
04 Oct October 14th
āOctober 14thā
Written by Erik Peabody Edited by Craig Groshek Thumbnail Art by Craig Groshek Narrated by N/ACopyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on CreepypastaStories.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed, adapted to film, television or audio mediums, republished in a print or electronic book, reposted on any other website, blog, or online platform, or otherwise monetized without the express written consent of its author(s).
š§ Available Audio Adaptations: None Available
ā° ESTIMATED READING TIME ā 14 minutes
Monday, September 9
I canāt go back to the shop anymore.Ā I had thought it was safe, but I was wrong.Ā It caught me by surprise.Ā It was⦠it was too much.Ā I probably shouldnāt have blown up the way that I did.Ā That was stupid.Ā I should have known that they could have been watching.Ā It was the number.Ā That same number again, and I couldnāt hold myself back.Ā I stood there at the counter, refusing to touch the bills and the coins that he was trying to hand me, and I told him that I knew what he was doing.Ā That son of a bitch didnāt even flinch.Ā He just looked at me, holding his hand out, waiting for me to take the money.Ā I told him, I said, āI know what this is about.Ā I donāt know who youāre working for or why youāre doing this but I DONāT LIKE ANY OF IT.āĀ I stared him dead in the eye as I said it, and even though he didnāt react, I could see that I had him scared.Ā I knew that he was terrified, on the inside.
The bastard played it cool, though.Ā I have to give him that.Ā He slowly lowered his hand and put the money on the counter.Ā I wanted to keep looking into his eyes, wanted to show him that I wasnāt afraid of him, but I ended up glancing down at the cash.Ā $10.14 was what he had said, just like he was remarking on the weather, as if he didnāt know what that number meant.Ā What it did to me.Ā I could see the money in a loose pile, and below that, through the glass top, the scratch cards and lighters.Ā I looked back up and could see that he was smiling through his mustache.Ā Ā āLook, buddy,ā he said to me, and even though he was smiling, I could still see that fear in his eyes.Ā āIām not doing anything to you.Ā You can take your change or not, but youāve gotta leave,ā he says.Ā And then he turned around and started fussing over the rack of cigarettes.Ā Like nothing had happened.Ā Like he didnāt know what he was really telling me.
I couldnāt believe it.Ā I couldnāt even move for a minute.Ā I just stood there, watching the fluorescent light reflect off the sweat on his bald head and the cheap polyester of his Hawaiian shirt.Ā I was convinced that I could break him.Ā I had one of them now, right in front of me after months of this stupid game they were playing, and I knew that I could push him over the edge.Ā Get him to admit it.Ā Get him to tell me who they were, why they were doing this.Ā Everything.Ā I leaned forward over the counter and was about to grab the back of his shirt when the cash caught my eye again.Ā I froze.
There was a message written on the topmost bill, right across Hamiltonās forehead.Ā Blue ballpoint, large print.Ā Each letter gone over several times, so the words stood out against the bill.Ā I could see the light reflecting on the ink, on the grooves that the pen had made on the paper.Ā It said, āSTOP. NOT YET.ā
I looked up at the man again, my arm still outstretched.Ā Was he sweatier than he had been?Ā I think he was.Ā I knew he was scared, but now I was too.Ā What the hell was going on?Ā I knew the message was directed at me, but how?Ā Who had sent it?Ā How had it slipped past all of their machinations without them noticing it?Ā Or did they know?Ā Was this all part of the game?
I didnāt know what to do.Ā This might be my best chance to get a straight answer from him (from THEM,) but then I started thinking.Ā Who else was in the store?Ā I had looked around when I came in, like I always do, and hadnāt seen anyone, but my head had been hurting so bad that I might have missed someone.Ā I couldnāt be sure.Ā And then I heard the bell over the front door ding, and I knew that this wasnāt the time.Ā The message had been a warning.Ā It was telling me that someone was on the way, and that this wasnāt the time to push the issue.Ā I grabbed the cash off the counter and my bag of groceries and hurried out and back upstairs, pushing past the guy that had entered.Ā Some asshole in a wrinkled gray suit with a paper under his arm.Ā Was he in on it?Ā Who fucking knew anymore.
