Halloween 2014: Rot Man

Written by: James B. Davis

 It was a late Summer night and the street lights caused a spotlight appearance every ten feet. I was walking home, me and some friends where meeting at the local park, but it was midnight, no one showed up, and it was really hot out, and I didn't want to wait anymore. It was a pretty long walk home too, so I was pretty pissed. I was walking past an alley way when I saw him. A homeless man, he was rocking back and forth, his face seemed to almost be rotting, loose and brownish gray, his eyes looked void of any color.

I had to walk past him, it was the only way to my house, so it had to be done. As I got closer, he stopped rocking, and his head whipped in my direction! He got on all fours, and slowly creeped toward me! At this moment I realized I needed to leave, and turned around and ran for my life only to hear his feet running behind me! I ran as fast as I could, but it was no use, he jumped on my back, and bit into my wrist! I grabbed a brick to my side, and smashed it into the side of his head! He fell to the side twitching and looked at me, he screeched and thrusted toward me again, and I gave him another blow to the head with my brick, and half of his head looked like strawberry jelly. My wrist was leaking a black fluid mixed with blood. I slowly got up and limped home.

I didn't get home till about 2:00 AM, I quickly got into the bathroom, wrapped a bandage around my wrist, took some random pain killer in the medicine cabinet, and walked upstairs to my room and passed out on my bed. Through the night I tossed and turned, I didn't sleep very good. And when I did sleep, I had strange dreams, not really scary, just strange. I can't really describe them, they were nonsense.

When I woke up the next day, my wrist no longer hurt, in fact, I felt good. I got up quickly and looked in the mirror, my muscles had grown! Not to an extreme degree, but they looked a little more built and chiseled. “What the fuck?” I rubbed my arm, I really didn't understand. I got on clothes, and went downstairs, I didn't mention the bite to my parents, in fact, I didn't even talk to my parents that day. I went outside right after breakfast, and went for a run, I really don't run a lot, or really ever, but I could run really fast. And I ran for a long time too, a really long time, like three hours! I got home, and I went upstairs and laid down, I wasn't really tired, but I needed a little rest. I felt great, I felt like fucking Superman. I fell asleep, and I really don't remember any of my dreams. I slept the whole day and didn't wake up till the next day, it was great.

I woke and jumped out of bed, and I looked in the mirror again. I couldn't believe it! I... I was bigger again! I just just grinned and blinked rapidly “What the fuck?” I thought to myself. I put on all my clothes, ran down the stairs, and didn't even eat breakfast before I left. I jogged down the street, logged for a long time, before I finally came to sprint that lasted for hours! And the part I really remember was coming up to a large fence! I jumped over it! It was at least six feet, and I ended up in someone's backyard, an entire family in the yard. “I, I'm so sorry.” I said and ran for it again.

I really didn't understand what was happening, and I really didn't care, I just wanted to run some more. I came to the end of the neighborhood, and stopped, I couldn't decide whether or not to keep going. I turned around and ran the other direction, and decided to jump some more. I jumped over fire hydrants, fences, I even jump over a group of people at one point! I... I felt like a superhero! In fact...

That night, I put on a hockey mask, shoulder pads, football pads, and over everything, a one color full body suit, you know the ones that you can buy at the Halloween store? And that night I left, and went downtown. I stayed in back alleys mostly, to avoid police, because, well, I looked like a crazy person. Then I saw it, a man in an alley, beating a woman, I ran toward him, and kicked him in the side. He got up and took out a knife, I slapped the knife from his hand and broke his finger in doing so. He fell to the ground, and I kicked him, and ran off. I ran into an alley far away. I did this all night, this was a bad city, full of crime.

I went back home at 3:00 AM, climbing into my upstairs window. I fell into my bed, and slept. I slept for the whole night, and this time, I remembered my dreams. I dreamed about the man who had bitten me, the man I had completely forgot about. He was in my house though, he was over my family, he had eaten them, I didn't see his face at first. He had my my mothers arm in his hand, and he turned his head toward me. It was me!

I woke up that morning in a cold sweat, I had pee on my mattress, I hadn't peed my bed since I was 7, I'm 17 now, ten years! I got up out of my bed and looked in my mirror, I was smaller now, my muscles had been smaller than the night before, and there was no way I would be able to run that day, because, just walking down the stairs made me tired. I didn't know what was happening. I really didn't feel good, I didn't want to eat, I didn't want to drink anything, I didn't want to be awake! My mom and dad had left for the day, and weren’t gonna be back for three days. I fell on the couch after they left, and moaned, moaned for five minutes straight. I just fell asleep, and was faced with the same dreams. I woke up again with sweat all over me, and got up to go pee. I went to the bathroom and walked past the mirror, I saw a glimpse of myself, and quickly ran back to the mirror, my eyes had huge black bags under them, my lips where gray, and so where my teeth. I couldn't believe what I was looking at, I began to cry.

The next day, a knock came at the door, around noon, and woke me up. I got up and scowled, I walked to the door and opened it. A woman stood there, my mom's friend Jessica. “Hi, Jack, is your mom here?” she asked with a smile, I just lowered my brows, then smiled, “Yeah, she's in the kitchen.” I said “Come in.” she walked past me and down to the kitchen “It's in here right?” she said and I grabbed a lamp off the table and smashed it over her head. A smile came across my face.

That night I made a large pot of soup, and by then, my face was a brownish gray, my eyes nearly void of color, and my hair began falling out. The soup was delicious, so, so good. I ate all of it, all of it! There was so much meat in the soup, it was great! I went to bed after the hefty meat, and had great dreams! She was delicious.

That next day, I felt great, and but I looked like shit, but I didn't care! I had an ooze coming from sores on my face, I had an itch, but I couldn't scratch it, because my skin peals off, and my eyesight isn't as great, but I feel incredible! Today's the last day of my parents vacation, they'll be home tomorrow, and I just can't wait for them to get home...