blew in my face, feeling like thousands of needles were being pressed into my skin. I reached the crowd of people in front of the hotel and tried to catch my breath as I watched

a woman grab her baby's bottle, unscrew it, and then pour the contents over another woman who screamed. I noticed a guy named Jeffrey, who was running towards an older man. When he reached him, he tackled him to the ground, and the two fell right in front of me. I tried to move out of the way, but tripped over them and fell. I felt my head bounce off the concrete before everything went black. When I woke up, I was back in the hotel room. There was something cold on my head, which I realized was an ice pack. And the same room service worker from earlier was standing near my bed. Or was it the same worker?

I couldn't exactly remember, but they sure did look familiar. Still, there was something off about them. What happened? I asked, trying to sit up. Oh, you should be careful. You hit your head pretty hard. I managed to sit up all the way and noticed that the curtains had been pulled by. back completely, giving me a full view of the town below me.

It was absolute chaos. It looked like the setting of a post-apocalyptic movie down there. People were running around like lunatics. Some were still fighting, and others simply watched. How did the hotel get here? I asked, not looking away from the window. That depends who you ask. The worker responded.

I'm asking you. There was a period of silence, and I had to look to make sure they hadn't left. The hotel was always here, right? So when did it get here? I asked. Well, that's a little hard to remember, isn't it? What? The worker began to walk towards the door, evading my questions.

Enjoy your stay at the hotel. I suggest you stay inside. You're much safer in here. I turned back to the window as the door to my hotel room closed. Below me, the town continued to tear itself apart. Point Pine's newest visitor came with a warning. Mary Lou Burningham took my sister Genevieve's tooth this morning. I saw her leave. leaving the house when I got up to make breakfast. I only saw the back of her head as she walked out our front door, but I would recognize those bright red curls anywhere. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary, at least not here in Point Pine.

That's just what collectors do. They collect stuff. No one really knows why, or what they do with it. Except for Mary Lou. We've seen her wearing jewelry made from the teeth of the people of Point Pine. She obviously doesn't wear all the teeth. That would be weird. And so I've always wondered what she did with the rest of them.

Last year when our hamster pennies died, Curtis Man came to take it from us. He collects dead animals. Those are the only two collectors that I'm familiar with, but there is 12 total and they all live at the point pine oaks. Recently, the collectors have been behaving a little weirder than usual. When I went on my run, I saw all of them walking in two single file lines down the road. I'd never seen all 12 of them together at the same time, so I stopped to observe. They were walking weirdly.

They would put one foot forward, then stop for a second, then bring their other foot forward, then stop for a second. They walked like that all the way down the road, headed for the shops in the center of Point Pine. I saw them again, about an hour later, when I walked to the Point Pine Bakery to pick up a pie for my mom. As I was waiting for them to bring my order out, Mary Lou walked up to me. Hey, Lee, she said, sounding a bit sad. Hey, are you all right?

Mary Lou sighed and I glanced down at the chain she wore around her neck that contained a small glass bottle that was filled with teeth. Suddenly, that pie didn't sound so appetizing. Why would I be all right? She asked. I stared at her, not really knowing how to answer. Haven't you heard about the visitor? I shook my head slowly and then glanced over to see if anyone was on their way with

my pie yet. No offense to Mary Lou, but she had a tendency of making people feel uncomfortable. Mary Lou sighed again, and then reached out and placed her hand. on my arm. She wore a ring with a tooth on it on each one of her fingers. I tried not to gag. Be cautious with your eyes, Lee. I would hate for you to lose them again. She said, staring at me intently with her huge green eyes. I watched as she walked away. The spot where her hand had rested on my arm felt noticeably colder than the rest of my body, and I rubbed my arm until the feeling went away. I finally got my pie and headed outside. I looked down the road and saw the

collectors were back in their two lines, walking in that weird way that they had been earlier. I watched them for a few seconds. Mary Lou turned around, and we locked eyes. She brought both of her hands up to her face and covered her eyes before turning back around and continuing her walk. I turned around and started walking back home, thinking about how Mary Lou was quite possibly the most unsettling 11-year-old that I had ever met. On the walk home, I overheard a few different conversations about the collectors. The people of Point Pine were starting to become irritated with them, convinced that they were playing some sort of prank on everyone.

