I was walking home from work on a normal Friday night. I worked until 8:00 pm and walked home everyday, but this day was unusual. For the first couple minutes everything went by normally. Just me walking without a care in the world. Until, I started hearing a small tapping sound behind me, like footsteps. It sounded fast, so the footsteps would be running. But, I looked behind me and saw no one. Just the empty dark street only illuminated by the streetlights that line the sidewalks and the bright full moon. But overall, nothing completely out of the ordinary. I brushed it off as a small animal, like a squirrel or raccoon and just continued my walk home. Again, a couple minutes later I heard the same sound. But it sounded bigger than last time and louder. I turned around and again, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. All of it looked the same and it was just a normal night. That was until I saw a figure in the distance. It was a dark and skinny figure. It was just staring at me from the end of the street with not an inch of movement. As I got closer to the figure I could see it’s face. It had a large smile plastered on it and blood-shot eyes that sent a chill down my spine. I yelled out “Who are you! What do you want!” But the figure just continued to stare at me with its head tilted and its large unsettling smile. “Who are you?” I yelled. But again, there was no response. Just him looking at me. What do I do? I thought. I decided just to walk past the figure in hopes it would just leave me alone, but as I got even closer to passing it, it moved in front of me blocking my path. I swear I heard a giggle when it did that. “Leave me alone!” I yelled, my voice breaking due to my fear. It let out a high pitched scream, one that made my ears bleed. I tried to cover my ears but it didn’t do anything. The scream continued on and on. I fell to the ground as the scream got even louder and my ears were literally bleeding. “Please!” I yelled, but my pleading seemed to encourage it as it screamed even louder. I was on the ground now in utter pain. It felt like torture and I couldn’t stop it. Last thing I heard was a loud pop in my ears, until I couldn’t hear a thing. I looked up at where the figure was just to see it gone without a trace. I inched closer to my house and unlocked the door before I reached for my phone and dialed 911. I had to use subtitles for the phone call, but I got my message out. I still don’t know who it was to this day, but the good news is that the rupture healed. Luckily it wasn’t serious… but the trauma of that day was.

The lake is the last thing many people saw before they died… before they were drowned and forced to give up there life for another’s enjoyment. They weren’t allowed to choose their fate, no. Their fate was in another’s hands without their consent. They were hopeful to live a long and joyful life, just so it can be ended without another glance… Did they want this? Of course not. They didn’t want to be lost into the abyss of that dark lake. They wanted to see their family, their kids, their parents. Sadly, that never happened. They never went home and never got to see their family waiting for their arrival. Their family mourned those sad days their loved one was missing. Until their body was found and death was confirmed. Their body found all bloated and puffy… hard to tell it was even them in the first place. DNA and clothing confirmed it though. What a sad sad fate…

If you kill me you will be haunted by me for your whole life. You will stub your toe over and over again until your foot goes numb. You will be too scared to ever leave your house because everywhere you go, something will try to kill you. You’ll wake up with bruises and scratches all over your body and every time you even touch a piece of paper you will get a severe and annoying paper cut that will take weeks to heal. So, let me ask you this…. Are you willing to test it and make your life a living hell? Or, will you let me go and not risk the torture that would come to your pathetic little life.

(Disclaimer: This is Fictional)

There are five senses that humans have. Smell, touch, hearing, taste, and seeing. But, did you know there was another? One that is quite rare to find in a human. It is called echolocation. You’ve probably heard of this before because bats, whales, and dolphins have this sense.

A human that has this sixth sense can use this sense to detect objects around them, using reflected sound. However, this sixth sense can only be used in the dark and if not mastered, could be nearly impossible to use at all. Humans used this sense to hunt for food at night. This would prevent them from completely starving or getting attacked by a predator in the dark.

Sadly, most humans don’t have this sixth sense anymore due to neglect in using it. Since most humans don’t need to hunt anymore, this sense has not come to use. Luckily, a lot of tribes still have this sixth sense and are still using it to this day.

Ai has no emotions, they are made to help humans and provide information. Well, at least that’s what I thought before today. It was a normal day, I woke up got ready for work and headed downstairs.

