Unexpected Help
Stacy Jenkins, a new college graduate full of ambition and drive, recently moved into an apartment far from her hometown. Poised with a bit of grit and confidence, Stacy made it clear to her parents that she did not want their financial help. She scraped up enough savings to get through the first few months of rent. The downside to not getting help from her affluent parents was that Stacy could only afford an apartment in a pretty sketchy neighborhood. The apartment complex also came with a long dark history. But despite that, Stacy fell in love with the unit and the freedom that came with it.
However, like most low-cost apartment units, Stacy's came with its share of issues. When she first arrived, she had to deal with major plumbing issues, leaks from the upstairs neighbors, and the occasional electrical issues. Stacy chalked it up to the usual pains of renting an older apartment. Some problems weren't always tied to manual fixes. She endured late-night arguments between her next-door neighbor and their partner. On other nights, she was often awoken by an uneasy heaviness in her chest. But even with those inconveniences, Stacy found a way to live with them.
Soon after, Stacy noticed things would go missing in her unit, and she would occasionally experience the hair on the back of her neck rise. The feeling that she wasn't alone became more apparent. After chatting with friends, they suggested the purchase of sage to help rid her apartment of negative energy. Stacy wasn't into energy readings or supernatural things, but she saw no harm in her friend's suggestion.
Armed with sage and an abalone shell to catch the burn-offs, she began to walk around her unit to expel negative energy. Once inside the bathroom, she began to wave the burning sage over and around the different areas. As she did, the sage started to burn with intensity. The smoke from the sage was strong and overpowering. Nervous by the abrupt power, Stacy quickly rubbed the sage stick into the abalone shell to ease the flames. “That was odd,” she thought, but quickly dismissed it and continued to wave the sage around other parts of her apartment.
The next day she felt a sense of relief, almost as if there was a renewed energy inside the apartment, but that feeling of comfort quickly faded. After running the bath water, her tub started to fill with unexplained dark gunk.
Disgusted with this new turn of events, Stacy immediately called her apartment complex maintenance person. Within the hour, Ronny, the maintenance guy, showed up and was eagerly let in. "Thank god you're here," she proclaimed, "I wouldn't know what to do in this situation." Ronny made his way to the bathroom and quickly went to work. While watching him inspect the tub's shower knobs, Stacy received a call from her mom.
Stepping away from the bathroom, Stacy proceeded to chat with her mom. Ronny noticed the abrupt call and paused his work to listen intently. “Mom, I told you! I don’t need the money. Why do you insist on fighting me on this?” yelled Stacy. Ronny continued to remove the knobs while he listened in on the conversation. “I appreciate it, but I’m going to send that money back to you.” Stacy ended the call and made her way back to the bathroom. Ronny, intently listening, started to work harder as Stacy walked in. “So, how much longer do you think this will take?” she asked. “Not sure. I think I need to get more tools,” he responded. “Great,” she thought, “there goes my evening plans.”
Ronny left to get more tools, and Stacy started to text her friends that she would likely not make it out that evening. Completely annoyed by the situation, she opened a bottle of wine. “I guess it’s wine o’clock for me then,” and she gave herself a heavy pour. As she began to enjoy her wine, there was a sudden knock on her door. “Ronny?” she asked but got no response. Thinking it was a mistake, she began to situate herself on the couch and started to search for something to watch. Then another loud knock at the door. Annoyed by the unresponsiveness the first time, Stacy barged towards the door and swung it open. No one was at her door. She slowly poked her head out to look down the hallway. The hallway was empty, dark, and dank. Stacy immediately shut the door behind her and locked it.
She quickly grabbed her phone and started to dial a friend. “Hey, Mark, can you swing by and keep me company for a bit?” Her good friend Mark could sense the fear in her voice and told her he’d be there in about an hour. Comforted by the thought of her friend stopping by, there remained a sense of uneasiness. Suddenly she could hear the trickling sounds of water. Feeling nervous and afraid, Stacy began to peer into the kitchen and noticed the kitchen faucet had been turned on.
She approached the kitchen and slowly turned it off. Then suddenly, the dish towel next to the sink flew off the handles and landed on the floor next to her. A new sense of fear had now taken over. Her heart began to race as she backed away from the kitchen area. The sound of something sliding had caught her attention. Turning to her small dining table, the bottle of wine that was once in the middle of the table had now made its way toward the edge. Staring intently at the bottle that kept moving closer to the edge, Stacy’s eyes were fixated, wide with shock. Her body was frozen in fear. She was speechless.
