General Mysteries

Red-faced monster

September 14, 2016 |  0 comments
Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Donar Reiskoffer This happened twenty years ago when I was nine years old. I lived in one of four trailers on four thousand acre farm in Florida. My father was the foreman and ran the whole thing, he could tell you where to plant, to get the best yield, or which canal drained into what lake, he also was responsible for hiring the mostly Hispanic migrant workers. There was a large ancient packing plant. The kind that still used an air horn at the end of the shift, I used to love the hum of the conveyor belts that would roll dozens and dozens of packed boxes of vegetables a minute. It was one of our, my cousins, brothers, and neighbors favorite place to play. As long as we didn't get caught. It had a huge concrete wall in the front a large concrete ramp for the fork lift ran up to the entrance for forklifts and other trucks could use. We used it to race our hotwheels.

So one Saturday I ended up having to baby sit my brother, Bobby, who was four. We where all alone and it was getting dark. I was in the living room watching a movie he was in our parents room watching cartoons. I had spent most of the day entertaining him and wanted to be left alone until my parents arrived with the rest of my siblings. I didn't realize for the last ten minutes he had been sitting at my feet next to our couch. He was trembling! "What's the matter", nothing, "C'mon", kept trying to pry whatever the hell was wrong with him. He wouldn't budge until I threatened to put him back in mom and dad's room ALONE!, In a slight stutter,"A monster with a red face was in the window". I would of busted out laughing if he wasn't so distraught. I told him I would go outside and look and he latched on to my legs and shook his head no. So I told him that I would go with him and check the windows from the inside. So I took him back to my parent's room and check every window and he was content. He wrapped himself in his blanket and went to sleep.

I went back to my spot on the couch and resumed my movie. All was well, until a deafening banging on my front door, it shook the window in the kitchen. My heart sank, I got tunnel vision, my eyes glued to the front door, I was whispering a prayer to God please let this thing go away don't... BANG BANG BANG. I could feel my heart trying to explode through my chest, my ears started ringing. I ran into the kitchen searching for a weapon(Yes for a 9 year old I was Ballsie) I picked up a broom and quickly realized how stupid a broom would be against whatever was out there, I ran around to the back door that on the opposite side and rear of the trailer I had a shovel a miniature one but built just like its larger brother and sturdy as hell, I found my weapon. I checked all the doors and wasn't worried about the windows, if you haven't lived in a trailer quick tidbit they are usually always about three to four feet off the ground for plumbing ours was a lot higher five because of flooding. Doors locked, weapon secured I slid to the same position Bobby had been sitting by the couch, in my mind the closer to the floor and the couch to my back because of the extra large window in the living room, the safer I was.

Minutes where hours, but no more knocking, thank god. I started watching the movie again by this time the credits are rolling its over and the black screen with the tiny lettering made it annoyingly easy to see reflection from lights or outside, now this part as I write this story I can feel the terror I was about to experience all over again. I could feel my skin turning white, I started sweating profusely, my eyes felt like they where about to pop out of their sockets. My hands tightened grip on the shovel so hard my forearms started trembling, in the reflection of the tv, in the corner of the window behind my couch six feet off the ground was my little brother's red faced monster looking inside my home. I didn't dare make a single move, how I didn't wet myself at that moment is beyond me. What the hell was this thing, and why the hell on the only day that all my neighbors , only three of them, and my family leaves us alone is this thing harassing us trying to kill or eat us. I looked at the tv again and the image was gone. I crept my head a few inches over the sofa just enough time to see this thing, that appeared to be wearing clothes, on all fours crawling into a irrigation ditch. it was heading away from us so I breathed a sigh of relief. I was panicking but started formulating a battle plan if it came back, I was also trying to figure what the hell this monster was. It had pants and a long sleeve shirt on, what looked like long black hair filled with leaves and twigs and it moved on all fours, a zombie? I had a huge imagination. I actually was praying for my parents to come home. Then a knock at the door, this was more human, not that terrifying. I mustered the courage by continuously calling myself a coward, to look out the window in the middle of our door. I crept up to the door and slowly looked into the window.

There it was standing upright but swaying like a snake from left to right. Its face was red, blood red, it was running from an extremely large laceration above his forehead a portion of his scalp was actually hanging to the side. I opened the door, finally it was not a monster. In Spanish I asked him what was wrong with him. He couldn't speak due to the fact that he was so inebriated he just mouthed his response. I told him to wait there, I put the shovel down and called 911, grabbed an entire roll of paper towel and asked him to sit on our stairs. he did I wrapped the gaping wound the best I could but blood kept pouring out. Then I recognize who he was.

Two days before he was at my house having his long hair permed by my mom she was a hair stylist. The reason that he came calling to our house, just being drunk as a skunk he was not acting like normal human but more like a drunk monster. I asked him what happened but I couldn't understand I told him that I called an ambulance, he got annoyed and started yelling, I'm sure he didn't mean or lost the translation but he said, "I'll kill you", the shovel got picked up again. He grabbed the towels and the water I brought him and took off into the woods. Five minutes later I could hear the sirens coming. The road that leads from the main farm road breaks off and comes down to our four trailers, but the ambulance stopped and instead went straight taking them to the packing factory. I called back and told the operator that they were in the wrong location so they sent a cop to my trailer. Another foreman came on his four wheeler and asked which direction the man went so he could help him. I informed him.

My mom finally made it home as the cops where leaving my trailer. She went nuts screaming at what the hell had happened where was my brother. I thought she would be proud of me having defended our home and dialed 911 seeking help for the hurt man who was a friend of my dad's. NOPE, instead I got bombarded by my mom, sister and brother screaming that I should not of called 911 because it made the man take off into the woods and from my decison he was very hurt and he could die. Can you believe that, putting that on a nine year old that just went through one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Then I could hear my dad pull up now I was really scared he burst through the door he looked at all of us and I looked at my brother and sister even my mom had that look, the look that they know you're about to get now,"who the hell called the police"? Oh boy Im about to get my ass kicked. At the same time they all yelled over each other Benny did.

My dad walks up to me and looks at everybody, " Muy Bien mijo"! Good job son! Im proud of you, the first and last time I would ever hear that. What I didn't know and my family as well is that the drunk friend was driving with three other friends to pick up their last check and he was so drunk he crashed into the factory concrete wall. They were all very injured. I looked at my mom and siblings Booya! ten my dad handed my ten two dollar bills to go and get what ever I wanted. Thanks for reading.

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