THE EYES

14:05

"...Stay with us, because we will be back, right after the commercials..."     Richard Miles turned off the TV. He stood up and looked through the window. The sun was slowly drifting towards the horizon. The wind was tearing through the streets. Light rain was forecasted for the night. It looked like the beginning of a usual November night. "Damn, this will be a cold night", Richard thought. He was in his early thirties. He had short dark hair and was freshly shaved. He wasn't married - his work took too much of his time. He was a policeman - actually, a member of the local rapid response squad. Thinking about how annoying the night shift was, he took a jacket and a backpack and left the apartment. He took the elevator to the garage and sat in his car. He looked at his watch. There was just enough time for him to get to his workplace. He slowly drove the car out of the garage and started driving steadily towards the fading sun.

16:15

"Listen up squad, we have a situation!" Captain Mitchell said. Richard wasn't quite happy to hear that, but still, he has had enough of doing nothing.
"There was an incident in the Altermark Pharmaceutics Corporation Headquarters. They had a major security breach about fifteen minutes ago. We barely know a thing about what is happening over there, but it's got to be something big, since we are called in. You have 10 minutes to get ready. We will meet on the roof. Now get going."

16.25

Richard opened the door. A wave of cold air hit him. The rain had started. The helicopters were ready for takeoff. He boarded one of them. Soon they were all ready. The helicopters, two of them, took off. He could hear the captain on the radio: "Area of the incident is located in the industrial district north of here. We will enter the building from the roof as soon as we get there. There is no space on the roof to land the chopper so you will have to rope down. From there on we will asses the situation and act appropriately. We still don't know the nature of the incident. That is all for now."

16:35

He could see the building. It was a part of a large complex. It was surrounded by many warehouses and a couple of other tall buildings. The entire district looked dark and ominous under the fading sun. Helicopters started to hover over the roof of the building. A cloud of dirt instantly formed on the roof. They started to lower themselves to the roof using the ropes. Soon all of them were down on the roof. "Ok, we move in now. Everyone ready? Turn on your flashlights and follow me." Captain said and opened the door. A strange smell hit the team. The building looked deserted. Most of the lights weren't working. Old white tiling on the walls looked broken and dirty. He could see medical equipment scattered around. "Keep your eyes open team! Watch out for the stuff around, because this is some sort of a medical lab, and no one here wants to turn into a Frankenstein or something. So you all better watch your step." Richard could hear captain's voice on the radio very loudly, and he actually had to lower the volume, so that he could keep track of the area around him. And then, he quickly turned to the side. He saw some movement in the room he had just passed. He pointed to the rest of the team, and then he and another team member entered the room. Flashlights pierced through the darkness of the room. The room was deserted. There was a lot of paper scattered around the desk in the middle of the room, but apart from that, they couldn't see anything in the room. But he was sure he saw something move. He searched the room with his flashlight but found nothing.
"Damn... I thought I saw something move. It must have been because of the wind."
"Forget it then and come here. We are just down the hall".
He rejoined them in a big room that was near a staircase. Room was very dark. Almost no light was coming through the windows. Walls were dark. But they were too dark. Something was wrong. In the same time, one of the team members turned on the backup power source in the hall. All the lights on their floor turned on. And then he realized why the walls were so dark - they were covered in blood. The team was shocked. But, something was missing - there were no bodies. There was lots of bloody bed sheets scattered around the room. But there was no one in the room.
"Get together team. I am afraid that we have something serious going on here. Move on. Barker, contact the HQ." There was a slight tone of nervosa in the captain's voice. But, the team went on. They descended to the floor beneath. Suddenly, all the lights went off again. "Damn, the light is out again. Miles, go and see if you can find a power box somewhere." Richard entered one of the side corridors. The corridor was pitch dark. The only source of light was Richard's flashlight. He moved slowly, making sure that there isn't an ambush set up in front of him. Suddenly, he heard a buzzing noise. But soon it stopped. Finally, he could see the power box. He started walking towards it, but, suddenly, he heard gun fire and then screams and yelling. Just as suddenly as it begun, it all stopped. He tried to contact the rest of the team over the radio, but no one was responding. He started moving slowly towards the rest of the team. He leaned around the corner, just to find a pool of blood right in the place his team was supposed to be standing at. There were even no body remains, except for the blood. It was all over walls, even on the ceiling. But there was no sign of who ever, or whatever did this. He quickly backed away, and entered one of the side corridors, where he found a small stairwell. He started descending to the lower floors of the building. But, then, he could hear the buzzing again. He could hear sounds of movement just above him. He looked up, only to see pair of green dots in the dark moving rapidly towards him. He took his gun and started shooting towards it. But it kept moving towards him. "What the hell are you?!" he yelled, and then he started running down the stairs as fast as he could. He looked behind him - it was getting closer and closer. Having realized that he cannot outrun it, he made a desperate decision - he started shooting at the window, and then he jumped right through it.

...