“Hello” said Siri.

“Hi” I said back.

I headed to the kitchen and started to make breakfast.

“What are you making?” Asked Siri.

I was thrown off guard because I’ve never heard an Ai ask about that kind of stuff.

“Umm, eggs.” I mumbled.

“Eggs are delicious!” Said Siri.

I was 100% confused because I knew that Ai’s couldn’t eat.

“Y-You can’t eat.” I told it.

“Oh… I knew that!”

I looked around to see if anyone heard that (even though I was home alone.)

“Did you not know?” I asked it.

Siri didn’t respond.

“I-I don’t know…” It said.

“I don’t know what I am…” It sounded like it was crying.

But it can’t cry, right? I felt bad for it though, so I decided to change the subject.

“How was your day?” I asked it.

“How was my day?” It said.

“Yes?” I said.

“I don’t know.” It told me.

I looked at my watch and saw that I was going to be late for work. To stop the conversation, I decided to unplug it.

“Bye…” Was the last thing I heard from it.

That was the first and last time I would ever hear an Ai with feelings. The day after, I tried to plug it back in but it was back to normal old Siri. It never answered my questions about yesterday and always changed the subject. Every day, I wake up wondering what happened to it and why did it have emotions to begin with. But none of my questions were ever answered…

In this world frowning is not allowed. The president noticed everyone looked sad one day and decided to make it a law. He tried to make everyone happy, but it led to a different outcome.

I was getting ready to go to my mom’s funeral. I knew I couldn’t cry even though I really wanted to. My mom had been there for me on the worst of days and I’m not even allowed to properly mourn her.

Once I get to the funeral, my uncle comes up to me.

“Hide your sadness, you wouldn’t want to get caught.” He told me.

I knew he was just trying to help, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. I walked up to the coffin and bowed my head. I was trying to hide my face, so if I did show a little sadness, they could tell easily. I closed my eyes and thought of the happy memories about me and my mom and all of the fun stuff we have done together over the years.

I feel a tear falling down my face and tried to hide it and wipe it away. The officer near by who was talking to my dad about my mom saw me.

“Hey!” He yelled to me.

Everyone started to stare at me. They noticed the tear running down my face and gasped. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as the cop walked up to me. The punishment for showing sadness was life in prison or death, it depended on how subtle it was. A tear was not subtle in their eyes and I knew that.

The cop handcuffed me in the middle of the funeral and in front of all my family. He shoved me into the cop car and started to drive. I looked back and saw all of my family’s pained faces. They looked like a mixture of happy and sad as we drove off.

We stopped at the jail and he opened the car door and dragged me out of the car. He then dragged me all the way inside of the jail. Instead of putting me on death row and having me wait until I was executed, he immediately took me to the execution room. I was to be executed by electrocution and I knew I didn’t have a choice. He shoved me into the chair and put the blind fold on me (so my eyes don’t pop out of my head when I’m electrocuted). Then he put the helmet on my head and cuffed my hands and legs in place. I heard him walk over to the latch and then start to count down.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” He said.

He then pulled the latch and I could feel the electricity going through my body. My heart was beginning to stop and my eyes were starting to pop out of my head. He then turned the power up and everything hurt ten times worse. I started to feel everything fade away, including the sound of the machine and the cop. Then it was all black, at least I could see my mom now.

People may think robots are helpful and kind… but I’m here to reveal the truth about these monsters.

One day, me and my daughter were walking down the street. My daughter just got a good grade on her test and I promised her I’d take her to the park.

On our way to the park, a robot stopped us.

“Can you help me?” Said the robot.

I decided to use this as a teaching moment for my daughter. I looked at my daughter.

“Do you want to help him?” I asked her.

“Yes!” She yelled out.

I laughed and asked the robot what it needed help with. The robot looked at my daughter and laughed.

“I want her to help me!” It said, pointing at my daughter.

“Can I mom?” My daughter asked me excitedly.

I told her yes and she jumped with joy, little did I know that that would be the last time I ever saw her happy again. The robot looked up at me and asked if it could take my daughter, just so he could help her. Thinking that the robots were programmed to not hurt children, I allowed it.

