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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/PeaceSim on 2024-12-22 16:27:35+00:00.
“Patrick and Megan, please come over here,” instructed Uncle Wyatt. He motioned to the dining room table where he sat with Aunt Amy. “We have something important to discuss.”
My little sister and I exchanged a nervous glance. Our uncle’s calm demeanor felt unnaturally forced, like he was straining to suppress something urgent. Were we in trouble? Had mom’s condition worsened?
“It’s quite alright,” added Aunt Amy, seemingly sensing our reaction. “You haven’t done anything wrong. We just need to talk. Please, take a seat.”
Feeling somewhat reassured, we did so.
Uncle Wyatt took a deep breath before speaking again. “We’ve been tracking the road conditions nearby, and the flooding has only gotten worse. That means that neither your dad, nor anyone else for that matter, is likely going to be able to get here anytime soon. There’s one route through the valley that may open up, but the authorities aren’t optimistic. So, you’re likely going to be stuck with us for at least a few days longer.”
“Oh, that’s okay with us,” I replied. “We like it here. Right, sis?” Megan nodded. She tried to speak, but Aunt Amy quickly cut her off.
“No, no, that’s not it – we like having you here, and we know that Robert and Gary feel the same way. It’s just that, well, there’s something rather unusual that could occur between now and when you leave, and it’s very important that you be prepared for it. I want you to listen carefully to what we’re about to tell you. Your lives may very well depend on it.”
~
We’d always been close with our cousins. The blood relationship was through my mother, who was Uncle Wyatt’s sister. They had two kids – Robert, who was a year older than Megan, and Gary, who was a year older than me.
They lived about three hours from us. Their home was massive, much larger than ours, and lavishly decorated. Reaching it required traversing many miles of windy roads up and down numerous heavily forested Appalachian hills.
We often visited each other, with my family housing theirs in the spring and their family housing ours around the holidays. Though, this year, they’d abruptly cancelled the planned Christmas gathering, citing Robert falling ill.
When my mom, Megan, and I visited a holiday market at a town near where our cousins lived, we asked if any of them wanted to join us. Uncle Wyatt and Gary did so, and we spent a nice afternoon with them perusing crafts displays and munching on snacks from food stands.
We were about to head home – eager to get ahead of a looming winter storm – when mom fell seriously ill. We weren’t sure what it was, but we quickly realized that she was in no shape to drive, and there wasn’t a good hospital anywhere nearby.
I never got the full details about what happened to her. I know that it started out as food poisoning, but became something worse that lingered for some time. I remember Uncle Wyatt and Aunt Amy helping mom into their house and setting her up in the guest bedroom. A doctor, or at least someone I assumed to be one, braved the downpour to take a look at her, and recommended several days of bedrest as her body fought off whatever affliction she faced. Meanwhile, our dad, who was across the country on a business obligation, scrambled to reach us as soon as he could.
Thus, for two days, Megan and I had been stranded with our cousins. As worried as we were about mom, we nonetheless enjoyed spending our days hanging out with Robert and Gary – the former of whom, strangely enough, did not seem sick at all. Naturally, we often paired off, with Megan and Robert playing with dolls or stuffed animals, and Gary and I watching the kinds of violent movies my parents wouldn’t allow around our house on their large basement television.
The situation was a bit strange, but Megan and I were making the most of it and, honestly, we were having a pretty good time. That is, until Uncle Wyatt and Aunt Amy told us something we would never forget.
~
“Our lives?” I gasped. “What are you talking about?”
Aunt Amy reached out to me and Megan and gently took both of our hands. She squeezed lightly and spoke in a soft, firm voice. “What we’re about to tell you is going to sound, well, farfetched. But, please, please trust me that it’s real. And, also, that if you listen to what we tell you, everything’s going to be okay. Robert and Gary have been through it many times, and, as you can see, they’re just fine.”
“There’s a man who visits us,” said Uncle Wyatt. “Well, he’s…not quite a ‘man’, or a ‘he’, even, but that’s how we refer to him. He comes once every year. We don’t know when, but it’s always when all of us are home together. There are rules about it…like, we can’t all take an extended overseas vacation to try to avoid him. He’ll punish us if we do that. We just have to live our lives here and, at some point…he shows up.”
