I stood there, staring out the window at the road. When will she come back? It’s been over an hour now. Evanescence, one of my three homies and my best friend from high school, had gone to get her new dog she adopted. All four of us had just finished college so now, Evanescence could get a dog cause she wouldn’t be over packed with assignments and exams. The shelter was only up the road, it should have taken her 20mins max. But this was over an hour.
“David, she back yet?” asked Jeffery.
I looked at him and shook my head. I was worried. Jeffery walked away to help Zack with dinner. But I couldn’t get my eyes off the road, she had to come soon, any second now. Finally, after a couple of minutes, I saw a car drive up to road towards our house. It was Ev! I sighed with relief and walked outside to help her carry the dog and it’s stuff inside. I carried the large bag of dog food. The dog was adorable. A kelpie x boarder collie, female named Spring. She did live up to her name, jumping and springing around the lounge room. After I put everything down, I turned to talk to Ev.
“So what took you so long?” I asked as I grabbed a plate of the tasty soup Jeffery and Zack prepared.
“What do you mean?”
“You were gone over an hour.”
“No I wasn’t. I was only gone ten minutes.”
I looked at Evanescence in confusion. It defiantly was not 10mins, and Ev was good at estimating the time. I avoided arguing with her, and sat down, quietly eating my dinner. After a couple of minutes, Zack broke the silence.
“Did you guys hear about the boy that got murdered by his mum?”
“No, he was already torn up by a ghost, then his mum, trying to attack the ghost, accidentally killed the boy.” explained Jeffery, correcting Zack.
“It was a clown ghost that only the boy could see, until he revealed himself to the mother. Like an imaginary friend.” Ev could tell I had no idea what they were talking about. “Read the newspaper, David, it’s quite an interesting story. You’ll find it in this week’s paper, titled ‘Laughing Jack’.”
I shrugged. I wasn’t really interested in all those gory murder stories. But I pretended I would read it, so they’d stop bothering me.
After dinner, I went upstairs and had a shower before everyone, then I went to bed. That night, I heard crying. It was soft sobs, but it was enough to wake me. I looked at the time on the clock on my bedside table, 4:47am. Who would be crying this early in the morning. Well, whoever it is must’ve had a nightmare. I slowly got up, still half asleep, and followed the sobs. It lead me to Evanescence’s room.
The first thing I noticed as I opened her door, not yet in the room, was Spring. She was curled up in the corner of the room, hunched back and tail in between her legs. She was obviously terrified of something. Maybe it was the sudden change of environment, from the dog shelter to a nice cosy house. Maybe she missed the company of other dogs, but she would be sad, not scared. I entered the room. As I did, I noticed the sobbing no longer came from a direction. It was everywhere. The sound consumed the room, but what disturbed me the most, was the fact that it sounded like Ev. Ignoring the fact that it didn’t come from just Evanescence’s direction, and headed towards her to calm her down. But then I noticed, she was sleeping peacefully. Ev wore a slight smile, and didn’t seem to be distressed at all.
Then the sobbing, became a blood curdling laugh. Spring started wimping, she must have heard it too. Suddenly, Ev woke up. As soon as she did, the laughing stopped. The relief that flooded me at that moment is indescribable. Ev sat up and looked at me. Although it was dark, I could see her extremely confused face.
“David? Why the hell are you in my room?” there was anger in her voice. I didn’t blame her. Waking up and seeing a guy in your room watching you sleep is not something to be happy about. And that’s what this looked like.
“Listen, Spring had come into my room and I was just putting her back. I was literally just about to leave but then you woke up.” I had to come up with something, she wouldn’t believe the truth.
“Why is Spring terrified?”
“Maybe because it’s a sudden change in environment.”
“You’re probably right.”
Ev got up and placed Spring, who had now calmed down a bit, on her bed.
“Spring can sleep on my bed tonight.” she said and tried to get back to sleep herself.
I headed out and back into my room. I was surprised Jeffery and Zack weren’t woken up bye the sobbing earlier, but then again, it was soft and they slept downstairs unlike Ev and I, who slept upstairs.
Morning came and I was woken up by laughing coming from downstairs. I got up and put on a jumper, it was cold. I headed downstairs and found Ev playing with Spring. She was laughing and looked quite happy. Then, last night entered my mind. I pushed it aside, I didn’t was to remember that horrid laugh.
I walked into the kitchen looking for the cereal box. It wasn’t in the cupboard, so I guessed that someone had taken it out. But what I did see, were all these candy wrappers piled on the kitchen bench. I looked at the wrappers more closely, and noticed that it wasn’t any of the brands I know of. In fact, they didn’t have any words nor Logo. Just a plain colour. But they were all different colours.
“Anyone care to tell me why all these wrappers are here?”
“Oh yea, that’s my fault, I wasn’t bothered to put them in the bin.” Ev laughed.
“Where did you even get all this candy?”
“I found it in my bed.”
What!? You don’t just find candy in your bed. And if it was old candy that belonged to Ev, she would had found it ages ago. Someone or something, had gone into her room, frightened the dog, and stuffed Ev’s bed with candy. It had to be Zack or Jeffery. Who else could it be? Maybe they attempted to prank her? I don’t know, but at least Ev wasn’t harmed, I shouldn’t be worrying.
