A man bent on finding pirate treasure in Sandcastle discovers a new cryptid species and realizes there is fate worse than falling off a cliff.
This creepy little story can be found as a Kindle Unlimited book on Amazon. Click here to get it on Kindle Unlimited.
Welcome to Scary Story Time by Spooky Boo, www.scarystorytime.com. Today I bring to you the second installment of The Wicked Lies of Friendship. If you haven’t listened to the few previous stories then I suggest you begin there and continue to this chapter when finished.
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Now let’s begin
Casey Weinsfeld knew exactly what he had to do and he didn’t like it one bit. That old lady Abagail refused to listen to the nurse and when asked to put on her sweats she sat her bony ass right down and declined. He didn’t feel comfortable holding down a woman close to 100 years old and putting her clothes on, but that is exactly what they had to do. Her hospital gown was now evidence and she was a suspect. As shocking as it sounded, she was as of right now their best guess as to what happened to this poor little girl.
The old woman spent the better part of the night sleeping on a cot in the waiting room at the hospital as they cleaned up the area and finished the crime scene. It was now 8:00 and Casey was working on only a 2-hour cat nap he had in the car and it really wasn’t a deep sleep at all. Not only was it very uncomfortable, but his dreams also ran wild. The disturbing nightmares brought him back to the bloody tree branch stuck in his friend’s head and the witch of the lake. As comfortable as a 6-foot tall man could get in the back of a Ford Queen Victoria, there was no refuge for his mind.
He awoke with a kink in his neck and a deep need for a bold cup of coffee. Reggie, his most trusted officer, was at his side almost immediately with a cup of brew from Ocean Grounds, the local hot spot for what Casey called the best coffee for 500 miles and that included all of the mom and pop shops in San Francisco. He never missed a cup and, in fact, had an open tab at Ocean Grounds the city picked up every month.
“Here’s your coffee, sir.” Reggie. handed the once steaming cup to his boss. “Two shots of whole cream and no sugar, just how you like it.”
“You know, you need a promotion kid. I rely on you too much for almost everything,” Casey chuckled when taking the cup. He really did rely on Reggie for just about everything, but that came with the job. As the chief and top detective of the small force in Sandcastle, he was all they had. Sure, there were beat cops who were always busy. There were detectives who took the smaller cases. A case like this; however, was only ever handled by the Chief. City Hall didn’t like it, but they knew he was the best qualified to get the job done when needed and they didn’t want to justify having another suit sitting behind a desk all day bossing people around.
They shot each other a look and then a small laugh as Abagail screamed at the male nurse. She had been at it for over an hour now refusing to change her gown. The investigation must go on and Casey knew at this point he would need to put his foot down and stop the commotion. He peaked his head inside the door and looked at the two male nurses trying to bargain with the old woman.
“Get it done. I need her gown now and I don’t care what you have to do to get it,” he shut the door oblivious to her new rounds of screeching.
A moment later, Mike, the taller of the two nurses came out of the room with gown in hand and fresh scratches on his cheek. “Here you are, sir.”
“Damn, Reggie, have him get that swabbed and cleaned and get the skin from under her nails. We’re going to need everything.”
“Thank you, sir.” the nurse handed the gown to Casey who then stuffed it inside a clear evidence bag and zipped it right up.
CRAZY OLD BITCH he wrote across the front of the bag in a black marker and then added her name, the date, time, and description of the contents on the front and then placed it gently in the box holding everything about the case collected from the hospital during the past two days. Moments later, Reggie walked out of the lab with fingernail swabs and collection kits in hand. He placed them in the box then helped carry the evidence to Casey’s car.
“Watch this stuff for a moment, Reggie. I need to have a word with someone.”
“No problem, Boss.” Reggie stood on guard beside the car door.
Casey wasted no time strutting into the lounge area where his old friend was sitting. He barely even walked through the door before he heard Roy greeting him.
“Hello, my friend. Did you sleep well?” the smile on Roy’s face seemed genuine.
“Not really, two hours in the car was about all I got and even then it sucked.”
“That isn’t very professional of you, Casey,” Roy laughed and motioned for him to sit down on the couch next to him.
Casey sat but still felt a little on edge. He took a sip of his coffee before speaking as he studied the opaque irises of Roy’s eyes. “Roy, we have to get to the bottom of this. Can you see anything with your eyes?”
Suddenly, Roy looked very sad as he spoke, “I see very little with my eyes, old friend. When she took my eyesight away from me, she gave me internal sight. I can see with my mind.”
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Casey held up two fingers away from Roy’s line of sight.
Without moving his body or eyes Roy responded, “Two,” and when Casey put down his index finger showing only his middle finger Roy laughed, “One.”
“I can’t use this in court, Roy. You’re legally blind.” Casey rested his elbows on his legs and brushed his hands over his face and hair then stopped for a moment to think.
“Casey, you’re too stressed. You need a vacation. Look, my people have pooled their money together and we’ve bought this place. In a few months, it will be an entirely different world here. Why don’t you come and be my head of security? I’ll pay you way more than the city pays you.”
Casey laughed as he sat back. “You know I can’t do that Roy. This is an ongoing investigation that is going to take months to finish. No one is going to let you change anything until everything is done and we find out what happened.”
“What did you find last night?” Roy suddenly grew very serious.
“You know I can’t tell you that since the woman involved is one of your crazy minions.”
“Be nice, top cop. I do have to take care of my people.”
“What do you mean by your people? What do they see in you and where are they now? Why aren’t they groveling at your feet right now?”
Roy let out a stifled laugh as he stared off into the distance with his nickel-sized pupils. “Many of them are just waking up now. Some are in the showers, some are eating.”
“And you know this how?”
“I can see them. We’re in tune together.”
“Are we in tune together, Roy?” the police chief leaned in close to his friend’s face waiting for him to flinch.