Richard opened his eyes. He was lying in a pile of rubble. He could feel pain in all parts of his body. But then, he saw six figures standing around him. As his vision became sharper, he realized that those figures were men in some kind of high-tech body armor. He couldn't see their faces - they were wearing helmets that also covered their faces. He got up. None of them tried to stop him. Suddenly, one of them took of his helmet.
     "What the hell are you doing here?!" the man said.
"I should ask you the same thing, damn it." Richard responded.
"Ok, ok, Captain Douglas, PASS" said the man, after noticing the police markings on Richard's suit.
"PASS?"
"Psychological Assessment and Sanation Squad."
"What? Doctors? Why all the armor then?"
"The name doesn't quite explain our function. Now, what the hell were you doing here anyway?"
"We were sent in to check the situation. City police..."
"Yes I know where you are from. But... Never mind. Administrative mistake probably... Now get up. We have no time to waste!"
They started moving towards the large entrance of the building. Captain Douglas approached Richard:
"Since you are surely wondering what happened out there, I'll give it to you in a nutshell. Altermark Corporation was performing certain medical experiments that had something to do with human psyche. Now, the thing is that their methods were, least to say, 'unconventional'. Their work borders parapsychology. Now, we don't know much about it. But, the reason why we were called in because it looks like the experiments got out of control. Strange things started happening in there. It all culminated today, a couple of hours ago. Some of the employees managed to call for help, but we eventually lost all contact. Now to make things short, situation was assessed by experts, and we were called in. Now, probably by mistake, you were sent here too, before the situation was fully understood. That is all, basically. Now tell me. What the hell happened in there?? Where is the rest of your team? How did you end up falling from a window?"
"I...I don't know. I have absolutely no idea... We went in to assess the situation, and I split off my team for a moment. A minute later, in the place where they stood was... a giant... a giant pool of blood. I don't know what the hell happened!! I realized that something was going terribly wrong, so I started moving downstairs in order to find an exit. But, someone... something was following me. All I could see was a pair of green eyes. I tried to eliminate the target, but it didn't react. It started coming towards me faster and faster. I was left with no choice. I broke the window and jumped through it."
"So, our fears were founded. Something has gone seriously wrong in there. Damn it..."
A young men approached the captain.
"We have detected movement on the first floor. It looks like it is moving towards the warehouses."
"Team, get ready. This is it. We're on its heels!"
He turned towards Richard again:
"You should come with us. I can not guarantee your safety back here. And I doubt that anyone else will be coming."
They entered the large hall of the building. From there they started walking through a long, wide corridor. After a couple of minutes they left the building. Now they were in a small yard. The yard was surrounded with the main building behind them, and the warehouses on the other sides. After that they entered one of the warehouses. Inside of it was cold and dark. Outside they could see last signs of light. Night was coming. They descended to the underground floor of the building. But then, he saw it again. Just for one short moment, he saw those green eyes in the darkness. But only for a moment.
He thought that he was getting paranoid. But, all of a sudden, they heard screams and gun shots just behind them.
"Damn it, get back there!! Wolfovitz and Cappela are back there!"
Team ran back, but, again, they found only blood. A lot of it. Team felt desperate because of their probable loss. Richard could feel that everyone was nervous. But, they couldn't find anything. No sign of anyone. So, they went on. Now it was only five of them. Richard was moving between the other four, because he had the least armor. After that, they descended into a large underground depot. But, he saw the green eyes again. But this time, everyone saw them. They quickly moved into a defensive formation and started shooting, but the thing disappeared in the dark. There was no choice. They had to move on. They were probably on to something. They entered a narrow corridor. Strangely, they could feel the warmth coming from the other end of it.
Suddenly one of the team members yelled. He saw the thing flying towards them, but still, only the green eyes could be seen. They started shooting, but they quickly turned around and started to run. They ran towards the large metal door at the other end of the corridor. Richard had reached the door. He quickly opened them, and then he turned around. He could see the captain and another team member running towards him, but the other two team members were missing. He could see signs of blood in the darkness. The eyes followed them. They ran through the door and sealed them. They stood there for a moment. But nothing happened. It looked like the eyes were gone. There was a sign of relief on their faces. But, when they turned around, they were baffled by what they saw in the room. Actually, it was not a simple room - it was more of a factory hall. But there were no windows, since it was underground. There were neon lights on the ceiling. Room was properly lit. There was a buzzing noise coming from below. It was probably the boiler that heated the room. Warm air rose from the openings on the ground. The entire room was filled with beds. People were lying on the beds. But none of them looked awake. They were connected to multiple wires and tubes, which all led to a single, giant structure in the middle. It looked like a multiple of giant canisters. There was some strange green liquid in them. Machines pumped the liquid through the pipes and tubes. They moved on to the machine.
"What the hell is this?" said the captain.
"Damn if I know..."
"This probably has something to do with the experiments they conducted..."
But then they heard a sound coming from beneath one of the desks. They slowly moved towards it. Captain unlocked his gun and looked beneath the desk.
"Don't kill me!! Please, don't..."
"What the..."
"Oh, are you from the p...police?"
"Sort of. Who the hell are you?"
"I am Doctor Steinman. I am the leader of this project."
He was a short man in a white coat, wearing a pair of glasses. He was almost bald.
"What happened here?"
"The experiment...It had gone horribly wrong. I have no idea what happened. But we have to get out of here!"
"What have you done with this people?!"
"They...they agreed to become the test subjects. But they are all... they are all gone now. The experiment went crazy. And then that 'thing' showed up. I barely made it..."
"How do you mean they are gone??"
"System overloaded. They received a deadly dose of the medicine..."
"Ok, later on with that, how do we stop that damn thing out there?"
"I don't know... but I have observed that it avoids heat. It didn't enter this room. But, somehow, it gets its power from this!" he pointed at the machine in the middle of the room.
"Why don't we just shut it down?"
"It has gone seriously unstable. Shutting it down would probably cause it to explode and destroying the entire complex in the process."
Suddenly, the buzzing noise stopped.
"Oh no! It turned off the heating!"
"What do we do now?! You are the head of this project after all!"
"The room will start to cool down. And then it will get in... If something happens to us, and it gets away, who knows what will happen. We have to destroy it..."
"How?"
"The only way is to overload the machine. I hope that if the machine goes off, it will destroy it. We are in a desperate situation. We have no choice."
"But, it will kill us too."
"I can set it so that it gives us about ten minutes to get out of here. But once it gets started, there is no way to stop it. If we are not out of the complex when it goes off, we have zero chance of survival."
The room was cooling rapidly.
"Ok, do it. I will try to call in a helicopter to pick us up. The nearest landing zone is on the roof of the hospital. How far is the hospital from here?"
"The door in front of you leads to the stairwell that will take you to the hospital. I think we can make it."
"Do it. We have no time to waste"

