I thought it was over. I thought that the horrid presence that nearly ended my life had gone away. But I was wrong.

It was closer than I could have ever imagined.

While on vacation, my family and I stayed at a little condo on the beachfront in South Carolina. There was a slider door that led out to the beach and to the right of the entrance was a narrow corridor leading into the rest of the home.

Although it wasn't amazing, it was clean and quite modernized. There were shining, white counters and an island in the kitchen. It was one of those open concepts with a spacious living room. There were three bedrooms, but we used only two because when my parents went to book it, the company told them the two bedroom condos were all full up.

This one was much cheaper as well, though my parents didn’t question why.

The first night there, we went swimming. The waves were high and dangerous, I wasn't able to be out there alone despite being around fourteen. After about an hour, the water got bitter cold and we decided to head back inside.

My parents ordered two pizzas and I devoured a few savory pieces.

They went to bed shortly after, but I stayed up for a bit watching late-night cartoons and that's when the first oddity took place.

The light came on in the kitchen behind me. The couch faced away from it, but there was a wide glass window behind the TV that reflected the light with ease. I spun around, only to watch the light turn off the moment my eyes glimpsed the switch.

Maybe one of my parents had gotten up to check on me and tried to slip away before I noticed?

But then something knocked against the window. A sound that is so distinctive that almost every human can recognize it and yet, there was nothing there. 

I began to wonder if I was simply suffering from exhaustion or if my parents were trying to prank me. So I called out, "Mom, Dad, are you guys messing with me?"

My dad responded angrily from their bedroom, "No, keep it down or go to bed!"

I didn't answer back and instead returned to watching cartoons. But I did feel like I was being watched. So I closed the blinds; better for watching TV if there's nothing to distract me reflecting through the glass anyway.

About fifteen minutes later, I heard shuffling from the kitchen. As a young teenager, the sound of a pizza box being scuffed across the surface of a counter was easily recognizable. This place must have rats or something, big ones too, I thought as I made my way to the kitchen.

I lifted the lid of the box and saw maggots covering each leftover slice. I reeled back and gagged; how could they have already got on the pizza?

I swiftly closed it and leaned against the counter, thinking about what I should do. My young mind wanted to leave the maggots for my parents to deal with come morning, but another part of me felt horrible for even having the thought.

Creeeeaaaak…

"Who's that?" I asked aloud, turning my head towards the sound.

Then my heart leapt out of my chest because a pair of eyes were glaring at me from an open seam in the wall.

Thud, thud, thud!

Knocking on the window again. 

The curtains obscured the glass. I couldn't see who or what was knocking even if I wanted to.

SLAM!

The seam in the wall disappeared completely. Then my dad came running out of their bedroom. His eyes were bloodshot and his breathing was that of if he had just run a marathon.

"What is going on out here?!" he asked as he surveyed the room.

"I don't know! There was knocking on the window a-and the light came on by itself and the p-pizza has m-maggots on it, and–"

"Slow down! One thing at a time. Knocking on what window?" I pointed and he peeled the blinds back to inspect the glass, "There isn't anything here. Not now, anyway."

"Well, the knocking came after the light in the kitchen turned on by itself…"

"You're not trying to play a trick on us are you?" he asked, walking over to me.

"No! Look!" I opened the pizza box and…

No maggots. Just regular, delicious pizza.

"You must be really tired if you're seeing stuff like that." he said, tussling my hair.

"I'm being serious! Wait, over here!" I said, moving towards the wall, "There was something staring at me from a crack in the wall, but then the knocking came from the window again and that's when it went away!"

My dad looked at me as if he couldn't recognize his own son. But still (being a mostly good parent) he checked the wall, running his fingernails across it. "It doesn't look like there's anything here. Come on, it's bedtime, we can talk more about it in the morning."

"But dad… something isn't right here."

"You'll be fine, we'll sort it out tomorrow. Come on, let's go." He was starting to get annoyed, so I listened and sulked to my room, more terrified than tired.

That night something visited me. It stared up from the foot of my bed and I watched with fearful eyes as its head spun around like a slow water wheel, each rotation was accompanied by a series of bone-wrenching cracks.

I was petrified and unable to call for help.

The next morning my mother stopped me in the corridor near the bathroom, "What's the matter, honey? Didn't sleep well?" she asked in her usual calm way.

"No, not really…"

"It wasn't that nonsense from last night, was it?" asked my dad from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Last night?" asked my mom. She was a heavy sleeper and likely slept through the commotion between me and my father.