“No, we are not.” Roy continued to stare absently with his slate-colored eyes, oblivious to the actions of his friend.
“Do you know what happened to the little girl?”
“I do not,” Roy said as he smiled and leaned back. “I need my breakfast now. You need to go. Remember, that offer still stands Top Cop.”
Standing, Casey straightened his wrinkled suit and adjusted his collar and tie. He grabbed his coffee and started out the door then turned around, “I work for the people, not for evil my friend.” As he left the building Roy’s laughter echoed in the halls behind him.
~~~ 2 ~~~
“Boss, this woman is nuts.” Reggie handed Casey the folder with the pictures of the dismembered little girl.
“God, I still have to go tell her parents. What in the hell am I going to say, Reggie? How do you tell someone their only child was murdered and dismembered?”
“You tell them how you would like to be told, Boss. That’s what you taught me.”
“I know, it’s harder when you know the people. I helped bring this girl to life. I rushed them to the delivery room because the ambulance crew was busy with an accident on Highway 1.” For the first time in years, Casey allowed the tears to sting his eyes. “I held that child and helped her with her first breath!”
“Boss, don’t lose it on me now. Pull yourself together. We need to get this witch.”
For a brief moment, Casey heard the white lake witch in his head. They won’t get me or your friend. You know that, Top Cop. He’s mine now. He does my bidding. I’ll get you eventually. I always get my man.
Casey shut his eyes to stop the nonsense in his head but the lady of the lake filled his senses. Her beautiful face invading his view suddenly turning into a worm-infested sallow mess. You will die if you do not join me!
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, “I need some sleep before I go crazy but first, let’s interview this bitch.”
~~ 3 ~~
Casey quietly sat down in the interrogation room across from the old woman along with Officer Sheila Trent guarding the door. He placed the folder in front of him and looked sternly at Abagail, the woman before him. She looked rested, quieter than before with long gray hair matted at the sides of her face and her eyes closed.
“Abagail, are you feeling any better?” Casey pushed a glass of water to the woman.
“Some, it feels good to be away from that hell hole even if I’m in chains,” she ratted the handcuffs that were attached to the table. “Are these necessary?”
“I’m afraid so, for now.” Casey offered a smile hoping it would ease her mind before he started in with the questions. “You’re a very strong and fast woman for your size and we can’t take any chances.”
“But I’m so old and tired,” she began to cry.
“You stole my gun, shot two guards and residents, then outran the others. You didn’t look very old yesterday.”
Her thin lips curled into a grin showing more gum than teeth yet still the blackened teeth from lack of care were very obvious. “I sacrificed them to the white witch.”
“If that is what you want to call it,” Casey slammed his hand down on the folder then opened it. He pushed the pictures of the little girl into her view. “What about this?”
“Oh, she brought the lady strength!” she spit with excitement as she spoke, hitting Casey in the face.
As he wiped her saliva with a handkerchief from his pocket, Casey continued. He flipped through the pictures as he spoke, “This little girl was only 6 years old, Abagail. You were obviously there, but how? There is no video of you leaving the hospital. How did you get out?”
“The lady works in mysterious ways, top cop,” she laughed looking Casey right in the eyes. For a moment he could see his old friend’s grey stare in her eyes and heard his voice within hers giving off a vibe of demonic possession except Casey didn’t believe in such things–only insanity.
“How did a piece of your gown get stuck on a branch there?” he pushed a picture of her torn gown and another of the piece into her view.
“I like the pictures of the girl, better.” she smiled.
“You sick bitch. What about these?” he shoved a different folder in her direction. “What is this mess?”
She watched as Casey showed her pictures of the dismembered man and dead fish they found near the lake and the stump. The corner of her nose wrinkled and twitched before she answered. “I do not know. It was there before the sacrifice.
Casey knew she was telling the truth. The body of the girl was fresh, she was only less than a day dead before they found it her remains. This man was torn to pieces at least a few days before, they could tell by the smell and the maggots crawling around the meat and dried blood. He still flipped through the pages in front of her face. “You have no idea how this man died?”
“I only serve Jumal and the lake witch,” she closed her eyes and began rocking back and forth. Then she spoke again without opening her eyelids, “A new presence in the woods we haven’t been able to conquer yet. A force that is strong and vengeful. We cannot read either of them.”
“Either of them? There is more than one?” Casey put the images back into the folder and waited for her to finish.
“Yes, either. There are two so far, a man and a woman. No, wolves. Werewolves.” she let out a cackle of laughter. “If you don’t take care of that problem there will be more.”
“Werewolves,” Casey sighed. He really didn’t know whether to laugh or take her seriously. It was getting a little too weird for him in Sandcastle.
~~~ 3 ~~~
Marcus gnawed at his fried chicken bone like it was the last bit of food on Earth. For some reason, it didn’t taste as good as raw meat and he regretted that deeply. Fried chicken was his favorite food, or once was until he met Sheila Trent and now he really couldn’t understand his craving for uncooked flesh. It had something to do with when his old girlfriend had locked him up in her new home at the Miller mansion. He really wanted to speak to Roxy again, but he knew that new boyfriend of hers wouldn’t approve no matter what she said.
“Is that good?” Sheila sauntered into the room with her long copper hair curling down around her shoulders. She was as beautiful as the day he met her in that old cave. Marcus dropped the chicken bone back on his plate and licked the grease off of his fingers.
“It’s delicious, Sheila.” he smiled as he stood before her, cupping her chin into his hand and kissing her deeply.
“Good, because we have an issue we need to deal with.” she pushed him away and stood with her hand on her hip.
“The mess you made at the lake the other night was discovered by the cops. You were supposed to clean it up and now they know there is a crazy animal in the woods. We also have another problem though, a more important one.”
“What is it, babe?”
