When are they going to be here? I checked my phone, put it in my pocket, and paced around – all in a repeating loop. I’d stayed at Rive deck ever since school ended 30 minutes ago, which turned out to be a pretty boring idea. I backed up against the wall and sat down in a huddle, flicking through and playing a game on my phone, constantly checking the time.
Violet and Fay said they would be here after heading home to grab a spare change of clothes. Maybe I should have gone with them, but I didn’t need it. I rested my P.E. bag under my arms as I continued to scroll through my phone. I hopped off the game and clicked on Instagram. Violet had recently posted a story and I clicked on it. The story showed the open pathway in front of them, and I recognized it as one of the pathways to school. They could be walking faster, but no, instead they take pretty photos. The next photo showed the two of them, both pulling funny faces in a titled selfie.
My eyes scanned the picture as I pushed myself up, a chill went down my spine suddenly. Someone else was in their photo. A Pakuranga student, with long black pants and a white collar, the rest of the shirt hiding under his jersey. I swore I recognized that look and hair. His hair jerked up like he had been shocked by something electric. I saw white glasses, and that was all I really needed to see. I was about to swipe when I caught a close up of him. Him, with no face.
My eyes widened as I tried to zoom in, finally accepting the fact that even though he had glasses, he had no eyes to see out of. No mouth to speak, no nose to breathe. I dropped my phone onto my P.E. bag as I started struggling to breathe. I shouldn’t have looked that long. If he doesn’t actually have a face, if this isn’t fake…
I wrote about this. I did. Something for the newspaper that I worked for. A boy who was self-conscious and hated having pictures taken of him. Because of his bad acne. He liked a girl. Too much. And asked her out, but she said no because she had a boyfriend. Then the boyfriend found out. Later, the boy was found dead.
But that can’t be. Because I made all of it up. I didn’t even give him a name. Come on, think, think. I wrote that he would prowl people with bad acne like him. Like me. But I didn’t write how to stop him. I only remember that he gets aggravated when people stare at him. But how would he kill them? I don’t remember anything now.
Surely since I stared at him, something bad would happen to me now. My whole body tensed as I brought my knees closer to myself, bracing for impact. For something. Yet, nothing happened. Surely it would have been fake. Best not to check. What if I open the picture and he isn’t there? But, that would also mean that it would have been part of my imagination, and he wouldn’t have been real. Still, best not to check.
I held my legs close to myself and grabbed my school bag to pull it closer to me. It’s nothing, it has to be. I stood up and brushed myself off, standing still. I felt something. Not touch, or at least human touch. I felt eyes. I let out an awkward chuckle. That thing didn’t have eyes, so it’s not going to be that thing if I feel like I’m being watched.
I let out an exhale as I felt the eyes dart away from me. Don’t ask me how I know. I thought it would be best to check the time again. I turned around and was halfway kneeling down when I saw through the open window. Into the classroom. Somebody was sitting at a desk. He was facing away from me but I heard him writing.
It didn’t even sound like a pencil he was writing with. It was too loud, almost sounding cracked, like a claw. I dreaded when I heard him draw the writing to a stop. I wanted to look away. But I froze like a deer in headlights. He turned to me. Faceless.
I stared at him. He stared back. I ducked under the window and backed myself up against the wall. I couldn’t move after that. The sound. The writing. All I could hear was that distressing sound of someone scraping against something. That sound of writing.
I gradually grabbed both my bags and pulled them towards me. That sound of writing makes every inch of me ache when I move.
The chair. It moved. His chair, I could tell. Footsteps, leading out the Rive classroom and onto the porch. With me. Tears started to fall. I buried my face deep into my legs as I pulled them towards me even more. Please no. I thought, too afraid to even move my mouth.
The footsteps continued. Towards me. Every time I breathed I ached. This was one of his powers. He had the power to make his victims forget some knowledge they had and to leave their victim in agony as he got closer. And I made him.
I didn’t hear breathing, only the vibrations and sound of him approaching me. My whole body felt like gravity was against me, dragging to the ground so rough that I couldn’t even move.
Then he stopped. He was in front of me. I stopped breathing for a few seconds. Then for another twenty. Then I finally inhaled. I thought holding my breath would make him leave if he heard no sound.