When I got home, my mom was talking about them too. Can you believe it? They told Sandra's kid that she needed to keep an eye on his arms because he might lose them. I mean, who says that to an eight-year-old? Mary Lou told me to be cautious with my eyes, I said, as I stepped in and set the pie down on the kitchen table. What? My dad snapped. I'm sure it's fine. They're just weird. I replied. They told Cody that the parade was coming back to get him soon, my mom said. Cody had come back to Point Pine a few months ago and had survived the Point Pine Parade twice now. He had been staying with us for a while now, but spent most of his time locked in his room in the basement.

She said something about a visitor. What? My dad asked. At the same time my mom asked. Who? Mary Lou. She asked me if I'd heard about the visitor. What visitor? My mom asked. I don't know. She didn't give me a name. My parents spent the majority of the day questioning what Mary Lou and the rest of the collectors were talking about, and that evening we all got a flyer slipped under our front doors. I was sitting on the couch when it flew across the floor.

I walked over and picked it up. It was a black piece of paper. with the words, Beware the visitor, scrawled crudely at the top in White Cran. Below that, in neat writing, also in White Cran, it read the following. Residents of Point Pine, tomorrow at 7 o'clock a.m., we will have a visitor. We advise you not to interact with him, which shouldn't be a problem since no one is allowed up until 8.13 a.m. He will use this time to wander around town and even your homes. If you hear him, simply pretend to be asleep. He is here to take from you, but as long as you don't interact, you'll be fine. Be careful. The Collectors

It didn't take long for people to freak out. Sure, we were all used to weird things happening in Point Pine, but how did the collectors know so much about this? Some people walked over to the Oaks to try and speak to the collectors, but apparently Eric wasn't letting anyone in. Not that I blamed him. After being stuck in that weird time loop with him, I understood his caution when it came to the people that he allowed inside his building. Eventually, people returned to their homes and went to bed. There was an odd feeling like something really bad was going to happen. I tried my best to ignore it and went to bed at my usual time, tossing and turning for a few minutes before finally falling asleep.

I awoke. When I heard the front door creak open, I turned over in bed and looked at the clock. 7.55 a.m. My heart sped up in my chest as I realized that the visitor was here. I could hear the footsteps coming up the stairs, and I turned so my back was facing my bedroom door, shut my eyes, and tried to even my breathing. As the visitor got closer, I noticed that he was humming a very familiar tune. It took a few minutes before I realized that it was the same music that played whenever the

Point Pine Parade started. The visitor never stepped into my bedroom, but I heard him wandering around the rest of the house for what felt like hours. Finally, I heard him walk back out the door. I breathed the sigh of relief as I slowly turned back around to look at the clock. 8.08 a.m. 5 minutes until we could be up. I laid there, staring at the ceiling and waiting for the town alarm to ring. Before it did, however, I heard a scream pierced through the morning's silence.

It sounded like it was coming from the house next door. I froze in bed, not wanting to take a look and risk seeing something that I shouldn't. Mary Lou's voice kept echoing in my mind as I laid there, waiting for the town alarms to go off. Be cautious with your eyes, Lee. I would hate for you to lose them again. Finally, the town alarms went off, and I climbed out of bed and made my way downstairs, the rest of my family. and Cody following me. I walked over to the living room window and pulled the curtains open a few inches to look outside. Most of the neighbors were now out there, crowding on the Humphrey's

lawn. My dad opened the front door, and Cody and I followed after him, making our way through the crowd of people to try to see what was going on. We pushed through until we got to the front of the crowd and finally managed to see what the big deal was. On the front lawn was the entire Humphreys family, all four of them, laying on their backs and facing up towards the sky, their eyes darting around the crowd of people above them. Their noses and mouths were completely gone. Everything below their eyes had vanished and was simply replaced with smooth skin. No nose, no nostrils, no lips, just eyes and smooth skin all the way down their faces.