"Our son spooked himself into thinking the place is haunted or something. Talking about knocks on the window and doors in the wall."

"What?" she asked, turning to face me again, "Haunted?"

"Mom, no… I was just tired, like dad said."

"You seemed quite sure that it was real last night." added my father.

"Sweetheart, I know we're far away from home, but don't worry! You'll get used to it and it won't feel so scary." said my mother, gingerly brushing my cheek with her thumb.

I moved my face away, "Yeah, I guess." Should I have mentioned the thing that came into my room?

"Well, we're going out to eat later today, but right now there are blueberries and strawberries in the fridge. I can make us something with that, sounds good?" asked my dad, disregarding what he had told me the night before.

"Yummy! Come on honey, let's eat!" said my mom, grabbing me by the shoulder and dragging me into the kitchen.

We had pancakes; they were alright. I was too tired to truly enjoy them. After that we sat in the living room and watched TV for the better half of the afternoon. I fell asleep on the couch a couple of times but was always awoken whenever a noise other than the TV echoed in the house.

Around 7 p.m. we went out to eat and I had one of the best burgers of my life. However, my nerves were kindled, setting off little sparks all throughout my body with each passing minute. I dreaded the coming night, knowing full-well that what I experienced wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

I didn't want to worry my mom though because she never liked horror stuff and would probably struggle to sleep just like I had. So I kept everything to myself.

But when we got home, my mom went into their room (she had drunk a bit too much) and my dad stopped me in the corridor. "Hey, I know we never talked about what happened last night, not properly anyway. I'm sorry, but you know how your mom gets, I didn't want to scare her."

"Yeah, I know." I said, hanging my head low.

"We can talk about it now if you want? Is there something more you need to tell me?"

"I don’t think you’d believe me if I did."

"I remember when I was your age, I had a crazy imagination. Sometimes I would think that my dog was an evil creature covering my entire floor and if I had to go to the bathroom, it would bite my ankles and hurt me. Obviously that wasn't true, but I still thought about it!"

"It's not like that, dad. This was real… I may be young, but I'm smart enough to know the difference… and…"

"And what?" he inquired further.

I sighed, "Something came into my room last night…"

"What do you mean?"

"There was something staring at me from the foot of my bed all night long, that's why I was so tired…"

"Why didn't you call for me?" he asked, looking through half-lidded eyes.

"I didn't want to make you mad."

"Mad? No, son. I wouldn't have been mad. If you were genuinely scared, how could I be mad? Do I need to go into your room and check it out?"

"Would you?" I asked quietly. I felt incredibly childish for having him do such a thing at my age, but who could blame me?

He came into my room and checked EVERYWHERE. From the corners, to the closet, to the window, to the ceiling, floors and under the bed. There was nothing.

"Looks like everything is fine here. If you would like, we can leave our door open? Our rooms are close enough that if something happens, we'll be able to hear it. Well, I'LL be able to hear it, your mother is down for the count."

I thought long, but felt even worse for putting them through all of this. So I said no and my dad didn't question it.

But that night, things got worse.

I didn't go to sleep right away. Once again, I stayed up to watch cartoons. The blinds were already closed (courtesy of my father) and there wasn't a pizza box on the counter. 

I felt relieved if anything else.

The couch was one of those L-shaped kinds; it was gray and plenty comfortable. I was on the part that was more of a long chair that ended in a half circle with my hands behind my head and my ankles crossed.

I'm not an expert in furniture, but I was fairly certain that the couch was older. That didn't change its comfortability, though it did make it loud.

So loud in fact, that I immediately noticed when the springs were being compressed on the other end. As I turned to look, there was a sunken spot across the couch as if someone were sitting there.

"H-hello?" I asked, hoping not to hear a response.

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang. My dad came out of the bedroom and stared at me. "... Was that you?" he asked, massaging his face.

"No, I've been sitting here the whole time…" I said, looking towards the spot in the couch, but it had reinflated like what was once there had gone.

He blew out a lengthy exhale and walked down the corridor to the front door. I heard him open it, but he said nothing. After a minute or two, the door closed.

Yet for some reason, he didn't come back down the hall. I waited for several minutes and still, he didn’t return.

"D-dad? Is everything okay?" I asked, craning my neck over the edge of the couch.

"Come here…" he said; his voice sounded raspy and tired.

I complied, climbing over the back of the couch to act on his beck and call. But I stopped in my tracks when the corridor came into view because my dad was standing at the end of it, though he wasn't facing either the front door or the back slider. He was facing away from me.

"Dad? What's going on?" I asked, cautiously approaching.

