A Life To Waste

by Andrew Lennon

  He opened his page and started to read again. He heard something else.

  “Oh you have got to be kidding me, what now?”

  This wasn’t coming from inside the house, this sounded like it was coming from outside. It was music.

  “what the hell is that?” he whispered.

  The music was faint, it was very slow, it sounded like a jack in the box being turned slowly. Like whoever was turning it was trying to build tension, waiting for the precise moment to make the scary clown jump out and terrify whoever was watching it. Just one beat at a time, it was a painfully slow tune. He recognised it though, each beat followed by what seemed to be an eternity before the next one came. It was Teddy Bears Picnic, he said the words to himself slowly, in time with the tune being played.

  “If.....you.....go.....down....to....the....woods....today”

  It sent shivers down his spine, this was the creepiest thing he’d ever heard. It was definitely coming from outside, what the hell was that?

  “You’re....sure....of....a....big....surprise.”

  He peeked out the window.

  Chapter 14

  Dave’s jaw dropped. “It can’t be” he said.

  He looked at his watch to double check the time, it was 2.30am, the middle of the night. He looked back out the window again. Outside there, in the darkness, stopped at the side of the road, was an Ice cream truck. Why the hell would an ice cream truck be out there at this time of night?

  “It’s happened, I finally have lost my mind” he said to himself.

  The music carried on, it’s steady slow pace, he couldn’t help but sing it again in his head.

  “If.....you.....go.....down.....to.....the....woods.....today”

  This couldn’t be real, he had to be hallucinating or something. Maybe his sleeping during the day theory wasn’t really working. Maybe he had drank too many energy drinks or perhaps this was the book playing on his mind again. It could be that he was just seeing things, and the music was just in his head. Like the giggling children before. This wasn’t real, this was just in his head. He looked outside again. It was still there, music still playing.

  “You.....better.....believe.....your.....eyes.”

  No way, this couldn’t be real. He decided to go outside and prove it to himself. He grabbed his coat and put his shoes on. He knew that when he walked outside he would see that there was no ice cream truck. He would see that it had just been his mind playing tricks on him.

  He walked towards the door, he could still hear the music playing, that slow, haunting, jack in the box music. He stopped in front of the door and reached his hand out. He was overcome with fear, what if he opened the door and the jack in the box sprang to life. What if he opened it and the thing came flying through. Could the music be some weird countdown, waiting for him to open the door so it could pounce. He shook his head, he had to stop thinking these stupid thoughts, it was just his mind playing tricks on him again. He knew there was no ice cream truck, it was all a figment of his imagination.

  He opened the door and walked outside.

  “fuck!” he didn’t shout, it was like a loud whisper.

  It was there, that music still playing. It didn’t seem right though, the music wasn’t loud like an ice cream truck. If he hadn’t been sat in silence he wasn’t sure he would have heard it at all. The ice cream truck sat there across the road from him, in the dark, playing that song like a giant music box on wheels.

  “It can’t be real”

  He was trying to convince himself. He snuck towards the truck, looking around trying to see if anyone was nearby, there didn’t seem to be anyone there. He was next to it now, his hands were shaking, he reached out and touched it.

  “oh my god it’s real”

  He took a step back, it was really there, the music was still playing, the same tune on loop, still that slow haunting music. It was embedded into his head now.

  “If.....you.....go.....down.....to.....the.....woods.....today”

  Trembling, Dave moved around to the driver’s side and peeked in the window. There was no one to be seen. Where had they gone? Someone had to have been driving this thing, he couldn’t believe they would just leave it on the side of the road, music still playing and everything. He looked inside again. It was unlocked, he knew he shouldn’t but he opened the door. Something about this just wasn’t right. He had to have a look inside this truck. He pulled himself in, leaning over so his legs were still hanging out the door, he was straining his ears trying to hear if anyone was coming. All he could hear was that god damn music. He had to be quick, he looked around, he couldn’t really see anything unusual. It was too dark to see anything properly, the light inside the truck didn’t seem to work. Dave was thankful for this, otherwise the owner or this thing would’ve been able to see the light on from a distance.

  “oh well, weird, fuck it.”

  Dave jumped out, ok so there was a creepy old ice cream truck parked outside in the middle of the night. It wasn’t really important was it? It was probably just some old guy forgot to turn the music off and lock the thing up. It was probably one of the creepiest things he had seen and he was sure that he would never get that god forsaken Teddy Bears Picnic in ultimate slow mode out of his head, but that’s all it was, just creepy. He decided that this was probably more down to his frame of mind right now, he had been sitting in the dark for nights on end waiting for some crazed killer to turn up. In his warped and now fragile mind this was probably perfect for the horror story he had been fabricating in his head.

