Category : Stories

Sub Category : Horror

At the late hour of 1:00 AM, the weary shopkeeper turned out the store lights and flipped the 'open' sign around to the 'closed' side. As he sauntered over to his car, scrolling through his smartphone, he realized there was a figure dressed in dark jeans and a grey hoodie. It was far into the night already, so it was strange for them to wear their hood. The stranger was leaning against a streetlamp several parking spaces away, hands in their pocket, head supposedly down. As the shopkeeper stopped at his car and stared at the figure, the stranger slowly swiveled his head to gaze upon the shopkeeper. Disturbed by this, the shopkeeper got into his car and started the engine. But it wouldn't start. After a few tries, the shopkeeper looked up to see the stranger making his way over to the car, in a slow manner. The shopkeeper's heart began to thud, and he tried again and again to start the car, to no avail. Once the stranger was about ten feet away from the car, the shopkeeper got out of the car, innately fearful and bewildered. "Look, what do you want?" He asked. The stranger stopped. "Here, have my wallet, please don't hurt me," the shopkeeper pleaded, and with trembling fingers, fished his wallet out of his pocket and tossed it to the stranger's feet. After a ten second interval, the stranger walked forward, stepping on the wallet, somehow flattening it to the width of a smashed soda can. Seeing this, the shopkeeper ran as fast as he could. Looking back at the stranger trailing behind, he realized that the stranger cast no shadow when he walked beneath a street lamp. Taking cover behind a dumpster, the shopkeeper fumbled for his phone, trying to dial 911. 'NO SIGNAL', the device read when he hit the call button. The shopkeeper began to sweat profusely, fearing for his life. After mustering up some courage, he peeked out from behind the dumpster. The parking lot was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, he stood up, and turned around. The stranger was inches away from the shopkeepers face. He screamed, and tried to run, but was rooted to the spot, petrified, and unable to move. In the morning, when police arrived on the scene, they found the shopkeeper still standing, his face muscles pulled back in a screaming expression, yet he was dead. His autopsy deduced that he had died from heart failure. When police looked at the camera footage, there was no stranger, and the shopkeeper was interacting and running from nothing. Further studies concluded that the shopkeeper had a moderate case of dementia, and there was no evidence of anyone else but the shopkeeper there that night. Yet police had found something strange: a wallet containing the shopkeeper's identification, drivers license, and several dollars, yet it was as flat as paper.