Suddenly, he arched backwards and his body split open down the middle, splattering blood across the walls and floor. Then two arms emerged from the center of his abdomen and stretched out and down until the palms were flat against the floor. 

His head faced straight up at the ceiling and… I can't lie… I soiled myself. That's when the top of his scalp divided and revealed two grisly rows of human-like teeth.

I tried to run, but I was completely paralyzed. Then he rushed towards me and I screamed myself awake.

A nightmare.

I had fallen asleep on the couch. My first instinct was to check if the spot on the other end was still compressed, but it wasn't. 

However, my father was standing at the end of the couch, staring at something above my head. "What are you doing, dad?" I asked, scooting myself into more of a sitting position.

He didn't respond, instead, he turned around and walked back to their bedroom. His body flailed around like it was made of elastic; he had no stabilization in his limbs as each step made his body appear as if it was made of jello.

When he disappeared into the room, I turned the TV off and hurried to mine. But despite my previous experienced horrors simply being in my head, I had unfortunately wet myself in real life. I didn't notice right away because my mind was so foggy after being woken up.

So I grabbed my pajamas and headed for the bathroom. I was BEYOND embarrassed and just wanted to shower the shame away. Stepping into the tub was a lesson in cautionary tales because not only was I worried about something sneaking up on me, but jumping into a water-filled basin of any kind is risky as you could always slip, fall and break your neck.

Dying like that lacked a certain… dignity.

Anyway, I cleaned myself up and crept out of the bathroom. One of my parents must have forgotten to set the thermostat because it was freezing. Even the floor was like walking on ice.

Before entering my room, I glanced into my parents and could just barely see two lumps under their blankets. I felt calmed, and with that, I went into my room and crawled into bed.

Around 2 a.m. I woke up drenched in sweat. Now the condo was boiling like it was volcano adjacent. And, like the night before, something was watching me in my room. It had taken a position in the corner next to the door and was nearly as tall as the ceiling.

Carefully, I pulled the blanket closer to my chin. Despite being soaked, I felt protected by my covers (even though I knew that was silly) and could handle the blazing heat if it meant a sense of safety.

The whole rest of the night, it stared at me, and when the first rays of light shined through my window, it vanished. Another almost sleepless night.

I wasn't enjoying this vacation at all.

My mother came into my room and found my soiled clothes. I had actually fallen asleep with a sunbeam shining directly into my face because of my sheer exhaustion. But she woke me up by shaking my shoulder. "Honey, did you have an accident last night? My goodness, you're on fire!"

I didn't necessarily feel hot. Then again, I didn't feel much of anything at that moment. "I'm sorry mom… I don't know why it happened. I… had a nightmare and woke up like that."

"Well that's okay, but why are you so hot? You're absolutely drenched in sweat!" She pulled my covers off to reveal a dark pool beneath me. I wasn't thirsty though; was it actually sweat?

"After I showered, the house was really cold. I thought that maybe the thermostat wasn't working or you two set it at a lower temperature. Then I woke up a little while later and the house was boiling… " I crawled out of bed, feeling ghastly, "Did dad tell you about the doorbell last night?" I asked, hoping to veer the subject.

"Doorbell? There isn't a doorbell here and your father accidentally closed the bedroom door last night when he went to sleep."

"Oh, that must have been in my dream. But wait… your door was open when I walked to my room from the bathroom. And dad was in the living room when I woke up from my nightmare. Where is he now?"

"He's sleeping, sweetie. It might just be me and you today, he's feeling a bit under the weather. He said something about, 'Food not agreeing with him' from the restaurant last night."

"That's strange, he seemed fine to me. Well, apart from the way he was moving…"

"What?" she asked, scrunching her face together.

"He just seemed… loose?"

"What are you talking about, loose?"

"He means limber." said my dad from the bedroom doorway.

"You're out of bed?! Are you feeling better?" asked my mom, rushing over to feel his face.

"I'm fine. Well, I will be, at least." he said, focusing his eyes right on me. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm… fine, dad."

"That's good. Come on, let's eat." he said as he turned around.

"Get dressed and join us, sweetie!" said my mom before she followed behind him.

We ate a heavy breakfast with nearly a pile of meat on mine and my father's plate. He ate voraciously, tearing apart sausages and shredding bacon with his gnashing teeth. I ate slowly, watching his ravenous display. My mother didn't seem to notice, or mind.

Dad decided we would be staying in for that day, so I tried to steal some shut-eye while the sun wasted away but found it difficult. Mom was acting rather oblivious to all of the strange happenings while something was seriously wrong with my father.