I got upstairs, back to good old Apartment 12, closed and locked the door behind me and then⦠well, I guess I just kinda lost it.Ā I slumped down against the door.Ā Started crying.Ā I dropped the groceries and the change and just curled up, my fists pressing into my eyes.Ā Bawling.Ā It was all too much, and it had been going on for too long.Ā Months.Ā It wasnāt fair, just WASNāT DAMN FAIR.Ā First they took her and now they were trying to⦠to what?Ā To drive me crazy?Ā That was the most likely answer.Ā Make me lose my mind so that I couldnāt expose them.
I donāt know how long I laid there.Ā The room was darker when I finally got the strength to stand up.Ā I put the groceries (now warm) in the fridge, bag and all.Ā I put the change in an envelope, sealed it, wrote the date on it.Ā Put it with the others.Ā And then I started writing.Ā Susan wouldnāt want me to give up.Ā Sheād want me to fight.Ā To keep going, to drag everything into the light so everyone else could see what they were doing.Ā What they had done.Ā To her.Ā And if Iām going to do that, I have to keep everything straight.Ā Write it all down.Ā Make sure I donāt miss anything.
Ten fourteen.Ā October 14th.Ā The day she died.Ā The day that they took her from me.Ā I didnāt know at the time.Ā The investigation said that it was faulty brakes.Ā I had stayed home.Ā People said that I was lucky.Ā I didnāt feel lucky.
Things⦠changed after that.Ā I didnāt want to see anyone.Ā Not my family, not hers.Ā Friends called for a while, but I couldnāt talk to them.Ā It all just hurt too much.Ā I lost my job after a few months.Ā They were understanding at first, but you can only miss so much time before they just cut you loose.Ā Tell you to get lost.
There was some life insurance, but not enough to keep the house.Ā I didnāt want to stay there anyway.Ā It was too empty without her.Ā Without Susan.Ā I had started hearing things.Ā Footsteps in other rooms.Ā Shuffling.Ā Scratching.Ā At the time I thought I was going crazy, but now I wonder if it wasnāt them.Ā Even way back then.Ā Starting their campaign against me.
It was only after I had moved here, to this apartment, that I really started becoming aware of what was happening.Ā Iād see people when I got down to the street.Ā People watching me, only to turn and round a corner as soon as I made eye contact.Ā People pretending to talk on the phone, but their eyes kept moving away right as Iād notice them.Ā And the number.Ā Everywhere.Ā Order number 1014 at the fast food place down the road.Ā Savings of $10.14 when I use my club card at the big grocery store a few blocks over.Ā Commercials on TV for cheap bullshit products, call 1-800-blah-blah-blah, with 1014 snuck in there.Ā Or 1410.Ā Or some combination thereof.Ā Sometimes together.Ā Sometimes apart.Ā Sometimes just hinted at.Ā I bought a pair of shoes and the total was $37.77.Ā It wasnāt until I was walking home that it clicked into place.Ā Three plus seven equals ten.Ā Seven plus seven equals fourteen.Ā $37.77 is ten fourteen.
The suspicious figures were more plentiful by that point.Ā I started seeing shadows in the apartment, caused by something moving across the window, blocking the light.Ā I never caught a direct glimpse, but Iād always see the motion right as I was turning.Ā I donāt have a window ledge.Ā People watching me everywhere.Ā I stopped going out for food.Ā Stopped going to the big grocery store.Ā That small shop under my apartment, for a while, that seemed safe.Ā I could get what I needed there.Ā Bread.Ā Milk.Ā Liquor.Ā It seemed safe.Ā For a while.Ā Not anymore.
Getting hungry now.Ā Itās dark out and I canāt see the notepad too well.Ā Donāt dare turn on the light.Ā I think I see that cigarette glow again.Ā The one in the window of the building across the street.
Thursday, September 26
Things have gotten worse.Ā I havenāt been down to the shop for a bit.Ā Havenāt been anywhere, really.Ā Iāve just felt⦠listless.Ā Ate what I had at home, and then started on the canned food.Ā Couldnāt really get up the gumption to go out.Ā Iām scared, to be honest.Ā Scared, and I canāt stop thinking about her.
