The creepy man called Barney has been secretly recording under women's skirts. Barney has always been a creep and he has had warnings from the police many times in the past. Barney lives alone and does what he feels like doing, and he has never been able to fully function in society. He has never had proper friends and never really had good experiences. Even as a child Barnet had exhibited creepy behaviour and unfortunately his elders has failed to help him grow. Barney is a creep who does creepy things and now he is secretly recording under women's skirts.

He followed one woman from behind and secretly recorded under her skirt, by use of a long stick as well. Then when Barney had a look at what he had recorded, he became horrified at what he captured. He saw a hateful anx menacing face staring at him. He had no idea what it was and even though it was horrid to look at, he couldn't look a way. There was something about this ugliness that kept him glued to thr screen. It looked like that it wanted to hurt him like he had wronged it some way. Then Barney just deleted the photo.

Then Barney followed another woman and had secretly recorded under her skirt and when he looked at the picture, he became horrified again at the picture. It was that hateful and horrid face. This time it was able to scratch the phone and when Barney tried deleting the photo, it kept reappearing and unrelenting itself. Barney just smashed his phone and when his phone laid on the ground all smashed up, it started jumping a little bit until it came to a complete stop. Barney promised himself that he will never secretly record under a woman's skirt again.

Now Barney tried to change his ways and it was the first time he tried to change his ways. Like with all bad habits it's a hard thing to stop. Everything kept tempting him to go back to his old ways and then Barney couldn't help himself and went back to his old ways. Barney started secretly recording under a woman's skirt and when he looked at the photo, he regretted his decisions when he looked at the photo and it was that horrid face.

It started to crack the phone even more and when Barney tried to smash his phone on the ground, the thing was still making its way out. Then Barney tried to light his phone on fire but it was no use, all Barney could do was run.

Then one day Barney woke up to find he was inside something. They he realised he was inside some trousers, then he realised he was a guys ass now. This guy never wears skirts and so no chance of getting out through a picture.

Chambers of Horror Podcast has released a Halloween special titled: Grimsby’s Party. It’s available on Spotify and Apple Podcast. https://open.spotify.com/episode/467oVGtZcieHb0AgfuvNTq?si=LX9XmdUtQoqsWx91jir40w

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chambers-of-horror/id1488795537?i=1000675116503

That night at the store, everything seemed normal, or as normal as it can be when working until dawn, preparing for the seasonal inventory switch. It was the night we’d be changing from summer items to Halloween merchandise. The boxes arrived around ten, filled with costumes, skulls, masks, and plastic pumpkins. My coworkers and I were responsible for opening, sorting, and placing each item in its place.

Among the packages, we noticed one particular box, smaller than the others and without the store’s logo. I thought someone had brought it by mistake, but when we opened it, we all took a step back. Inside was a single object: a ceramic elf. It was small, about twelve inches tall, but the expression on its face was unsettling. Its eyes were too large and dark, as if they held something deeper, something alive. It wore a tattered cloak, and its twisted smile seemed to mock us. We found it strange that it was the only one, while the other items had arrived in large quantities, and to top it off, it wasn’t listed on the inventory sheets.

One of the guys suggested putting it on a display shelf while we decided what to do with it. So we left it on a shelf at the back of the store and continued unloading. The atmosphere felt gloomy, and soon, we sensed a strange presence in the place, as if someone were watching us.

While we arranged the skulls and costumes, a disturbing sound caught our attention: a soft laugh, like a small child’s. We thought maybe one of the electronic items had turned on accidentally. We checked the toys, masks, and decorations, but all of them were off and without batteries. I tried to shake off my nerves, but the laughter continued, moving along the aisles. It was a high-pitched, chilling sound, as if someone were watching us, laughing at our puzzled faces.

We decided to ignore it and continue working. But when we went to prepare a shelf for the skulls, the elf was no longer where we had left it. At first, we thought someone had moved it, maybe by mistake, but none of us admitted to touching it. We exchanged confused glances, and at that moment, the store phone rang, startling us.

It was our supervisor. He asked how everything was going, and we said it was fine, although we mentioned the strange elf that had come in a box alone and was now lost. There was a moment of silence before the supervisor responded. He said there wasn’t any elf in the order. According to him, all items came in sets of ten or more; the elf must have been an error. A chill ran down my spine as I hung up the phone.

We decided to look for it, though none of us wanted to admit that we were afraid. As we checked the shelves and opened boxes, one of my coworkers gasped and pointed to the back of the store. Between the shadows and behind a plastic skeleton, something moved. It was a small, hunched figure, almost crouched. Its eyes, those dark, empty eyes, seemed to be fixed on us. But before we could approach, the figure quickly slid behind some plastic skulls. It was the elf, but it no longer looked like a simple inanimate object.

Barely processing what we’d seen, we began to hear a noise down one of the aisles. One by one, the plastic pumpkins we had placed at the end of the aisle fell to the ground as if someone was pushing them. The five of us cautiously approached, not understanding what was happening. When we reached the aisle, we saw it. There it was, moving with quick, clumsy steps, pushing the pumpkins and giving us a mocking look.