  He heard screams.

  “Oh shit! That was real”

  He sprinted across the road and crouched down behind the bushes next to his house. He could still see the ice cream truck from his hiding place.

  “I knew it!” He thought “That creepy fuckin thing belongs to that crazy bastard, to that thing.”

  He heard screams again. His heart was racing, his hands were trembling, he stayed crouched hidden in the bushes. He needed to see what he was dealing with here. He needed some form of plan, what was he going to do? He had to get whatever this was to take him to his mum . How could he do that? He couldn’t just walk up and ask, “hey crazy guy, can I have my mum back please?” He decided he was going to have to wait, then when the moment was right, he could follow this freak. He was sure that it would lead him to his mum. Then he could save her, he didn’t know how he was going to do it but he knew had to something. He stayed crouched, watching the ice cream truck, waiting for the thing to appear, the music still playing.

  “If.....you.....go.....down.....to.....the.....woods.....today”

  “I really hate that song”

  Chapter 15

  “What the hell is that?” Dave said to himself.

  He looked over into the dim patch of light just passed the ice cream truck. He could see the shadow of what looked like a monster, it was huge. As the creature crept into the light he could begin to see features appear. It wasn’t a monster, he didn’t think anyway. The face was still hidden in darkness, there was only a black space where it should be. What Dave could see was this guy was big, really big. Must have been at least 6”10 and he was wider than any man he had ever seen. It was like looking at a gorilla, a gorilla that was walking upright like a man.

  “Jesus, it’s fuckin bigfoot” Dave thought.

  The gorilla was carrying something, he had something over his shoulder and something else was glistening in his other hand, it must have been a knife or something metal, Dave thought. What was the other thing he was carrying on his shoulder, there was something dangling from either side, like I fireman carrying someone from a burning building. It was a person, it was only small but it was a person. It must have been a child. The light shone across the small things face. It was definitely a child, it was a young boy, must have only been about ten or twelve. Where the hell was he taking him? What had he done to him? He must have done something if that other thing in hand was a knife!

  Dave staye
d crouched down and watched as he saw the gorilla like creature carry the boy along like a rag doll. This yeti was walking really slowly, when he reached the truck he pulled the side window open, then like a rag doll, he flung the boy round from his shoulders and straight through the side window into the ice cream truck. This guy must have been really strong as it didn’t even look like he needed to put any effort into shifting the kid. He climbed into the truck and reached up for something. The music stopped. The silence fell over Dave like a heavy quilt of fear, he hadn’t notice the music was still playing until that moment. He didn’t realise that although it had freaked him out before, it was a lot more comforting that this complete silence.

  Big foot walked slowly around the truck and opened the back door, he grabbed something from inside. Dave couldn’t quite see what it was, there was two things. It looked like two buckets? The giant slammed the back door shut and then strolled along back into the shadows. He was whistling something, it was a slow whistle as he strolled along. It was Teddy Bears Picnic.

  “oh no, not that again!” Dave thought.

  This guy whistling it was even more creepy than the music that had been playing before. It was in the same slow and creepy timing Dave couldn’t help but sing it in his head again.

  “If.....you.....go.....down.....to.....the.....woods.....today”

  Dave tried to shut it out of his mind again, it was freaking him out. What was in those buckets that the freak took back with him.

  “Oh shit! That was blood! That was the pig’s blood!” Dave realised, his thoughts racing “if that freak’s gone to paint this kids house with blood then I might have time to get the kid out of that truck.”

  He waited for bigfoot to disappear in the shadows then he began to sneak back out from his hiding spot. He quickly ran over as quietly as he could, he reached for the door that he opened before, it was locked.

  “Damnit!”

  How could the bastard forget to lock his door before but then remember to lock it in between going to spread blood everywhere! Maybe he could try the back door. He ran around as fast as he could, he knew it didn’t have much time before this freak show came back. He tried frantically to open the back door, that was locked as well. What could he do? He was running out of time.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!”

  Maybe he could smash the window, he was looking around for something he could use to break the window to the truck, he heard something.

  “You’re.....in.....for.....a.....big.....surprise”

  It was that slow whistling again! The gorilla was coming back, Dave turned to run away, he slipped as he turned a went tumbling to the ground. He banged his head as he landed on the concrete, he was dazed for a second. He looked up, he could see a giant emerging from the shadows.

  “Oh shit!” he cried out in a whisper.

  He half crawled half ran across the street and dived into the bushes, did this guy see him? Was he coming to get him? He was too scared to turn around and look. What if this freak hadn’t seen him but then he made so much noise trying to turn around that he drew attention to himself. He closed his eyes shut tight and stayed as still as he could in the bushes. He knew any minute now that freaks giant hand was going to grab his shoulder and drag him backwards. Dave remembered the thing that guy had been carrying, the knife looking thing that he saw before. This thing was going to drag him out of the bush and the cut him to pieces with that knife. He waited, this was it, this was the moment he was going to die. A sudden bang made him jump.