I donāt have much food left.Ā Iāve slowed down.Ā Only ate two cans of kidney beans yesterday.Ā One can of black beans today.Ā Need to make the rest of it last for as long as I can.Ā I donāt want to have to go outside until I have to.
I can tell that the season is changing.Ā The sun is setting earlier.Ā Itās getting closer to October.
I still canāt turn on my lights at night.Ā I havenāt seen the cigarette in the window for a while, but I think he (or she, or they) have just gotten wise.Ā Maybe the guy I caught smoking was taken off the job by his superiors.Ā Maybe they had him killed.Ā Killed like they killed Susan.
They know that Iām getting wise to their bullshit.Ā I havenāt gone out, so theyāve started increasing their pressure on me at home here.Ā Phone ringing, only to have a dead line when I answer it.Ā Footsteps in the hallway outside at odd hours.Ā I always hear them.Ā I havenāt been sleeping unless I have to.Ā I donāt want to miss anything.Ā Thereās some pattern here, some reason, and I know that if I just pay attention, I can figure it out.Ā Why theyāre taunting me.Ā Why they did what they did.
The faucet in my tub has started dripping again.Ā It was doing it when I moved in, before I knew that any of this was going on, but the building super fixed it.Ā I havenāt called him this time.Ā Thereās a sequence to it.Ā One drip.Ā Then silence.Ā Then one more, and then four more.Ā The timing is so precise that it almost just sounds like slow, consistent water drops. Ā Almost like itās not a message.Ā A clue, or a threat?Ā Theyāre being clever, I have to give them that.
Iāll need to go out for food soon.Ā If I really stretch what I have here, I think I can last another week.Ā Besides, I donāt know how safe the apartment is anymore.Ā Someoneās been in here.Ā I opened the envelope from the other day.Ā The one with the ten-dollar bill that had the message on it.Ā The envelope still looked sealed, but the bill must have been swapped for a clean one.Ā There was no message on this one.Ā They must have waited until I fell asleep and then crept in.Ā Iāve since put a tall glass on the linoleum in front of the door, with a plate balanced on it.Ā I put a bunch of marbles on there, watching as they rolled around and slowly came to rest.Ā Was there some message in the pattern they formed?Ā No.Ā Thatās crazy.Ā Still, if anyone opens that door, all those marbles are going to fall on the floor, and thatāll be sure to wake me up.Ā I canāt risk having anyone come in when Iām asleep.
Friday, September 27
They got in last night.Ā I donāt know how, but they did.Ā I didnāt realize for hours, after I woke up, and knowing that they could have still been in here is enough to make my skin crawl.Ā After I searched the apartment, I wanted to take a shower, but I canāt.Ā The faucet is still dripping, and if I turn on the water, I might miss some essential part of the message.Ā Some slight change to a new sequence.
I finished writing last night around 7:30.Ā It was getting too dark to keep going.Ā Still, I didnāt dare go to sleep that early.Ā I sat in the chair in the living room, drinking to pass the time.Ā The lights were off, the TV was off.Ā I didnāt want them to have any way to see in.Ā Iām beginning to suspect that theyāre using infrared as well, but thereās only so much I can do.Ā I stayed there for hours, the window open so I could hear what was going on outside.Ā I must have drifted off at some point.Ā When I woke up, it was still dark.Ā The small clock on the counter said 2:30.Ā I made a cup of coffee and sat back in the chair.
The sky started lightening up around 6:00.Ā I was making my third cup of coffee by that point, and I noticed it as I was walking back to my chair.Ā The dish with the marbles.Ā I had watched them last night when I set them up, and they had been randomly situated across the dish, wherever they happened to come to rest.Ā But now they were different.Ā They still looked random, but they were different.Ā And the glass and plate itself werenāt in the same place.Ā It was close.Ā So close that they probably didnāt think I would notice, but they were definitely further away from the door.Ā Far enough away from someone to slip in?Ā Maybe, if they were thin.Ā How did they move the plate?Ā I donāt know.
I took stock of my food again today.Ā Itās worse than I thought.Ā I had started drinking a bit earlier than usual yesterday and must have miscounted the cans.Ā I have enough for a few days, and thatās it.Ā Iāll deal with that when it comes to it.