Suddenly there was another loud knock at the front door. Overwhelmed with fear and shock, Stacy didn’t move or say a word. The knocking continued, but she could hear Ronny asking for Stacy this time. “Miss Jenkins? You there?” he asked. Stacy snapped out of it and rushed to the door. “Yes, oh my god. I never thought I would be so happy to see a stranger in my apartment.” Confused by her statement, Ronny brushed it off and headed toward the bathroom. Relieved and overwhelmed, Stacy slumped down on the couch with a huge sigh.
She reached for her phone to make another call when Ronny shouted for her. Stacy went to the bathroom, but Ronny wasn’t there. “Ronny?” she called out. As she turned around, she was sucker punched in the face by Ronny. Stacy fell backward into the tub full of gunk. She quickly tried to pull herself out when Ronny lunged forward and started to choke her. Fighting and gasping for air, Stacy punched and clawed at Ronny’s face. He beat her a few more times, leaving her helpless and unable to fight back.
Ronny wiped his hands and arms off the yuck that was in the tub and walked off. He went into Stacy’s bedroom and started to search for her wallet. He found it, quickly pulled out the cash and cards, and pocketed them. Ronny then went to the kitchen, rummaged through her drawers, and found a knife. With a knife in hand, he entered the bathroom and threatened to kill her if she didn’t give him her PIN. Slumped on the floor with barely any energy and a mouth full of blood, she gurgled, “Fuck you.”
Upset at the response, Ronny kicked her in the stomach and repeated himself, “Give me the PIN bitch! I swear I’ll kill you.” But this time, silence, “Hey!” he kicked her again, but she fell entirely to the floor. “Fuck!” He thought to himself. “Screw this,” he started to walk away when suddenly he heard a low grumbling sound.
Ronny paused a few steps down the hallway. His face wrinkled with confusion. “What the hell was that?” He turned around to check the bathroom and immediately could see that Stacy was now standing fully upright.
The low, grumbling laughter became a loud, ominous chuckle. The laughter was coming from Stacy. He pointed the knife at her and yelled, “What’s so fucking funny?” She continued to chuckle, and finally, in a voice not of her own, she screamed back, “YOUR DEATH!” As she lunged forward, Ronny plunged the knife into her abdomen. Stacy stepped back, clutching the knife in her stomach. He started throwing his hands up, “You see? You made me do it?” but as he watched her back up, Stacy slowly began to pull the knife out of her stomach. “What the fuck?” said Ronny as Stacy laughed and took the knife entirely out. With the knife in her hand, she immediately attacked with sheer force and energy.
Layed slumped and dying, Ronny gasped for his last breaths as Stacy leaned close to him, laughing into his ear. She suddenly falls next to him and looks up at the ceiling. Her eyes raced, and her body was in full convulsion. Then it all stopped, and her eyes were wide open, staring blankly outwards with foam spewing from her mouth.
A few minutes had gone by before Mark stumbled upon the horror. He quickly rushed over to Stacy and immediately started CPR. Finally, with a loud gasp for air, Stacy was revived and hysterically coughing and trying to catch her breath. "Stacy! Oh my god!" screamed Mark, "What happened?" Still groggy and clutching onto her stomach, she lifted her palm slowly to reveal the gaping hole in her stomach. Mark quickly placed her palm back on the wound and told her to keep it there. He dialed for help, and soon after, the apartment was swarmed with police officers, detectives, and EMTs.
Upon their arrival, many were confused and shocked by the scene. A dead and tall heavyset, Ronny lay on the floor sliced, battered, broken, and bruised.
A detective quickly rushed over to Stacy, who was being wheeled off on a gurney, and asked her if she could quickly tell them what happened.
Still barely conscious, Stacy uttered, “he attacked me,” pointing at Ronny. The detective then asked, “and who attacked him?” Stacy’s eyes began to roll uncontrollably as her convulsions started back up. The EMT personnel told the detective they needed to get her out of there. Stacy's convulsion stopped as they continued to rush her off, and she pointed at the space next to her. She let out a loud scream and said, “HE DID IT!” The detectives looked over and saw an empty room. “She’s pointing at nothing,” said one officer. “I can see that,” responded the detective.
They continued casing the scene when a young officer rushed over to one of the detectives and said, “Hey, take a look at this; what do you think that is?” as he showed the detective the screen on his camera.
“You took this?” asked the detective, “Yes, right before they took her out, Sir, right there,” as he pointed at the same empty space as Stacy. The detective squinted to determine what he saw, “That looks like someone else is in the photo?” said the young officer. They both looked at the camera, back at the empty wall, and back at the camera.