We all have our inner demons... sometimes they get out!

   Today I have one of my twisted tales for you but first, a quick blurb about a very cool gadget that caught me off guard this morning.  

   You all may recall my "Grim Peeper" shower prop :

   I had come across a forgotten Christmas present from my beloved girlfriend. The Eviltron :

   This tiny little gadget has several modes of "evil". It will play a variety of sounds like creaking wood, creepy child giggle, shuffling sounds, squeaks, and a whispering male voice that says "hey can you hear me". It has a random mode as well that will play all sounds sporadically.  

   People have been known to stick the Eviltron in light covers, car vents, under chairs, etc. I had the bright idea to place mine behind the mouth of The Grim Peeper to freak out any guests that came by. I placed it there to see if it would fit, and it did, perfectly. I must have accidentally triggered it as I did and I left it there for later use. 

   Fast forward noon today, where I was busy cutting a white rug to custom fit in the guest bathroom. The same bathroom where the Grim Peeper hangs out during the Halloween Season. We intend to leave bloody footprints on the rug for the Halloween party. I was just thinking about how we would place the bloody footprints when I hear, "Hey can you hear me?", come from the shower.  Needless to say, it took a few seconds for it to dawn on me what was speaking to me. 

   I just love it when my own props catch me off guard. 

   This is a great device for any of you "mischievous" haunters. I am sure you would find it very useful for your guests, loved ones, or co workers. You can find it at ThinkGeek.com . Hope you have as much fun with it as I did!

   

   Now, onto my latest twisted tale :

