• “We’ll get there as quick as we can.” I hoped to death this wasn’t a prank. It was too early for one.

    My buds and I were at the diner, finishing our burger, coffee, and our shift. The chief, from the station, radioed our car. Sitting in the diner with the window open I heard the voice. I jumped up and jogged to the car, anything to wake me up, the cold helped a little. I opened the door and plopped down into the seat.

    “Car 542, what would you like?” My eyes started to close.

    “We got someone at 5910 Washington Drive reporting a disturbance.” What a droning voice. I was dozing off. “It’s a woman who called, so go and check with her what she heard.” The radio cracked to a finish.

    “Copy that ma’am.” I sighed, my eyes still closed.

    The radio cracked to life a couple of seconds later, it awoke me at once and I almost had a heart attack because of shock. I would never get use to the radio. “You better get going now boy.” She sounded extremely mad. That and tired.

    “We’ll get there as quick as we can.” I hoped to death this wasn’t a prank. It was too early for one. I ran back inside and slid into the booth.

    “We have to head out. I’m not paying.” I had paid to much money into this diner. One of my colleagues paid while I was walking back to the car. I got in the drivers side and turned the key. The car stuttered to life. Winter was always a bad season for cars.

    Driving to 5910 Washington Drive took about five minutes. While I was driving, and not trying to fall asleep, I was thinking what could be the disturbance at four in the morning; it was still pitch black out. Probably some teens.

    We pulled up on 5910. I dragged my feet through the snow, knocked on the door, and was let in. The woman standing there looked like she had seen a dead person. “Hi…” Her voice was shaking. “I heard noises… They started at about one o’clock and lasted until four.” Now her body was shaking.


    Interested now, I asked, “What were the noises of?”

    “First there was a couple of screams. Then it is hard to say. It sounded as if furniture was being moved. There was also chopping sounds, ripping wood, and I believe a hammering noise.

    Surprise whipped across my face. “What home?”

    She pointed to the house next door. “It’s the old mans house.” Barely audible, she whispered. “He’s going blind.”

    “Thank you ma’am.” I got out of her house and walked through the yard of snow to get to the other house, my friends stepping in my foot steps. I knocked on the door to the old mans house. The man that answered it wasn’t terribly old, maybe a son? “Hello, we are police officers and we got a report of disturbance coming from your house.”

    “Come right on in.” The man had a horrible grin on his face, almost like he was mad.

    We walked in and the man got us seats. The man started to ramble on about, the noise was him while he dreamt, and the old man was out of the country. He got us up and gave us a tour of the house. He led us to, what he said, the old mans room. It stunk in there, I wrinkled my nose. The man came back with four chairs in his hands. We all sat down.

    The man started to sweat. His eyes grew larger and he was shaking… Did he notice he was doing this? Trying no to look at his crazy eyes, I started a cheery conversation with my buds. The man kept getting worse, he would glance around the room, hold his ears, and he was going extremely pale. He started to talk to us, or to himself. Each word he said just kept getting louder and louder. I don’t get it; there is absolutely no noise in the house but our talking. Why was he getting so nervous?

    The man jumped out of his seat and started to pace around the room. I was very worried about my safety. He looked like a cold blood killer trapped in a psychiatric ward going insane. The man started swearing at the top of his lungs. I was stuck in my seat, almost to scared to move. I had never dealt with this before. Trying to keep my cool, I stayed in the conversation with my friends.



    “Villains!” I almost died of shock. He was screaming at the top of his lungs. “Dissemble no more! I admit the deed-” What was this man talking about? “Tear up the planks! - Here, here!-” He was pointing to the spot under his chair. “It is the beating of his hideous heart!”

    I jumped up and grabbed him by the arms. With one swift movement I had him pinned under my weight. He killed the old man who lived here! No doubt about it, this man was mad.






    -Lynnea