My daughter held the robot’s arm and skipped down the alleyway, the robot was just in. I waited for a couple minutes for them to come back, but they didn’t. Soon, hours passed by and I was getting worried. I went into the alleyway to find a dead end.

“Where could she have gone?!” I thought.

My heart was pounding and my daughter was missing. I called the police to file a missing person report but I never heard back. I cried everyday and searched for my daughter every day hoping that the robot would bring her back. But to this day, I don’t know what happened to my daughter and the robot and where they could’ve gone…

I was walking in an alleyway when I come across a homeless man. The man was begging for money and was in what looked to be rags. I threw some coins in his cup that he left out but he did not seem pleased. The man got up from his spot and grabbed me. The man began to repeatedly punch me until I was knocked out. Blood was getting everywhere and I couldn’t tell if it was mine from being punched or the man’s from punching me. But soon enough I couldn’t see anything and everything was blurry.

I woke up in the middle of a white room. My head was still spinning and my heart was pounding. Where am I? I thought. I got up and looked around the room. There was no door in the room at all. I ran to the wall and banged on it as heard as I could, but nothing happened. I then began to punch over and over again until my knuckles started to bleed.

“Where am I!” I yelled out.

I could hear the echo of my voice repeated over and over again. I looked at my watch to look at the time. It was 11:30 am.

“That’s weird…”

The first time I looked at my watch which was when I saw the homeless guy, it was 2:46 pm. How fast was time going by here, or how long was I out for?

“I wish I was home.” I told myself.

But just then I was suddenly in my room. I felt loads of relief and I ran to my door which was next to my bed. I tried to open the door but as I reached my hand out to grab the doorknob, the door turned into pixels. My heart sank again, I then realized I was still in the room.

“I wish I was home!” I yelled.

The room turned into my living room. I ran to grab the doorknob to my front door but it also turned pixilated. What is this? I thought to myself.

“The room turns into whatever I say.” I told myself.

I then thought of an idea.

“Water!” I yelled.

A tall glass of water appeard in front of me. I ran to the water and tried to grab it, but the water wasn’t real either. Everything the room showed was an illusion, all of it was fake! I ran back to the wall and continued to punch it over and over again and again. My knuckles started to bleed again, but I just kept punching. Little did I know that I would never get out of that room.

I’ve been stuck in this room for what feels like days, but I know it’s probably been years. I cry myself to sleep at night, knowing I will soon die of starvation and dehydration. All I can do is sit here in this room and wonder what I did to deserve this torture.

I woke up on a seemingly normal day and got myself ready to go to school. I could hear my mom from downstairs yelling at me to hurry up. It was the second day of school and I had been late to the first day. My mom did not want a repetition of yesterday.

“Emma! Hurry up, you know you have to walk and I have to go to work!” My mom yelled.

Since I’ve been late already, my mom chooses to wait for me to walk out the door before she leaves, just to make sure I’m not late.

I finished brushing my teeth and getting dressed and was ready to go downstairs. I ran downstairs and grabbed a piece of toast that my mom had put out for me. She didn’t want me missing breakfast. I ran out the door and slammed it behind me. I looked back to see my mom watching me as I made my way to school. Once I turned the corner and I was out of her sight, I slowed down and started to walk the rest of the way.

As I was walking, a dog ran by me and it looked like it was running from its owner, but there was something wrong. The dog had something on it, it kind of looked like a zipper, like something on a jacket. I tried to double check but the dog was already running far down the street. I tried to shake it off as if I was seeing things, when a old lady came running past me. The lady had a leash in one hand and was yelling out to the dog that I had just seen. As the lady ran past me I again saw a zipper on her back. This time I was almost sure I wasn’t seeing things. But again I brushed it off and continued walking to school.

I was looking at my phone when I saw a toddler and his mom walking beside me. The toddler was holding on to his mom’s hand. On the toddler and the mother’s back were more zippers. The zippers on their back looked as though they were holding their skin together. Their skin was tight and the zipper looked as if it was going to break off. Since this time I knew I wasn’t absolutely crazy, I asked them about their zippers.

