Evil Ways

Name:            Beth 
Email:           bethsfreedom@gateway.net
Location:        my bedroom
Type:            Ghost
Date:            Friday, January 21, 2000
Time:            11:18 PM

one evening in January of last year('99), i decided to lie down for a routine nap. there were people in the kitchen talking, so i put on Santana's self- title album to drown out the noise and help put me to sleep, but the cd did not help me sleep. in fact it did just the opposite.

when i woke up a short time later, the cd was still playing, because i had it on repeat. still sleepy, i rolled over and went back to my nap.

after that, it seemed i kept waking up every fifteen minutes or so. the odd thing was that i thought i could hear words in the songs which were purely instrumental, and excess words in songs with lyrics. every time i awoke, i would try to decipher the words i was hearing. i remember that the words had a very dark meaning, and that they seemed somewhat evil, but i always fell asleep again before i could register them in my mind.

after these fifteen- minute intervals of waking and sleeping came the dreams. or should i say nightmares. . . they started with a dream that i was walking in a strange place, not knowing where i was. then i was running. soon, there was music in my dream, and it followed me wherever i ran. other people backed away when they saw me coming, and no matter what i did to escape the music, i couldn't get away. finally, the music got inside me, and took over.

in the next nightmare, i could see myself in my bed, waking up. i tried to turn off the cd player with the remote control. when that didn't work, i got up and pushed the power button on the stereo. still, the music played. i could here the sinister words and music in the dream as i tried unplugging the stereo. no luck. i ran from the room, and again, the music followed me.

i woke up, startled. i sat straight up in my bed, trying to scream, but to no avail, for my throat was dry as a bone. i realized that my hand was making the motions of pushing the buttons on the remote to the stereo, only there was nothing in my hand. the room was dark except for the glow of the light on the cd player. i jumped up and ran from my room, tripping over the baby gate that i used to keep my puppy out of my room, and fell into the hallway. i hastily shut the bedroom door behind me, and did not enter the room for several hours.

finally, i remembered that the cd was still playing, and i opened the bedroom door. when i opened it, i was startled to see that my lamp with the red light bulb was on. i thought that perhaps, in my panic, i had switched it on and forgotten about it.

months later, while i was in the process of moving out of the house, i had a few people over to help me pack up my stuff. we took all my pictures and posters off the walls, and as we were beginning to remove the furniture, one of my friends noticed my lamp. she turned it on and a red glow illuminated the walls. i looked around, wide- eyed and silent. on every space where there had been a poster, picture, sign, or decoration, the red glow made these letters visible: MAICMONGFROOUYI