Category : Stories

Sub Category : Horror

No one fully understood the condition that had overcame Franklin Wiltz. No one, except for his daughter, Diane. When Diane's grandmother took over as caretaker for Diane and her father, Diane had tried to explain on many occasions what had happened. Her grandmother just thought it was a troubled girl trying to cope with her father's sudden mental illness. Diane grew to hate her abilities. She swore she would never use them again. However, puberty has a way of bringing out a person's true self.

 Diane was in the last leg of her middle school years. She was becoming a very attractive girl. Long light brown hair that complimented well with her skin, that had been delicately touched with a tan, and big hazel eyes that can peirce through any love stricken boys heart. With confidence and conformity, she would easily be very popular. But Diane didn't want the attention. So she stayed quite, trying to get lost amongst the many faces of the crowd.

 A few years back, Diane had tried to fit in. She asked her grandmother if she could get a phone like the other kids. Her grandmother refused, she said Diane was too young. After the few years of watching her classmates with their phones, she grew out of that phase. She had loss all interest in the cesspool of social media.

 Often times, Diane thought of her school mates as mindless drones. How they would stare, hours on end, into the small screens of their phones. Watching videos of people hurting each other and calling it pranks. Then in turn, these kids would  make rude and hateful comments to strangers online, being proud of themselves for making these people angry and hurt. Diane wondered if it would be her generation that would be the Jenga block that topples the tower of society.

 Diane picked up her bag from the spot outside where she had been eating lunch. The place was secluded from the areas most of the students hung out. As she went inside the school building, a teacher walked over to her.

"Ms.Wiltz, I understand it is your birthday tomorrow. Why did you not say anything?" The teacher grinned down at Diane.

"Why should I? Do you wish to celebrate the day of my mother's death, Mrs.Luhall?" Even at a height disadvantage, Diane stared down the teacher.

 Mrs.Luhall stood speechless for a moment and then said, "You should be on your way to class." And then the teacher hurried away. Diane smiled and walked to her next class.

 After school, Diane came home to find her grandmother cleaning up the dishes used to feed Diane's father. Franklin rarely left the bed. He was on the edge of comatosed with fear of his daughter. Simple acts like eating and going to the bathroom needed assistance from his mother. Diane felt like breaking down into tears everytime she thought of him like that. She didn't know if the fact that she couldn't see her father, because it would send him into fits, was a blessing or a curse.

 Diane's grandmother turned off the faucet and heard Diane walking into the kitchen.

"Hello darling, How was school today?" The grandmother asked.

 Diane shrugged, "Same as always I guess. Anything to eat?"

 The grandmother went to the fridge, "I'll fix you up a sandwich. Did you decide what you want to do for your birthday tomorrow?"

 Once again, Diane shrugs, "Nothing really. It's just another day."

"So pessimistic for a girl your age. You will only be fourteen tomorrow. You still have a lot of life to live" The grandmother slides a butterknife into a jar of mayonnaise.

 "And I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. It is all meaningless." Diane said.

 The grandmother slams the knife on the table after spreading the mayo on the bread, she turned towards Diane, "Now stop that! Your life might seem hard to you but it could be much worse. You need to grow out of this foul mood and just grow up."

"I am sorry, grandmother." Diane replied, "I change my mind. I am not very hungry. I am going to my room." Diane walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

 The next morning, Diane's grandmother greeted Diane with a small wrapped present.

 "Happy birthday, darling. I am sorry about yesterday. What is going on with your father keeps me stressed. I hope you enjoy your present." The grandmother said.

 "It's ok." Diane tears opened the wrapping and finds a new iphone.

 "I know how you really wanted a phone and I think now you are old enough to have one." The grandmother smiled.

 Diane gave a fake smile, trying to act like she is happy with her present, "Thank you, grandmother." Diane looked down at the black mirror that is the screen of her sleeping phone. She guessed that being old enough meant when you stopped caring about it.

 Diane sat in her room with the phone in hand. She looked through different aps and then began scanning youtube. The videos under the "What's trending" section came to no surprise for Diane. Just a bunch of people pulling jackass pranks, calling each other derogatory names, and outright making fools of themselves. And sure enough, underneath each videos was hundreds of hateful comments. Things like, "This video is gay. You should get aids and die" and, "Your mother told me she regretted birthing you as I did her from the back.". Diane shook her head and put her phone aside. 