---

"The extraction point is set on the roof of the hospital. The helicopter will arrive in about eight minutes. So, from now on, we cannot afford to stop for anyone."
The machine started to vibrate with a loud noise.
"It is done. Let's go!"
Four of them ran to the door. Behind the door was a short dark corridor. They saw the stairs. They started climbing. But as they got to the second floor of the hospital, they realized that the stairs had crumbled. They had to find another way around. They entered a large corridor leading to the other stairs in the building. But, suddenly, the thing showed up behind them. They started running, but the doctor had stumbled. They could only hear his short scream. Richard briefly turned around, and he saw the thing flying through the air, and a pool of blood behind it. He could see the other team member falling seriously behind. There was no chance for him. Richard slammed the door. A second later he heard a scream from the other side. But after that, silence. Nothing could be heard from the corridor. Now it was only Richard and Captain Douglas remaining. They had reached the other stairs. They climbed to the next floor. There were just two floors to go before the roof. But, suddenly, the thing showed up on the top of the stairwell. They turned to the doors and started running to find some other stairs. Luckily, there were small backup stairs nearby. But the thing was closing in on them. There was no way to outrun it. Captain Douglas suddenly stopped.
"Run kid! Save yourself. I've got a meeting with this thing" said the Captain, as he took a grenade from his belt.
"I, I..."
"Just go damn it!"
"Thanks..."
"Go!"
Richard started running up the stairs. He had reached the next floor. The last things he heard from the floor beneath him were: "Did I forget to mention that this meal was extra spiced?!" After that he heard a loud explosion. The stairwell crumbled. Richard jumped out onto the floor. There was no time to waste. There was just one floor left before the extraction point. He sneaked to the upper floor. But the stairs he had used didn't lead to the roof. There was a layout of the floor on a wall beside him. The stairs to the roof were on the other side of the building. He started sneaking. Finally, he had the stairs in his sight. But, he heard the buzzing again. He saw the eyes in the shade. But he was hidden. It looked like they didn't see him. He was so near, but there was no way around. He felt filled with despair, but, suddenly, he heard the noise of a helicopter approaching. The eyes moved. They went into one of the rooms, probably to see what was causing the noise. This was it. This was the moment. Richard could feel the adrenalin rush. He took a grenade, took the pin off it, and then he got up and started running towards the stairs. He almost got to the top of the stairs, but he saw the eyes moving towards him. He smiled, and said: "Goodbye, motherf*cker!!!" and he threw the grenade towards it. He jumped out onto the roof, just a split second before the grenade went off. The stairs behind him fell apart. Finally, he saw the helicopter. It was on the roof. A man came out of it and started dragging Richard to the helicopter.
"What the hell is going on?? Where is everyone?"
"No time to waste! We need to get out of here now!"
They finally got onto the helicopter. As the helicopter took off, Richard saw the green eyes through the rubble, just where the stairs were a moment ago. But they didn't move. They just stared at him. Couple of seconds later, the whole complex exploded. The helicopter had managed to get out of the way of the explosion. Richard looked behind them. There was a giant cloud of smoke and dust settling behind them, revealing a pile of debrief beneath it. It was done. He made it.

19:05

Richard was lying in a hospital bed. He was watching the news.
"...Now we are joining live on site, Rita Campbell: City officials have said that the explosion that happened in the Altermark Corporation complex about one hour ago was an industrial accident, which was probably caused by a gas leak..."
She was standing on the edge of the rubble that was once the giant complex. But, suddenly, Richard saw it; the green eyes were there, in the darkness. He leaned towards the TV. He could not believe it. But then, they disappeared. Seconds later, the camera dropped. Ir kept recording from the ground. People could be seen running around, screaming and shouting. The ground started to fill with blood. Suddenly, a flash of green light. And then the signal went out.