He saw a flash of yellow in her green eyes as she let out a small growl before speaking. “In the mess you left, a little girl was butchered by the lake witch.”
“What? Who? How?”
“I don’t know, an old woman as strong as we are. It makes no sense. She wasn’t really there, she was like a ghost taking instruction from the witch.”
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Marcus grabbed Sheila by the arms and shook her gently.
“I am no match for whatever lives in that lake. Why do you think I made you? The vampire was bad enough and now the mad witch has people killing for her all over the town.”
“You just watched as she killed a child?” Marcus was angry, angrier than when he found out what Sheila had done to him.
“Yes, Marcus. You have to come to terms with what you are now. It makes us no different than the lake witch. Your desire to kill when the moon is full won’t matter if your meal is a child or an adult. You won’t be able to control it so you better get used to it now or you will go insane.”
“I will not kill a child, Sheila. That is the difference between you and me and why I don’t know if I want to love you. I can’t love you, but I need to. You’re a cop. You of all people should understand this!”
“No matter, this isn’t what is important right now. That old woman knows about us. She is in police custody right now but she must be stopped. We have to kill her when she goes to the lake again to worship.”
“I…I don’t know if I can just take the life of someone that way, Sheila. Why don’t you do it?”
“Because, Marcus, you have to prove yourself to the pack or they will not accept you. They might even kill you. You must kill her and bring her to the council meeting for she is a threat to our existence.”
“No one will believe her, babe. She’s just a crazy old lady.”
“And a convincing one. They know an animal tore up that old man at the lake. That was your mistake, Marcus. You did that. It is now part of a crime scene where she sacrificed a little girl. I was just in the interrogation room with her. She mentioned us…she talked about werewolves. The police chief didn’t believe her about the werewolves, but unless you want every dog dead in the county whether or not it is part human then you had better take care of the situation. Tonight.”
“I can’t just shapeshift without the moon, you know that already. How am I supposed to get in there?”
Sheila grabbed both of his hands and pulled him up to his feet. She growled a little in his ear and watched his eyes flash from yellow back to brown. With a quirky smile, Marcus let the power flow through his muscles and flash in his brain until he felt the nerves of his skin on fire. For a brief second, little hairs began popping out of his skin until he relaxed.
“See, you can control it,” his mate smiled at him.
He grabbed her then growled under his breath allowing the hair to grow in fully all over his body. It felt good, unlike the monster he was forced to change to during a full moon. Marcus studied his now wolf-like claws that still held human form but with the sharp nails of a lycan.
“I’ve never intentionally killed anyone,” he allowed his body to change back to human.
“Think of this as self-defense, baby. It’s kill or be killed and if that old lady or the white witch don’t kill you the council will.”
~~ 4 ~~
The midnight hour was finally upon Sandcastle and all was quiet, as usual. Marcus sat at the back table of Spitz, one of his favorite local bars. He sipped silently at a beer thinking about the task given to him because of the cursed forced upon him. He rubbed his temples vigorously feeling the beginnings of a stress headache–something he knew all too well given his position as a stockbroker.
For another hour he sat there, watching the people and waiting for the right moment to leave. It was when Reggie, the police chief’s right-hand man walked in to get a beer is when Marcus decided it was time.
“Hey, Reginald, what’s up?” Marcus pulled up the stool next to his friend.
“Marcus! My man! Shouldn’t you be sleeping for your commute in the morning?”
“Yeah, I’m on my way home now. I just had to get a drink to calm some nerves. What was going on at the hospital the other day?” Marcus wanted to get some details before even attempting to sneak into the ward to find the old woman.
“Some crazy woman from the mental ward of the convalescent home got out and killed some girl at the lake. We’re pretty sure it was her but still can’t figure out how she pulled it off. Then some wild animal killed old man Thompson while he was fishing. I tell you, Marcus, something is happening in Sandcastle. Something really bad.”
“There is always something strange going on here. Who’s the woman?”
“Abagail, that crazy old bat who used to tell everyone she was the lady of the lake, remember her?”
“Oh yeah, she’d wear white and sleep out in the woods then run into town telling people she just had sex with the devil to become the white witch, right?”
“Yeah, that’s her. She somehow got out and killed a little girl is what we think. You know, I’m not supposed to be telling you this. I could get fired.”
“You know I’m not going to say anything, Reggie. How long are you going to lock her up for?”
Reggie rubbed his chin. Marcus wondered if he was debating on telling him or not. “She’s under high security in the nuthouse. When she allegedly escaped she just had her normal room but was able to come and go as she pleased, but now, since she has proven that she’s a little nuts, the hospital administration has agreed to put her on lockdown. She’s too old and too much of a loon to stay in a jail cell overnight. She’d probably hang herself on something.”
“Maybe that would be a good thing,” Marcus laughed. “Hey, I’ve got to get home or I’ll never wake up in the morning.”
“All righty then. Let’s go hit the bars one night, buddy. Oh hey, Roxie’s back. Do you ever see her around town?”
Marcus stopped and turned his head. He felt the pores of his skin begin to burn and knew his eyes were glowing amber. The tips of his fingers ached like they were going to explode. He took a deep breath and concentrated on his blood pressure and calmed himself. He looked hard at Reggie. “Yeah, she’s dating that strange rich guy that no one knows anything about.”
“That’s what I heard. I’ve been meaning to set up a BBQ or something so we can all get together again. Well, that is as long as it doesn’t bring up any hard feelings between you two.”
“No, not at all. It would be fun,” then he lowered his voice and mumbled to himself, “Good luck getting her out in the daylight.”
“What?” Reggie laughed.
“Aww it’s nothing. Call me and let me know.” Marcus walked out and drove home.
