Lights Out

It all started with a phone call. Dai Ying had just finished cooking himself a delicious meal. He put the roasted potatoes, seasoned beef, and corn on a large plate and wandered into the living room to sit on his dark brown barca lounger. His cat, Harley, curled up next to him on the armchair and was fast asleep. Friday nights were Dai’s favorites, when he could just come home from the restaurant and have a nice meal in front of the TV and not have to worry about waking up early the next morning. The rest of the nights, as head chef, he had to work later.

That night, he was lucky enough to find one of his favorite movies playing on TV: The Lord of the Rings. Frodo had just finished talking to Gandalf when Dai’s phone starting ringing. He was so comfortable in his chair that he didn’t want to get up, but he always worried that he wouldn’t pick up when it was someone really important. He muted the TV, quickly walked over to the phone, and picked it up.

“Hello?”

No one answered.

“Hello?” Dai repeated.

Then, in this deep, drawling voice came the words: “You’re next.”

“Uh, who is this?” Dai asked, but the phone line went dead.

Dai didn’t really know what to make of such a phone call, so he went to his chair and sat back down. Harley was still sound asleep. “It must have just been a prank call,” he said to himself as he pet Harley. “Yeah, that’s definitely what it was.” But his hands were still trembling.

The next morning, Dai Ying woke up at ten o’clock feeling refreshed. However, he never had the energy to get up right away because he knew his Saturday mornings were precious, and to get out of his cozy bed when he could be enjoying the soft sheets would be a crime.

He finally forced himself to get up at around ten thirty. He popped a few pieces of baguette in the toaster, then went to go take his shower and get dressed. When he came back, his toast was nice and crispy, just how he liked it. Dai cherished the sweet taste of jelly and butter, then set off for the day—but not before giving Harley a kiss on the nose. When he left the house, Dai had completely forgotten about the previous night’s phone call.

            The restaurant closed late on Saturday nights, so Dai didn’t pull up in front of his house before midnight. All the other lights on his block were out. He barely made it to the front door without tripping over branches that had blown across the path. Without noticing, Dai stepped into a puddle of liquid at front of the door.

As he was reaching into his pocket to pull out his house keys, he felt a drop hit his arm. Then another drop landed on top of his head. “What the—” Dai looked up, a drop landing on his face. It was pitch black, except for the dim light coming from the moon, and all he could make out was a strange shape above his doorway. He quickly opened the door and rushed inside to turn on the outside lamp. He looked down at his arm where the drop had landed; it left a dark red trail. Dai went back outside and looked up. The sight was horrific, disgusting, barbaric. “Oh my god, HARLEY!” There he was, a lifeless orange shape pinned to the wall with a sword. Dai collapsed on the ground as his dinner poured out through his mouth onto the cold pavement.

When Dai had the strength to get up, he walked inside, shutting his eyes as he went through the doorway. He couldn’t look at it. His eyes and his heart hurt. He picked up the phone and called the police. When they arrived minutes later, they searched the house to make sure no one was inside.

A big, tough-looking officer walked up to Dai, pen and pad in hand. “I’m Officer Hanson. Please state your name.”

“Dai Ying.”

“Okay, Mr. Ying, we did a thorough check of your house, but didn’t find anything. We also checked the sword for prints, but it was wiped clean. Now, can you tell me what happened?”

Tears began to run down Dai’s cheeks as he explained to Officer Hanson step by step what had happened that night.  He didn’t want to seem like a sissy, so he quickly wiped them away.

“Do you have any enemies, or someone that might want to do you harm?”

“Uh, no, I really don’t think so. I can’t think of anyone.” Dai was such a nice guy, it was crazy to think that anyone would ever want to hurt him.

“Mr. Ying, is there anything else I should know? Anything unusual happen lately?”

Dai quickly answered, “No,” but then he suddenly remembered the strange phone call he had received the night before. “Wait. I did get a weird phone call last night. It was a male’s voice, but all it said was, ‘You’re next,’ and hung up. I thought it was just some kids playing a prank on me.”

“We’ll check your phone lines to see if we can get the number of the person who called. I’m so sorry about your cat. Be careful. If anything unusual happens, you call us immediately. I don’t want it to be you up there next.” Officer Hanson shook Dai’s hand and walked away.