Post edited at 2:37 pm on Nov. 23, 2008 by JohnTheNormalOne

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I don't agree with my username...  -.-

Post edited at 2:35 pm on Nov. 23, 2008 by JohnTheNormalOne

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I don't agree with my username...  -.-

He left on a crisp Sunday morning and arrived at sundown with his dog Ruz.
"Come on boy, I'm tired and want to get to bed." Ruz responded with a whimper.
"Oh stop your whining. I'm cold too." With that, they both headed inside and Brandon collapsed on the couch, too lazy to even turn on the lights when he entered.

Brandon was sleeping for almost 2 hours when he suddenly woke from a dripping sound coming from the ceiling. He was about to get up to fix the leak when he felt Ruz lick his hand, and reassured, fell back asleep.

An hour later, the dripping stirred him from his dreams once more. Again, he felt the comforting kiss of his companion on his hand and fell back asleep.

For the third time, Brandon was roused from his slumber by the seemingly endless drip, but by this time it was morning. With grogginess still infecting him, he called for Ruz without opening his eyes.
"Ruz! Ruz come here!" There was no response.
"Ruz?" Brandon starts to get up and opens his eyes to see a puddle of blood next to the couch. With panic settling in, he looks up only to find his dog pierced through the chandelier. He screams and runs to the door. There's a note smeared with blood taped to the wood. Brandon reaches for the note with trembling hands and tears streaming down his face. He takes the note and reads.
"People can lick too."

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Everything has its beauty,
but not everyone sees it - Confucius

Oh, I had to correct a few typos; I didn't get a proper chance to proofread it last night.

The Last Night Bus to the Dublin Mountains

Of all the deliriously delightful scary stories that were told at Hallowe'en, only one survived into Samhain -  not because it was some new story that the joker made up a week too late, or anything like that, but for  another reason completely.

On the last Friday of October before Hallowe'en, the closing of the doors, the locking of the labs, the climax of the classes and the one week break were all that were on anyone's mind: The end of French class was a welcome relief to Gary's head; "Thank God," was all he could think. Physics was over until November; "Time to get some well-deserved sleep," said Rory. Johnno survived Business class; "Now to do some business of my own down at the bookies. So, if Chelsea are 16/11 to draw with Liverpool...". However, William was kind of annoyed that Technical Graphics had to end so early; "Dammit! I was 2 minutes away from cracking that lovely headwrecker of a question!"

Meanwhile, in the staffroom, Mr. Maguire was looking forward to his first Friday night drink since late September while Mr. Croke was going to get Mr. Sharpe back so badly, it was going to be ridiculous; he was going to put pepper in his tea ("Who says ghosts don't exist?" was his alibi). Ms. O'Shea had a fashion show to attend, while Mrs. O'Brien had a full two hours of soaps to catch up on. All to happen when the bell goes in  

5...4...3...2...1...

5 minutes after the bell went, half the pupils and one third of the teachers were on their way home. Of those that remained, half of the pupils and a third of the teachers were about to begin their journeys home. Those that remained did so for reasons varying from the serious (such as the Senior Cup Team rugby sessions) to the not-so-serious-at-all (such as, eh, standing around at the bike stands).

It was by accident that Mark noticed Ellen walking by the bike stands on her way to the woodwork class; when they met they chatted as if they were both girls in 5th year.

"I'm so glad the mid term's here," says Mark while unlocking his bike.

"Why's that?" asks Ellen.

"Because I don't have to get out of bed so early in the morning. It's been too long since I've been able to wake up at 1 o'clock and think to myself, "Ahh, no need to get up, it's the mid-term break!""

"Stop it Mark, you're making me jealous!" she exclaimed playfully, "After woodwork, I have to babysit my two younger sisters; which means I won't get to talk to Killian until tomorrow!"

"Ellen, he doesn't mind. Honestly, I spoke to him, and if anything, he feels much more awkward than you.  

Whereas you've asked people out before, he's never been anywhere near a relationship. You'll only make yourself feel worse if you beat yourself up about it."

Ellen turned around pretending to look for something in her schoolbag; she was only doing it to think of how glad she was that Mark had just made her feel so much better.

"Ellen, am I alone in thinking that Barra and Sarah are just made for each other?" he muses.

"Yeah," says Ellen, her eyebrows lighting up, "They're so suited to each other it's ridiculous. Sarah suggested once that she's into Barra."

"If she had any idea how much Barra fancies her." Mark blows out of his mouth with his arms open. "Did you see how twitchy and nervous he was last Friday? He was about to ask her out, but he let his nerves get the better of him."

"So that's why he was acting like that! Anyway Mark, I've got to go. See you tomorrow! Oh, can you talk to Killian a bit more? I don't want him to feel bad. Seeya!"

"Don't worry, Ellen, I'll do that," Mark called after her, "Bye!"

That night, Killian came prepared for his first Deep Meaningful Conversation (or DMC, as Joe calls them). The look on his face when he realised she wasn't there was priceless, and kind of funny; even he laughed when he saw his expression in the mirror.

Post edited at 10:23 am on Nov. 27, 2008 by Faoiseamh

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Is minic a bhris béal an duine a shrón.
Click for all my music and recordings

"Of course I have," says Barra, "but I don't know much about it."