Above their heads was a copy of the flyer I'd gotten last night, stuck in the grass by a rusty butcher knife. Only this flyer was a bit different. It was written on white paper in red font, and it read, Welcome the Visitor at the top. The rest of the flyer said as follows. Residents of Point Pine, tomorrow at 7 o'clock a.m., we will have a visitor. You have been chosen to interact with him. Congratulations. He will use this time to wander around town and even your homes. When you hear him, get up and say hello. It's an honor to be

chosen. He is here to see you and only you. Be happy, be nice, and don't put up a fight. It won't be worth it. Signed. The Visitor The Things in the Giant Bear costumes won't stop handing out popcorn. I hate the carnival. The obnoxious music that's trying way too hard to sound happy. The hundreds of color colorful blinding lights, the mix of popcorn, sweets, peanuts, and sticky, sweaty children. I hate all of it. Of course, because I hate the carnival, it makes perfect sense that I live in Point Pine, where everyone else adores it so much that there's always a carnival in town.

It's like the universe wants to torture me. I'm usually able to tolerate it. I just don't go. It's the perfect plan. So far, it's worked out exceptionally well for me. And then they added the dancing bears. They look like normal brown teddy bears with black eyes and a red bow tie, only these are about seven feet tall.

I saw the first one in the middle of town while I was picking up groceries. It was standing outside the bakery, slowly swaying in place while that stupid carnival music played through some speakers that seemed to be located inside the costume. As I got closer to the giant dancing bear, I thought about kicking whoever had this fantastic idea right in the teeth. When I passed the bear, it held out a bucket of popcorn towards me, seemingly manifesting it out of thin air. It kept swaying as it held the bucket out towards me, staring at it with its stupid,

beady eyes. Yeah, no thanks, I scoffed, pushing it aside. The bear dropped the bucket and the popcorn spilled all over the sidewalk. Dumbass, I mumbled as I kept walking. The next time I went into town, there were three bears, all identical, all swaying, and all were playing the same stupid carnival music. I think the best part about this was that the one of the same thing. that the music was not playing simultaneously, making the already lousy tune sound even worse,

which I didn't really know was possible until now. Every time a person passed by the bears, they would pull a bucket of popcorn out of nowhere and offer it to the bystanders. Every single idiot took it, of course, and I rolled my eyes as their stupid faces filled with joy. After about three days of this, the smell of popcorn was everywhere. I swear it was in my skin at that point. It was nauseating. One step outside and you were hit with the smell of popcorn. It had even started to seep into my home. All I could smell was popcorn. The single semi-tolerable thing was now also ruined, which only further enforced my hatred. And still, the bears continued to multiply like bunnies.

There was now one on every street corner, even the neighborhoods. The stupid carnival music could be heard everywhere in town. It was so irritating that I thought about jamming something into my ears for some relief. The next time I went out, popcorn filled the streets. It was everywhere. It looked like all of point pine was a popper. A popcorn machine that incessantly played carnival music. I could tell that even the other people who usually love the carnival were getting tired of it.

No one was taking the popcorn anymore and they weren't even going outside now. I was sitting in my living room trying to watch a movie and tune out the music when a scream pierced through both of those sounds and startled me. I ran to the window and looked outside where a woman was pointing down the street at one of the dancing bears and screaming. One by one, the neighbor started to come out of their homes to investigate the murderous screams and I saw Andy Cobart take one look down the street and throw up over his rose bushes. Seeing that piqued my interest, so I stepped out of my house out into the popcorn fumes that

sat heavily over Point Pine. I walked out onto my popcorn-covered lawn and looked down the street. The giant dancing teddy bear was still there, but whoever it was under the costume had removed the head and was holding it in their hands as they danced. Oh, and the person in the costume didn't have a head. All that came out the top of the costume was a neck that appeared to have a head. have sewn together at the top where the head should be. I stared at the headless dancing person as they moved the giant teddy bear head around while they swayed on the street corner. They had been out there for so long now that the carnival music was no longer happy and bubbly.

Now it was distorted and creepy. We all stood outside our homes, staring at the headless dancer at the end of the the street, not knowing what to do. When weird things happened in Point Pine, we're usually warned about them in advance, and on the off chance that we aren't warned, someone, or multiple someone's. Die. A scream erupted from the next street, signaling that the dancing bear had removed its head. Andy's husband, Marwin, walked down the street towards the bear, his feet crunching down on all the popcorn. I watched as he went up to it, and a bucket of popcorn appeared in midair and fell onto Marwin's head. I stifled a laugh as he threw the bucket aside. Marwin reached over

and took the bare head away from the dancer, turning it over to examine it. He shook it a few times, and I expected a head to fall out and roll onto the popcorn, but it appeared to be empty. Suddenly, the dancing, And Bear reached out and grabbed Marwin's arm with one of its teddy bear arms. Marwin backed up, trying to get away, but wasn't able to. What the hell, man? He shouted as he tried to shake the teddy bear off. Andy ran down the street towards Marwin and attempted to pry the bear away from him. Why is this thing so strong?

