The Intruder
11:00 PM
Dan Hawkens stood over his sleeping wife Sarah for fifteen minutes, holding a brand-new axe that he bought that afternoon. He couldn’t stop the voices in his head. His hands shook uncontrollably. Hawkens made a jerky movement to swing the axe around him but then he stopped. He saw her peaceful face as she slept. He hoped that she was having a nice dream. She must have had another tough shift at the hospital. He wasn’t sure when this terrible urge began but Hawkens has been thinking about killing his family and ending his own life for few years now. At first, he just brushed it off. But now that that creepy urge turned into a desire. He wasn’t himself.
He took a deep breath and told himself that this was it, it was time.
Dan slowly swung the axe around. Tears came down his cheeks. The voice inside his head told him to be quick so he can get to his kids next. Dan’s breath became erratic and labored.
Suddenly, a flash of light hit his face.
“Dan, is that you?” Sarah muttered as she turned to her left.
“Yeah honey, go back to sleep”
Dan silently stormed out of the room. He quickly ran downstairs to the garage and hid the axe. Then, he ran to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Hawkens took a big gulp. Sophie, his seven-year-old came downstairs. His hands were still shaking. He gathered himself.
“Daddy, are you ok?” Sophie asked in her sweet voice.
“I’m well sweetheart, go back to bed, school tomorrow”
Little Sophie went up the stairs and Dan heard her close the door behind her.
As Dan finished his drink, he poured another one, he could make out a faint ghostly figure pace up and down the living room. The ghost seemed to be holding a flashlight. The light illuminated his dark living room. It seemed to be scanning the room intently. The flash hit his face. Dan squinted his eyes and got up and swung his hand at the light. The flash disappeared.
11:00PM
Shane Macpherson had fifty million followers on YouTube and other platforms on the internet, who tuned in every Friday night at 7PM to watch his highly entertaining ghost hunting show Ghouls and Ghosts. He just closed a massive brand deal with a company that makes military grade flashlight that can reach half a million lumens. The sponsoring company claimed that their lights could be seen from space. Shane’s fans requested that they return to the infamous Hawkens Murder House and do a live stream. The YouTuber didn’t usually do live streams as his editing style is the main element that allowed him to amass his millions of followers from around the world. People loved his quick cinematic cuts and witty narratives. His brands paid him a million bucks upfront to do a live stream with ad breaks every ten minutes. One thing Macpherson never did was disappoint his sponsors.
He walked up to the room where the first murder occurred, where Dan Hawkens bludgeoned his wife to death, after which he murdered his two daughters Sophie and Libby, aged seven and five. He flashed the light around the room. The police left the blood stains as evidence, for the last five years. It was quite a scene. There were darkened blood splatter patterns everywhere.
He stepped closer to the bed where Sarah died, when he felt and heard footsteps and see the door close behind him. The comments poured in on his phone with people saying that it was all staged and that it’s all fake. Shane went into the kids’ room. There were no blood stains anywhere. Thinking that he’s in the wrong room, he made his way downstairs. Shane couldn’t believe what he was seeing. In all his “ghost hunting career” he’s never actually witnessed a ghost. But there they were. He saw the apparition of Sophie and Dan as clear as day. Sophie walked up to her room passing through Shane like a mist. He could still see Dan’s ghostly figure seemingly sitting on the couch taking sips from a glass. He approached the ghost and flashed the light. What happened next was totally unexpected. Dan took a swing at him knocking him down. Shane must have hit his head on his way down. He blacked out.
When he opened his eyes, it was morning. The warm sun rays comforted him. He was still laying down on the floor with a throbbing head. He was in the same living room with the Hawkens family looking down at him. There was Dan, his wife Sarah and the kids, but they weren’t ghostly.
“I didn’t call the cops yet, ‘cos you’re that guy from the internet, right?”
Shane had a hell of a headache.
“Yeah, that’s me, The Ghost Hunter. Sarah appeared happy to see a celebrity in her house.
“I, I don’t understand, isn’t this the Hawkens Murder House?” Shane muttered still dazed.
“What? What are you talking about, jackass!” Dan yelled a little annoyed and entertained.
Sarah was holding a cup for Shane.
“Here, have a sip, you’re a coffee guy right, you’ll feel batter” Sarah said.
Shane spent about and hour with the family explaining how he got inside the Hawkens’ house. Dan’s family were amazed that they were famous for being ghosts. Shane finally got enough strength to get up. He told them that he’ll visit them again and walked back to his car.
Sitting in his car, Shane googled the Hawken’s House. Not one thing popped up.