I had gone into the bathroom at one point to try to have a bowel movement.Ā There was, of course, nothing in my stomach, but it was aching horribly.Ā As I was sitting down on the toilet, I noticed an itch on my skin, right under my navel.Ā I pulled my shirt up and saw red there.Ā Some irritation.Ā Iāll have to keep an eye on that.Ā I canāt get sick.Ā Canāt go to a doctor.Ā Canāt go anywhere.
I have to stop writing now.Ā Head is hurting too bad to focus on the page.Ā Thereās noise outside in the hall.Ā I think someoneās moving in next door.Ā I hear a kid running around.Ā I need to check the house again, make sure that those bastards didnāt do anything else while they were in here last night.Ā After that, I can have a drink and try to calm my nerves.Ā I need to stay focused.
Saturday, October 5
Finally had to go get food today.Ā Havenāt eaten since Thursday, and ran out of vodka.Ā I needed to get out of the apartment anyway.Ā I donāt feel safe here anymore.Ā Theyāve been back in here, at least once since my last journal entry.Ā Iāve started wedging a chair against the front door, but I think they came in through the open window.Ā I donāt know how.Ā Itās a brick building, sheer face, no ledge.Ā I canāt stop thinking about one of them climbing down the side from the roof on all fours, like Dracula did to Jonathan Harker.
The shop was empty when I came in.Ā No one at the register, no one in the aisles.Ā As I was grabbing what I needed, I heard running water from the back room.Ā Someone had turned on a faucet.Ā I took the chance to rush out the front door.Ā I didnāt want to deal with whatever confrontation would ensue.Ā I was too hungry.
I got back upstairs and was unlocking the door when the new neighbor came out of her apartment.Ā She must have heard me walk past as I was going to my front door.Ā Pretty woman, maybe thirty years old.Ā She startled me and I dropped my keys.Ā She tried to talk to me, but I picked up my keys and got inside before she could say much.Ā I didnāt hear what she said.Ā Maybe she was just going to introduce herself.Ā Maybe she was going to speak some code.Ā It doesnāt matter.Ā Theyāre out in the world, theyāre in the grocery store, theyāve even been in my damn apartment.Ā Whatās one more of them living next door?
Besides, I had other things on my mind.Ā The vodka was the only thing Iād put in my stomach in two days and I could feel myself coming apart at the seams.Ā It wasnāt just hunger.Ā It was a sort of⦠unraveling.Ā I felt floaty, but also strangely open.Ā Exposed.Ā Vulnerable.Ā The daylight coming in the window felt like it wasnāt just hitting my skin, but was somehow permeating me.
Before I could eat anything, my stomach was still itching violently, so I went into the bathroom to look at it.Ā The walls seemed to slide past me as I went, almost smearing.Ā I had intended on looking in the mirror, but when I got into the bathroom I sat down hard on the edge of the tub.Ā The room was swimming.Ā I managed to pull my shirt up and look down.Ā There was nothing there.Ā The red mark was gone, but good god did it itch.
As I sat there, I realized that the faucet had stopped dripping.Ā I froze.Ā I hadnāt used it in over a week.Ā When had it stopped?Ā Five days ago?Ā Yesterday?Ā Just now?Ā What did it mean?
Then I felt something, right under my navel.Ā Something⦠moving.Ā I looked down, but nothing revealed itself on my skin.Ā The sensation of movement stopped.Ā I am convinced now that they have implanted something in me.Ā Maybe to track me, maybe to listen.Ā Maybe they can monitor what I see, and are reading the words I write in this journal, even as I am writing them.Ā It almost doesnāt matter.Ā I have come to terms with the fact that they are everywhere.Ā I cannot escape them, but I need to know what it is that they want.Ā Why they are tormenting me.Ā Why they killed Susan.
I need to eat now.Ā I know that I am vulnerable.Ā Maybe that is why they are doing this.Ā Forcing me to close myself off and stay out of the world.Ā If I donāt eat, Iāll be weak.Ā They can get in.Ā They can control me.
I just need to know what to do to make it end.Ā I canāt take this much longer.
Thursday, October 9
Theyāre taking her away from me again.Ā I donāt know why, but theyāre stealing her, just like they stole her last time.