   Jane was a tormented soul. All her life, even in her earliest memories there was cruelty. She was not abused by her parents. On the contrary, she was loved and nurtured by them. It was her siblings, two older sisters, and the rest of the world that sought to rip her humanity from her like a cloth from a clothes basket and wave it around like a flag of victory.
   While her parents were good and just to her, they were not innocent in this. They were both devout passive people. Her father was meek and intellectually sharp. Her mother aloof and slightly delusional about the evil that exists in the world. Jane had inherited all their traits and rolled it into one big submissive individual.
   Why her two sisters were not this way remains a mystery, but they were as opposite to her resigned demeanor as night and day. They would spend hours in their youth singing degrading songs about "plain Jane" or "lame Jane".
   In truth, Jane was not unattractive at all. She might as well have been a hunchback because of the way she envisioned herself. Any attempts at dressing up or improving her looks were met with caustic remarks from her harpy like sisters.
   Jane attempted to reach out for help from her parents, but her father was quick to tell her, "the world hates a tattle", and her mother would just smile and say, "they are just being playful it's meaningless".  Jane quickly stopped reaching out and pulled deeper into herself. She only trusted herself to be nice or keep her feelings safe.
   When the girls all started school, it grew worse.... ten fold! Now her sisters had friends of their own and they were all older and full of wit and spite. Children can be cruel by nature. Just because they have so much to learn. Children can be much, much crueler when given fuel for the fire. Jane's sisters provided all that and then some.
   Jane would sit alone in the back of the bus, hoping to not be hit with too many spit wads. She would walk through the halls at school with her head down, praying nobody would notice her. In class, she would sit in the back corner near the windows and imagine running away from all the pain. To say life was hard for Jane was a gross understatement.
   One day in 5th grade, Jane found herself in the school nurse's office. She had "tripped' over somebodies shoe and scraped her knee. The follow up push had not helped her already bleeding joint. When asked what happened she would just say, "I fell'.
   "One of these days all that pent up stress and anger is going to kill you", said the nurse.
   "Oh I'm fine really. Nothing at all wrong with me." She would smile and pretend away the pain.
   Jane learned from her parents. Just pretend the pain is not there. All those kids did not mean anything, they were just being kids! Just push it to the back of your mind and put on a smile and everything is going to be ok.
   Surviving that childhood was a miracle, but she did. Unfortunately teenagers have all new ways of inflicting pain on those that stick out. Jane's sisters made sure she stuck out.
   Jane just continued on as if in her own world. Taking the pain and pushing it deeper in where she could ignore it. She survived.
   When she was 18, she fell for a young boy in her homeroom. He felt the same. That is until her sister found out and the oldest slept with the boy to spite her younger, pathetic sister. Jane showed no emotions at all and went on like she had never known the boy, even when he tried to apologize.
   The young boy, fearing she may try to hurt herself, went to the school councilor to report her odd behavior. Weeks of meetings revealed nothing. Jane would smile and say things like "oh boys will be boys" or "I don't take things like that too serious, everything is great!".
   The councilor told her in all seriousness, "If you don't let some of that pent up anger, frustration , and hate out, it is going to be the death of you!"
   Jane would smile and say. "I'm just fine! Everything is perfect.". She would bounce out of the office then resume holding her head down and pretending the world was not there.
   Time went on and so did Jane. She moved out into her own apartment. She got a job as a Librarian at the local public library. People were quiet there and books did nothing to hurt you except maybe slide off a shelf on your foot.
   She lead a lonely existence but it was far from peaceful. The world at large is a predator. Humanity can sense the weak willed. The cruel and evil always found people like her to prey on. From the waitress that never returned to give her a refill, to the stuffy executive who almost ran her over to take her cab she had flagged down in a rain storm. Jane just smiled and pretended to not notice. Deep down she did.
   In her 25 years of existing, she was beginning to wear thin. Every vessel has it's limit before it overflows. She was in danger of that very thing happening to her. She noticed it was getting harder and harder to push back the pain and anger. It was almost impossible for her to screw that fake smile on her face after the cruelty had faded. She found herself laying awake at night, unable to sleep. It was as if all the pain and suffering she had suppresed over the years was pushing through to the surface.
   It was during one of these sleepless nights that her middle sister called. The middle sister who was pregnant at 17, married at 19, divorced at 20 with a second child, and strung out on so many drugs she couldn't name them all. Jane knew what she wanted.
   The voice on the phone was angry, and demanding. She wanted money. Jane refused of course. The voice became cruel, more urgent. Jane again said no.  Her sister became viscous, lashing out about Jane's looks, weight, and mental acuity.
   Jane could feel a smile creep on her face as she tried to push the pain deeper.
   She tried to stand up for herself.
   She tried to hang the phone up.
   She tried to do anything but smile and take the abuse with ease like she always did.
   Finally, she gave in. "Ok I will wire you the money first thing in the morning".
   There was a long pause on the phone, only her sisters angry breathing broke the silence.
    "You damn well better send it!" her sister growled. "I knew you would cave in you dumb bitch. You don't have what it takes be normal!"
   Her sister slammed the phone in her ear. Jane kept the receiver to her ear as if it were stuck. Just sitting in the dark with the phone to her head and that exaggerated smile on her face. She just sat there, motionless till the phone blared at her with the "off the hook" signal.
   Slowly she placed the phone on it's base. The room was spinning. She felt horribly ill,but not angry.
   Never angry. She always pushed the anger down deep, with the hate, the pain, the regrets of her whole life.
   Lurching up from her bed, she stumbled to the adjacent bathroom. At this point it was not a questions of IF she was going to vomit, but when and how much. Her bowels rolled and bubbled as if something deep in her stomach and intestines were crawling up inside her. She managed to lift the lid of the toilet and kneel down beside it.
   She threw her head forward and a long stream of "vomit" flew into the bowl of the toilet. She was not sure if vomit was the correct word to describe what was coming out of her body. It was black, oily, with fleshy chunks. The smell hit her making her even more sick. It smelled of burning hair, blood, and a hot wires like in broken TV.
   Her insides burned. It felt as if claws were tearing her from the inside out! She continued heaving. She was vaguely aware of the impossible volume of fluid coming from her body. She had to be losing blood. Parts of her organs HAD to be coming out.
   Just when she thought she would surely die, it stopped. The pain was gone in an instant as was the sick feeling. Wiping her mouth, she was surprised to find nothing but clear saliva.
   She reached across to flush the toilet to be rid of the horrible mess she had left. As she did, she was horrified to see the black oily mass "crawl" down the toilet and out the drain, leaving clear water in the bowl. It was as if nothing had been in it at all.
   Confused and drained, Jane stumbled back to her bed. As she threw herself into her covers, she felt.... better! As if a huge weight had been lifted from her. Tired as she was, she had never felt so good in her whole life. She quickly drifted off into a deep sleep where she dreamed beautiful dreams of a lovely world where all was good and hopeful.
   When she awoke the next morning, sunlight was streaming through her bedroom window. A light breeze came through the open portal. It was like she was seeing the world for the first time. She could not believe how wonderful she felt, the illness that had overtaken her long forgotten.
  Hoping up she headed to her closet. The doors were hanging ajar and it looked as if her clothes had been shifted about. Come to think about it, she did not recall opening her bedroom window either. All that seemed trivial compared to her new outlook on life. She quickly showered, dressed and went about making her breakfast. She reached over for the butcher knife that was always present on her cutting board only to find it gone. She giggled to herself thinking she must have roamed around her house last night and moved her items about. She decided to just skip breakfast and head out early for a walk in the park on such a gorgeous day.
   Grabbing her purse and keys she headed to the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to see a figure standing in the doorway.
   The figure was roughly her height and build with a very similar hair style. The figure wore a forced grin... a grin she was very familiar with. It was the grin she would screw on her face when she was trying to hide her anger or stress. It was then it dawned on her.
   She was staring at herself!
   It was as if she were staring into a mirror. The figure was her spitting image, even wearing one of her outfits from her closet!
   "Who...who...what? Who are you?" Jane managed to say to the person standing before her.
   "I am Jane. I am you." the figure responded back in her own voice, but with a more angry overtone and through clenched teeth.
   "How is this possible?" Jane asked her double?
   "You created me. I am what you hid, suppressed, and ignored all those years".said the doppelganger. "I am all your anger, stress, and pain you locked deep inside".
   Jane took a small step back. She was confused, shocked, a bit afraid. "Why are you here?".
   Her twin twisted the smile into an evil grin and slowly pulled the missing butcher knife from behind it's back. Quickly grabbing Jane by the throat, she pushed her back inside her apartment.
   "All your life you were warned about me Jane." said the twin.

   "I'm here to kill you......"