~~ 5 ~~
The pores of his skin burned as he stood naked in the garage of his townhome. Marcus left his car outside in the driveway and the television on so people would see the shadows and think he was home. He had a task to do, one that he didn’t find very appealing. Sure, the woman was a little nuts, but this was premeditated murder and not something he felt was decent to do. He didn’t want to die; however, so this task he deemed as self-defense.
He thought about Roxie and Augustus and his skin burned even hotter. The anger swelled inside his head. Feeling the muscles of his body twitch and stretch, he gave in to the pain and let it happen. The bones of his face elongated into those of a wolf as with all of the bones in his body. Blood and human skin pooled around his feet as he lapped up any remains of evidence into the expanse of the never-ending hunger he faced when he changed.
Quietly, he crouched and like a rat, flattened all of his muscles and bones until he could slip through the small crack he left open at the bottom of the garage door. No normal human could fit through that crack and his car in the driveway should hide him from escaping his alibi.
He galloped through the neighborhood streets and across town until he reached the convalescent hospital. Most of the lights were off by now and only a few resident lights were left on. Marcus sniffed around and found the trail to Abagail’s cell. She smelled like his prey the other night. As stealthy as he could possibly be, he crawled in the shadows of the hallways until he reached her room. The only windows to the outside within this room were too high for the woman to reach and covered in bars.
When he peered inside the crevice of the door, she was nowhere to be seen. He stopped to think for a moment. Maybe she had gone to the bathroom, but the bathroom door in her room was open and the light was off. He pondered the thought for a moment until he heard a voice behind him.
“You’ll find her at the lake near the stump. You do know that stump, don’t you?”
The lycan whipped around to find Roy staring at him with blind, opaque eyes. Something told Marcus that he could still see him even through the dead organs.
“Don’t worry,” Roy continued. “I won’t tell anyone. She has become a liability to my cause. Go find her and eat, but never come back here again. Do you understand, dog?”
Marcus contemplated pouncing on this evil creature. A man Roy was no more and Marcus could feel it in his bones. Even though he would enjoy nothing more than ridding Sandcastle of this filth, killing Roy tonight would do nothing but draw attention to their problem at hand. He had to make this Abagail woman ‘s death look like an accident or make her disappear completely.
When Marcus turned back around, Roy was gone and Abagail slowly walked to her room, staying in the shadows and crawling along the wall just like he did. Marcus hid in the shadows and watched as she used a key to open her door. As she opened it a crack, he jumped right behind her and pushed her inside, locking the door behind them.
“What the hell?” the old woman croaked as Marcus squeezed her throat with his huge claw. “Did the witch send you?”
He squeezed tighter until her eyes began to bulge from her sockets. She wiggled and fought back beneath his strong grip, but it was of no use. Her five-foot one-inch small frame was no match for that of a werewolf. As the life drained from her face and her breathing stopped, Marcus stretched his jaw until the opening of his mouth was as big as her head. The first bite was her whole head, tearing it off and the neck as her body slumped to the floor. Blood sprayed on the walls and ceiling as he began tearing at her flesh and eating every bit of evidence possible. He ate all but the stomach while tossing it in the garbage can. No council in hell could ever get him to feast upon the chewed up remains of food and human bile. He would die before he made that a habit.
As he lapped up every bit of blood from the walls, bed frame, and ceiling he thought about Roxy. If she could see him now, she’d be disgusted with him. Even if she drank human blood, this would turn her away forever and that was something he never wanted to happen. One day he would figure out how to win her back, but before that he needed to know more about this council he was supposed to be so afraid of.
Marcus now had a plan. He wrapped the crazy woman’s intact stomach in a plastic garbage bag and included a few pieces of her long, gray hair then used her key to get out of the cell. He dropped the keys into the garbage can on the way out and ran out to the beach in the shadows then up the hill to the Miller mansion where he sat and waited until dawn.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this story, please go make a comment on the website at www.scarystorytime.com or on your favorite podcast app. You’ll find more stories about Sandcastle, California and learn more about the other podcasts told by Spooky Boo such as Creepy California True Scary Stories and Creepypasta Scary Stories. You want to listen to all of Spooky Boo’s podcasts 6 nights per week then enter this URL into your favorite podcast app.
The dark town of Sandcastle has its own urban legends, but when other cultures blend in, it is only natural for the evil forces to comply.
Welcome to Scary Story Time with Spooky Boo. In tonight’s episode, we find the owner of Sandcastle’s Cravings Thrift Store has picked up an old doll that is just as haunted as any other item he sells. His girlfriend, who believes she is just having a bad trip, realizes the doll she has found in the hall isn’t just the old ratty toy from years ago. It’s evil and has an obsession for violence and blood.
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Now let’s begin.
I recently had a wonderful time during an interview on KNVC in Sparks, NV speaking with the radio host of Pop Culture Kaboom broadcasting from KNVC Sparks, NV. We talking about the Scary Story Time podcast, a bit about movies and comics as well as some of the changes going on.
I will have a link here soon with the interview, here is a facebook announcement and a live announcement about Scary Story Time and Spooky Boo from Jimmie Jones himself!
I heard a very true rumor that Vincent Van Dahl from Creature Features will be on Pop Culture Kaboom on Sunday, August 4th so be sure to tune in then and listen to the chatty rock star gone horror host.
For more information on KNVC and the Pop Culture Kaboom program, visit www.knvc.org. I will put up a link to the actual interview as soon as it hits the website.
This story is a special edition available on Stereo Dread hosted by Dezombified. Be sure to subscribe when listening!
Looking back at when I lived in Sandcastle, California I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t frightened. I had moved there when my parents died in a horrible freak car accident on the way to visit my grandparents in Sandcastle. I wasn’t with them at the time and had I been I wouldn’t be here today.
Before my parents had died, they used to laugh about how they escaped Sandcastle and moved on to better things. My dad took a job at a computer company in San Jose in the 80s when he was 18 and my mom, who was only 17 at the time, followed him. I guess they got lucky because he quickly became the CEO of this huge company and life was nice for all of us. Mom didn’t have to work and I went to a local private school which was really hard to get into.
