Last night, as I was sitting in my living room and watching a little TV before bed, I heard a strange noise. It was a slow, drawn-out scraping across the hardwood floor. Confused, I searched for the source of the sound, and I found it immediately. Someone had slipped a small folded note under the door. 

“What the…?” More curious than anything, I approached the note slowly. I knelt cautiously and picked up the strange paper. On it were only five words, scrawled on in a crude, messy fashion: “Get out. He is coming.”

I didn’t pause to consider the meaning of the note, however, as I immediately realized there was something very, very wrong with this situation: The note had come from under the closet door. 

I stumbled back, tripping and landing on the ground. I debated my next move, and curiosity won. Slowly and silently standing up, I crept over to the door, before aggressively swinging it open and jumping back. This revealed… nothing. The closet was empty, except for an old box of clothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of place. But the note couldn’t have just shown up out of nowhere.

Maybe I’m hallucinating. I wondered, stumbling over to the kitchen and downing the rest of my water bottle, slapping myself in the face a few times, and screaming loud to snap out of it. But no matter what I did, the note still lay there. 

Finally realizing this might be reality, I sat on my bed, contemplating the note’s meaning. “Who is this ‘he’ it’s talking about?…” I asked out loud, staring into space as the gears turned in my head.

The sound of a door slamming open broke my deep concentration, and I jerked up, sticking my head out my bedroom door. “Oh, James, it’s just you,” I took deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart.

“Just me…?” My roommate cocked his head in confusion, looking like a little puppy.

“Yeah, I just had the weirdest experience…” I trailed off, noticing something quite odd. “What in the world is on your shoes?”

James went wide-eyed, glanced down, and fumbled with his fingers. His normally white converse was splattered with something red. And chunky. 

His eyes darted around the room, landing on my art supplies left out in the corner. 

“Don’t you know?” James asked, standing up straight. “It’s the new ‘fad’ these days. Everyone has them. Red splattered shoes, specifically converse.”

I shrugged, avoiding my eyes from the disgusting shoes. “Ugh, it’s gross. Please just put them in your room.” I gagged from the sight and went back to my room. Kids and their weird fashion choices…

Hours later, once dinner was eaten and I had finished all of my homework, I was finally ready for bed. I climbed under my covers, rested my head on my pillow, when I remembered: the closet. No way was I going to sleep in the same room as the “haunted” closet, I had nicknamed it. I peeked my head into James’ room and saw him dead asleep, drool dripping down his chin. I grimaced, and then made the executive decision that the couch was my bed for the night. I dragged my pillow and blankets into the living room, cuddled up, and fell asleep immediately, warm and cozy.

At some point in the middle of the night, a loud noise woke me. I sat up just fast enough to see James’ body slip out the door. A quiet clang echoed through the room when the door closed, as I sat there, quite confused. Glancing at the microwave clock, I saw it was only 3:24 in the morning. The gym wasn’t open, most parks and stores were closed. So what in the world was he doing this late at night/early in the morning? My tired brain didn’t want to think about it anymore, so I pushed those complicated thoughts out of my head, and dozed off again. 

Come morning, I very slowly woke up. Then I went about my morning routine as usual, until I remembered the odd occurrence during the night. I stopped what I was doing and banged on my roommate’s door. 

“James!” I called out, “Are you in there?”

When there was no response, I quietly opened the door, figuring he would maybe still be sleeping. But when I stuck my head in the door, I noticed there was no breathing human laying in the bed. Or in the closet. Or the bathroom. Not here in this house. 

That’s when I remembered waking up in the middle of the night. It all came flooding back, the odd departure of James, and not leaving a note or anything like that.

I heard the click of the lock on the front door, and I slammed James’ door before jogging over to the kitchen. 

Of course, it was James, who stood in the entryway, slowly taking off his coat and shoes. 

“James.” I stared at him. “Where were you?”

“Why do you want to know?” James sassed back, walking over to me.

My stomach growled and answered for me. “I needed you to make breakfast, you know I can’t cook.”

He looked at me surprised, “Oh! I was… getting an early start at the gym! I wanted to get there as soon as it opened.”

I nodded, accepting his excuse. “Do you mind making something for me now…?”

James nodded, heading over to the fridge to make me some delicious meal.

“Thanks!” I told him, “I’ve got to go get ready for the day, I’ll be right back.”

Instead of doing what I told James, I went into my room and looked up the hours of the gym I know James goes to. It’s possible he went to a different gym today, but not very likely. 

“Aha!” I exclaimed. It’s just as I thought, his gym opens at 5:30 in the morning, nowhere near 3 am. 

I marched into the kitchen to confront James but spotted something worse before I could say a word. A small bottle sat on the counter, with a skull and crossbones on the label. I watched James pour a bit into a nice, steaming hot Latte, before setting it next to a plate.

“Alex!” He called, “It’s ready!”

I backed up a few steps, smoothed my hair down a bit, straightened my clothes, and walked out as if I had come from my room.

“Oooo yummy! It looks so good!” I complimented. The French Toast did look mouthwatering, as well as the crispy piece of bacon. I sat down at the table, and James handed me a plate of food, as well as the coffee that the mysterious liquid had gone in. I took one look at the coffee, ignoring my stomach growling, and jolted up.

“I-I need to go to the bathroom real quick.” I ran over to the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. I pulled out my phone and dialed my sister’s number. Five rings echoed throughout the room, ending with the voicemail option. I hung up, and sat on the edge of the bathtub, completely lost.

“What do I do…” I muttered, shaking and shivering with fright. I was not going to drink whatever was in that vial, and I didn’t know if there was some in the food too.

I should have known! I thought and mentally smacked myself for being so dumb. All of the signs… I bet those shoes weren’t ever in style!

“Alex!” I heard James call behind the door, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” My voice only shakes a little bit. “I’ll be fine.”

Silence was my only response, causing my eyes to widen and start shaking more violently. 

The door handle started to slowly turn, the door creaked open bit by bit. I backed up as close to the wall as I could, staring in horror. James appeared in the doorway, his eyes black as night, and pin-pricked fangs poking down from his upper teeth.

“J-James?” I stuttered, crouching onto the ground.

He looked at me with a grin, displaying his set of fine teeth. 

Everything turned black before I could even let out a scream.