Chatmates

Pandemic's Creepers (#4 of 5)
by Pandemic

Franz is a certified netizen, as the people of the internet call themselves. Being tall, white, and handsome, Franz got some huge number of followers in different social networks online. He spends most of his time chatting with different people in the net. He loves Skyping the most.

But a night on the said online messenger scared the hell out of him. Sometimes, ‘they’ come back if they needed to.

It was 11PM, he’s still online, talking to different people. He’s getting at least 3 new contact requests on Skype everyday. But he rarely accepts those requests because he only chooses the people he wants to befriend on the online chat application.

Everything is getting boring already, but Franz isn’t feeling sleepy yet and he wants to stay online until dawn. Then a popped up dialog box appeared. Someone just sent a contact request for him.

Franz was about to reject the request when he noticed the user’s profile icon. It was a girl. She’s got the Spanish-Filipino looks, long black hair, and sot drink bottle-like curved body. She’s as gorgeous as any model can be. She wears a sleeveless blouse and black shorts, showing her white and smooth skin. Franz was instantly attracted to the woman. He accepted the request and started the conversation with her.

“Hello.” Franz messaged the woman named Maria.

“Hey there : )” Maria replied.

“Hi Maria, I’m Franz, from where are you?”

“I know you, okay? : ) I’m from Quezon City. You?”

“Really, you know me? Oh, I’m flattered. I’m from QC too. We’re not that far away, are we?”

Then Franz and Maria have been for a couple of hours already. Franz opened his webcam, but Maria didn’t. Franz is now looking forward to chatting with Maria every chance he gets. And he thought that he and Maria can be ‘something’ someday, especially that they were not far away from each other. He only knew Maria for not more than 5 hours, but he thinks that he likes her very much. He felt different for Maria. He never felt what he feels for her to other girls that he talked to on Skype.

“Oh, I’m hungry.” Maria said.

“Me too. But don’t worry, if we meet sometimes, I’ll cook my best for you <3” Franz said.

“Really? I’ll look forward to that! We’re going to meet soon. You won’t even see it coming.” Maria said.

We’re going to meet soon. You won’t even see it coming.

Franz suddenly wondered. And by that she means?

Then he felt someone lurking in his back. As if someone just walked past him. But he knows that he was alone that night. He turned around, he saw no one. His room is dimly, he prefers it, but maybe, not this time. He thought it was just nothing, how can anyone lurk around if he’s alone? He shrugged the idea that someone was there with him then continued to chat with Maria.

Then the door creaked, as if someone opened it. The door wasn’t that old, it’s kind of peculiar that it creaked. Franz was crept, he turned around and looked at the door. It was tightly locked earlier, but now it’s wide open. What the hell, he thought.

Franz lives in a beautiful house in a village. He lives with his family, his father, mother, and little sister. But he was alone that night. His family is currently in U.S, visiting their other relatives there. He and his family just moved to that house. The real estate broker said the house was just 5 years old and there was only one who lived there before, alone. And he believes it was true because the house looks so new, as if it wasn’t touched at all.

Franz stood up and was about to close the wide open door, when he thought he saw someone.

There was a tall girl wearing a white sleeveless blouse and was standing near his door. He can’t make the face of the girl because it was dark, but he can see the body of the woman. It was standing, her hands both raised on her side, as if she was forming a cross. She stood there for a few seconds, and Franz stood in his room too, looking at the apparition, dumbfounded and frozen. The hair of the woman is dancing with the wind, but Franz can’t feel no wind at all. He almost peed.

Then a few seconds later, he was able o get back to himself. Then he took the flashlight from his bed immediately and directed it near the open door. But there was no one there! Then he ran to his door and slammed it close.

“Hey.” Maria messaged again when it took quite a while for Franz to reply.

“Hey.”

“What happened? It took you so long to reply :(“

“Sorry, I just went to the bathroom. So, what are we talking about again?”

“I’m going to tell you something.”

“Okay?”

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Maria asked. Franz felt that their conversation is starting to get serious and dark and eerie.

“Errr.. I believe that some people really saw and felt them, but I haven’t yet so I’m not 100% believing in them. Why did you ask anyway?”

“Really? You haven’t seen ghosts, even ONCE in your life?”

Franz’s body is still chilling, and Maria’s messages are keeping it. “Errr..no.”

“Are you being honest? You didn’t just see one tonight?”

Franz was blanked for a moment. Why is Maria asking about those kind of things, just right after he thought he saw a ghost? And how the hell did she know about what just happened? Peculiar, really peculiar. He’s starting to feel eerie with Maria now.

“Are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll have to tell you something.”

“Okay..what it is?”

“We live in the same village.”

Somehow, this raised Franz’s mood, to think that the girl he likes just lives near him.

“Really? But I didn’t even tell you where I live.” Another peculiarity and this starts to scare him even more.

“I just know.”

“Oh..is this some kind of a joke?”

“No..”

“…”

“Did you notice the big, old, brown closet at the back of your house just outside your kitchen?” there is a big, antique looking closet at the back of Franz’s family’s house, just outside their kitchen. It has been there since they moved. The real estate broker said they can’t remove the closet and that someone must have left a jinx or hex or whatever on it. Every time their worker tries to remove it, there will be an accident, leaving an injury to the worker.

“Oh, how did you know about it?”

“Did you notice it?”

“Yes..why?”

“It was heavily chained, right?”

“Yes. Wait, how did you know about those things?”

“Now, I want you to go down and try and open it now.”

“But why?”

“Stop asking questions! Just do what I told you.”

Although he thinks it was quite odd, he still fetched an axe from their tools and went down. He already forgot about what he saw earlier and went directly to the back of their house just outside their kitchen to the big old closet.

He axed the chains that keep the big, brown, old closet locked. When the rusty big chains finally set apart, Franz slowly opened the big closet. The metal handles were quite dusty and rusty due to its oldness.

Then Franz almost vomited from the smell that comes from inside the closet. Then slowly, he opened his flash light and directed it inside the big, brown closet.

He almost exploded in terror to what had he just uncovered. Inside it, a decayed body was hanged with a belt. It doesn’t seem like a suicide because it was kind of obvious that the girl died in pain and brutality. Her decayed body shows struggle, and her eyes seem to be opened when she died.

Still inside the closet were folded clothes and other girly stuff and a very dusty broken mirror. There are also pictures posted inside with trace of dried blood splatters. And guess who’s on the picture?

It was Maria.