Stitches

Hi. My name is Chloe. I am 17 years old and I live in Mason City, Iowa. There was a myth that if you wandered out at midnight, Valerie will find you and kill you. You’ll only know that she sees you when you hear her make a horrifying noise. It sounded like when you scratch a chalkboard, but quieter. Where were we? Ah! That’s right! The story!

It’s October 26th, 2018. I’m just hanging out with my friends. They were telling scary stories. One of them being about Valerie. My friend John was telling the story. I scoot closer to Martell. He’s my crush. He’s a cutie! I turn on my phone and look at the time. It’s 11:48. I say to my friends, “Uh… guys? I think we should go now… W-What if Valerie comes?”

My friends look at me as if confused. “D-Do you really think that Valerie exists?” Mary says, trying to hold in laughter. I slowly nod. Everyone except me and Martell burst into laughter. Martell scoffs and says, “Ignore them, Chloe.” I look at Martell and smile. Some time later we go into the forest. I look at my phone again. It’s 12:01. I hear the noise. I say, “G-guys? I’m gonna go home.” Martell looks at me and says, “Lemme take you.”

I nod. I hear a giggle on my left. I turn my head to the left. I see her. She had black hair that went down to her shoulders. Her mouth was completely stitched together, and at the right end of her top lip. A sewing needle hung from it. She was wearing what seemed like a tattered suit. I swear. She looked like she was only 20 or 30, but she’s been around for more than 50 years.

I blink. She disappeared. Some time later I get to my house where Martell tells me goodbye. He looks at me and says, “Can I say something?” I nod. He continues, “Chloe… I love you.” I look at him and say, “I love you too Martell.” He smiles. He lived right next door so I could see him walking into his house.

I instantly walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror. I look down to turn on the water. As soon as I turned on the water, I felt something cold rub against my neck. I stop moving. I look to the mirror. She was right behind me. She had a grim, wide smile on her face as she rubbed the sewing needle against my neck. She says in a demonic voice, “Don’t worry my dear. It’ll only hurt a tiny bit.” She moved her hand up quickly, getting ready to stab my neck. I cover myself and yell, “Help!!”

I don’t feel anything hurt me. I look and see nobody there. I go back to brushing my teeth. But when I looked in the mirror. I saw something horrific. My mouth was stitched together. I put my hand on my mouth. Nothing was there. I sigh in relief. I finally finished brushing my teeth and went to my bedroom to sleep. I lay down in my bed. I feel something touch my leg. I look and see Martell. He says, “They allowed me to sleepover tonight.” I smile and say, “I’m so glad you’re here. SomrhSome crazy happened to me.” I tell him the whole thing. After I tell him, I say, “Martell… am I gonna die?” He says, “Not as long as I’m around.” I close my eyes and fall asleep.

The next morning I wake up, eat breakfast. The TV was on the news and it said something about teenage kids disappearing. The only missing one was Mary. Everyone else was okay. I walk outside after getting dressed. Martell follows me. After about 10 minutes of walking, we found her. Mary was dead, resting against a tree. Her mouth and eyes were stitched close. I scream. Martell calls the police.

Hours later. I lay home in my bed. Everyone else was away except for my dad. I hear a thud in the living room. I run into the room he was in. His eyes and mouth were stitched. I thought, “Who’s next?!” My mom walks in through the front door. She says, “What the hell happened here Chloe?!” I reply, “I-i dont know! I was just laying in my bed, I heard a thud, and I ran in here and found.. oh god I think I’m gonna puke.. ” I run to the bathroom and vomit into the toilet. I can’t handle anymore.

I repeatedly say in my head, “I’m next! I’m next! I’m next!” I calm down by thinking about Martell. I go my bed and lay salt around my bed so she can’t get me. I lay in my bed feeling confident. Right before I fall asleep, I hear the noise. Scratching of a chalkboard. I open my eyes. She was sitting on top of me. Her sewing needle was pressed against my neck. She looks at me and says, “Hello, Chloe. Im just going to carefully sew all those holes on your face…” She slowly rubbed the needle against my neck. I don’t remember much beyond that. I wake up in a hospital.

I feel my mouth. It felt like there were tiny holes. Did she stitch my mouth close? I hear a doctor say, “The operation was successful. We’d unstitched her mouth, nose, and eyes.” I go pale hearing this. She did get me. But she didn’t kill me. I ask a doctor nearby, “How long have I been out?” He looks at me and says, “Ah! You’re awake! Also you’ve been out for 6 hours. It’s 6:40 AM.” My family walks in, my mother in front. My mother runs to me and says, “Thank god you’re okay!” I smile. But I know it’s not over yet. I get into my mom’s car. A doctor walks to my window with a bag. He says, “Uh… A lady wanted to give this to you.” He hands me the bag. I look in and pull out something I never wished to see. A sewing needle with my blood on it. I hear the noise again. I quickly look to my left. She sat next to me in the car, smiling at me.

  • Angel

    Ok, that was kinda creepy. I liked the story but the sentences were short and many started similar enough so I sounded really repetitive. It was a great story and I think all you need to do is work a little on that and you are set for a sturdy fan base.

  • Cadrn

    It was an interesting story and definitely creepy but the writing felt very weak and repetitive. You should keep on writing different stories and read others to help you get a handle on the language and how it is used.