It's a bear. He wailed in tears. I rolled my eyes and ran over, taking out the small pocket knife I carried in my pockets and cutting the teddy bear arm. The knife tore through the fabric, cutting off about six inches of the arm. It sliced right through. The arm was empty. What the...

Marwin grabbed the now limp piece of fabric and looked inside of it. They don't even have arms! He was right. Whoever was in the costume had a neck. No head, and apparently, no arms. The entire arm that I'd cut was now limp and flapping around as the teddy bear swayed, as if all the stuffing had been taken out. I walked up to the teddy bear again and sank my knife into the chest, dragging it down a few inches. Andy gasped.

I stepped back and waited, but nothing happened. I looked back at my neighbors who were fixated on the teddy bear. After a few minutes, the carnival music stopped, and the bear froze in place. I took a few steps back, and suddenly blood began pouring out of the gash in its chest, spilling down the front of the suit and onto the popcorn on the ground. After that, chunks of stuff began to tumble out of the same gash, falling out of the popcorn with a sick, splattering sound. I looked closer at the things that were spilling out of the giant teddy bear and finally realized what it was. They were organs. Organs were falling

out of the teddy bear. Is that a liver? Marwin asked. Yep. I replied. And that's a heart, he said. Yep. Lovely. When all the inside stopped falling out of the teddy bear, it crumpled in on itself and sank to the floor, covering the popcorn like a rug. Is it dead? Someone called from behind me. I don't know. At least the music stopped.

We all stood in silence in the middle of the popcorn-covered road and stared at the pile of blood and organs. Andy threw up on someone else's lawn and then Marwan took him back into their house. Hey, look. I looked up to see that the dancing bear on the street corner across from ours had fallen over. Everyone in that neighborhood simply stared at the empty bear costume. The music stopping. I listened.

As the music that had been coming from the bears got quieter and quieter, it seemed that killing one of them would kill them all. I breathed a sigh of relief and immediately regretted it as my nose filled with the smell of blood and popcorn. I coughed and gagged, but controlled myself before I started throwing up on people's property, like Andy. I walked back down the street, heading towards my house, just as I was about to step onto my porch. I felt the ground begin to shake. I held on to the stair railing and looked back just in time to hear a loud pop and see Felicity Green fall backward onto the popcorn in the street. There was a giant hole in the middle of her chest that was still slightly smoking.

There was another pop nearby, and the house next door's living room window exploded. What in the fresh hell was that? Someone called as people ran over to Felicity's smoking dead body. It was a colonel. There's no way a colonel just ripped a hole into Felicity's chest. Well, it was a really big colonel. Amidst the voices that were shouting at each other from across the street, there were another two pops. I stared at the ground intently and managed to see one colonel pop up into the air and laying

a few feet away, making a crack in the sidewalk as the popcorn around the area burned up and started smoking. Now it smelled like burned popcorn. I walked back towards the street, and the closer I got, the hotter the area felt. The roads were heating up. Point Pine was now an actual popcorn machine. I backed up and headed towards my house as the popping started to increase, sending flaming hot kernels everywhere. I ran inside and locked my door, heading to my living room window and pulling the curtains back to look outside. Everyone was now in their homes, and all that was left in the street was burned popcorn in Felicity's body, which was still smoking

and now appeared to be cooking from the heat that was coming from the road. I glanced down the street, where the loose organs were now beginning to move closer to each other, forming a body as each organ took its place. A new costume began to form around the organs, this time, taking the shape of a circus clown instead of a teddy bear. It was wearing bright yellow clown shoes, a white and red striped outfit with blue suspenders, and a rainbow wig. The clown's face was painted white, with pink circles on the cheeks, and a black diamond, that surrounded each eye. The carnival music started up again, and the clown jumped up and down on the road, yelling hot, hot, hot every time its feet landed on the hot street. After a few minutes,

it caught me staring and waved at me as its head did a 360. He skipped towards my house, stopping in front of the sidewalk, and I stared as a bucket of popcorn appeared out of nowhere, and he held it out towards me. When I didn't move, the clown dropped the bucket on my lawn, and then turned around and made his way across the street, jumping and clicking his heels together, after every step, while he shouted hot, hot, hot, in a loud, cheery voice.