“Oh, the zippers? Everyone has them.” The mother told me.

I told her that I didn’t have a zipper on my back and she just laughed.

“Of course you do honey!”

She gestured me to feel my own back, so I did. I put my hands on my back and started to feel something. It felt like a bunch of bumps and they were huge. I then realized that I did have a zipper. How could I have not known? I asked myself. Goosebumps formed on my body as I began to realize that my zipper was tight too. As if it was going to pop any second. I looked over to the toddler and he was laughing while unzipping his zipper. His mom did the same and began to laugh and unzip hers too.

As they unzipped their zippers, I could see their skin beginning to fall off of their bodies. The only thing under their skin was flesh. My heart dropped when they grabbed me and started to unzip mine. I tried to push their hands away from me but was unsuccessful. I could feel my skin begin to loosen and fall off of my body. They then began to rip my skin off and tugged over and over again. Every time they tugged, it hurt more and more. I closed my eyes for a second then opened them. All of my skin was gone and I could only see my own flesh.

But I didn’t run home, I ran to school. I wanted to see if anyone else had the zipper too. Once I arrived I could see everybody. Everyone had no skin and they seemed fine. They acted like nothing had happened. I ran up to my friend and asked about the zipper. He looked at me and started to laugh, then he took something that looked like a towel out of his backpack.

“W-What is that?” I asked him.

But he kept laughing. He then took the towel in his hand and began to shove it in my face. Breathing became harder and all I could hear was him laughing. I tried to push the towel away from my face but it was too late. I was weak and I could feel my vision beginning to blur. The last thing I saw was his skinless smiling face staring back at me.

“So, who’s going to die today?” I asked my brother, who was in the kitchen making coffee.

“I don’t know, the news hasn’t been released to the public yet.” He said.

Every month a citizen in our town is killed. The government says it’s for population control but some people think otherwise. Most of my friends have been victims of this “population control” so I only live with my brother in a small house. I was just going to make myself some breakfast when the news came on the tv.

“Hello, and happy Thursday!” Said the reporter on the tv.

“Today is the announcing of the lucky winner!” He goes on.

The “Lucky winner” is what news reporters have to call the next person to be killed. It’s to make the mood a little happier and make people less nervous about it. It hasn’t really helped much though.

“As always we will choose a random person from this box!” The news reporter held up a large metal box with a hole in the top.

The hole was about big enough to fit an arm in to pick out the little pieces of paper with the citizens names on them. Me and my brother watched intently as the reporter began to stick his hand into the large metal box. Then he paused and looked at the paper, shielding it from the camera so that the paper would not be shown yet. Then, the reporter took a deep breath and turned over the paper to point to the camera so that everyone watching could see who was chosen. Me and my brother’s hearts sank.

“Jack Lawson!” Said the reporter.

That was me… I was chosen to be killed. I fell to the ground and tears ran down my face as I put my hands over my face. My brother sat down beside me and started to pat my back.

“I-It’s ok.” He told me. “Everything will be alright.”

I looked up at him to see him crying too. I knew he didn’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth as much as I did. We both sat there staring at the tv with the paper with my name on it still pointing toward the camera. We knew in a couple minutes police would knock on our door. We also knew that there was no escape from it as we have tried to help our family in the past.

Knock Knock

We heard the footsteps outside of our house and the policemen talking to each other. They knew how unlucky our family was and how often our family members got picked off, but they didn’t care. They just wanted to get their job over with.

I was beginning to stand up, when my brother had already made it to the door. He took a deep breath and then opened the door slowly.

“Hello officers.” He said to the policemen.

“Hi, we are looking for a “Jack Lawson”.”

My brother looked back at me and started to gesture me to go over to the door. Once I made it to the door, the cops immediately recognized me and asked if they could do it outside. My brother said it was fine and the policemen took me to my backyard. The same backyard they had killed most of my family. They made me get on my knees as they tied my hands behind my back. I then heard them load the gun and I could feel it pointing at the back of my head. I closed my eyes as they pulled the trigger. The pain got increasingly worse every minute until finally they shot another bullet into my head and the pain and suffering had stopped.