I always wondered...

Have you ever wondered what kind of life other people in SL must lead? It seems impossible to exist in SL without wondering this exact point at times. Where are they in the world, what do they do, are they young or old, is their life like mine or so very different? The questions go on and on. Really, all we can go by is what they share and when they are online. I have a great friend who is from Norway and I get glimpses of her life and she's really been amazing - usually online at times which are not exactly daylight for her but she's on and we chat often. The bits of her life she has shared help paint a picture of the person I know through her avatar and it's been a wonderful experience that makes SL magical. Privacy is one thing I've always respected with people. I rarely ask people personal questions, my one that I will ask is 'what time zone are you in?' because of the global nature of SL, it can be very hard to connect with people who live far away and interaction is limited. Not impossible, just hard. The underlying thoughts I have are around the life people live. How similar or different is it from mine. That always is a crazy mystery to me. So many people have different views on things and I love that story in their life and if they share it, it's very eye opening both in good and bad ways. It makes me wonder - do others think about other people they know in SL and what that RL person is going through, what they are doing and how much will I ever know? I've never pushed someone to tell me details about themselves, usually it's volunteered as a friendship builds. Yet, there are some folks that I would like to know more about but my quiet respect never wants to push them. I wonder if others do the same thing?

Halloween Storytime!

Since it's that time of the year, why not share a little scary story? This is a quick look into some fear that I wrote for another project but it didn't quite get there so I figured I'd share it with the lucky peeps who venture in. It's not erotic, maybe not even that scary but I gave it a try and hope you enjoy it!

Just spend the night

Colleen felt the pit of her stomach pulling at her. She could literally feel her stomach move down inside her body in a full sense of dread.

“This is how horror movies start!” She thought as she walked up the farmhouse steps to enter the old abandoned place that was easily over a hundred years old. The sun was already dipping down in a cool grey sky of mid October. A gentle breeze blew which made an already cool night add in a bite of crisp cold to the mix. In this part of Michigan, the leaves had already turned and fallen. Bare trees stood stoic with branches reaching out to the sky which made the evening feel cooler than it already was.

It might have been in the 50’s during the day but at night, it would surely get into the 40’s and the breeze would not help. Colleen scanned the house as she stood on the long porch, most of the windows were gone and inside was an inky black that seemed endless. The house was big with 3 stories and had been abandoned for over 20 years according to the sorority sisters. Sitting atop a gentle hill, this house that once was majestic had fallen into disrepair.

This was considered one of her biggest tests to endure to get in. Up until this point, the party planning, memorizing sorority history and members, doing tons of menial chores had been pretty sucky but she wanted to be in this group. Popular and powerful on campus, the sisters of Tau Beta had it all and to be part of this group meant a great deal on campus and after graduation.

Colleen was here for the ‘Fright Night’ test as the other pledges had called it. Each year a few girls would go out to this old house and spend the night in the dark to prove they had the courage to stay all night. It mostly was a chance for the sorority sisters to prank them and scare the crap out of these young girls. Typically, they only stayed a few hours before one if not all the girls came out of the house screaming. Once they realized it was a prank, everyone would relax, the pledges would go back to the house and enjoy a drink and celebrate the hazing.

Colleen looked over and saw the other two girls that were going in with her. They each had a flashlight and a blanket with them and whatever they wanted to wear. Bundled up, the joined up and went inside. The house was mostly empty, with wood floors that were creaky and grey from the weather. The rooms were big and had papers from books strewn about. Going to the master staircase, they went upstairs and went to the rooms they each had been assigned. The pledge coordinator came in and gave them all some advice about what was going to happen. Of course she said they had to spend the night (although nobody ever made it through the night, they either left screaming or were brought out after a few hours by the sisters as a reward). They could talk to each other but had to remain in the rooms unless they wanted to leave and put their status in jeopardy.

With flashlights in hand, they all sat in their rooms and began to wait things out. At first they chatted a bit to keep things light. The rooms were cold and with the wind blowing through the windows making it downright chilling. The girls could not see each other but could talk as well as flash their flashlights out the doorway into the hall to light it up. For almost an hour, things carried on like this and darkness quickly settled and the entire night was black. With the cold temperatures, it was quiet except for the wind which had a lonely whistle to it. It creeped all the girls out. Colleen looked outside, she could see the two cars of the sorority sisters parked out there with the girls sitting by a nice fire. The four of them appeared to be drinking and snacking and enjoying the night wrapped in cozy blankets while sitting on folding chairs. She sighed and wished the night was over, even with the girls next door, it was creepy and she bundled up from the cold.

As she sat on the floor she could hear noise coming from another room. It was faint at first, the sound of something moving. A gentle scrape that was heavy but slow and stealthy. “Oh great, its scare the girls time” she thought to herself. The other girls in the other rooms didn’t hear it yet and Colleen moved next to an old end table to prop herself up against it. Her hand slipped as she moved the table causing her to drop her flashlight and it turned off, leaving her in pure darkness. That caused a quick chain reaction with the other girls.

“What was that?” Beth shouted

“Is that Colleen?” Sandra gasped

In the inky darkness Colleen tried to find her flashlight, hands grasping into the total black infront of her and the floor she could feel with her fingers.

“Colleen! Are you ok?” Beth shouted with fear in her voice

At that moment, Colleen found the flashlight and said to the others “I’m ok, just dropped my damned flashlight.” She clicked the switch but nothing happened. “Great” she thought, “Broken flashlight is totally worthless”.

She stood, working the flashlight switch and heard the sounds build. The sound that scrape was of feet shuffling slowly on the floor. Clearly, feet on loose pages of paper moving in a room probably next to hers. Heavy was the feeling to the sound as the floorboards creaked to each movement. It was getting louder and clearer and she was in pure darkness. Shaking her light gently and feeling her pulse race, it wasn’t funny, this wasn’t cool. In her mind, Colleen thought “Joke or not, this is not funny”.

The flashlight snapped on suddenly and she looked up to see her room lit and for an instant her eyes could see something in the hallway; a shadow cast in that space by the flashlights of the other girls and at that instant the combined screams of the other two girls. The screams pierced the night and Colleen felt her heart skip a beat as she was beyond scared.

At this point, any reason left her head and her feet moved like a blur, racing out of the room and exiting away from the other two girls’ rooms towards the stairs. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and tingled as she went down the stairs in an almost controlled fall. The screams of the girls pierced the silence and echoed in the house as she ran. Feet tumbling and barely touching the ground they moved with an adrenaline-fueled fear. When she got out of the house, out into the open where the sorority sisters were by the fire she found nothing but a fire with no trace of anyone. No sorority sisters sitting around it all cozy with cars parked nearby, both were gone. She was standing next to the fire, alone with her heart racing, thumping so hard her pulse could be felt on her face and lungs gasping in and out from terror. It was at that moment she realized it was silent again. Stone silent, as if the world had no sound. No more screams from either girl. Just the gentle wind on a cold night with darkness all around her as she stood there not knowing what was next. Turning, she looked back at the house and could see on the second floor a light in the hallway reflected off the old wallpaper. A shape stepped in front of the window, looking outside, silhouetted by the light behind it. A tall figure with square shoulders and ragged hair stood stoically at the open window. She could tell that this person was looking at her and in the blink of an eye, the light behind the silhouette went off and the window was inky black.

She wanted to scream but, what good would that do?