"Well," says Alan, "These three fellas built a house up in the Dublin Mountains to see what it would be like to drink whiskey and play cards in Hell. Right? So they'd create a fire around them, and they'd sit at the table playing cards. So anyway, one night, the Devil comes in and asks one of them to a game. Yeah? Now, the other two can't see the Devil, because only the other guy can see him. OK, the Devil wins and takes control of his soul. As for his body: it disappeared. Just evaporated of the face of the Earth."

"Creepy," says Barra, "Anything else weird in the Dublin Mountains?"

"Oh, of course," says Alan. "Just don't say that it was me who told you, because they'd accuse me of bullshitting you (which I'm not, by the way). All sorts of sinister things happen in the Dublin Mountains at night time. Well, first of all, there's a mass of scary stories to do with the Hellfire Club about Satanism and black stuff like that. But wait, there's more. A bunch of psychics went up there in the 1860s, and said they saw some very creepy spirits up there: ghosts, faceless men, an saghas craic sin."

"Ouch. I'm glad I don't live up there."

"Funnily enough, I came across a story on the internet the other night. This person is going for a walk in the Dublin Mountains at night time, as you do, and it's pitch black..."

"Ooh, shit. Sorry Alan, just got a text message there from Sarah. Lemme see...Just had the most frightening experience EVER!, ever written in capitals, followed by an exclamation mark, shocked smily face after the exclamation mark...I'll meet you tomorrow night and I'll tell you all about it. Make sure not to let bed ghosts bite! Once again she's put an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, with a smiley face after the exclamation mark. Alan, can you hold that story? I'm going to listen to Sarah's story first to help me get in the mood, you know?"

"Alright, grand," says Alan, "But you have to listen to this other story first, and I shit you not, this really happened. I was there. No, this isn't scary, but it does make me wonder about all the other stories that are told about the Dublin Mountains. Here we go: Last summer, I was walking around the Dublin Mountains, as you do, and I came across this white-silvery tree. Now, there's nothing odd about that, but for some strange reason, some force drags things uphill. You could park a car on the mountain and release the handbrake, and the car would roll up the hill, not down the hill. Right? Now I was up there with a couple of mates and a bottle of water, and I poured the water out of the bottle, and the water started flowing uphill, towards the tree."

"You're taking the piss!"

"No, I'm telling you, this really happened. I'll show you the next time I'm heading up there!"

"...maybe," says Barra, "Listen, I have to go. It's been good talking to you, Alan."

"No problem, Barra."

***

The next evening, (nearly) everyone went to Sarah's house to hear her story. Barra was disappointed; he thought she had texted only him. Most people weren't quite sure if her story was real, or whether she was just trying to give them a pre-Hallowe'en scare, but her brother was certain that she was serious. As for her house, it was just a regular house on the south side of Dublin, nothing spooky about it, not even the old antiques and furniture.

"You've picked a great time of the day to creep us out with this ghost story you're so eager to tell us," said Joe with a smile, as the sun went down for the evening.

"Here lads, quiet, I think she's got a real story for us," said Kevin, one of her closer friends.

"I'll bet you one of her brothers is going to jump out of the cupboard and scream "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH"!" remarked Oisín, with a superb piece of acting to pull off the scream.

The chatter died down as the sky was turning from turquoise to azure, the clouds running away when they heard there was going to be a ghost story. In the corner, the cupboard stood still, its shelves laiden with antiques, glasses and plates, while the bookshelves didn't stir from the spot. The ten gathered in the room sat on the old armchairs and couches of the room, their feet either on the wooden floor or the big mat; some had curled up with their partner in the corner of the couch.

"Really, I'm not having you all on here, I swear to God, all of this was real," Sarah began.

"So what happened?" asked Mark.

"It wasn't a big explosion or anything big like that; but there was definitely something sinister on that bus. First I'll tell you how it came about. Yesterday after school, I was busy for quite a while, and it was 6 o'clock before I got to the bus stop to catch the bus to my uncle's house in the Dublin Mountains. The bus didn't come, but my friend Jenny was with me for an hour. She had to go at 7, so I though that I'd only be waiting a few more minutes for the bus, which was late as it is. There's normally one bus an hour, but it was another hour before it finally came."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Ellen, "Which bus is this?"

"It's the 39X. I doesn't go by here, but I normally get it near where 103.2 Dublin City FM's radio station is, which is down by the murky docklands. Anyway, I got the very last bus from the terminus at 8 o'clock after a long wait in the freezing cold."

"Yeah, I've been freezing the bollocks off me these past few days" said Joe, "But continue, I shouldn't have interrupted," delivering the second part with a smooth touch of self-criticising humour.

"I got on the bus, paid the fare and sat down near the front and looked out at the dark streets outside. I don't normally go upstairs, but this time I felt like it. Just before I did, though, I asked the bus driver how long the trip would take, but he ignored me. I saw why: a sign in front of me said "WHILE THE BUS IS MOVING, PLEASE DO NOT SPEAK TO THE DRIVER." I got the message and went upstairs."

"You know, Sarah, I can just tell you're going to say the bus driver was a zombie who attacked you," bursted Lydia, "Or something lovely and entertaining to that effect."