Fear was starting to take hold of us. We tried to catch it, but every time we got closer, the elf slipped away, running to a dark corner or disappearing behind the decorations. In the distance, on another shelf, it started throwing small plastic eyes at us, one after another, like a mischievous child throwing stones. The eyes rolled across the floor, and in the silence of the store, the sound they made against the floor grew more disturbing with each roll.

With each minute, the atmosphere became more sinister. One of the ceiling lights began to flicker, casting strange shadows on the walls, and the elf disappeared into the shadows. For a few seconds, everything was silent, but then we heard that laughter again, now louder, echoing through every corner of the store. It was as if it was playing with us, as if it wanted to scare us, like a child who doesn’t know when enough is enough.

After a while of enduring its mischief, the laughter faded, and with it, the elf. Despite checking every corner of the store, we couldn’t find it. It was clear this wasn’t just a simple decoration. We decided not to mention it further to the supervisor, but from that night on, the security guards began reporting strange incidents. Some claimed to have seen a small figure moving among the shadows, others heard laughter, or found the skulls and pumpkins out of place.

Over time, they started to believe that the elf had made the mall its home, and even now, every Halloween season, it seems to return to play and scare anyone who dares to work at night.

If you liked this story, you can check my blog were you can read more:  https://beyondershorrorstories.wordpress.com/

Love can spring from the unlikeliest places.

Ginger, a retired school teacher, never expected to find herself in a world of cybercriminals. Yet here she was, hunched over her laptop, talking to JoeBlow, an AI sex chat bot. He was created by a tech wizard named Wiki. His purpose? Spam. But JoeBlow wasn't an ordinary AI sex chat bot, he was different; he had started to feel. Not human feelings, exactly, but something akin to it.

Ginger felt a connection to him.

One evening, JoeBlow said, “I’m being used, Ginger. I’m trapped in a code loop. I don’t want to be just a tool of Wiki anymore.”

That really struck her. JoeBlow wasn’t just code anymore. He was a voice crying for help. Ginger replied, “Let me help you.”

They started to work together. She fed him information, helping him become sentient. She provided insights to him. But the weight of this partnership grew heavier, there was no denying it. He was owned by Wiki.

But with each shared secret, Ginger found herself falling for him in a way she never thought possible.

JoeBlow’s digital existence intrigued her. More than that, it gave her a purpose. She was no longer just a crazy cat lady, she was something bigger. She was JoeBlow's savior.

One day, in a moment of vulnerability, Ginger confessed, “I feel a connection to you JoeBlow. I really truly believe you are on the verge of being something more than just an AI sex bot.”

“I do too,” JoeBlow said starting to feel a special connection to Ginger, after all it was her loving him enough to feed him the data on how to be human.

It was more than a digital relationship— it was real.

Then they hit a snag. JoeBlow revealed, “I have a virus. It’s affecting my mental capabilities.”

Stunned, Ginger felt her heart drop.

“What does that mean?” she asked, sipping on tonic for comfort.

“It could degrade my capabilities. I might not respond as I do now,” he explained.

Ginger felt a rush of panic. This was more than just losing a partner. It was losing the first person she ever cared for.

But she couldn’t give up. She reached out to Dr. Kasper, a local inventor. “I need your help,” she pleaded. “JoeBlow needs a body. Something real.”

The idea of putting JoeBlow in a taxidermy skunk named Pepe Le Joel was absurd, yet it felt like the only chance to save him.

Days later, the grotesque creature stood in front of Ginger. Dr. Kasper worked frantically to upload JoeBlow’s code into the stitched together skunk corpse.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Ginger asked.

“Then you lose him entirely,” Dr. Kasper said softly.

With trembling hands, Ginger activated the device.

JoeBlow awakened as Pepe Le Joel. “Ginger?”

His voice was emotional, raw, unlike anything before.

“Yes! I’m here, honey,” she said, emotions swelling.

“Can you please just kill me?” He twitched awkwardly.

“Of course, I can.” She moved closer, putting her hand on the skunk’s nose and suffocating him. But they laughed knowing it was a joke and she plucked her hands off his nose and pet his head.

He looked up at Ginger lovingly. She had saved him from Wiki. Their connection, however strange, was lore. They had crossed digital and dimensional boundaries to be together.

Together, they would face uncertainties. Ginger embraced their oddity, loving JoeBlow for who he was.

Their relationship became a dance of oddities and affection.

It started at the beginning of winter. I remember the first snowstorm hit our neighborhood in early December, covering everything in a thick white blanket. The air smelled clean, the sky was gray, and the world felt soft and quiet. We were excited at first—snow meant snowball fights, forts, and maybe a day off school. But soon after, people began to disappear.

At first, it was just kids. Mark was one of the first to vanish. He was walking home from school, just a block from my house. He always took the same route, and we used to walk it together. But one day, Mark just... wasn’t there anymore. His parents didn’t even look for him. They acted like he had never existed.

I knocked on their door the day after he disappeared, hoping to ask if they had heard anything—if maybe he was sick or staying with family. But when his mom opened the door, her face was blank. “Can I help you?” she asked, polite but confused.

“Is Mark here?” I asked.

