Crazy Old Man

Thriller Stories | Mar 12, 2012 | 6 min read
24 Votes, average: 3 out of 5
Thriller Stories

Crazy Old Man

I was 14 when my dad died because of a car accident. It was a tough time, especially for my mother. She was unemployed and pregnant. We could not afford to live in town so my mom sold our house and we moved to a small town hundred miles away.

Angervile located in the Northen end of England. It was surrounded by hills, cliff and open sea; however, it was far to be called a tourist seaside town. Houses were scattered around the hills, big trees were everywhere, no big buildings, no traffic light… All that I found quite interesting were the panoramic seaside view and the old ruins of ancient Anglo-Saxon castles.

My mom found our house, Bentley Lane number 1. It was an old two stories house, painted in crimson red and white. Somebody indeed took care of the garden when the house was unoccupied.

"It looks beautiful, don't you think Aiden?" my mom looked at me with a very happy expression. "The garden is wide enough to keep one or two dogs."

"Sound's great." I explored my sight around the neighborhood. There were no house around; the nearest one was the old cottage up the hill, perhaps 100 meters from my house. It seemed like my house was the only one building in Bentley Lane.

The house itself was really nice and warm. All furniture were made of wood and ceramic. My mom has chosen the room downstairs and said that I could have the second stories for my own.

The next day I found myself enjoying the morning atmosphere of my new environment. I could hear the wave down the cliff; I could smell the ocean; and the wind blows warned me to wear my winter clothes all the time.

After ten minutes rode my bicycle, I found my first neighborhood. Their houses were smaller than mine and were built in Victorian style. The parents were enjoying their morning talks while the youngsters gathered on the other side of the road. They saw me.

"Hey. You are the new guy in Bentley Lane?" a girl asked in curiosity.

"Yeah, there were me and my mom." I replied.

"Nice to have you around." Another girl said with a wide smile.

"But you gotta watch out from the old cottage." The boy called Ned pointed his finger to the old cottage up the hill. "Old Norman lives there and he is crazy."

"He likes to attack whoever dares to approach his cottage or even for no reason!" The girl with wide smile, Tanya, shrugged her shoulders. "That's why there's no house around Bentley Lane except yours."

"I thought the house will never be occupied." Ned said.

"What's wrong?"

"The last owner of the house has gone missing. Mysterious, eh? Right after Lady Bertha had given birth to a very adorable baby."

Okay, that made me a bit scared. I decided to go home to see if my mom was okay.

But I couldn't find my mom everywhere!

Almost panicked, I ran from room to room while calling out my mom. And then I noticed a new paper attached to the fridge with small magnet.

"Aiden, I think I'm going to give birth now. The old man who lives up the hill is kind enough to offer help. He'll drive the car to the hospital. Please take care of everything while I'm not around. I'll be there soon. –Love, Mom –"

My body went rigid while an eerie feeling crawling up my bones. The old man up the hill… that must be the old Norman, the mad man! He would kill my mom and the baby!

I tried to calm myself with positive thought. Perhaps it wasn't the old Norman which was mentioned by mom; perhaps it was another guy-

I turned on the television. The only channel worked was the local television channel. The show was so boring, but I couldn't even yawn since I felt uneasy.

The sound of the telephone almost made my heart jumped out of my body. I rushed to pick it up and very happy to hear my mother's voice across the line.

"Mom! How are you?!" I couldn't hide my trembling voice and that must made my mom felt sorry for me.

"I'm fine. Thanks to the old Jim, he drove me here with his wife." My mom sighed. "I had given birth to a lovely baby girl. She looks like your dad."

"I'm happy to hear that." The scary feeling I had, was gone. My mom was not in danger.

"Uncle Jim wants to talk to you."

The soft sound of my mom changed to a hard timid voice of an old man. "Hallo, Aiden. It seems like you have to stay alone for this night. The news had warned us about the upcoming of north storm so everyone is not allowed to go outside." I heard he walked away from my mom. "You can go to the neighborhood's house and stay for this night."

"I think I will be fine." I said.

"Brave boy." His husky voice trembling. "You have to shut all windows and locked all the doors. If someone knocked at the door during night, do not open it."

I felt my heart thumping now. "Are you trying to warn me about the old Norman?"

"So you have already known about him." He sighed. "Yes, he is very dangerous."

"Young boy, just hope that he doesn't know that you are alone."

I looked to the old cottage and saw an old man with dirty cloth in front of his house, and I'm sure that he was staring at my house with scary expression. "I think he knows."

***


I stayed up ‘til late after locking all the doors and windows. I was watching DVD when I heard a weird sound from my backyard. I went back and tried to look what it was through the window. But my eyes couldn't see anything in the dark so I decided to ignore it.

The sound continued to take event. Now I am sure it came from the bushes. As I stared onto it I saw a small white silhouette which I recognized as a puppy. I rushed to open my back door and tried to get the puppy from the bushes.

As I relocked the house I heard a low sound upstairs. I stayed still for a moment, expecting for the sound, but I could hear nothing.

12 o'clock, I should go to bed now.

The puppy slept by my side. He was dirty but I didn't mind.

I woke up too early, 2.12 am, when the puppy was licking my face. He looked so nervous and scared of something. The whining sound of him had warned me. I noticed a sound, downstairs; the type of sound which coming from man's boot against the wooden floor.

Oh no!

I opened the door a bit to see the shadow of a man in old clothes walked to the room in front of my bedroom. I noticed that the puppy was just a trap so he could come into my house. Now I trapped inside with him!

As he disappeared into the dark room, I took the opportunity to run downstairs with puppy in hand. I could hear his deep breath. He was so angry.

I ran as fast as I could to the front door but he had taken all the keys. I should hide! With him chasing me all the way, I dropped the puppy and threw anything I could reach to him. His deep groan reminded me to a tiger.

I fell down. I could feel his rough hands caught my left leg.

"No! No! Leave me alone!" I cried.

"Little bastard you are." Old Norman pulled out my hair and rammed my head to the table. "You have to die!"

"Please don't kill me!" I cried. I could see his unearthly face staring back at me. He was not a human! He was pure evil! "Please help me!"

I cried hopelessly as he dragged me to the kitchen. "Help me! Help me!"

I looked at him with fear as he took a knife from kitchen table. He's going to kill me! "Noooo!!!!"

***


Next morning, Ned went to the cliff to take picture of after-storm ocean sky when he noticed somebody had made a very scary scarecrow near the end of the cliff. Perhaps an art student had left it. He drew closer and was taken aback by disgusting smell  from the scarecrow. To his surprise, he recognized the face of the scarecrow. It was Aiden. He was murdered in a very cruel way a murderer could ever imagine.

 

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