I first noticed it happening a couple of days ago.Ā Monday, maybe Tuesday.Ā One of the pictures I have of her, a small 3×5 thatās framed in the living room, was gone.Ā It had slowly gotten covered in mail as I tossed it onto the end table, but I had gotten an urge to look at it.Ā Susan is standing in front of a guardrail, with a forested valley in the background.Ā Sheās smiling.Ā We were in Yosemite.Ā Eighteen months back.Ā Six months before the accident.
The back half of our car can be seen right at the edge of the image, and I had realized that there might be some clue there.Ā Something with the car.Ā Some evidence that they had tampered with it, or were preparing to.Ā I shoved the mail aside and tried to find the photo, but it was gone.Ā The frame was there, but it was empty.
I tore through the apartment, but couldnāt find it.Ā Well, Iām actually not sure of that.Ā I found some ashes at the bottom of the kitchen garbage.Ā Under other trash.Ā Days old.Ā I canāt be sure when.Ā I know theyāve been coming in here regularly.Ā I havenāt even tried to stop them.Ā I almost want them to get comfortable.Ā Get relaxed.Ā Get careless.Ā Iām keeping a butcher knife taped to the side of my chest, just under my left armpit.Ā When I wear a shirt, you canāt even notice it.Ā If I can get them to slip up, I can catch one of them when theyāre in here, and I can make them talk.
The photo must have had some evidence.Ā They knew that I would find something there, and they couldnāt let that happen.
Yesterday, I realized that I had never made an accurate timeline of everything.Ā I sense that things are coming to a head soon, and I want everything at my disposal.Ā All of the information.Ā I grabbed a sheet of paper, and retrieved all of the envelopes from the shoebox in the closet.Ā Every receipt.Ā Every collection of bills and coins.Ā Notes I had written about phone calls, and television commercials.Ā Everything.
Except now, itās nothing.Ā As I unsealed the envelopes, I realized that something was wrong.Ā My notes were still there, but everything else was different.Ā One envelope had āJune 25, McDonaldās, Order 1410ā written on it.Ā Inside was a receipt from June 25, but the order number was 1310.Ā Another had āJuly 16, gas station on 10th and Main, $10.14 changeā written on it, but there was only $6.42 in the envelope.Ā I forced myself to stay calm and keep going.Ā If I lost control now, Iād end up with a senseless pile of papers and money in front of me, and that wouldnāt do any good.
In the end, it was all of it. All of the objective evidence. Every note I had written was still there, but what are notes, really? All of the hard proof of their meddling, of their messages, of their persecution⦠all gone. They had come in and taken all of it. Swapped it for lies.
I had started drinking as I was going through everything and donāt remember much of the day after that.Ā I woke up this morning to the smoke alarm going off.Ā I stumbled out of the chair and somehow made it into the kitchen.Ā There was a fire in the sink.Ā I turned on the water and managed to stifle the flames.Ā When the smoke cleared, I could see what had been burning.Ā My wallet photo of Susan.Ā And the one that was hanging in the bedroom.Ā And the photo album from the closet.Ā All of it.Ā Every memory I had of her.Ā They had snuck in while I was asleep and taken her from me.Ā Every.Ā Last.Ā Scrap.
I can feel that something is going to happen soon. Some⦠final interaction. I have nothing left. They know that.
On Tuesday itāll be one year since she died.
Monday, October 13
Not much to write anymore.Ā I know what comes next.Ā Tomorrowās the day.Ā They have been emptying out my life so that I am ready.Ā I donāt know what their full purpose is, but they have left me a final message, and itās now up to me.
I went outside earlier.Ā No more food.Ā Not for days.Ā Had to get something.Ā Anything.Ā Walked past the new neighborās apartment towards the stairs.Ā Iām in Apartment 12.Ā Sheās in Apartment 14.Ā Something on her door caught my eye.Ā A drawing.Ā A kidās drawing.Ā The new neighborās kid.Ā The drawing was in crayon, of a woman, standing by a car.Ā Trees in the background. Ā So similar to the photo that they took from me.
There was writing.Ā Red crayon, at the top of the page, the letters standing out bright in the dim light of the hallway.
āSusan.Ā Age 10.ā
š§ Available Audio Adaptations: None Available
š More stories from author: Erik Peabody
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