Dai was scared to be left alone, but he went inside anyway, turning on all the lights in the house. Knowing he would have trouble sleeping after what he had seen, he took a few sleeping pills that knocked him out as soon as he rested his head on his red pillow.

The police called on Sunday to let him know that whoever had called Friday night had an untraceable number. The next few days passed by fairly normally and Dai hoped that this was a sign for the end of atypical activity. Unfortunately, he did not feel like his usual lively self; he was languid and solemn. Life was lonely without Harley.

To his boss’ dismay, he didn’t take any days off work. Cooking was the only thing that kept his mind off Harley. Cooking was his meditation. Plus, he felt safer at the restaurant, always surrounded by people. Going home was painful, and every time he walked through that doorway he was reminded of the nauseating sight of his little bloody cat.

Four nights after the incident, Dai was lying in bed awake. Harley had been like a safety blanket to him, and falling asleep without him had proven to be difficult. Dai left the lights on since it made him feel safer. His eyes were fluttering shut when three slow knocks on the door startled him wide awake. He looked at his alarm clock. “Who the hell is knocking at two in the freaking morning?” he asked himself as he walked to the front door and peered through the peep hole. He couldn’t see anyone. He unlocked the door and opened it. A strong breeze hit him. There really wasn’t anyone there. Had he imagined it? He contemplated calling the police, but decided he would feel rather stupid for calling just about a knock on the door, so he chose to go back to bed and forget it ever happened.

When Dai woke up the next morning, he removed the covers and noticed that it was much colder in the house than usual. He looked over toward his window to find it wide open, but he didn’t remember opening it during the night. He went through the house and was shocked to see that all the windows were open. “When did I open the windows?” he asked himself. Dai was perplexed and irritated, unsure of what was going on.

He quickly got ready for work, wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible. But when he reached for his car keys, they were not in their usual spot in the little ceramic bowl by the front door. He glanced at his watch. There was no time to look for the keys, so he called a taxi. Dai opened the front door and closed it behind him. He stopped short, realizing that he hadn’t unlocked the door before opening it, meaning that the door was unlocked the whole night. But then he remembered the knocking during the night and thought he must have just forgotten to lock it. 

When he got into the taxi, he realized he hadn’t gone around the house to close all the windows, but it was too late.

When Dai got home that night, he was exhausted from his long day of work. All he wanted to do was take a nice hot shower and crawl into bed. He went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. When he sat down at the table, the lights flickered for a moment then went out. Dai was left in absolute darkness.

            He got up from the table and felt his way to the window. Most of the other houses had their lights on. This was very confusing to Dai. He knew that this time he was going to call the police, but when he picked up the phone, there was no dial tone. He tried punching in numbers, but nothing happened. He reached for his cell phone, but after years of making calls inside the house, for some odd reason, it was telling him he didn’t have any service.

            Dai started running to the front door, but tripped over one of the kitchen chairs and landed hard on his knees. A dull pain surged up and down his legs. “Ow!” he cried out. He got back up and decided this time to be a little more careful and to use the light from his phone to avoid tripping over any more objects.

            Dai’s knees were still throbbing when he reached the front door. He tried unlocking it, but it wouldn’t budge. Then he tried turning the handle, but it wouldn’t move either. It didn’t make sense. He had just come through this door minutes before. He tried again, this time turning the lock with all the strength he could gather and jiggling the handle with full force. Nothing. It was no use. His heart was pounding hard, as if it were trying to burst out of his chest and save itself. Dai put his hand over his heart, hoping to calm it.

            Still using the light from his cell phone to guide him, Dai went into his bedroom and tried opening the window. He couldn’t think of any other way to get out. He placed his hands at the bottom and pushed up with all his might.  Like the door though, the window would not open. By now, his whole body was trembling. He went back to the kitchen and tried opening that window. It too was stuck. “STOP!” he yelled, but everything was silent.

            Dai knew that whatever it took, he had to get out of that house. He picked up the chair he had just tripped over and, covering his face, threw it against the window. He heard the glass shatter and felt little pieces land on various parts of his body, but he didn’t care. He had to keep going. He climbed onto the kitchen counter and slid through the window as bits of glass dug into the palms of his hands. The window wasn’t high up, so the impact upon landing wasn’t strong. Dai took a brief moment to catch his breath. He was finally out of the house. He thought he was safe.