I had never been to Sandcastle to visit my extended family. My parents told me they never wanted to go back there because it was an evil place. Bad things happened there. They wouldn’t even bring me to visit or meet my grandparents on either side. They weren’t superstitious or anything, they just hated it in the old beach town. Many of their friends died while they were growing up–too many for such a small area it seemed–and as the people died, more people showed up. It was like a quota had to be filled and released. With every death, a new life was born or new faces moved in.
Then it happened. My maternal grandmother passed away. Mom was in shambles. She still loved her mother, but after her friend Sandy died she never wanted to go back. Ever. The accident was still vivid in her mind. It was Homecoming 1984. Sandy was supposed to be the homecoming queen, but she didn’t show up for the football float. They continued anyway and the homecoming king stood next to the empty throne until the screaming in the stands started. There was Sandy, dragging on the back of the homecoming float with a rope around her neck.
The tires of the small truck had already smashed part of her face. The drivers of the float claimed they thought she was the speed bump until they actually went over the real one. It was hard to see with all of the mascot feathers and paper decoration around the window of the truck. They kept on driving until they heard the crowd screaming stop.
Sandy’s head caved in with brain matter stuck to the tires, but there was still enough left of her chin and head to keep the rope intact as the pulled the body across the track around the football field. Tom, the homecoming king, noticed the blood first then looked down at the float and rope until he saw the body of his queen. His scream started first until he involuntarily let out all of the delicious steak dinner and too much beer they consumed at the local Sandcastle steak house for the homecoming dinner.
That was the story my grandmother wrote to me. Mom found the letter and burnt it in the fireplace. She told me I was never to speak to my grandmother again. I admit, it was a really insane story for a person to send to their granddaughter, but she said it was for my own good to know the dangers of the town if I ever cared to visit. What I didn’t get is why my grandmother made it so explicit and gory. Until now.
I got the call at 3 in the morning. The local police had called me and said my parents were in a terrible accident and someone would come to my house and bring me to my grandparents’ house in Sandcastle if I had nowhere else to go. I found that odd the police station would send someone, but I really had no choice as a minor. I was only 13 at the time and couldn’t stay by myself by choice. It was either that or go spend some time in a foster home in San Jose which I wasn’t about to do.
My grandfather had prepared a bedroom for me. He was still in shock at the loss of his wife and was very sullen. He just showed me to my room without a word and then went straight to bed. The house seemed as old as the town. It bordered the forest and a small river. I didn’t like that my new bedroom window faced the woods as it was dark and sometimes I swear there were noises and I felt like there were many eyes upon me as I slept. Sometimes, late in the night, a dim light would cast a glow in the trees. I had no idea what the glow was and decided to explore in the daylight.
Sporting a pair of ripped jeans and tennis shoes, I figured it was perfect for the trek out to wherever the light had started glowing in the trees. As I walked deeper into the forest, I could hear the old redwood trees calling to me. These large trunks were old with centuries of stories to tell and I would be willing to listen if they could just speak in my language. I imagined they could and actually heard them whispering. “Come this way,” they seemed to beckon.
I finally arrived at a lake and the voices of the trees stopped. This must be where they wanted me to travel. There, right in front of me, was an old bloodstained tree stump. A chill ran up my spine as I heard laughter rustle through the leaves of the redwoods.
“Go away! Go home.” A woman’s voice spoke from the lake. I walked closer to the shore where I could see the water faintly glowing below.
“She will kill you or find someone who will. Maybe even me,” the voice continued, closer.
I whipped around to find a young woman with long red hair standing before me. She was naked except for the stains of blood draining down from the deep cut on her neck. Tears were running down her cheeks as she covered her breasts and hips with her arms.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
“Leave this place, or you will die. Don’t let my father find you.”
“Who are you?” I managed. My throat felt like it was closing up.
A curdled screamed came from her gaping mouth as her head fell off her body. Blood spurted high in the air from the veins on her neck–some of it landing on my arms and face. I forced my eyes shut and then wiped my cheek with my fingertips finding fresh crimson blood around my mouth and lips.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the blood all over my hands and body then her head lying there before me. LEAVE! It screamed and I ran all the way home to my grandfather’s house until I reached the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror, there was no blood anywhere. Not a single drop, but I know what I saw and my grandfather confirmed it with his words.
“Stay out of those cursed woods,” he grunted as he brought me a glass of ice water. “It will do you no good to go there.”
That was 30 years ago and I have never been back to the woods. The town of Sandcastle, the place where I live, is haunted. I’ve been warned by many forces that I can never leave or I will just be replaced by someone else. My parents left me a lot of money. I bought an AM radio station KSND we call “The Sound of the Sea” where I’m the night DJ so I can look over the woods and make sure nothing is out to get me. Sometimes it glows, and sometimes it screams.
Welcome to Scary Story Time. Tonight’s story is about the blackout in California where Sandcastle was definitely a participant. Unlike the other areas where people gathered together and had a little fun, some members of the Sandcastle community were plagued by a new threat to their existence. A very hungry threat.
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You may find out more about this story and Spooky Boo’s Scary Story Time at www.scarystorytime.com or on Spooky Boo’s Patreon page at www.spookyboo.club. Be sure to join me in the Creature Features chat room on Saturday nights at 10:00 PM Pacific on YouTube so we can watch the old horror movies and the fun guests interviewed by Vincent Van Dahl. More info at creaturefeatures.tv.
Now let’s begin.
