[b]DAY 21: CHAINSAW – STREETS OF CHAINSAW JACK[/b]

A little over a decade ago, there was a rather famous killer on the loose in town. He was called the Chainsaw Jack, because he attacked his victims with a chainsaw. He was almost like a cryptid, for he managed to kill quite a lot people during the nighttime and vanish without a trace. Who he truly was, his identity did never get solved. One night, a police officer was able to shoot a man with a chainsaw and like a monster, the shot man succeeded to get away, however, just for a short while. The police tracked him down, founding a body of a man – he had died to the bullet in the end. They took the body to the morgue, however, this is where the things got really creepy, as if the serial killer on a killing spree wasn't bad enough. Chainsaw Jack's body disappeared mysteriously, which was terrifying news to everyone. How can a large body of a man just go missing like that and nobody noticed? Even the police were completely bewildered. The disappearing of the body led to rumors about Chainsaw Jack being back. Even though there weren't cases of anyone getting murdered by a chainsaw, some people believed that Chainsaw Jack was alive, waiting for a perfect night to hunt again.

During the years the incident of Chainsaw Jack began fade away as no more people were killed by his method. Year after year, his story started to seem more like an urban legend. Still, there were people who would stay away from the certain part of the town, where he killed most of his victims. It's rumored that he haunts the place and, on some nights, you can hear the chainsaw rumbling. And of course, this tale of a serial killer is a perfect way for kids to scare each other playfully.

And such were the case of Dahlia and Daisy.

These twins were two ordinary girls, living ordinary teenage lives. They had been hanging around with their friend circle, doing typical stuff for their age. One evening, they had been having a little party in the house of one of their friends. Her parents were gone for a vacation, leaving the house only for her and her big sister. The older sister was old enough to drink, and in secrecy, she offered alcohol to the group of teenagers. Of course, they would try a little, and were getting drunk in no time. They were chattering a lot, their topics ranging from school stuff to future plans and such.

Eventually, they began to talk about spooky things. It was inevitable that the tale of Chainsaw Jack would slither into their conversation. Thing led to another, and before they knew it, the twin girls had made a bet that they would dare to visit the streets where most of the killing had been done. In their drunken mind, that had been a good idea.

But when they were sober the next day, things looked a bit different. Daisy, who had always been a bit more shy and cowardly, was scared of going to the streets. However, Dahlia assured her that nothing bad will happen, it was just an urban legend. She wanted to show their friends that she was brave and wasn't afraid to set her foot on some haunted ground. And because the twins did everything together, Dahlia persuaded her sister to come with her, so even though Daisy wasn't so sure about this, she followed her sister.

She shouldn't have done that.

As the evening was turning to night, the friend group of the twins escorted them to the border of the place that was rumored to be haunted by Chainsaw Jack. Bravely, Dahlia began to move forward to the quiet streets, Daisy reluctantly following behind. Their friends remained where they were, cheering on the twins. And soon, Dahlia and Daisy disappeared from their sight.

It almost felt like they had stepped into another world. Suddenly everything was quiet, the twins didn't meet anyone in the streets. Everything looked perfectly normal, though. Daisy was feeling really anxious and was hanging from her sister's arm as Dahlia kept pressing forward confidently.

“There's nothing to worry about”, Dahlia tried to reassure her sister. “Look, here's even a cat! You like cats, right?”

A black cat had crossed their way, but soon it disappeared from sight. Daisy liked cats, yes, but this one seemed like a bad omen. She shook her head and didn't say anything. They continued to explore that part of the town.

It had been a while. That was when Dahlia stopped her going, looking victorious. Daisy stopped as well.

“See? Here's nothing abnormal here!” Dahlia exclaimed. “Let's head back.”

Daisy was perfectly fine with that, for this place gave her the chills. But when the twins turned around, they were face to face with a horror.

There was a large man standing on the street where the sisters had just come from. He had bloody clothes of a butcher and was wearing a mask that had a wide smile on it. And in his hand, he had a chainsaw. The twins were so shocked that they couldn't move, but when the man turned the chainsaw on, the twins got some sense back and started to run for their lives. Behind them they could hear the ominous growls of a bloody chainsaw that wanted to tear their flesh apart.

Something odd and terrifying was happening. The twins could she shadow arms on the walls, as if they were chasing after them as well. The walls were growing more and more black, eventually it was like they were running in a void. The sisters couldn't escape their fate. Soon the shadow arms got in their way, blocking the streets. The girls couldn't go any further. So, they turned around.

Only to see the man with a chainsaw.

Slowly but surely, he was walking closer. The twins were hugging each other, crying from fear and desperation. There was nothing they could do.