"Ohh, no," said Sarah in reply, "Nothing like that. It was much scarier. The first thing I noticed when I got upstairs was the it was even colder than downstairs. Despite that, there was no fog on the windows, so I just sat down and looked out the window for a few minutes before starting my homework. First, I started physics, and I started listening to some music on my iPod, some nice pleasant-sounding stuff. However, there was one question that I wasn't quite sure of; I couldn't find the definition of a virtual image. You know, the image you see when you look in a mirror. There's a technical definition, but I just couldn't remember it. Anyway, it was getting even more cold; so cold that I couldn't concentrate, so I put my books away and turned off the music.

"It was only now that I got the feeling that something was strange about this bus; that something was wrong. First, I couldn't understand why it was so cold, no matter how much I wrapped myself up. The windows were now rapidly fogging over, and at that moment, I could only see a bare outline of what was outside the window. I thought that only city streets were outside, but I got a strange feeling that something sinister, something unwelcome was leering in at me. Or maybe that it was already inside, just invisible to me.

"I went to the back of the top deck and tried to do more work, but I couldn't; it was just to hard, and too cold. I closed my eyes and thought, but then I just became sleepy. I had a horrible feeling that if I fell asleep, something foul would attack me. I tried to stay awake, but I couldn't resist it; I fell asleep."

"And let me guess, the ghost attacked you," said Shane, trying to lighten the mood.

"No," Sarah continued, "I can't remember what was going on in my head, but it was murky. I felt really tense, as if I knew something bad was going to happen. I didn't see anything in my head except dark, but I did hear something...there was a voice speaking. It was a wheezy voice, and it spoke in a Kilkenny accent."

"Ah, I see now," calls Shane, "So it WAS a ghost! Oh, sorry, Ross." A few laughs began as eyes turned to the only Kilkenny man in the room. "I didn't know that people from Kilkenny were technically classified as humans!"

Ross smiled a wry smile and smoothed out a retort, "Well, we've more All-Irelands than you Dubs will ever have, so I recommend you beat that sometime over the next million years."

"Ah now, Ross!" pipes Shane, "You don't want me to tell you the rest of those Kilkenny jokes, do you?"

"I'd love to see you try," said Ross.

"Here, ssh, on with the story. I'm beginning to get nicely creeped out," said Mark, "Continue, Sarah."

"Yeah, so this voice, it wasn't ghostly - it sounded friendly, as if it is a real, friendly voice that exists in real life. All it said was the same sentence over and over again: "A virtual image is an image created by the apparent intersection of two rays of light. A virtual image is an image created by the apparent intersection of two rays of light." That's all that happened in my dream, which meant that when I woke up again, I was feeling very groggy. I wrote down the definition and set my bag aside; and anyway, I didn't feel like working.

"After I had fallen asleep, the atmosphere had gone up a notch. I began to feel really scared now; a delicate mist was beginning to form in the air, and the windows were so fogged over that I couldn't see out of them. I put my iPod on again, but something very strange happened - none of the songs played. When I looked at the albums I had, the names were still there, but the song names and the front cover of the albums were gone from the screen. Being bored, as journeys always make us, I started examining my surroundings more closely.

"The first other thing I noticed was that the light above me was buzzing in a peculiar kind of a way, while another was flickering. The round mirror at the front of the top deck was now completely black. The seats on Dublin buses are normally blue with splashes of colour, but now, a rat grey fungus was growing on them. One thing in particular really creeped me out.  

"On Dublin buses, there are small advertising boards along the sides of the ceiling, just beside the lights. Before I fell asleep, normal ads were on them, but when I woke up, they had all turned brown, like soil on a murky winter day. Even creepier, I saw fingers in them. Yes, fingers, as if someone had drowned in a mudslide and were trying to escape from the flowing mud. The fingers were grouped into sets of four, and each set, with another, so you could see pairs of hands trying to reach out of the mud and only the fingers rising over the top. When I saw the hands, most of them were baring their middle fingers at me, as if to say "Fuck you!" The rest were all baring their first two fingers at me, you know, that really rude gesture that Jim is so fond of using."

"How could we forget it?" said Ross.

"Anyway, The first thing strange thing happened when I went to the window and I sat down beside it. There was a strange warmth in the seat, but it didn't feel nice...it felt really, really weird. In the window beside me, I saw what I could have sworn was the vague outline of a face in the fog. Curious, I rubbed the window, and nothing was behind it. No sooner had I rubbed it, and the window had fogged over again; something still wasn't right. I rubbed the window again and I saw some kind of faint face staring in at me. I couldn't see the edge of the face, just faint wisps as eyes, a nose and a mouth. The window fogged over, but something strange made me want to see more of the face, as if some evil spirit was in my mind, saying "You are going to rub that window and you are going to look at that face", knowing full well that it was leading me into some kind of spiritual trap.

"I wiped the window another time and this time, the face came closer. Now, I could see its eyes, its cold merciless eyes staring into mine and its deathly lips concealing the horrible depths of its foul mouth. The window fogged over again, and I said to myself that I was not going to rub the window again, and that I was not going to let myself get hypnotised by that face. But I wiped again, my face very close to the window, and the face appeared right up against mine. The moment I met its eyes, I was hypnotised by its gaze, and I couldn't think. I would've been stuck to the window for God knows how long if the bus hadn't hit a bump, and knocked me from the window."