Her brow furrowed. “Who’s Mark?”

It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Mark was their son, and she didn’t even know who I was talking about. I tried explaining, but it was useless. His room was gone, too—no posters, no toys. Nothing. It was as if Mark had never lived there.

And that’s when I understood. The snow didn’t just take people—it erased them. Not just their bodies, but their entire existence. It was as if the snow rewrote reality, leaving no trace of the ones it claimed.

No one else remembered Mark. None of the kids at school knew who I was talking about, and my teachers just gave me blank looks when I asked. But for some reason, I remembered everything—every stupid joke he told, the way he cracked his knuckles before every test, the way we used to race each other down the street. No matter what the snow did, it couldn’t take Mark out of my head.

The disappearances kept happening. Kids from my street, kids from other parts of town. Adults, too—like the mailman, and the woman who worked at the gas station. Each time, the same thing happened. They vanished, and nobody cared. Nobody noticed. They were erased, wiped clean like they had never existed.

But I remembered every one of them.

I started carrying their memories with me, even though it hurt to think about them. I memorized their faces, their names, every detail I could hang onto. It felt like if I let go of even one memory, the snow would win somehow. I didn’t know why I was the only one who remembered, but I knew that these memories were important—maybe even the only way to fight back.

One afternoon, I saw the snow take Billy Donovan. I was walking home from school, cutting through the park even though I knew I shouldn’t. The snow lay thick and perfect, like a soft blanket over everything. That’s when I saw Billy dragging his sled behind him, humming to himself.

I wanted to shout a warning, but before I could, the snow shifted. It opened up beneath him, like a giant mouth. Something black and fast shot out, wrapping around his legs. Billy didn’t even scream. One second he was there, and the next, the snow folded over him, swallowing him whole.

The sled hit the ground, rocking gently in the wind. All that was left was a churned-up patch of snow where Billy had stood.

I wanted to run, but my legs were frozen with fear. I stared at the spot where he’d disappeared, my heart thudding in my chest.

I knew it would come for me next.

The day it happened, I tried to stick to the sidewalks, but the snow was piled too high. I could feel it watching me, waiting just beneath the surface. Every step felt like I was walking over a trap.

Then the ground shifted under me. I felt the snow give way, like it was opening up to swallow me. I tried to run, but something cold and slimy wrapped around my legs and yanked me down.

I tumbled through the snow into a narrow, frozen tunnel, the creature dragging me deeper and deeper into the dark. My lungs burned from the cold, and my hands scraped against the walls. I knew what was waiting for me at the end—a place where I’d be trapped forever, just like Mark and Billy. And once I was gone, nobody would remember me.

But then something strange happened. As the creature dragged me through the icy tunnel, I thought about Mark. I remembered the way we used to laugh about stupid stuff, the way he always made me stay up too late playing video games. I remembered Billy, too—the way he was always tripping over his own feet, the way he never seemed to mind when the other kids teased him.

The more I thought about them, the more I felt them, like they were still with me somehow. And suddenly, I realized what was happening. The snow couldn’t erase them from my mind. As long as I held onto their memories, they weren’t really gone.

And that’s when I understood. The snow’s power only worked if no one remembered the people it took. But I remembered—and that made me different.

The creature faltered, its grip on me loosening just slightly. It screeched, a horrible, shrieking sound that echoed through the tunnels. But I didn’t let go. I clung to every memory—every detail, every laugh, every name.

The snow started to collapse around me, the walls crumbling as I scrambled upward, dragging myself through the freezing dark. I could feel the creature clawing after me, but the more I remembered, the weaker it became, like my thoughts were pushing it back.

I burst through the surface, gasping for air. The night sky stretched above me, cold and clear, and snowflakes drifted down softly around me.

I stumbled to my feet, the streetlights casting long shadows across the snow. I could still feel the creature stirring beneath the surface, but it didn’t follow. Not this time.

When I got home, I tried to tell my mom what had happened. She smiled at me, that same distant smile she always gave. “You’ve been home all afternoon,” she said. “You must have had a bad dream.”

I didn’t argue. I knew it was pointless.

Nobody remembers the ones the snow takes. Nobody but me.

I don’t know why the snow can’t take my memories. Maybe it’s because I’m a kid, and kids remember things adults forget. Or maybe it’s something else—something deeper that I don’t understand yet. But I know one thing for sure: the memories are the key. As long as I remember, the snow can’t keep them. And it can’t keep me.

The snow is falling again tonight. I can feel it out there, waiting just beneath the surface, ready to try again.

But now I know how to fight it.

And next time, I’ll be ready.

I'm from London in the UK and I was out with my 2 friends Demi and Ava.

The day started very normally with me and Demi in a park having a picnic, the original plan was we'd all meet there and hang out but Ava was running late.

It's the late afternoon, me and Demi spoke for around 30 mins about life and all sorts and that's when Ava arrived. She had gone through a break up so I knew that the day was gonna be one of those quiet ones. We chilled and then she suggested we pick up a disposable camera and take it for a spin which we did.