~~~ 1 ~~~
There was nothing but darkness surrounding Cassie Bale’s home as she pulled into her driveway. It was a long, horrendous day at work as she had to answer calls at the power company explaining to residents why their power would be shut off for the next five long days. If people would simply understand that the combination of dry heat, dry grass, and wind creates the worst condition for any kind of catalyst including overheating hedge trimmers, tossed cigarettes, or even the dreaded dry lightning strike then her day would be a lot less stressful.
As she unlocked her door she thought about walking straight over to her liquor cabinet and start her night with a nice shot of tequila. Instead, she tried the light switch and sighed as she stared into the dark hallway. She already knew there would be no power in town, but on the way home from work 32 miles away she had hoped they changed their minds. Not a chance.
The bright light from her cell phone lit up the hallway as she stepped into her kitchen. While lighting a candle and switching off her phone, she swore something was off. After lighting a few more candles, she looked around the room and noticed the knife drawer was open. Grabbing the large kitchen knife, she turned on her cell phone again and began looking around the house. Figuring she had left it open before leaving for work, she took the knife into the living room along with a candle and her phone.
At first, she didn’t notice him sitting in the corner of the room. As Cassie placed the candle on the table next to the armchair, she saw his hand. It was shaking just ever so softly and was so white she could almost see it in the dark while her eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight. Stepping back in fear, she pointed the knife toward the intruder and shook it at him.
“What do you want?”
“Cassie, it’s Don,’ his voice shook as much as his hand.
“Don? What’s wrong with you?” she held the candle up to his face and studied the dark eyes and pale skin. He looked like he had died and come back from the grave.
“I don’t feel good, Cassie. My lights went out at home and as I was trying to find a flashlight in the garage some freak jumped out of nowhere and bit my neck.” he pulled down the turtle neck and showed her the oozing wound. It was bleeding all down his shirt and soaking the cloth. A mix of pus and blood festered around the outside of the bite.
Cassie held back the bile as she backed away slowly and looked at her phone. She began dialing 911 when Don pulled the phone from her hand. “What are you…”
“Don’t.” Don’s voice was suddenly raspy and thick. He coughed and wheezed a few times then began to shake violently until his eyes rolled back into his head. The wound looked like it was getting bigger as the skin around it was turning black. Don’s face was suddenly a very pale shade of gray and the veins around the wound and his face were black, still pumping something although it didn’t look like blood.
Cassie stepped back and looked for her phone. He was still gripping it with his left hand and as she tried to pull it out of his grasp, he grabbed her arm with his other hand. She watched his face contort and twitch until his mouth was wide open with black liquid oozing from his lips.
“Oh Don, what happened to you?” she cried as she pried his fingers off of her wrist. He squeezed tighter and leaned forward toward her. At first, she thought he was going to fall over until she felt his teeth rip into her skin. Cassie screamed at the pain and yanked her arm back, leaving freshly torn skin between his teeth.
Cradling her arm and screaming, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. In the dark, she felt around for a towel and turned on the water. Stifling back her tears, she shoved her arm under the running water and then wrapped it up in the towel. The pain was unbearable. She crawled into the bathtub and squeezed her eyes shut while listening for her neighbor or whatever that thing was in her house. Her eyelids jerked open at the sound of scratching at the bathroom door. She could faintly see fingers probing under the door in the moonlight. Cassie was afraid to even breathe in fear he might hear her so she continued to hold her breath.
A few moments later the scratching stopped and dragging footsteps started down the hall. Letting out a quick breath, Cassie stood and slowly stepped out of the tub. She was feeling a little dizzy and looked down at her arm. It didn’t look too bad–at least not as bad as his festering neck. What the hell was going on? What in the world was wrong with her neighbor?
Knowing that she had to get antibiotics for the bite, Cassie opened the bathroom door a crack and noticed he was gone. She felt her way through the hall and into the living room, grabbing her phone off the floor along the way. The candles were still lit in the kitchen which made a shimmering glow off the knife she had placed on the table earlier. Grabbing the knife by the handle, she noticed something moving in the reflection of the blade. Carefully, she tiptoed across the floor and into the kitchen, plunging the knife into the gut of the person.
“Cass, what that hell?” her boyfriend grabbed at his stomach and slowly dropped to the floor.
“Oh God, no, Troy!” she cried out. Despite the sudden pain in her soul, she looked desperate at the bleeding wound on his belly and began to grow hungry at the sight.
Her mind screamed as she knelt down to the floor and lapped up the blood coming from his belly. With a hand on each side of the gash, she pulled his torso open then slowly pressed her face inside. With each bite from her mouth, her sobs slowly quieted and only a growing hunger remained. Dropping down to his knees next to her, Don joined in on the feast, only grunting a reply.
As they lapped up the rest of Troy’s entrails and began tearing at his arms and legs, blue and red lights flashed inside the house. Cassie, now oblivious to any human interaction, looked up the lights for a moment then back at her prey. Taking one last look at Troy, she stabbed him in the eye with her finger then pulled it out of the socket.
A voice echoed through the open door. “Is everyone all right in there? Screaming was reported.”
Cassie looked over at the cop coming through the door as Don knocked the eyeball from her hand then picked it up, squishing it between his fingers.
“What the…” the cop began to squeeze the portable microphone attached to his shoulder when Cassie lunged at him. Two shots rang out from his pistol as she knocked him down then began to tear at the flesh on his face.
“Help! Officer down. I’m down!” he managed to yell as he squeezed the mic and then screamed as the flesh was torn from his neck.
~~~ 2 ~~~
As Cassie devoured the rest of Troy’s limp body and started on the cop, Lt. Reggie Drummond and Police Chief Casey Weinsfield came rushing through the door. Both noticed the bloody scene immediately. “Stop! Stop what you’re doing. This is the police! Stand up and put your hands behind your head or I will shoot you.”