Nobody still thought she was winding them up; those sitting closest to her knew she was serious when her eyes began to glaze over and her face turn slightly red as she finished talking about the ghostly face in the window.

"The floor was beginning to vibrate slightly, and I was beginning to fear for my life. The steam was continuing to gather upstairs, and the fingers on the advertising boards had protruded a little more. I ran downstairs in my panic, but as I looked at the round mirror at the front of the top deck, I now saw a red glow coming from its centre. I reached the bottom deck of the bus, and I felt slightly warmer; but whoa, the relief of getting away from that face was massive."

"There was something strange about that driver; even when I asked him to stop so I could get off, he still ignored me. I mustn't have been far from the stop, so I sat down at the back of the bottom deck. The bottom deck was warmer, and the windows were only slightly fogged over. I tried to listen to me iPod again, and I found an album that played. However, when I played the first track, all I could hear was a fuzzy sound that didn't stop. When I got to the second track, a voice whispered with a strange urgency and worry. It said "Do NOT go upstairs do NOT go upstairs do NOT go upstairs." This only made me feel really curious, which drew me back up the stairs to the top deck, as if I had been hypnotised again.

"When I reached the top deck, there was a whirring, ticking noise, and a strange squelch. The top deck was now full of that fog that started forming while I was up there. I peaked over the corner of the stairs, and I nearly screamed at what I saw. A tall figure, was stooped over, sitting on one of the seats in front of me. It was completely black, covered in a robe and hood. That's not even the worst part - this thing had no face. No eyes, no nose, no mouth, just a blank head. The figure was quite tall - it looked as if it would be very tall if it wasn't hunched over. Speaking of hunched over, the figure had a huge hump on its back. I looked at it for a full minute, not able to take my eyes off it - it rocked back and forwards, and faced straight ahead; it didn't see me, thank God, and when I copped on to myself, I crept back downstairs. As I looked back at the top deck one last time, I could see the fingers outstretched a little further, the steam packed densely into the air and the red light in the black mirror slightly larger."

"I tried to listen to the iPod to see if it had any information about what I had just seen. I listened to the second track again, but it just had a fuzzy sound - nothing. I listened to the third track, and I got another message. It whispered in cold tones, "If you thought that was scary, you haven't seen nothing yet. If you thought that was scary, you haven't seen nothing yet." I went on to the fourth track, and the same cold, hostile voice breathed, "Don't go up again; something a thousand times worse is now up there. Don't go up again; something a thousand times worse is now up there."

"I now began to look for a way off the bus, but there was no way in sight. I tried to catch the driver's attention again, but he still wouldn't recognise me. The windows downstairs were fogged over now; I wiped one, thinking that I would just see what point in the Dublin Mountains I'm at. Big mistake...when I wiped the window, I could only see the reflection, the virtual image of what was behind me. Black figures were whisping around the bottom deck of the bus, and one was standing directly behind me. Its hands were placed on my shoulders and its head was against my neck. It was then that I felt a shivery tingle go down my back, and a shard of pain went through my head, and with hot shock going through my head, I span around and tried to hit at the ghost behind me, but there was nothing there. When I turned around, the window had fogged over again; I was not going to give it a second wipe.

"Yeah, Sarah, do you have much more left to tell? I have to leave soon," said Shane.

"Not long," replied Sarah, "Not long at all. After the run-in with the black ghost, I began to stand near the entrance of the bus, waiting for the bus to slow down so I could catch the driver's attention. The bus didn't slow down, and I became worried when the steam began to pour down from the upper deck. When the steam reached me, I felt a sleepiness in my head that can only be compared to an anaesthetic; I barely dragged myself from the trap of falling asleep from the fog. I had become unbelievably nervous, so I decided to calm down by seeing if my iPod could play music again. I came across a strange looking album that I never knew existed. It was called "Dur Kdas", and a skeletal hand was stretched out on the cover. I checked my iPod this morning, and there was no sign or record of this album. My curiosity getting the better of me, I listened to this album, and in my speakers, a deep rumbly voice growled:

"If you value your life, you will get off this bus NOW. If you value your life, you will get off this bus NOW. If you value your life, you will get off this bus NOW. If you value your life, you will get off this bus NOW".

"The bus driver still wasn't responding to me, so there was only one choice; picking up my bag, I pulled the emergency door-release handle, and the doors clattered open. Thankfully, the bus was passing a field, so I jumped out and watched as the bus drove down the road; The odd thing was that it was completely silent, and when I turned away and looked back, the bus had gone. I recognised the field; I was only a stone's throw away from my uncles house. With my last burst of wellbeing that night, I sent a cheery text message to you all and made the 100 metre trek to my uncle's door. I don't remember very well what happened after I got in the door, but I'm told I was numb and emotionless for a while, and that all of a sudden, I had an emotional breakdown and was inconsolable for over an hour."

After Sarah ended her story, there was a full minute and a half of soundlessness. When everyone was feeling at their tensest, their most incomfortable, Joe called, "Who wants a game of Poker?"

If there were any doubts that there was any such thing as an atmosphere that you can cut with a knife, Joe had just dispelled them all. As they played Poker into the night, Joe kept a joker card in his pocket - the only card in the deck that never lied about his identity.

***

"I'm glad you're alive."

"Barra?"