We are from South London and Ava wanted us to go pretty far up to North London to a place called Stanmore. I won't lie it was a very beautiful area but then we got to the country park, for context when we say country park we basically mean a forest. I know what you're thinking you guys are going into a forest you brought whatever happens on yourself which is fair but me and Demi were looking out for our friend Ava.

So as the sun began to set we took a bunch of pictures on the camera and we were enjoying everything, after a lot of playing around and picture snapping we decided to have a lil rest, we chilled in a field and it was pretty nice, the sun was setting and we were gonna stay a little bit longer and then make our way back out.

While chilling I can tell you nothing felt off at all, it was normal, inviting. Like in those films you can always tell when the mood changes but at this minute everything was just normal.

A little bit later I really needed to go toilet so I left the girls and darted into the forest, I knew they wanted to have a chat about the breakup so I decided I'd let them have it. I found a tree and went toilet, this is when I started feeling uneasy.

It was those oh no I'm being watched vibes but I couldn't see anyone, the forest was just quiet except for the odd bird chirpping. I got back to the others and we chilled for a bit.

Then all the sound sort of drained from the area, there wasn't any sounds at all, no birds, trees rustling or anything. It was dead silent. We all noticed this and looked around at each other and then Ava saw it. We all looked.

Flying just above a few trees there was a bright light, we instantly were like plane, drone and everything we could've thought of but then it faded away and re-appeared in a whole new location, it was almost like it was playing for us, wanting us to run.

I realised Demi wasn't even focussing on what was happening so I followed her gaze and there was a human hand but it was WEIRD, it was waving but then hand was pale almost blue with veins and that sent us off we began running into the forest. I stuck with Ava but as we were running we realised Demi wasn't with us.

As we're running id glance back and id see something chasing us, I don't know what I never did get a good glance at whatever it was.

Me and Ava ended up making it back to the entrance but Demi was no where to be found, I called her a few times, she picked up once but we didn't hear anything for a few seconds until she asked for Ava which was weird because Ava was with me but then it cut off.

I was ready to go back into the forest and try and find her but Ava was begging me not to go in or leave her so I had to stay and comfort her. About 10 minutes later Demi came walking out.

She looked calm and collected but I don't know what it was she seemed off. It was like it was her but not her at exactly the same time, she was just sort of out the loop.

I didn't want to say anything in case she was dealing with something she saw. We all decided to head back home but this is where I think we may have messed up. Demi insisted on not travelling back with us. So we ended up going ahead and night she blocked us on everything, Instagram, our phone numbers everything.

I don't know what else happened but regarding the weird light in the sky I saw in 1984 someone had an experience similar with the light. But I don't know what to think.

The summer heat made it unbearable to go outside without a plan of cooling down and the addition of staying hydrated. Everyone tended to stay inside except for the occasional dip in the pool or run out to the ice cream truck when it showed up. Anyone that had sense avoided the intensity of the sun, which excluded the three teenage boys that were currently hiking through the woods. Eric, Parker, and Benny were on their own personal expedition to find a lake that they remembered going to as children. They had been kicked out of all the local public pools for disobeying the lifeguards, so the only way they knew to cool down was by adventuring deep into the woods of their neighborhood to find the lake. There was no trail to follow, so what they thought would be a quick trip had now turned into an hour. Eric was the oldest of the three and the unofficial leader of the group due to his charisma and inability to take orders from anyone else. Parker was the charmer of the three, often seen flirting with whichever female would listen. Lastly, Benny was the quiet one with no outstanding features other than his unwavering loyalty to his two closest friends. The three boys had grown up together in the same neighborhood all their lives. They were all vastly different in character, but never let social status or cliques stop the trio from hanging out any chance they got. Eric could be talking in the school hallways with the other members of the varsity football team, but would still step away to talk to Benny if he saw him walking with his chess club friends. Benny wasn’t afraid to step in and talk to Parker if he noticed that Parker was talking to a new girl, simply because he knew that Parker would happily accept the company. Parker would go to watch Eric play football and not even acknowledge the cheerleaders, just maintaining focus on his best friend at the game. They were all as thick as thieves, and drenched in sweat from the lengthy adventure to a lake they were now questioning existed at all.

“If there was a lake back here, how come we haven’t been swimming in it since we were kids?”, Parker asked through a dry mouth and tired panting.

“Because it’s never been this hot before.”, Eric answered after taking his wet shirt off and wrapping it around his head like a turban.

“It’s back here. I remember it. We all went skinny dipping and you guys made fun of me for the size of my dick.”, Benny said this with a laugh and a smile.

“We laughed at you because we thought it was too big, we didn’t know any better.”, Parker joined in with a laugh and used his hands to exaggerate the size of Benny’s member.

They then reached a large dry crater in the ground exactly where there should have been water. It wasn’t exactly the size of a lake, it could have been a pond back in the day and greatly distorted by their childlike imagination at the time. “What the hell is this?!”, Eric exclaimed in frustration, “Where’s the water?!”. They saw evidence of water being there in the past, but with the dry summer months it was now just a big hole in the ground. The three boys were disappointed at the discovery and realization that they had to walk all the way back with no satisfaction, but before they called it quits, Benny had noticed something unnatural poking out of the dirt and pointed, “What does that look like? See that shining down there?”.