The chainsaw man raised his tool of murder when he had managed to get near the girls. Without any hesitation, he struck his chainsaw at Dahlia's neck first. The razor-sharp teeth of the machine sunk into the soft flesh, soon cutting the head off. Daisy screamed as she witnessed her sister's head rolling on the ground. And that was the last thing she would see, as the chainsaw man began to saw her head off as well. In no time, there they were, the heads of the twins, their dead eyes reflecting the fear they experienced before death. But the man wasn't quite done yet. He kept sawing their bodies into smaller pieces, and eventually they started to resemble a human puzzle. When he was satisfied with his work, he began to leave the scene, the shadows withdrawing with him.

The legend of Chainsaw Jack would live on.



[b]DAY 22: MAGGOTS – THE PRETTIEST FACE A BOY CAN HAVE[/b]

Aiden had always been a shy kid. This is why he didn't really have friends and would spend time mostly alone. There were few kids who would try to befriend him, but for reason or another, they would end up abandoning him. Most of the time this was because they were afraid that they'll get bullied as well, since Aiden was a target of bullies. And rather easy one, because he was a quiet kid with no one by his side, so it wasn't difficult to push him around. However, there was also one thing in his appearance that was the reason for getting bullied. He had an exceptionally beautiful and feminine face. Other kids would mock him because of this, calling him a girl and stuff like that. And Aiden, the boy who didn't want to attract any attention to himself or bother others, just tolerated everything.

Year after year Aiden would just endure the torment he was getting at school. He never stood up to himself, never complained to teachers or any other adults, he just kept living his life as it were. What he didn't know was that there was actually someone among his peers that cared about him: Nora. She was pretty shy kid, though, not as shy as Aiden. She also had managed to get a couple of friends, so she wasn't really in the radar of bullies. For some years, Nora had been watching Aiden from the distance. She had felt sympathy towards the boy, but she never dared to show it in any way. She wanted to get to know him more, wanted to be his friend, but she just couldn't take the first step.

However, maybe she should have done that, because Aiden had his limits, just like any human being. When they were in junior high school, the bullying got even worse. Teenagers go through changes at this stage of their lives and one of these is their body changing. But Aiden remained petite, had a clear voice and beautiful face. He started to seem even more different than other boys of his age. This, of course, was a negative thing.

And one day, Aiden snapped as he couldn't take this bullying anymore. It was the worst day of his life. Somebody had started a rumor that Aiden had been flirting with the girlfriend of this one popular guy, Robert. Of course, Robert had got furious. It was obvious that Aiden would never do something like that, somebody just wanted to get him hurt. But at the same time, it was a perfect excuse for Robert to beat him up. Without any remorse, the big guy gave several hard punches at Aiden's pretty face, and when the poor boy collapsed to the floor as a crying little mess, Robert continued by kicking him. When he was done, he spat on Aiden. There had been quite a few onlookers, but no one had done single thing to stop the violence. Even Nora had been there, watching with fear – she had not dared to intervene. And she continued watching as poor Aiden raised himself from the floor and then ran away, tears in his eyes, and exited the school building.

That was the last time Nora saw him, at least for a while.

Aiden didn't show up to the school next day. Or the day after. Or after few more days – the days then turning to weeks. Nora wondered how he was doing. She tried to ask around teachers if they knew anything about him, but no one did. No one had even been able to contact Aiden's parents. This was a bit strange. That was when Nora decided to be brave for once and decided to pay a little visit to Aiden's home.

The boy's home was located pretty near the junior high school. Nora approached the building, trembling a little, for she was feeling a bit nervous. She walked to the porch, stepped in front of the door. She took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

Nothing happened.

She pressed it again after few minutes. No answer. However, Nora noticed that the door was slightly ajar, and for a short moment, she pondered should she step inside. She decided to do so, and pushed the door open, infiltrating the house.

“Yoo-hoo, is anyone here?” Nora called out carefully, looking around the house. 

She got no answer.

Everything seemed to be normal. There were no signs that something bad had happened. Still, Nora decided to tread cautiously, and began to look around the house. She checked every room, from the living room to kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, laundry room… Nothing. But there was also basement. Those sorts of places freaked her out a little, so she had left it as last place to check. At the door of the basement, she psyched herself up and stepped into the small world of darkness.

Nora managed to find the light switch and turned the lights on. She looked around the basement, but her eye didn't catch anything unusual.

“Turn it off.”

The girl almost jumped from the fright as soon as she heard the voice. It sounded slightly croaking, but still clear. It was Aiden's voice. Nora tried to look for him, and eventually spotted some movement in the darkest corner of the room.

“Aiden?” she called out his name. “Are you okay?”

“Yes”, he answered shortly.