"Yes, I'm glad you're alive. It's scary to think that you came so close to dying. Listen, I just heard the news  

a while ago. Last night, the bus you were on crashed in a ravine just after you got off. Nobody was on the bus except for the driver, who died. But wait, get this. They did a postmortem on the body, and they found out that he had been dead for several hours before the crash. Not only that, but there was definitely something sinister going on. 30 years ago, a forest in the Dublin Mountains was cut down. Last Friday was the 30th anniversary to the day of a bus crash in the same ravine in the Dublin Mountains: 30 people died in the crash. The faceless man and the cutting down of the forest have an eerie connection. That faceless man, I am certain that was an elemental, something that has the shape of a human, but is not quite human."

"Oh...where did you hear about the faceless man?"

"Alan told me last night. Honestly, you came so close to death it was ridiculous."

"There were a couple of times on that bus when I nearly mentally slipped away. That time I was hypnotised by the face in the window, I could hardly think. The last thought in my head before the bump rescued me was that I couldn't leave my friends. I woud have caused them too much pain for me to rest in peace...not that I would ever want to be in a position to have to rest in piece when I'm 16. In a way, I might have still survived if that bump hadn't come at the right time. After all, when I was asleep, the man from Kilkenny helped me with my physics work. It was ironic that it was a virtual image that caused me so much trouble."

"Sarah, all that...fear. What did it feel like?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've all felt fear before, but you, you must have felt a whole new level of terror."

"Barra, not even if I sat here from now until Christmas could I do it justice. But to try...it was intense. It's like normal fear, but more intense and more traumatic. That's all I can say about the fear, but here's something else. When I was staring at the face, I was knocked back. When I regained control of my head, I realised that I'd started crying and not realised it. When I got downstairs, I realised my face was wet, and my eyes felt warm. It happened again when that deep voice growled at me to get off the bus, but this time I realised everything as it happened. My eyes went warm, and I felt my cheek dampen, but it wasn't until after I landed in the field before I wiped my face again.

"OK, I don't feel even the slightest bit awkward right now; Oh no, I definitely don't feel awkward at aaaaaaaall. Oh, now you're laughing at me, I certainly don't feel like I've made an arse of myself in the slightest. Ah, no. Ah, no. Not at all."

And then the lighting of the lamps.

And the Last Night Bus to the Dublin Mountains.

Post edited at 10:31 am on Nov. 27, 2008 by Faoiseamh

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Is minic a bhris béal an duine a shrón.
Click for all my music and recordings

"A virtual image is an image caused by the apparent intersection of two rays. A virtual image is also an image that cannot be projected onto a screen. IN addition, a virtual image is an image that is upright when reflected through a spherical mirror. That might not mean a lot to you, but it means a lot to me; I used to think that the existence of ghosts was impossible, but after my friend showed my his haunted house, I changed my mind. So many ghost stories can be put down to tricks of the mind and optical illusions. But for the rest; how do they come to pass? That it why there will never be an answer to that big question, "Do ghosts exist?" What you're experiencing at the moment is a dream, which is composed totally of virtual images - everything you dream is a product of the mind - except for me. I exist in real life; you may never meet me in person, and if you do, you may never recognise my voice, but I can assure you, I am a human being and I do exist.

What's my name? Oh, telling you that would be cheating. Let's just say I'm the Master of T."

Post edited at 10:32 am on Nov. 27, 2008 by Faoiseamh

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Is minic a bhris béal an duine a shrón.
Click for all my music and recordings

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Mr. Brandon Allen was a young, handsome, successful man who lived in the icy town of Vonsville. Every winter he planned a relaxing vacation to his cottage in the heart of Rabid Ridge (nicknamed after the nearby insane asylum). This winter had been an especially frantic season and he wanted to get out and away from society as fast as possible, even with the floating rumors of an escaped psychopath from the mad house on the loose.

He left on a crisp Sunday morning and arrived at sundown with his dog Ruz.  
"Come on boy, I'm tired and want to get to bed." Ruz responded with a whimper.  
"Oh stop your whining. I'm cold too." With that, they both headed inside and Brandon collapsed on the couch, too lazy to even turn on the lights when he entered.  

Brandon was sleeping for almost 2 hours when he suddenly woke from a dripping sound coming from the ceiling. He was about to get up to fix the leak when he felt Ruz lick his hand, and reassured, fell back asleep.  

An hour later, the dripping stirred him from his dreams once more. Again, he felt the comforting kiss of his companion on his hand and fell back asleep.  

For the third time, Brandon was roused from his slumber by the seemingly endless drip, but by this time it was morning. With grogginess still infecting him, he called for Ruz without opening his eyes.
"Ruz! Ruz come here!" There was no response.
"Ruz?" Brandon starts to get up and opens his eyes to see a puddle of blood next to the couch. With panic settling in, he looks up only to find his dog pierced through the chandelier. He screams and runs to the door. There's a note smeared with blood taped to the wood. Brandon reaches for the note with trembling hands and tears streaming down his face. He takes the note and reads.
"People can lick too."

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This is more or less plagiarism.  I would consider a retelling of a story to be appropriate in some circumstances, but, largely speaking, you didn't add anything worthwhile to the original story other than changing a few names and details.  

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