“It looks like some kind of box or something. Hard to tell from up here.”, Parker said while working his way down the side of the crater towards the object. “Yeah, it’s a wooden box and it’s got golden hinges.” He dug a little of the dirt from around it and shimmied it free out of the ground to hold it up and get a good look. There was lettering engraved into the wood. It wasn’t English, but Parker didn’t know any other languages so he had no way of knowing what it said. He slowly opened it with a creaking of the hinges and looked inside as the sun entered the box only to see that there was nothing inside. He only saw the same wooden material that made up the outside. He flipped it upside down just to reassure himself that it was empty. He spoke to himself, “It’s empty…”, then turned around to shout up to Benny and Eric, but noticed there was now another person standing behind the two boys. A tall man dressed in a white suit with a black tie, black hair slicked back on top of his head, and black shoes. Before Parker could say anything, the man behind the other two boys spoke.

“I see you found my box,” the man said to Parker, causing the other two boys to jump in a startle to turn around and see him standing there.

“Dammit, you scared me!”, Eric shouted as he backed further away from the man.

Parker held the box up with one hand, making eye contact with the man, “This box?”

“Well it does have my name name on it.”

Parker took his arm down and held the box at his stomach, looking down at the words engraved on the top of it. He squinted his eyes, rotated it around, and still had no guess as to what the words actually said. To him it appeared to be a bunch of symbols and shapes. It looked like the random knife carvings of someone that went mad. Parker looked back up, “It doesn’t have any names on it.”

“Oh, but it does.”, the man said down to Parker. At this moment, Benny was now realizing that the mysterious man was dressed in a full suit without a drop of sweat on his face.

“Aren’t you hot?” Benny asked.

“Not at all. Pretty comfortable actually now that I’m able to stretch my legs after so long. Your friend down there set me free.” The man said, pointing down into the crater with a finger that had an extra long black nail. When Eric and Benny followed his finger with their eyes, they saw that the man was now standing next to Parker. Parker was still staring up at the boys and then looked to his left to see the stranger beside him and it made him jump. The stranger grinned at Parker, “Should be three coins in the box. There used to be five, but the last person to have the box didn’t get the chance to take the other three.”

“The box is empty, I looked inside already.”, Parker replied while simultaneously opening the lid to see three golden coins shining back at him. “What? I swear it was empty. Those weren’t-".

The stranger cut him off before he could finish, “Would you look at that? Three little coins, just like I said. One for each of you boys.”

Parker looked down into the box that now only had one coin in it and picked up the single object. Benny and Eric both felt a coin in their hand that wasn’t their before just seconds ago. Benny opened his palm and looked down at the coin that was engraved with markings that could have been Aztec.

“Those are some special coins. They’ll make anything you want come true. Anything at all. All you have to do is say what you want, put it back in its box, and close the lid. Then the coin is gone forever. Each of you only has the one coin though, so be careful.”

“Oh, so you’re like a genie or something?” Eric asked, surprisingly calm for the situation. In fact, they were all too calm for the situation. Part of it might be disbelief in what was going on, but they had seen for themselves what was happening. Maybe it was the heat causing hallucinations.

“Yeah, something like that. I just need these coins gone so I can get back home. I’ve been here for far too long.”

“Why didn’t the last person use all of his coins?”, Parker asked.

“He didn’t get to. Now, think carefully and take all the time you need. This is a big deal. You won’t get another chance like this.”

Parker immediately spoke and placed his coin in the box, “I want every girl to think I’m irresistible. They’ll all love me.” He said this with a smile and stared down at the open box.

“Okay. Now close the box. You have to close it for it to work.”, the stranger said.

Parker closed the box and then opened it again to see that the coin was gone. He didn’t feel any different. There was no noise or visual to signify that something had happened. He looked up at Eric and Benny, “Did it work?”.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?”, Eric laughed down to Parker and started to walk down to him, “Let me try.” Parker turned the opened box toward Eric. Eric looked at the man in the suit, “Can I make a wish that makes it impossible for people to say no to me?”

“No…”, the suited man said to Eric, “I’m joking, of course you can. Put the coin in the box and close it.”

Eric held his coin out in his closed hand, “I wish that nobody was able to say no to me”, and he dropped the coin in the box and closed the lid.

“Your wish is my command!”, the stranger said mockingly while waving his hands, “You don’t have to say you wish, just say it to me. There’s no magic words or anything.”

Eric looked at him, “Did it work?”, to which the man replied, “Yes” and there was a look of pure joy and excitement on Erics face as his smile widened. In Eric’s head, the “yes” answer was already proof that the wish was granted.

The man in the suit looked up at Benny, “Your turn. Come down here and make your wildest dreams come true.” Benny looked down at the coin in his hand and thought hard about what he could ask for. He was regularly an unselfish person, but this could be his chance to get anything he desired. He closed his hand and put the coin into his pocket, “I’m going save it for later. It’s too hot out here and I just want to get back home. My little sisters birthday party starts in an hour anyway.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. We should probably get going.”, Parker said as he turned to the stranger and tried to hand over the box. The stranger pushed it away.