His eyes were sunken in like he was sick and his cheeks drooped like old jowls. He was trembling, yet my mother was ignoring it and instead played on her phone completely unaware. At one point, I tried to inquire into his well-being, but he shot me a perturbed look and it prompted me to keep my mouth shut.

And when night came, he simply got up and went straight to bed. My mother eagerly followed him and neither one of them said a word to me.

I went to my room right after and closed the door as tightly as possible. Then I jumped into bed and hid under the covers.

For whatever reason, I slept throughout the entire night without so much as an awakening sound being uttered. And I admit, waking up in the morning after suffering no incident had me questioning if it was another dream.

When my feet touched the tile floor, a shiver rippled through my frigid body; it was freezing again! I opened my bedroom door and my parents were both already awake, sitting on the couch. The TV wasn't on.

"Mom?... Dad?" I asked. Neither responded. "Are you guys okay?"

"Breakfast is on the counter." said my father, keeping his eyes fixed on the black screen.

I wasn't particularly hungry, but I went to the kitchen anyway. What I found however, was a moldy bagel with a colony of ants scavenging all over it.

"I… can't eat this?" I said as my stomach grew unsettled.

Then like a scene from the exorcist, my father rotated his head completely around. His neck immediately flushed a bruised red and he spoke hoarsely. "You will eat what we tell you to eat." he said, then his irises washed over in white as if they were dead.

All the while my mother kept quiet.

I stood in disbelief. Suddenly he roared, "EAT IT!" Before his head separated from his shoulders and thumped to the ground.

I shrieked in a not-so-masculine way and ran to pull my mother off the couch. "Mom!" I shouted as I made my way to her; my feet nearly came out from under me as my socks had little traction on the floor.

When I reached her, I fell backwards because what I saw was not the mother I knew and loved.

Her jaw had distended beyond the threshold of human capability, almost touching her abdomen. She still held her phone, but had no eyes to look at it. At the same time, my father's headless, festering torso maintained motor function and began reaching for its severed head.

I yelled, SCREAMED even; all worthless. 

The torso grabbed the head and placed it back onto the neck stump. My mother turned her gelatinous face towards me and uttered winded sounds the likes of which reminded me of a demon. 

Then she reached for me.

I scooted back only to bump into something hefty. When I turned around, the thing that had been watching me at the foot of my bed was standing behind me. As I stared in awe, it grew until it reached the ceiling and hunched over. Its scaly-gray skin stretched across its lanky body like a tight sleeve.

Because it had grown to such a height, I needed to kink my neck almost straight up to look into its black eyes the size of pins. It had no mouth, not at first, but suddenly its face divided horizontally and opened to reveal rotten teeth, brown and yellow and laden with holes.

It was open enough that if it had the mind to, it could swallow me whole.

Paralyzed again, utter terror down to my core. The thing placed both of its hands with elongated fingers upon my shoulders and lifted me off the ground. I struggled against its grip, kicking and screaming. Its teeth multiplied, now its mouth resembled that of a leech. Hitting its wicked body seemed to do no good and I began to wonder what it would feel like to be eaten alive.

Then it released me, I'm not sure why but I hit the ground running. I went straight for the front door and turned to see a glimpse of both my mother and father coming after me, still looking like beings from hell but the creature had disappeared.

I opened the door and rushed outside into the light. And I felt safe, I don't know why, but I did. When I turned around to face the condo, my parents were both standing there perfectly normal as if nothing had happened. 

And the first thing my father said? "Well, it's time to pack!" 

He spoke as if his own head hadn't just been disconnected, like he didn't remember any of it. And he made me go back inside to gather my things, despite protesting against it. He said, "That's complete nonsense." When I told him about everything. I felt insane!

But did any of it really happen? I ask that because when I went back inside, there wasn't a single thing out of place and no creature. However, I did feel this… looming and oppressive presence in the home, something I can only describe as the epitome of dread.

My parents didn't seem to notice or care. And regardless of feeling sick, dirty and like a bear was draped over my shoulders, I just had to pretend like everything was okay all the way home.

Not once did they wonder why we were leaving two days early or why there were maggots on all of our things by the time we got home. 

But after another week or so, things seemed to be back to normal.

That was until I went out into the living room to watch cartoons on a regular Saturday night.

I thought it was gone. I thought that we had done away with whatever that thing was. But if that's the case, then why did the kitchen light turn on behind me that night? And why was there nobody there when I turned around?

At least there wasn't a pizza box on the counter.