As Megan’s face took on a concerned expression, a sense of panic ran through me. Had the cousins we’d grown up around all lost their minds?
“It’s okay, Megan,” said Aunt Amy. “And, I understand you being skeptical, Patrick.” Once again, she read me perfectly. “But please, just hear us out.”
Uncle Wyatt continued. “I can’t, won’t get into the details. I don’t fully understand it myself. It’s just that, well, it’s December, and he hasn’t arrived yet. So, he’s due any day now. When he gets here, he’ll knock five times. That’s how we know it’s him. Then, we have to let him inside, and, and…”
“You have to ignore him,” interjected Aunt Amy. “Just ignore him. And, eventually, he’ll go away, and then he won’t bother us again. Until next year.”
“Sometimes he stays for only ten minutes,” said Uncle Wyatt. “Other times, close to an hour. He doesn’t care about infants or the seriously ill - if your mom’s still stuck in bed when he arrives, he’ll probably ignore her altogether. But, the rest of us need to be on our best behavior, acting like a normal, happy family. The key is that no matter what he does, do not acknowledge his presence, at all costs. But don’t freeze up, either. You need to act like he isn’t there at all.”
Aunt Amy looked at us sorrowfully. “We’d hoped to never have to tell you about this. We don’t tell anyone, not if we can help it, but we see no choice here. Tonight, we’re going to do a practice run, with Wyatt pretending to be the visitor. Before we get started with that, do you have any questions?”
At first, I couldn’t form words. Naturally, I did have questions - so many, in fact, that it was difficult for me to sort through them all. I had concerns, too. My mind fought to reconcile my past history with my cousins, family members I loved and trusted, with the utter insanity of what they were saying to me and Megan.
Megan turned to me. She was worried and confused, and she was looking to me for guidance. I croaked, “Um, uh, so, this man-” That’s when it happened.
KNOCK. A heavy thud emanated from the front door.
“Shit,” muttered Aunt Amy. I’d never heard her curse before. “He doesn’t usually come this late in the day.”
KNOCK
“Robert, Gary, he’s here!” hollered Uncle Wyatt. “Get to your spots, now!” I heard shuffling as they made their way down the staircase that connects the bedrooms to the main level.
I wanted to leap into action. I wanted to do something. Was the person at the door as dangerous as my aunt and uncle had said? And, if so, why were they just letting him inside like this? Shouldn’t they try to keep him out?
And, for that matter, should I grab Megan and try to flee outside with her? That would put distance between us and both the visitor and the family I was no longer sure I could trust. But, then I remembered the heavy storm and realized that the only option was to stay here.
KNOCK KNOCK
Aunt Amy turned to Megan and me. “We’re out of time. Sit at the living room table with Robert and Gary and play whatever board game they’ve set up. We’ll be in here making dinner. Focus on the game and don’t make eye contact with him. Don’t look at him at all, if you can help it, no matter how close he gets to you. Got it?”
Before we could respond, she nudged us towards the living room. Robert and Gary were already there, setting up a Monopoly board.
Too much was happening, too quickly. I decided that the best course of action, at least for the moment, was to follow my aunt and uncle’s instructions. I gripped Megan’s hand and told her that we were going to be okay, and we proceeded to join Robert and Gary at the table.
KNOCK
“Gary, what’s up with all this?” I whispered, prompting Gary to hiss a stern “shh” while dealing us our starting amount of Monopoly money.
Uncle Wyatt, meanwhile, opened the door.
The visitor wasn’t wearing a coat. Nor, despite the downpour outside, was he even wet. I began to wonder how he’d even gotten here at all, given the state of the roads nearby.
He had an aged, wrinkly face and wore a plaid button-down short-sleeved sport shirt tucked into a pair of khaki pants. What little remained of his thin, white hair combed over a large bald spot. He looked…totally innocuous, at least insofar as I managed to glimpse him in my periphery while keeping my eyes directed towards the board.
“Megan, you need to pick one of these,” I said, gesturing to the dog, iron, and shoe pieces. I was doing my best to keep her attention on the game, rather than whatever was happening at the front door. She selected the shoe.
As the visitor stepped further into the house, Uncle Wyatt closed the door and …
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