Cass turned for a brief moment then continued to scoop the liver from Troy’s torso. Both Casey and Reggie fire bullets into the woman, knocking her down next to the body. In the corner of his eye, Casey noticed a third catatonic person grab Reggie’s shoulder. The mouth dripping with black ooze was inches away from Reggie’s neck when Casey fired twice into the skull of the attacker then once again into its chest as it dropped to the floor.
“What the hell is going on here?” Reggie said as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
Casey noticed the beat cop with his half-eaten face begin to twitch and move as well as the woman he just put at least four bullets into stood up. With one shot to her head, she dropped dead to the floor. Before the cop on the ground could move anymore, Reggie pushed him over and threw a pair of handcuffs on the cop’s wrists. He gnashed at Reggie’s ankles with his teeth while Casey shook his head in disbelief.
“Put my belt around his mouth so he can’t bite anything.” Casey tossed his belt at Reggie then dispatched the EMTs. “Bring body bags and, hell, I’m going to quarantine the area. Bring what you need to. I don’t know what it is, just suit up.”
~~~ 3 ~~~
It was almost midnight before the EMTs arrived. With the power out all over town, the house lights were off as were the street lights. Sandcastle was dark. The three bodies of the residents were brought back in one ambulance and put inside an airtight chamber at the hospital. The cop with his face half eaten off, Office Randal Billings, was also brought into the chamber, but not in a body bag. By orders of the police chief, Billings was strapped down to the table. His heartbeat was very faint but fast and his breathing was shallow, but at least he was still alive.
Doctor Flint hated the idea of wearing quarantine gear and working under generator lights, but he really had no other choice. The city’s power was shut down for the night on direct orders from the governor and there was nothing the hospital could do to stop the plan. With 3 mothers giving birth and two emergency surgeries, they had to limit the resources and make do with what they had. All of the doctors were on call that night just for emergencies. Flint was one of them. He was happily snug in his down covers when the call came in.
“I hope you’re happy that you woke me up from my slumber,” he grumbled as he pushed the last dead body into the cold chamber.
Billings rustled on the table behind the doctor and for a moment, Flint felt a little panicked. “Nonsense!” he said with a long breath. As he turned around, he noticed the flesh of the cop was now a stone grey color and there was a trickle of black ooze coming from the hole in his cheek. As Flint moved closer to the man on the table, he grabbed a pair of thick rubber gloves and put them on. The beat cop wrestled with the straps but still couldn’t break free from the hold they had on him.
“Would you like a glass of water?” Flint stepped reluctantly toward the writhing body on the table.
Instead of an answer, the cop grunted and snapped in Flint’s direction. As he stepped closer, the cop forced his arms up and snapped both of the straps. He jumped at Flint, but as his legs were still held down by the ankles Billings fell off the table, bringing it down with him, and smacked his head on the corner of the marble sink, cracking his head open. Brain fluid trickled from the crack in his skull, but that didn’t stop Billings. His fingers turned white as he pulled himself, and the medical table, toward the doctor.
“Oh shit!” Doctor Flint limped across the room and out the door, locking it behind him.
~~~ 4 ~~~
Casey, and the rest of the police officers left at the house searched the place for more people. The German Shepherd K9’s didn’t want to go anywhere near the mess made on the carpet by the deceased. In fact, they shied away from the mess and tried to run outside. As he was watching the dogs flip out, a woman dressed in black came to the door.
“This is a crime scene, ma’am. Did you not see the yellow tape?” Reggie motioned for the woman to go back outside.
“Is Cassie okay?”
“And you are?” Casey put his hand on her back and led her back outside. He gave her the once over noticing the pentagram tattoo with an eye in the middle to the left of her sternum, over her heart.
“Amanda. My name is Amanda. I’m her friend.” the woman said, pulling back her long black hair into a ponytail.
“No, she’s not. And you should be home. It isn’t safe out tonight during the blackout.”
“That’s fine. I’m protected.”
“Are you now? Is that what the tattoo is about? The one on your chest?”
“That is the symbol of my coven, officer. Do you have a problem with that?” she smirked. For a moment he swore her eyes briefly turned black.
“Not at all, as long as you’re not involved in this murder and you aren’t doing any harm.”
He noticed tears appearing in the corners of the woman’s eyes. “Of course not! She was my friend. I was coming over to check to see if she wanted to continue our little ritual.”
“Ritual?” Casey asked.
“Yeah, we were having some wine last night and got a little drunk. We put a hex on our neighbor Don. It was just a joke. He’s a total jerk. Maybe you should see if he was the one who did this?”
“You said Don. Donald Bishop? The man who lives next door right there?” Casey pointed toward the other victim’s house.
“Yes, that one. he’s a complete idiot. He’s always complaining about my rotties and everything else so we had a little bit of fun. I live on the other side of him. He threatens us daily, but he’s harmless. At least I thought so.”
“Don is dead, too. Come down to the station with us. We have power, coffee, and donuts.” he laughed for a second.
“W T F? Donald? Well damn! Maybe it worked after all,” she put her hand over her mouth. “No, that’s not right. It was a joke. I wouldn’t really want that to happen to him. And Cassie. My God. What did we do?”
“You tell me,” Casey offered for her to get into the back of his car.
“I have to go feed my dogs first, officer.” She started to walk away and Casey followed.
“Mind if I come along?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No, no you don’t.
Amanda’s house was only a two-minute walk away. When she opened the door, Casey immediately smelled cinnamon and cloves. Inside, it was dark except for the tall pillar candles lit in the middle of the dining room table and a few held inside wall sconces. Amanda pulled out a few pieces of beef from the refrigerator and chopped them up then poured some brown gravy over the meat. She took one of the sconces off of the wall and used it to light the way to the backyard. Casey followed right behind her.
“You might want to back away, officer. They don’t like strangers.” she stepped out on the back porch and put down the dishes. Two very large rottweilers began slurping up the food. For a second she laughed and pet the back of the closest dog with her long red nails.
