Stories

 

Last Halloween some friends and I got dressed up and went out to the clubs. I love wearing costumes and seeing other people wearing costumes. I’m just into the whole scene. I love sick and twisted horror movies like Saw and the Human Centipede and shit like that. I went out that night as Zombie Amy Winehouse. At the clubs, there was the usual sea of people. Most were in costume, most of the girls wore sexy, skimpy, and revealing costumes, while guys costumes ranged from superheroes and video game characters to zombies and evil clowns and everything in between. There were very few “scary” costumes, but one guy did stick out.

He managed to be super creepy without really trying. He stood off by himself in the club, a total wallflower, which made the whole effect he was going for that much creepier. He really wasn’t wearing a costume, he was in jeans and a t-shirt, basically the sort of clothes you would expect someone to wear on a typical autumn day. He was just wearing a mask.

The mask was that of a woman’s face. It literally looked like a face that had been freshly skinned or ripped off some young woman. It was bloody and even a little moist. The mask was held on to the man’s face with a piece of twine that had been sewn or stapled to the temples of this woman’s face. I never actually saw the man’s face as he never took the mask off. He was able to drink using a straw through the mouth hole. The whole effect was so creepy and bizarre I couldn’t help but go up and compliment him on his awesome Halloween mask. When I approached him and complimented him, he responded by shouting, “I’m pretty!” I just laughed and went back to my friends. We finished the night off at a different club and eventually came home for the night after the clubs had closed.

The next day while watching TV at a friend’s house I flipped to the local news. There was a picture of a young woman on the screen. “…..Police say the young woman was last seen leaving work Tuesday, October 30 at 5:30 pm. Friends and coworkers reported her missing after she failed to show up to work today and all attempts to locate her were unsuccessful. She is described as five foot four, weighing one hundred and twenty-five pounds, she has dark hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing black dress pants and….” I gasped. “No….Fucking…..Way!” My friend looked up from her phone “What?” That is fucking her! That sick fuck was wearing her face!”

I immediately called the police and was put through to a tip line that had been set up. I told the person on the tip line about the guy at the club, where and what time I had seen him, and the best description I could give of him, which really wasn’t much. To my relief, the person on the tip line informed me that they were getting lots of calls all stating the same thing. So many calls from people who had seen this guy with the mask that the police were acting on it.

The police went to the club and using the security footage they were able to ID him. They went to his apartment with a search warrant, and when no one answered the door they let themselves in. In his bathroom, in a bloody bathtub, they found the missing woman, sans face. She had apparently been dead since Halloween morning,

The fact that I had conversed with a psychotic killer, albeit briefly as he had only said two words, was enough to cause severe anxiety. But, this morning I went to my car to drive to work. On my windshield, under one of the wipers I saw a note. I picked it up thinking it was from one of the neighbors. It was a note that would’ve made most women’s hearts flutter. It made me go weak in the knees. The note read simply, “You’re pretty!”

Adapted from “Pretty” by Cravenite