 If only she could wipe away all the hate, make humanity better. People could actually be happy, instead of living off the cheap thrills of hurting others. She had an idea, but it meant using her abilities. Diane had constant nightmares about the damage her abilities had and could have caused. But this time would be different. She was not planning on using her abilities for selfish reasons or to play silly games. She was trying to benefit humanity by erasing hate. Diane tossed the pros and cons in her head for hours. She ended up deciding to do it.

 She picked back up her phone and began recording a video. The first words she spoke, she repeated about five times. "Like, Share, Subscribe" and then she added her message. "To the people of youtube, I am here to help you free yourselves. Wash away your hate, let all pain drain from your very being, forget your petty anger, and learn to love." With that, she stopped the recording and posted the video. 

 It took a mere minute for views and likes to skyrocket. Comments were pilling up by the hundreds. "Best video ever" and "This taught me true love" were the common theme of the comments. By nightfall, Diane's video had three million views and just as much likes. At the end of the weekend, when Diane had to go back to school, those numbers tripled. What Diane found at school, shocked her.

 The students of Jeffreys Middle School were no longer glued to their phones. They all carried smiles, laughed together, and conversed with each other. When Diane went through the door, all her school mates cheered for her and gave her praises. She was not sure this was what she quite wanted. Everyone still seemed like a drone, but instead of drones of hate, they were happy and very friendly.

 Each class was the same. The students listened to the teachers intently with smiles. The teachers themselves also carried the almost creepy smiles. Diane began thinking she had created a stepford community. In Mrs.Luhall's class, her phone buzzed with a notification. She checked her phone to find another comment to her video. This one however, was different then the rest.

"You have a great power, Diane. So many followers. I think I will make them mine." The comment was left by an account named Vesmin The Old and the profile picture was just eyes glowing yellow. Diane was confused by what this meant.

 The class bell rang and Diane gathered her things. Mrs.Luhall had her back to the class as the students left, cleaning the blackboard. Without turning around she asked Diane to stay. When the class emptied out except for the teacher and Diane, Mrs.Luhall began to speak, still cleaning the blackboard.

"It is a good thing your mother died giving birth to you. Just think of what you did to your poor father. Could you imagine the horrors your mother would have to go through?" Mrs.Luhall turned towards Diane, the teachers eyes were glowing yellow.

 "What are you talking about?" Diane felt shivers run across her spine.

 "You done horrible things Diane. You are a monster and I know where monsters like belong." Mrs.Luhall laughed.

 "Screw you!" Diane yelled and then ran out of the classroom. When she got home, she found her grandmother standing in the living room. The grandmother's eyes were also glowing yellow.

 "Oh Diane, Why did you not throw yourself in front of  a bus? You would have done father and I a favor. Do you know the humiliation I go through having to clean up the shit of my grown up son? He would've been happy and lived a full life if it weren't for a monster of a daughter like you." The grandmother revealed a butcher knife she was hiding behind her back. "I guess I will just have to free us myself. Come here my little monster."

 The grandmother lunges at Diane but missed, as Diane falls to the floor and crawls away. 

 Diane began crying, "Snap out of it, grandma! Please!"

"Monsters like you belong in the void. You need to die, so we all can be spared." The grandmother moves towards Diane.

 Diane lost for ideas to escape, narrowed her eyes and points a finger to her grandmother, "Go Away!"
The grandmother vanished with only the clothing left behind, falling to the floor. Diane remained where she sat, still crying. Then she heres footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Be afraid." The voice of Diane's father said.
And again, "Be afraid."
 
 Diane stood and saw her father enter the room. His eyes were glowing yellow as the teeth inside his creepy grin.

"You want to play, honey? Be afraid." Her father creeps closer.

"No, please, no. I don't want to hurt you again. Not again." Diane sobs.

"Oh, do not worry my child." Franklin reached for his daughter and grabbed her tightly by the throat, lifting her off the ground, "You will never hurt anyone again." Diane choked and kicked, trying to get free. It was no use. The world darkened around her. As the last bit of life left Diane, she hears her father say these last words.

"If you make it through the void. I will meet you in Gaf City." Franklin dropped the corpse of his daughter. The yellow glow in his eyes cleared. He looked down to where Diane lied dead.

"No…" Franklin wails. He kneeled down to his daughter's body and picked her up. "Please wake up, honey. Please wake up. I love you." Those are the words Diane never got to hear as she entered the void.