Casey watched her, almost feeling entranced by her grace. He suddenly felt relaxed, more so than ever before. He noticed her slender yet shapely body and smiled.
“What’s wrong, officer? Having second thoughts about taking me in?”
Her question pulled him out of the trance. “No ma’am. I’m just wondering why I’ve never seen you before. Are you finished? We need to get going. The later it gets the more trouble I have to deal with in town. I’d rather not have you down there when the hoods come out.”
~~~ 5 ~~~
Amanda sat gracefully at the long table with her legs crossed and hands placed flat on top of the fake wood. While it was easier to work with nature on real material, this man-made work would do. She noticed the red light on the camera in the corner of the room and smiled then winked. She was not only clairvoyant, but empathic, and she felt the attraction Casey had for her. Oddly enough, she had a dream about him the night before and having never met him before piqued her curiosity.
“Miss Allarie…”
“That’s Alarie,” she corrected him. “It’s French.”
“Forgive me,” he smiled. “Miss Alarie, I just wanted to get the details from you of what happened the night before. You’re not being accused of anything but you were the last person to see him alive. My deputy says that according to Don’s boss, he never showed up for work. What happened?”
She studied him for a moment, sending alluring thoughts she knew he felt as she watched him shuffle nervously after sitting down in front of her. With a quirk in her smile, Amanda started her story. “Don was always a jerk. He yelled at me all of the time for my dogs no matter what they did. One time he even threatened to poison them. Yesterday, Cass and I were sitting out in my backyard having a bottle of wine and he just started in on us, mumbling something about dogs and his shotgun. She started asking him about what he was talking about and he just started screaming at her for no reason. He said, and I quote, ‘the moment you two witches die or move out will be the happiest day of my life!’ and then he went inside.
“And then what happened?” Casey leaned forward. Amanda thought he might grab for her hand but then he pulled away and leaned back.
“Cass and I grabbed a few candles and a black crystal shard. We joked around about zombies coming out of the grave to get him. It was really immature and stupid but we had fun. Most of the time we were drinking and goofing off.”
She watched him flip his pen around his fingers and wondered just how talented those fingers could be. Casey then looked at her as if he knew what she was thinking and smiled. “Zombies?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s dumb but more fun than vampires or werewolves since none of them are real.”
“What happened after that?”
Amanda suddenly felt an odd feeling of fear inside the man sitting across from her. The mood he expressed gave her goosebumps. “What do you mean? What happened to Cass? And Don?”
“We don’t know exactly. They looked like they had been dead several days and had bite marks on them with some kind of black liquid bleeding from their organs. We won’t know for a few days what that black liquid is due to the power blackout. Her boyfriend Troy was killed, too. Did you bring him up in this so-called spell casting?”
“Um…no. Of course not. It was all a joke.” Amanda bit her lip. She didn’t want to talk about it any longer. Had she caused this to happen?
“Your um…coven. Where are they?”
Amanda rubbed the tattoo on the inside of her wrist. About the only violent task she ever had to do was give herself a tattoo of a moon on her wrist then get one over her heart by their tattoo artist. She stared hard at the police chief trying to read his thoughts without any results except warmth and the desire to protect. “They’re all over, but we are peaceful. We don’t talk about hurting people and I certainly don’t know how to cast a zombie spell. That would require blowfish poison and they don’t eat people.”
“Ever hear of bath salts?” he laughed.
By the tone of his voice, she couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious. She let out a stifled laugh and then crossed her arms, unwilling to let him see into her heart.
“Well, that’s all I have for you. I just wanted to see how you fit into all of this since you’re her friend and a neighbor. I don’t see any reason to hold you for anything. You might want to consider staying somewhere else during the power outage with whatever is going on in your neighborhood.” he stood and adjusted his tie before offering to help Amanda up out of her chair.
“I’ll be fine. I have my dogs who need me there,” she said and then let out a scoff. “And who knows? Maybe spells that actually work.”
~~~ 6 ~~~
After Casey dropped Amelia off at her house, she went inside and lit a set of candles as well as a few lanterns. While she didn’t want to run out of the candles, she had a lot of kerosene on hand that would probably last until the next few days. She thought about her time at the station and realized that she really was being interrogated by that cop. Hopefully, her thoughts had sedated him enough to not understand that she was capable of performing psychic magic as that would make her even more suspicious. She really had no intention of causing any harm to anyone. She didn’t even think the spell would work, especially using an Ouija board of all things!
As she poured a glass of wine and held the black crystal shard tightly in her hand, a vision came into her head. It was a woman with a white flowing dress and long, red hair. Her skin was damp and covered in moss. The air was thick and heavy and as she tried to breathe, she realized the woman’s hand was pressing against her heart. The tattoo burned as her mind screamed out to Casey. Just then, the phone rang and the woman in white disappeared. Pouring salt around in a circle, Amanda grasped her cell phone and answered. It was Casey Weinstein.
“Hey Amanda, one more thing.”
“Yes?” she breathed heavily into the phone, ready to answer anything as he just saved her life.
“Do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?”
She laughed and agreed. He didn’t know it, but he just saved her from the lady of the lake and she wanted to thank him any way she could.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this story, head on over to the website at www.scarystorytime.com and make a comment. You can also leave a review on Apple Podcasts, formerly iTunes. Your review might be read during the end of the show or you can call in your comments to 707-776-6592, that is 707-SPOOKYBOO-22, and your comment will be played in your own voice.
I’d also love it if you checked out the San Francisco Bay Area’s punk band Stay Out. You’ll love their music.
Stay tuned for another edition of Sandcastle. Be sure to tell your friends and visit our little group on the facebook group Scary Stories, Creepypasta, and Other Bits of Horror where I welcome you to share your own scary stories.
That’s all for tonight. I’ll see you in your nightmares.