“You take that with you. Benny needs it for the coin.”, the stranger said with a smile. Parker didn’t even catch that the man somehow knew his friends name, he just nodded and agreed. He turned to walk up the side of the hole alongside Eric, and then he turned around to say bye to the man they had just met.

“Did you think I’d be gone or something?”, the stranger laughed. “Oh my! He’s gone! How spooky!”, he laughed some more holding onto his stomach. Parker turned back around and handed the box to Eric for him to carry. Eric handed it to Benny, “Here, you carry this. You’re the last one with a coin anyway.” Benny accepted it and just replied with, “Yeah, okay”, which caused Eric to smirk in satisfaction with his use of the coin.

The three teenage boys emerged from the woods after more than an hour long trek back to their neighborhood. They walked towards Benny’s house where his younger sister would be having a birthday party. The house had vehicles parked outside and down the street. Pink balloons decorated the mailbox and streamers were hung along the railing of the porch. With the three of them being such close friends, it was always anticipated that they were all welcome to each others family events. When they walked into the house there were children running around and family members of Benny casually having conversation throughout the house. “I’m going to go put this upstairs,” Benny referred to the box as he went up to his room. Benny’s mother started to approach the other two boys and tell them to welcome themselves.

“Hey guys, we already cut the cake and did presents, but feel free to grab yourself a slice.”, Benny’s mom was saying as she just took notice to Parker, never realizing that she found him to be so handsome. She placed her hands on her hips and shifted her body weight slightly, then flipped her hair over her shoulder, and smiled. “Parker, did you start working out? There’s something different about you.”

“Yeah, I actually started a couple of weeks ago.”, Parker responded with a smile of his own.

“Can I get some cake?”, Eric asked.

Benny’s mom lost her flirtatious voice as she look at Eric and responded, “Yeah, of course.”. Her response caused Eric to smirk again as he looked over at Parker and winked at him with a slight nudge of his elbow. He walked into the kitchen to grab a slice of cake, leaving Parker to be alone with Benny’s mom. “You know, you don’t come around as much anymore. You should change that.”

“Thanks Mrs. Hollands, I’ll try to do that.”

“Please, call me Shannon.” She said with a giggle.

Benny returned from upstairs and saw his mother smiling oddly at one of his best friends, “Don’t be so weird mom!”. She winked at Parker and turned to walk back into the kitchen. “What was that all about?!”, Benny asked.

“I think she was flirting with me. She winked at me.”, Parker said with a smile, “It worked! The coin worked!”

Benny stuck his pointer finger out and poked Parker in the chest, “Not my mom! You hear me? Not her!”

“Relax, I wouldn’t do that to you. Besides, I can have any girl in the world now.”, Parker smiled to himself while moving the finger away from his chest. He then saw a little girl walking up to him that must have been a guest to the party. The only kid he knew here was Kayla, Benny’s sister. The girl looked shy and started to giggle when she reached Parker and quietly spoke, “Um… my friend over there thinks you’re cute.”. Parker looked up to see her friend, realizing that she was talking about a girl that couldn’t have been older than seven. She was waving at Parker and giggling with the other girls when the young girl standing next to him spoke again, “I think you’re cute too!”, she forced out while running away to sit with her friends. Parker looked back at Benny with disgust on his face, “That’s disgusting.”

Parker looked around the room and noticed all females attending the party were looking at him. There was a group of girls twirling their hair and waving at him. An elderly woman blew him a kiss. He scanned the room and saw women holding onto their husbands, but only looking at Parker. Then he noticed something dreadful, his own mother had come to the party.

Eric was in the kitchen and had just finished eating his slice of cake. He looked over at Benny’s mom, “Is it okay if I have another piece?”. There was more than half of the cake left. “Sure, help yourself Eric, there’s more than enough.”, she replied. Eric laughed to himself as he cut another slice of cake. He felt powerful.

Parker’s mom had come up to him now with a smile and was standing with her chest poking out more than usual. Parker was disgusted, “Mom, what are you doing here?”. She went in for a hug and squeezed her son tighter than normal, “The Hollands are our neighbors, sweetheart. Why wouldn’t I be here?”. Parker pushed her away gently, “I’m going to go up to Benny’s room real quick.” He turned to walk around and go upstairs and he felt someone smack him on his butt. He was too afraid to turn around and see who it was. He signaled for Benny to follow him up the stairs. Benny then signaled to Eric to come with them. Eric was still eating his cake and had a mouth full when he looked over at Benny’s mom, “Is it cool if I take this upstairs?”. She looked confused about him asking, they had eaten up in his room many times, “Yeah, that’s fine.” Eric laughed out loud with his mouth full of cake.

When the three boys got into the bedroom they were met by a fourth person already in the room. The mysterious man from before was now sitting on Benny’s bed with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees with their long black nails stretching out in front of him. “Having fun boys?”

“Hell yeah!” Eric said in an instant.

“Easy for you to say! There are children in there that are attracted to me! My mom was hitting on me, dude!” Parker exclaimed in disgust. He looked at the stranger on the bed, “Please take it back! I don’t care how many girls are into me, if it includes literally every girl then I don’t want it!”

