by Anonymous
One day, there was a girl named Clare. She had just barely turned twelve, and she convinced her parents to let her invite two friends to walk around town with her. Clare invited her two best friends, Mac and Lily. After a million reminders to be safe and not talk to strangers, the three best friends walked down to town.
The three girls got some drinks from the local coffee shop, and then they got some brownies from the bakery. After browsing through some more stores, the friends found something that really surprised them. All three of them had lived in this town their entire lives, and they knew every store there. But behind the bookstore, there was a mysterious building.
It looked really old, like it had had millions of people walk in and out. They could tell it used to be really bright and cool, but now it looked abandoned.
“Wow! What is this place?” Mac asked.
“Maybe it’s a new store? But it looks really old…” Lily said.
“Let’s see what’s inside!” said Clare. Before he friends could stop her, Clare went up to the store and pushed open the door.
The door’s hinges squeaked super loudly, causing Mac and Lily to jump a little. But Clare didn’t seem to notice. Once the door was fully opened, a cold gust of wind came out. The whole place seemed to scream creepy.
“I don’t like the looks of this place.” Mac said, and Lily nodded in agreement.
“Come on guys, it’ll be fine.” Clare said, starting to go inside.
The inside of the shop was dark, and none of them could see anything until it was an inch away from their faces. It appeared to be full of shelves, like a library, but the shelves didn’t hold books. Instead, they held various things that were just plain…weird. And maybe a little bit creepy.
A jar of glass eyeballs.
A werewolf mask.
Something that looked slightly like a dead rat.
All of a sudden, the fearless Clare (who was never scared of anything) had a terrible feeling inside of her. She didn’t quite know what it was, but it all felt wrong. She knew she had to get out of the store.
“Guys, something doesn’t feel right. We need to leave. Now.” Clare said.
“I agree. I’m out of here.” said Lily. They both looked to Mac to see if she had anything to add, but she was completely hypnotized by looking at an old, dusty crystal ball. Exactly the type of thing your standard fortune teller would use. But this one for sure wasn’t normal.
“Come on Mac. Let’s go.” said Clare, feeling a little desperate. Mac said nothing. She didn’t look away from the crystal ball, and she didn’t blink.
“I’m serious. We need to go!” Clare said, now shouting a little. She tried to pull Mac’s arm, but she wouldn’t move.
“Mac we need to go right now!” cried Clare. She knew something wasnt right. She could feel that something completely and totally devastating was about to happen, and she couldn’t stop it.
Then, the crystal ball began to glow. Soft and barely noticeable at first, and then more. It illuminated Mac’s face, which was stuck in an expressionless trance. The crystal ball glew brighter and brighter, until Clare and Lily had to look away, it was so bright. But Mac kept staring at it. Soon, they could see into every corner of the store, where more creepiness lurked. Anyone walking by could have easily seen straight through the windows. Maybe if there had been someone walking by, they would have stopped what was coming. Who was coming. But nobody was walking by. And nobody stopped it.
Mac was still staring at the crystal ball, which was somehow still getting brighter. Lily and Clare were screaming and crying, doing anything they could to try and get Mac out. Then, all the light disappeared. It didn’t fade away, it just snapped off. It flickered back on for a super quick millisecond, and Lily and Clare screamed at what they saw.
Right behind the crystal ball was a clown. It was exactly the type of clown you’d see at a circus, making little kids laugh. But this clown had a gaping, bloody hole where it’s left ear should’ve been. It had a single drop of blood trickling down it’s chin, starting at it’s mouth. And this clown had the most terrifying and traumatuzing grin plastered across it’s face. And it was looking straight at them.
Lily and Clare screamed, louder than they had ever imagined any can scream. And they were more horrified than you could possibly imagine one person to be. The second the light turned off again, the two girls ran outside of the store and all the way back to Clare’s house. They ran so fast, cheetahs were snails in comparison. When they reached Clare’s driveway, out of breath but not wanting to stop, when they realized Mac wasn’t there.
And then they made a decision that wasn’t very good.
“We have to go back for her.” Lily said. Clare didn’t hesitate to agree. She grabbed a flashlight from inside, and looked for her parents. They weren’t home. When she looked at her phone, it was dead. So she and Lily ran back to the store, all alone, with nothing more than a flashlight and each other.
The door creaked as they re-entered, shaking in fear. They held on to each other, shining the flashlight around. The crystal ball was dark, and the clown was no where to be found. Neither was Mac.
“Mac?”Clare slowly called out. They took two more steps into the store. Then a light flickered. Before they could react, scream, or get the heck out of that store, they saw the clown.
Mac, Lily, and Clare’s parents could not find their kids anywhere. After they weren’t home on time, the parents met up to drive around town looking for them. Nothing. By nightfall, the whole town was driving or walking around, looking for the three girls. Clare’s Mom was behind the bookstore, where there appeared to be nothing but pavement and half-dead grass. But when she looked closer, she found two things.
The first thing was a flashlight. She jumped up with hope, because she recognized that flashlight. It was Clare’s. The girls had been here! But she collapsed in horror upon further investigation. Because beside the flashlight were three drops of blood, each one around the size of a quarter. Yep. Blood.
The families never found their lost children. The store never appeared again. The world kept on turning.
But just so you know:
Always remember your flashlight.