I scanned the kitchen for something to eat, when my eyes fell onto the newspaper on the kitchen bench. I grabbed it. This was last weeks paper, today was Monday so there should be another one on the way. I unrolled the paper and looked at the front page.
‘Laughing Jack’
I had nothing better to do. I made myself a toast, sat down and starting reading. But it wasn’t a story that I was reading, it was four words, repeating themselves throughout the whole page.
‘If Evanescence dies young’
Shocked, I unconsciously threw the paper. It hit Ev right in the head. I quickly got up, and ran to Evanescence.
“What the hell David!?”
“I’m sorry! I just saw something that shocked me. I threw it in shock, I didn’t mean for it to hit you.”
Jeffery grabbed the paper to see what I read.
“It’s the Laughing Jack story.” he said and they looked at me confused.
“I-um-I’m not g-good with horror. You know, clowns and killing.” I smiled trying to cover up.
“I knew you hated horror, but I didn’t think you hated it this much.” explained Zack.
Jeffery handed the paper back to me. I grabbed it and looked at it again. It was only the story now, not those other words. I must have been hallucinating. I didn’t get much sleep last night, so my brain was probably tired.
“I need to get some rest.” and with that, I left and headed to my bed.
I sat on my bed for what I estimated to be hours, just contemplating the last couple events. Ev taking over an hour, yet to her, it was only 10mins, sobbing and laughing coming from all directions in Ev’s room, Spring all terrified, random candy appears in her bed, and now, terrifying words appear in a place they should not. Maybe-
“David! You okay? You’ve been up there for hours!”
I was pulled out of my mind by Zack calling me.
“It’s 7:30!”
7:30!? How? I came up here at about 10:00 in the morning. I never even got to sleep.
“David? You coming? Dinner’s ready!” For some reason, hearing Evanescence’s voice calmed me down a lot. It was a beautiful soft voice. Just knowing that she’s there, happy and safe, helped a lot.
“I’m gonna skip dinner.”
“You sure? David, you okay?”
“Yes Ev, just tired. Goodnight.”
I closed my eyes and drifted into a dark, peaceful sleep. That night, I was again woken up by a sound. It wasn’t a sobbing this time, or a laugh, it was two piercing screams. I immediately got up and ran towards where I heard it from. I didn’t have to run far, my door wouldn’t open. I looked down, and a pool of blood was growing from under the door. The screaming didn’t stop. I couldn’t think. My hands were shaking, my skin, pale. By now I recognised the screams, they belonged to Jeffery and Zack!
“DAMIT!” I shouted. This door, why wouldn’t it budge?
Suddenly, the screams stopped. Then I heard something that, just by thinking about it, makes me wanna scream and cry.
“Good job Spring!” it wasn’t some deranged killer talking, or some insane person, it was Evanescence. “David’s turn.” she sounded happy.
I couldn’t beleive it. Ev? The happy, innocent yet not innocent, funny Evanescence? No! it couldn’t be true. It 
couldn’t. I didn’t want to believe it. I heard shuffling in front of my door, like someone was moving something. Then it hit me, Jeffery and Zack were killed right in front of my door, it was their bodies that locked me in. I had to run, I had to hide! I looked around, there was no where to hide. Then my eyes landed on my closet. I ran quickly and hid among all my clothes. I didn’t dare look out. Suddenly, I heard the door open. That sound was quickly covered by a laugh, not a wicked laugh, just a laugh you would hear one do any day. But for some reason, this one terrified me.
“I will find you. And if I don’t, Spring will.”
I tried to keep my breathing steady, even. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the door to the closet opened. I tried to scream, but Ev put her hand on my mouth, stopping me. I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t make a sound. My friend, my best friend, was going to murder me right here. She wasn’t wearing her pyjamas like I would have expected, instead she wore a lime green, short dress with black converses and a top hat which sat on her dark brunette hair. I stared, tears streaming down my face.
“Please, Evany, don’t.”
“Be scared!” she hissed.
That’s when I noticed, her eyes were yellow, she had a black bushy tail and ears which came out of the sides of the hat, and her dog had blood all over her mouth. I looked further, and there, behind the two killers, stood Laughing Jack. He turned Ev and Spring into monsters, he’s the cause for all this. I should have kept her safe, I knew he was coming for her, all the clues clearly told me, I should have listened!
Suddenly, a knife pierced my chest. It hurt, the pain was agonising. Ev then took it out, and stabbed yet again. The knife repeatedly stabbed into my chest, every moment, faded away further and further. The only thing that was left in focus, was my killer.
Although she had blood covered all over her, and behind those beautiful yellow eyes was a fire of insanity raging on and on, she still looked beautiful. This just wasn’t her, she wasn’t a monster, but I guess she is now.
The knife finally stopped stabbing and I fell to my knees. I could feel my legs weakening, my entire body, consumed with pain. But most of the pain wasn’t from being stabbed, no, it was from the fact that I let Laughing Jack get to Ev. It was my fault she became who she is now, it’s my fault she became merciless. I felt my head hit the ground as the world slowly faded to black. My life, slipping away more and more every second. But just before I fell into an eternal sleep, I heard something, something, that made my heart stop.
“Sorry.”
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