I felt a cold hand grasp my chin and slowly made me look up.
There he was. Face to face with me.
More head to head, as his blank face stared at me. Though he had no eyes, I could feel his gaze piercing through me into my soul. My mouth hung open as my tears continued to be the only part of me moving. I sat there for what felt like an eternity. The teardrops passively made their way down my cheeks. His transparent glasses almost bumped into my face. He tilted his head like he was curious about me, his brown hair jerking straight up.
My teardrop was about to fall to the ground. But I heard familiar voices.
“I don’t have coffee everyday! It’s just Monday mornings-”
“Then why are you drinking that now on a Wednesday afternoon?-”
“Because I want to!”
I saw the shadows start to loom over the corner as I glared past my faceless stalker. He jerked back when he heard the two, but his face still turned to me. However he let my chin go and walked away.
My eyes followed him the best they could but I still couldn’t move my head. The footsteps weakened as Fay and Violet’s voices got louder and had fully departed by the time they saw me. “There you are! Come on, we got work to finish.” Violet immediately spoke when she saw me backed up against the wall.
“Y-yeah..” I surprised myself when the words left my mouth as it sent a shiver down my spine. I tapped my foot on the ground to test. I was able to move, now that he was gone.
“Well get up and sit!” Violet ordered me as she sat down on one of the picnic tables with Fay alongside her. I gulped as I bounced back up with my bags as I sat down in front of the two.
“So..you guys will never guess what just happened to me.” I stated, still in shock.
“No, I don’t want to guess. I want to work while I’m still feeling like I want to work!” Violet set off at me as she opened her Chromebook.
“Well, at least you actually want to do work this time.” Fay popped in, getting her Chromebook out as well.
“Yeah, that’s why we have to get this done now, these bushfires aren’t going to write about themselves!” Violet violently tapped on her Chromebook.
“Well, I’m still going to tell you what I saw.” I replied to her as I crossed my arms.
“Do it while you work on your slide.” Violet shook my story off again.
I scrolled my eyes briefly as I skimmed through my password and hopped onto our presentation.
“So you know the story I wrote for the article, about the scary myth thing? Yeah, so, I think it’s real now.” I told her while finishing off a line on my slide.
“Yeah, nah, you made it up, remember? You were bragging about it to me,” Fay started to speak before Violet interrupted her, again.
“Wait, are you actually being serious?! It’s like a horror movie! God, do you think I’m the comedic relief? Maybe your the smart one!” Violet immediately slammed her Chromebook closed as she started babbling away.
“Wait wait wait, how do you know it’s real? It could very well be fake.” Fay’s expression remained stoic as we spoke.
“See, the smart one” Violet gestured to Fay. “I was checking your Insta story when I saw the guy in the background, the guy with no face,” I explained to them, but both had the expression that I had spoken in another language. “Well, we would have seen him” Fay spoke with concern like I belonged in a mental hospital. “No no no no, I wrote about this in my story, the story!” I grinned as an idea popped into my head.
I slammed my fingers on the keyboard as I brought up the website where I had posted about this so-called ‘myth’. My eyes skimmed over it until I came upon what I needed to see. “Aha! See! Here, I wrote he stalks people with bad acne, like me” I turned my Chromebook to face them. “The motto of this story was to not bully anyone with bad acne, for Pink Shirt Day you know.”
“He picks the kids with bad acne and he stalks them, first appearing in photos that he couldn’t have been in.” I say as I take out my phone and hop onto Instagram. I pull up Violet’s story as low and behold. He was gone.
I turned the phone to face the two, “See. Now he’s gone, but he was there before.” I say to them. I watch Fay try to keep a straight face.
“Congratulations, you’re crazy.” Fay put on a fake little smile and gave a little clap. Safe to say I was not impressed.
“Wha-why would I lie about this sort of stuff? Here, just, give me that. I’m going to sort this out myself.” I bitterly admitted as I turned my Chromebook to face me again.
“Wait wait wait, as a person who is trying to help, what else is there?” Violet grabbed my Chromebook screen and tried yanking it towards her.