            Once he had enough energy, Dai got up and ran over to the neighbor’s house. He needed a phone line that worked and a place to sleep for the night. Panting, he knocked on the door quickly three times. He wanted to get inside as soon as possible. After a few moments, the door opened a crack as a man peered through to see who it was.

            “Ryan?” asked Dai.
            The door opened wide but the person behind it was unfamiliar. He was tall and muscular, with dark eyes and dark hair. He had a shallow cut on his left cheek, surrounded by a little blood. He was certainly not Ryan. “Hi, I’m Seth,” he said, “Ryan’s cousin. He’s not actually here right now. He’s on a business trip. I’m house-sitting for him. Would you like to come in?”

            Dai thought it was strange for Ryan to be on a business trip, since he was a waiter, but he didn’t make too much of it. “Uh, no, that’s ok. I don’t want to intrude.”

            “I insist,” said the man. He took a few steps backwards to leave room for Dai to enter. “I could use a little company,” he added, a smile on his face. 

            “Oh, well, alright.” Dai was embarrassed, but too frightened to go anywhere else. He entered the dimly-lit hallway, locked the door behind him, and then followed Seth into the kitchen. Seth motioned for him to sit down in one of the chairs.

            “Want anything to drink?” asked Seth as he walked over to the fridge.

            “A beer would be great, thanks.”

            Seth opened the fridge door, pulled out a beer, and handed it to Dai. He saw the small cuts on Dai’s hands as he was reaching for the drink. “What happened to your hands?”

            “Oh, it’s nothing. I just broke a glass.”

“I’m going to go upstairs to get some stuff to clean that up. I’ll be right back. Just stay where you are, okay?”

            Dai simply nodded as Seth left the kitchen and went upstairs. He took a few sips of his beer but then felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. He knew there was one on the bottom floor, since he’d been there a couple years back. He left the kitchen and turned right down the hallway, then took another right. As he was walking past the living room, something caught his eye. He stopped and backtracked. It was a puddle of red liquid that spread across the floor and around behind the couch. It was blood.

            Dai followed the red trail and looked behind the couch. It was a vulgar sight. A body, deep cuts along its entire surface, fingers and toes no longer attached, blood splattered everywhere. Dai was suddenly very nauseous and faint. He held on to the couch for support, but the sight was too revolting for him, and everything went black.

            Dai felt water splash his face and heard a loud cackle. He opened his eyes. He was on a chair in Ryan’s dark living room, barefoot, and Seth was standing in front of him, grinning, a sword in his right hand and a cup of water in his left. Dai tried moving, but his hands and legs were tied up.

            “What the hell do you want from me?!?” yelled Dai.

            “I just want to have a little fun,” said Seth, caressing the side of his sword. He let out another high-pitched cackle. “Do you miss him?”

            “Who?”

“Harley. He was a sweet little cat. You should have heard the way he screeched as I slipped the sword through his heart. Pity.”

“You’re sick.”

            “Perhaps. Now, what do you want to start with first, your fingers or toes?”

Dai was paralyzed with fear. His voice cracked as he spoke, “Is it m-money you want? I’ll g-give you everything I have. I-I promise. Just let me go. Please.”

“Ha! You poor little thing. You just don’t get it, do you? It’s not money I want. It’s you. It’s the pleasure of ripping you up little by little, bit by bit. I don’t like repeating myself, so I’m going to ask you one more time. What do you want to start with?”

“Please don’t do this. I beg you. I swear, I’ll give you—”

“SHUT UP!” Seth yelled as he grabbed Dai’s hand and sliced through the flesh and bone of his index finger.

“NOO! STOP!” Dai struggled in his seat, but it was useless. He would face the same death as his sorry neighbor.

He could hear the sound of his bones crunching as Seth cut off his remaining fingers and moved on to his toes. Dai was screaming so loud, both from the excruciating pain and in hopes that someone might hear him and save him. The pain was unbearable. Blood poured out of the stumps at the ends of his arms and legs that once held fingers and toes. Dai could see his flesh laid out on the floor in every direction. He heard one last cackle as the blurry figure of a tall man lifted his right arm and brought the sword down hard to Dai’s chest.