He kept jumping and clicking its heels as he made his way towards Felicity. Hot, hot, hot! Finally, he reached Felicity's body and leaned down, tearing off her entire arm with ease, and then taking a huge bite from the middle of it, bone and all. He stared at me while he ate the arm, and the carnival music slowly grew louder and louder, as all the other dead bears transformed. formed into one.

I hate the carnival. Due to recent violent events, pumpkins are no longer allowed in Point Pine. It all started when Cassandra Wolfheart killed a pumpkin sprout. I didn't know Cassandra personally, but I knew of her. She was friends with Tom's sister, and Tom was friends with me. All that I know about Cassandra, I've learned against my will in passing comments. from adults or other kids at school. That wolfhard, girl, now that's a picky eater if I've ever seen one.

One thing that everyone in town knew was that Cassandra hated pumpkins. She literally could not stand the sight of them. I once watched her start screaming at the top of her lungs when a barista in the Point Point Pine Cafe offered her a pumpkin-spiced latte. That girl was weird and her hatred of her. pumpkins was the weird cherry on top of the weird Sunday that was Cassandra Wolfheart. Tom said that any time Cassandra came over during the fall season, she would avoid looking into their backyard. Apparently, the first time she went over, she saw their pumpkin patch and went white as a ghost,

before she passed out on their kitchen floor. He showed me a dent that he swears was made by her head, hitting the wooden floorboards, but Tom is kind of a liar sometimes, so I just go along with most of what he says. I knew about the girls at school who liked to play pranks on Cassandra. One time, they filled her locker with pumpkin guts, and when she opened it she threw up in the middle of the hallway. I have to say that at first I found Cassandra to be a little ridiculous, but now I feel bad for her. So many people constantly terrorize her with her biggest fear.

I think about what I would do if someone was dangling me off a cliff as a joke and I realized that I'd probably react the same ways that Cassandra has. Last week, I was at Tom's house while Cassandra was there hanging out with his sister, Megan. Even from Tom's room, I could overhear Cassandra complaining about pumpkin spice, season. I even heard her gag a few times after she said the word pumpkin. Cassandra left before dinner that day when she found out that Tom's mother was serving pumpkin bread for dessert. Boy, that girl sure hates pumpkins. Tom's dad chuckled as he went out the front door. A few days after that, Cassandra's brothers managed to carry her to Tom's pumpkin patch in her sleep,

And when she woke up surrounded by pumpkins, she screamed so loud that she woke up everyone in the neighborhood. They all rushed out to find her slamming her fist over the pumpkins, punching holes into a few of them. She had apparently broken off a few nails doing this, and severely cut up and bruised her hands in the process. They had to call the police and the paramedics to tear her away from the pumpkin patch then sedate her, so they could transport her to the hospital. Since her brothers had filmed

it, they were in some big trouble with the cops and their parents. May said she tried to go visit Cassandra, but she wouldn't even talk to her. She just kept crying and saying that pumpkins were going to want revenge, Tom said, as we did our history homework. Revenge for what? For what she did to them, duh, she basically murdered a bunch of pumpkins, Haley. I saw what it looked like afterward. She literally destroyed our whole pumpkin patch. I looked up at Tom, who was highlighting in a textbook. Yeah, but their pumpkins, they don't care.

I replied. She doesn't think that. He mumbled. I didn't hear much about Cassandra for the rest of that day, but the following morning when Tom's parents went outside to clean up the mess, they found that all the pumpkin debris was already gone. You mean someone just cleaned it up? I asked Tom over the phone. I mean, I guess. What else could have happened? I didn't say anything. Because honestly, I didn't know. Maybe someone just felt bad and had decided to help Tom's family out by cleaning

up Cassandra's mess. It wasn't likely that she would clean up after herself, at least not without having some sort of breakdown. The following morning, At 4 a.m., someone called the police claiming that there was a girl in a hospital gown, wailing and running barefoot down the street. It was Cassandra, and when they caught up to her, she said she was running from the pumpkin monster. She'd made it all the way to our neighborhood from the hospital and collapsed on her front lawn. I watched through the bedroom window as the police talked to Cassandra and her parents

for a few minutes. Nothing caught my eye off to the left, and I looked over to see Tom waving me down. I ran downstairs and out the front door to meet him. What's going on? I asked. She says there's a pumpkin monster out to get her. Tom grinned. Maybe all the teasing caught up to her, and she finally broke down.