  “What was that?”

  It was a door, it was big foot getting into the truck. The engine started, and so did the freaky jack in the box music.

  “You’d..... better.....believe.....your.....eyes.”

  He was leaving, the freak was leaving. Dave had to do something now or he had lost his chance. This is what he had been waiting for, this was his chance, he had to take it.

  He climbed out from the bushes to see the Ice Cream Truck pulling slowly out of the street. Dave ran. He pushed himself to run as fast as he could, he imagined himself back on the tracks fighting for first place. He could feel the wind rushing passed him again, he could feel his body trembling, the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He was flying. He was back in his youth, no one could run as fast as him. This was his time to shine again. He wasn’t fighting for first place this time, he was fighting for his mums life. He was fighting to save that little boy locked in the back of the truck. He gave more effort than he even knew he had, he pushed with every inch of his capabilities. He had to concentrate so he didn’t over run and go tumbling head over heels.

  He was getting closer he was almost there now. He needed to reach the truck before it pulled out of the estate and got onto the main roads. If it got onto them and accelerated then he had no chance of catching it. He put in one last ditch attempt, he pushed so hard his face was bright red, he looked like he was going to explode. He didn’t have time to wonder if the gorilla driving had seen him running behind. He just had to assume that because the freak hadn’t stopped, he hadn’t seen him.

  He was almost there, he reached out, finally! He grabbed the back of the truck. He used the last of his energy to pull himself up. He pulled himself as close as he could get to the back of the truck. He spread his arms and legs wide gripping on for dear life.

  He knew that wherever this truck was taking him, that’s where he would find his mum. Now he just needed to hold on.

  Chapter 16

  The reality of what he was doing began to sink in. Still gripping to the back of the truck, trying his best not to fall off. Thoughts started to rush into Dave’s head.

  “What the hell am I doing? I shouldn’t have done this”

  The truck had picked up speed now, it must have got onto one of the main roads, Dave was sure that if he fell off at the speed they were going, the impact would probably kill him. He tightened his grip, as best as he could.

  He started creating scenarios in his mind. What if this killer knew that Dave was hanging on to the back of the truck? What if he was just waiting until he reached a quiet spot to pull over and then kill him? Dave hadn’t thought this through, he didn’t even have any weapons to protect himself. Even if the gorilla didn’t use a weapon. One on one, this giant would crush Dave. He would be completely helpless. No, he had to stop thinking this way. He hadn’t been seen, surely if the freak had seen him he would’ve got him before he left and thrown him in the back with that kid.

  “Oh shit, the kid?” Dave thought.

  Was he still alive? He must have been, if this freak was going to kill the kid then why would he use the fake blood back at the house. There must be a chance the kid was still alive. He had been unconscious, he definitely wasn’t moving when Dave watched the freak throw him into the truck. What if he was dead. Dave had been hugging the back of this truck and just on the other side of the door was this kids dead body? What if it was all messed up? Dave started to imagine the kid bleeding, his blood beginning to creep out from under the door, dripping passed Dave’s feet, leaving a red trail along the ground. No, he had to stop thinking like this. The kid was alive, he was!

  What about his mum? She had been gone for a while, for well over two weeks. There could be a big chance that she was already dead. The police had said the blood in the house didn’t belong to her but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t bled since. What was with freak doing with the people he took? What if he was torturing them or something? Doing all the sick things that the freaks on the movies do, the movies that Dave enjoyed watching so much. What if he got there and his mum had been cut into little pieces to be fed to the dogs?

  Dave’s stomach tightened, he had to concentrate hard to stop the vomit from rising up to his throat. If he started puking now he would fall off the back for the truck for sure. The thought of his mum like that was too much. He had to think positively. This is what he had been waiting for wasn’t it? This is why he had sat up all those nights looking out of the window. He had be
en waiting for this freak to turn up, now he had. And he was leading Dave to the place his mum was being held. This was even better than he’d hoped for. This freak was going to drive him straight to his mum. He could sneak out and get her then he could go and get the kid and lead them to their escape. He could rescue them.

  After they were free he would be able to tell the police exactly where this sick bastard was hiding out. The police could go along and arrest him then see if he had any other people held there. Lisa was still there, Dave thought, he didn’t know how many more. But the point was, after the police had gone and arrested the guy, Dave would be the hero. He would have saved the day. He would probably be given a medal of bravery from the police. He would most likely even have his picture in the paper, and be on the news!