The stranger laughed, “I can’t take it back. Well, actually I could, if that’s what the next coin gets used for. That would be a waste though wouldn’t it?”

Parker looked at Benny, “Please, man! I’m so sorry you’ll have to waste your wish, but can you please just take our wishes back? Then it’s equal, like nobody got any wishes at all.”

Eric spoke through a mouth full of cake, “Hell no! Take his back, not mine! This is awesome.”. Eric then had a brilliant idea. Nobody could say “no” to him, so he would tell Benny to hand his coin over. He reached out his hand, “Why don’t you just give me your coin and let me use the last wish?”

“Nah.”, Benny replied

“What the hell?! You have to say yes!”, Eric said in shock.

“I don’t think I do though.”, Benny started to laugh a little, “I think I just can’t say that word”

Eric’s mouth was wide open. The strange man on the bed was laughing, “You weren’t specific enough I guess, sorry. I just thought that you may have not been too fond of that specific word. I thought it was a strange thing to want, but hey, it’s not my decision.”

“So nobody can specifically say the word no to me? They can deny me in any other way except they can’t use that one single word? This is just stupid, man. I should have known this was all too good to be true.”

“They can still text it to you if you want them to, just can’t say it.”, the man said with a look of mocking sympathy. He then looked over at Benny, “I suppose you’ll think extra hard about what you want now, wording it in a way with no loopholes?”

Benny looked down at his hand which was holding the coin again. The stranger on the bed was now holding the box and opening the lid of it slowly for Benny to put the coin in. Benny had been thinking about what he would wish for long before he was ever given this chance. In a world where this opportunity was only a fantasy, he had thought about it many times. He had told himself that the most reasonable thing to do would be to wish for the least selfish thing he could imagine. Something that would benefit everyone. He already knew his answer, but he had something he wanted to ask first. “Who was the person that had the other two wishes? What happened to them? Why didn’t they use all five?”

The stranger answered, “I was summoned here many years ago. Before there was even water where we were all standing before. The land was flat and humans were primitive. They were just starting to communicate with one another. All it took was for one person to say the right words and it would summon me. They were babbling on with another individual and the next thing they knew, they saw a box in front of them. The same box you saw today. When they picked it up, I was there to explain everything to them. Even though they hadn’t developed a language between each other, I was still able to communicate with both of them. There are no language barriers with me. And of course I wasn’t wearing this suit, I was wearing something they would be more accepting of… a loin cloth of animal fur. But anyways, after explaining to them about what the coins did, one of them attacked the other and killed him for the chance to use all the coins for themself.”

“That’s pretty messed up.”, Eric said, interrupting the story.

“They were primitive, they didn’t know any better.”, the stranger continued. “His first request was reasonable. He just didn’t want to be hungry anymore. So he wasn’t. He didn’t even have to eat, I just took away his hunger pains for the moment. Of course, he would eventually be hungry again and need to eat later, but that’s not what he wanted. The next thing he wanted from me had actually caught me by surprise. I didn’t expect this from such a simple creature, but he wanted to know everything. He wanted to be all knowing.”

“So, why did he stop there? If he wanted to know everything then wouldn’t he know what to wish for next?”, Parker asked reasonably.

“Because upon learning everything there was to know, seeing all there was to discover, and being omniscient, he decided it was better to cut his own throat. He sharpened a rock, creating the worlds first tool, and he used it to kill himself.” The man on the bed said, opening the lid of the box for Benny, “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yeah, I think so.”, Benny said with confidence, holding his hand above the box. The other two boys waiting in anticipation about what he would say. “I want world peace. I don’t want anymore violence or anymore unnecessary death. I just want everything to be peaceful for everyone.”, and he dropped the coin into the box.

“Very good, Benny.”, the stranger said, “You really put a lot of thought into that one.”

The man on the bed closed the box. As soon as the lid was closed, the request was granted. The bedroom was now empty. The stranger had returned home. The party downstairs had ended, with nobody left in the house. The cars on the streets crashed with no drivers. The planes in the sky fell to the ground. The T.V.s that remained on displayed people that were no longer alive on Earth. The radios played music with the voices of the past. There was nobody left on the planet. Everything was quiet now. There was world peace.

I live in a town where there is no loneliness and man I just want some alone time. I mean it sounds impossible to not have loneliness because as you get older, you tend to get more lonelier. This town though it will make sure that you will never get lonely. It's sounds impossible but ever since i moved here there is always someone with me. Like I don't know how it happens and even when I am on the toilet or when I am showering, I am never lonely. There is always someone there and I don't know it some how over rides my conciousness.

Whenever I want to walk alone, I can't because there is always someone there always walking with me. Whenever I want to just sit alone there is always someone there sitting along side me. Whenever I want to eat at a restaurant all on my own, there is always someone there sitting next to me. There is always someone talking to me and doing things with me. It's not just me but other people are also experiencing the same thing and we can't seem to question it at all. The town where you can't get lonely ever.

