Arbenting

Freddy the freelancer had been out of his home office all day. Nothing in particular on the schedule so he had taken some time to hit the streets seeking out genius designs of Halloween decorations. Owing to the fact that he was his own boss, Freddy had slept in that day, and his walk was dragging him around until after sundown. The hungry Halloweeners rushed out from all directions on a mission of candy collection. It was after coming across an excessively insistent group of ghouls that ridiculed his accidental geek-chic costume (which just so happened to be the clothes he had in a pile next to the bed) labeling it laughably lame, that Freddy decided it may just be time to head back home.

Pumpkin Carving by Scott Cummins

He left the densely populated housing area, heading through the gathering of shops that he lived above, leaving the jack-o-lanterns and kids behind. Once the bustle of the begging brigades had faded, an uneasy quite set in filling the streets with the sounds of the howling wind as it whipped around the nestled retail buildings, blowing with a wicked chill. Freddy brought his arms together shielding himself slightly from the unforgiving wind, and then he heard it. The low throttling hum of a hard drive trying desperately to spin up. He quickly turned to glance behind him, fearing what he may find lurking in his trailing footsteps. Nothing was there. Leaves danced solemnly in the breeze with a slight rustle when they’d land, but that was all. He faced forward and started moving again towards home. But he heard it again!

The sound was ricocheting off of the shop facades as it rose into the air, making it impossible to trace it’s point of origin. Freddy’s eyes nervously looked around, as he again, stopped dead in his tracks. This couldn’t really be happening, he kept thinking as his eyes darted through the streets seeking out the source of the stirring sound. But this was not the first time Freddy had heard such an eerie unexplainable sound. The first time had been years prior when Freddy first got into freelancing. He was across town visiting with some friends when he’d heard that sad struggling hard drive unsuccessfully trying to spin up. He had dismissed it as stress, and let it go. That night when he had returned home from his friends house, he had found his hard drive dead. No apparent cause or explanation. Freddy shuddered as a new thought moved through him.

Pumpkin Carving by Scott Cummins

“My hard drive!” he blurted out into the cold October air as a surge of panic moved through him like a PC not plugged into a properly regulated power strip, and Freddy burst into a run! He was only a few yards away from his building, and he made it there in mere seconds. In no time, he was bounding up the steps to the landing out side his door. As he got ready to turn the key, he paused. Breathing heavily he laid his head against the door almost mournfully.

“It’s going to be all right.” he tried to calm himself with positive words, but they felt empty, hollow. He reluctantly turned the knob and pushed the door open. The darkness inside was repelled back a foot or two from the light in the hallway. Freddy reached for the light switch just inside the door and gave it a flick. Nothing happened. The shadows were not beaten back by the light hanging passively from the ceiling fixture. Freddy felt a sinister sting begin to crawl up his legs, until he remembered that bulb had been out for a week, he had just forgotten to replace it. He sighed a bit relieved, but his calm was interrupted by the noise that had driven him here sounding again. This time it was less displaced than before. Freddy was able to pinpoint the location it was coming from, and the sting turned to a chill. A chill that ran up Freddy’s spine, laying goose pimples all over his flesh as he figured out the sound was coming from behind his office door.

Pumpkin Carving by Scott Cummins

“River!” he cried as he tore through the darkness towards the saddening sound. River was the name he had affectionately given to his PC upon customizing it himself. And as he dashed through the study door, he saw it. The dark of the room lit in a soft, agonizing blue that radiated from River’s monitor. He heard the cry again, and tears welled up in his eyes as he rushed to her side, placing a shaking hand on her tower. Her hard drive sounded again. Wounded. Broken. And then Freddy was paralyzed with a horrible thought. He forced himself to move through the fear that was clenching him tightly, making his muscles tighten against him. He didn’t want to look behind him, but he had to. He could feel it there, almost as if it was calling him. Slowly his body rotated in it’s position until the screen was at his back casting his shadow, disappearing into the already darkened room. And there it was. The calendar which showed that his last system back-up….was on the 23rd! Freddy screamed a terrible scream that echoed through the building and poured out into the street.

The End (Happy Halloween)

A Final Word

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