I pulled it back as my eyes never left the screen. “Hold on, I haven’t read this yet, and you’re not the one getting stalked by some faceless guy.” I started to tap my foot as I processed what I needed to know. “Okay, I know his backstory, but I need to know how he claims his victims.” I murmured to myself when my eyes widened.
“He starts appearing in photos and in crowded places, and when his victim sees him he becomes agitated and starts appearing closer and closer to them,” I started to explain, “it makes sense, I saw him in the photo first and then the next time I saw him he was about a metre away from me.” I browsed my writing when I swore I heard the two mouths drop open.
“You actually saw him?!” Violet yelped out, “Oh you’re actually screwed, that’s how it goes in most horror movies.” Violet voiced her opinion that was definitely not helping. “Okay, so basically as soon as you see him, you’re dead.” Violet confirmed with me.
“Yup. I’m dead.” I knew I was confirming my fate at this point. “Well, what do I do now?” I questioned. Fay rolled her eyes while Violet actually looked deep in thought, for once. “Never come back to this school again?” I threw an answer on the table, hoping that someone would have a better one.
“Okay, so let’s write this down,” I quickly said afterwards, avoiding the awkward silence. “He picks his victim, the one with really bad acne.” I mumbled the last bit. “He then starts subtly appearing in photos and crowds, and when his victim sees his face he starts getting closer and closer.”
“But how does he… you know.” Fay gestured to her face, pretending to claw it off.
“That’s it!” I squeak out, my voice cracking. I skim through the online article again and find what I was looking for. “If you continue letting him get close to you he would slowly start to claw your face off. Starting with him lining your face with his hand and grabbing your chin to do so.” I then stared at my Chromebook puzzled. “What the hell was I thinking writing this,” I mumbled.
“Well, clearly you weren’t thinking that this whole thing would come true and then have the monster you created come after you, trying to kill you,” Violet over-explained.
“Violet, I do not need your sarcasm right now.” I glared at her with a stern look. “But that’s why the guy was looking at me like that, he was inspecting my face, finding the best way to…” I made a throwing up motion. “Cut my face off.” I managed to say.
“Anything about trying to stop him?” Fay seemed to switch sides, the side actually believing this was happening.
“A glow up?” Violet cracked a joke. But only she laughed.
“Not funny Violet.” I spoke with a stern tone. I already had to deal with being stalked by a faceless guy, but he’s also hunting me because of my bad acne. Then my friend jokes about a glow up.
“Listen, you guys can help me or not, right now I don’t care. I don’t even give a damn about how all this came to be!” I raised my voice a little, my jaw tense. “I only want to know how to survive all this. He stalks you in crowds, but when you’re alone he starts clawing off your face.” I counted the points on my fingers. “Okay okay, just have to be around people. Wait.” I paused. I bounced up from my seat and ran towards the door into Rive.
I was surprised when I came to a locked door. “What the?! How did he manage to go through a locked door.” I stared into the classroom.
“Well, he is a ghost.” Fay reminded me.
“Nah, I swear, God. What’s happening to me?” I buried my head into my hands. “He was in that classroom writing something on the desk. I was going to see what was in there, but no, he decided to just float through the door instead of opening it. Lazy.” I pointed inside the classroom. I could barely make out writing carved into the table of which he was sitting at.
“Well, just climb through the window,” Violet suggested.
“Oh, why didn’t I think of that.” I had a sarcastic tone, but in truth, I did exactly what she told me. I climbed through the open window and jolted over to the table.
Make sure your friends aren’t looking.
I glared at the writing puzzled, tracing my finger on the engraved y.
“Oh wait, the email finally came through”
“The email for the council meeting?”
“Yeah, what other council the whole three of us are in.” I heard Violet and Fay having their own conversation and completely forgot about my perhaps life-threatening situation.
I turned around and saw them looking at Violet’s Chromebook. Breathing. I felt breathing on my cheek. I couldn’t turn around. I was frozen in place.
The boy suddenly came into view. He blocked mine from looking at Violet and Fay. I heard them talking about the email. A tear rolled down my face and others followed as I felt him start to tear my face away.
Cossar Salesa-Lee, Year 9