I looked over at the rest of the neighbors who had been drawn outside onto the street by the cops and the crazy girl in a hospital gown. Or maybe not, Tom trailed off. I glanced back at him and saw that he was pointing towards one of the running pass that came out of the woods and between two of the houses on the street. There was movement in the trees and a flash of orange before something came out of the woods. What the hell is that? I asked.

Oh my god! It's here. The pumpkin monster is here. Please, you have to help me. I don't want to die." Cassandra wailed as she saw it. And for once. Cassandra wasn't crazy. The thing that had come out of the woods was, in fact, a pumpkin monster. It was about seven feet tall and made out of the broken pumpkins from Tom's pumpkin patch. The pumpkin pieces were crue. crudely molded together, to form feet, legs, a torso, arms, hands, and neck, and finally, a head.

It had pumpkin guts draped all over it, hanging off its body, and leaving a trail of them all over the ground. It stopped in the middle of the street, and people began to go back into their homes. It seemed to look around for a while, moving its lopsided, half-smashed pumpkin head from side to side, even though it had no eyes or any other facial features. After a few seconds, it headed straight towards Cassandra, who screamed so loud I thought my eardrums were going to burst. It began to awkwardly make its way toward her home, taking wide steps and fumbling as

it tried to speed up. Oh, hell no! It shook the ground with each step, and I held on to a near- by fence for balance. The police pulled out their guns and shot it a few times, but it continued to walk unfazed. Cassandra darted between two of the officers and headed towards Tom and me. What is she doing? Why is she running this way? Tom asked. The pumpkin monster pivoted and began making its way toward us as well. Cassandra ran past us, looking back towards the monster for a second. She continued to run down the street, and Tom and I moved out of the monster's way as it chased her.

After a few seconds, Tom took off after it as well. Where are you going? I asked. Don't you want to see what happens? I hesitated for a second, before I followed. Hey, come back here, an officer called after us. We made it to the end of the street just in time to see Cassandra trip and roll down the small hill. We stopped and listened to her screams as she kept rolling down the hill. No way, Tom whispered. We kept watching as Cassandra rolled straight into another pumpkin patch,

her head making contact with the biggest pumpkin and slamming right through it with a dull thud. Oh my god, she's dead. The pumpkin monster, Tripped down the field, falling over Cassandra's lifeless body, and falling apart all over her and the pumpkin patch. The cops finally caught up and raced down the hill to check on Cassandra, but I was right, and she had died. Not even an hour later, there was a town-wide announcement, no more pumpkins in Point Pine, ever. Tom and I watched from the top of the hill, as people carried the pumpkins away to burn them all at the edge of town. Someone had already taken Cassandra's body away, but left the pumpkin that her head had smashed through.

For days, all that anyone talked about was Cassandra's freak accident. That night, Cassandra was seen again. Multiple people reported seeing her walking around town, sobbing, and asking for help. I was one of them. I heard her cries in the middle of the night and looked out my bedroom window to see her standing in the middle of the road right outside her house. She was dirty and bruised, covered in pumpkin guts, and dried up blood. She cried loudly, gasping for breath. Someone please help me. Please, I hate pumpkins. I continue to watch. As No one, not even her parents, turned on their lights or even looked outside.

Cassandra fell to her knees in the middle of the road, continuing to cry. Before finally falling face first, her forehead pressed to the road. Please. I hate them. She cried. She continued to cry for a few minutes, and I backed away from the window and got back into bed. After a few minutes, she started to scream. She's done this every single night since she died.

She screams about how we should have listened to her and getting rid of the pumpkins now won't stop anything. She claims that they'll come back and that we're all going to die. I guess one thing that kind of sucks about Point Pine is that the dead never, never ever really leave.