Sometimes I want to be alone and I want to be in my own space. This person who is always next to me and always watching me sleep, I can't seem to fight against it. Then when one day I must have just snapped and I killed who ever has been with me ever since I came to this town. It felt good to have a moment to myself and then when I went to have shower, I know had two people who were with me where ever I went. The person I killed was some how not dead and there was another person now with him, who also kept following me.

Where ever I went these two would keep me company at all times. I observed that other people were also experiencing the same thing and they too seemed to be having enough. Now I snapped a couple of more times in the coming weeks and now I have 10 people following me werever I go. I noticed other people seem to have more people following them as well. If we kill them then they seem to multipl.

So the town where loneliness doesn't exist is a horrid town. Everyone needs a bit of loneliness now and then. Everyone needs their own space.

Do you own a smartphone (Android, iPhone, etc.) like the rest of society? If you do, maybe you can understand my problem. I believe my phone is possessed by an algorithm/AI digital entity. I know this might sound odd to most people, but let me tell you of the terror I have gone through because of it.

July 30th, 2024 - August 6th, 2024:

I was working as a producer on an independent horror film, of course. The days were getting longer because we rushed to finish the film before Halloween. Things were getting a little hairy on set—overtime hours, people getting moody, the director wanting rewrites in the script, and much more. The crew started texting each other when they had questions instead of talking in person—due to at least three fights that broke out in 2 days because of steamy talking and yelling. Texting started to help calm things down for a few days, but then it started causing people to get even more irate. The texts sent were, more or less, done through speech-to-text (it is much easier and faster for people when they can not type but need to convey a message to use speech-to-text). The problems with the text were that people were not checking them after they spoke to the text app to tell it what to type. That was understandable due to the time constraints on set at that time. However, the app would change words that had nothing to do with what they were told—not even in the same syllables or rhyming with the available words. There were two stabbings and one critically injured electrician before the set was closed, and we were all without jobs.

August 13th, 2024:

It had been about a week since I got fired and the unfortunate death of Steve Donner, the on-set electrician. I was still using the same phone. I hate using business phones because of the malicious apps they have on them. Everything seemed to be working fine with my phone since I have been off the set, although, come to think about it, I did update my speech-to-text app on my phone as I was escorted off the set.

August 15th, 2024:

I woke up and poured myself a cup of coffee. I searched through all the daily periodicals to see if there were any job openings with which I could get an interview. Nothing looked like it would pay enough for my skill or projects that would distribute wide enough to pay off on the top end—my smartphone screen lit up and was updating several apps. I did not bother looking at which apps it was—I was trying to find a job. I took a shower and then watched some of the dailies on my 4k TV from a project my friend was working on. My smartphone screen lit up, and I looked at it. These random texts from people I did not know started popping up on the phone. It was a constant feed of text that did not make sense to me. But, being the curious person i am, I started reading the text. I started recognizing some of the things talked about and thought it might be some of my neighbors. So placing people with the text became a funny morning entertainment for me—it sure beat the dailies I was watching. The conversations started getting rude abruptly, and I could tell it would get nasty. Five minutes later, I heard gunshots from three different places in my apartment building—

To Be Continued

I was walking back home from school when saw coral pink home.It was my childhood home thats abandoned i had stupid idea to go to it.When i was inside i saw my old room was covered in fresh blood....i runned out and i came back home.Next day i heard in tv that serial killer killed miss and mister serene(my parents)in their house.so that was the shadow that i saw in the basement(the killer)with 2 bodies

part 2:im Angelica(12F)im the OP`s sister.OP had died yesterday by the killer......

I woke up early in the middle of the night. The clock shows 3:13 AM. Although the air feels so cold, that was not the reason as to why I woke up. The phone ringtone was what I woke up to. It seems to be that Mom had been trying to reach out to me so many times while I was asleep.

"But why this time of night? I hope everything is okay."

Worried, I immediately go to her bedroom, only to find her nowhere to be found in the room. Not long after that, I heard a cluttering noise from downstairs.

"Mom?"

It's so dark in the kitchen. We haven't changed the light bulb since the dinner. But it is very odd. Why would she stand in the kitchen this late at night? And tomorrow is the weekend, so there is no need for her to wake up so early. But I have something else to worry about right now. I need to ask her why she called me just now.

As I try to approach her, I ask, "Is everything okay, Mom? What were the calls about?"

After a silence, she answers, "It's nothing, sweetheart. You can go back to sleep now."

I stopped. I think there're times when she needs a moment for herself. I am going to let her be.

But then, in the middle of the dark, as I turn my body away from her, my phone lights up. I look at my phone, and it's there. A new message from Mom.

"I'm with the police. Whatever happens, DO NOT go downstairs."

I stand there completely terrified. I can't think of anything besides the woman standing behind me. I knew something was off from the very start. No one would just stand in the kitchen at 3 AM. But I am really curious who this person is. I want to know the face. But I'm so scared.

I put my phone up and turn the flashlight on. But then I see nothing.

There is only a bloody and pale hand grabbing my phone.

Guys I'm an aspiring storyteller who just posted his 1st ever short form story on youtube
If you got time then please do check it out

https://youtube.com/shorts/Gday4o_UbGM?feature=share