Nora could see his figure standing up. He took a few steps closer and when he came to the light, Nora let out a horrified scream.

Aiden was tilting his head a little. Half of his face was torn, exposing flesh. And in the fleshy part, lots of maggots were crawling, eating away his tissue.

“Is my face better now?” he asked, smiling a little.

Nora just ran away, ran faster than ever before. She didn't think anything, she just wanted to get away. When she assumed she had gained a safe distance, she stopped for a moment to breath. She let herself to calm down a little, and began to think.

What should she do? Should she tell anyone what she had just seen? That seemed to be the right thing to do. Aiden clearly needed some help. Nora shook her head a little, the gruesome vision of the boy flashing in her mind.

Maybe she should start with telling her parents.

So, Nora started to make her way to home. She suspected that the macabre sight of maggots eating the flesh of a poor young boy would never leave her mind.



[b]DAY 23: BACKSTABBED – STAB ME ONE MORE TIME[/b]

The priest was standing on the unkempt yard of a house that was supposed to be abandoned. The air around him felt chilly, even though it had been quite warm when he had left the town to visit this place. It also had been sunny in the town, but now the skies were gray and it seemed like soon would rain. Crows were cawing in the nearby trees, and it felt like a bad omen. Cold wind was howling, as if attempting to scare the man away. All in all, it was like he had stepped into another world, a world that didn't want him in it. But he was familiar with such feelings. This wasn't his first time visiting a supposedly haunted place. He took few deep breaths, hold his prayer beads close to his chest and uttered a small prayer. Then he began to walk towards the ramshackle house, making his way in.

The interior was a mess. Most of the furniture had got broken and were thrown all over the place. Cans of beer and bottles of some stronger liquors were scattered everywhere. Badly sprayed graffiti had ruined the walls. It seemed like lots of teenagers had been vandalizing the house. Calmly, the priest walked from room to room, only to witness more and more turmoil. Once this had been a beautiful home for some people, so it saddened the man a little to see this place in such shambles. Nobody knows what had happened here, why the family had just disappeared without a trace, leaving all their possessions behind. People had robbed the most valuable items, leading to the state of disarray in which the place was now. Mostly teenagers had been having fun around the house, however, it has been a little while since the last time this house had visitors, because of the ghost that had begun to haunt the place.

People had seen a ghost of a young boy inside the house. At first glance he seems like a normal kid, but he is holding a knife in his hand. And the most disturbing thing is, that he has a lot of knives sticking out in his back. Nobody knows who he is or why he had started so suddenly to haunt the place, he's relatively new sight in the house. Why he hadn't found peace in death or why has he attached himself to this building, these are the questions nobody has an answer for.

The priest was investigating the house, hoping to encounter the ghost boy. He hadn't found him yet, but he did sense something watching him. He could also feel a hostile atmosphere, that somebody really wanted him gone. The man had always had a good sense when it came to spirits and whatnot, so he had taken it as his life's work to help the dead find their peace. That was why he was there, to aid the boy's ghost to pass into afterlife.

The man had to wander around the house for a while before he found the boy. It was getting dark when he finally managed to encounter the boy. The priest had climbed the stairs to the second floor, and from the main corridor, he spotted a small figure standing there. The man could feel a faint sting in his heart, for the one before him was just a child. He had met many ghosts, but for him, the most saddening were the spirits of children; they should have had a whole life ahead of them, if only life had let them. So was the case with this one. The priest didn't know his story or why he was here, but he would try to help him.

Just like people had described, the boy was holding a knife in his hand. The ghost started to move closer to the man, who was just standing, observing.

“Stab me one more time”, a faint voice left the lips of a pale child.

The man didn't answer. He just kept watching, holding his prayer beads. The boy turned around, revealing his back that was full of knives and had many stab wounds and blood everywhere.

“I'm not going to stab you”, the priest finally said.

The ghost boy turned around to face him again.

“Stab me one more time”, he repeated, offering the knife in his hand to the man.

“No. I'll heal you. I'll help you to find peace.”

The priest reached out for the child, pressing his hand gently to the forehead of the boy. Touching the ghost felt like touching a cold running water. The man started to mumble a prayer, and soon, a bright light surrounded the two, and eventually, the boy got engulfed by it. The holy light took him away, to the afterlife. 

The man was all alone now. He took a deep breath and smiled to himself. One more good deed done. Hopefully the boy would now be free from all the pain that had shackled him in here.

There was nothing else for the priest to do in this place. He began his departure, getting back to the town. Who knows when his skills would be needed once again.



[b]DAY 24: SANITY LEAK – TASTE OF MADNESS[/b]

It was just another depressing day. Erin had been out for a good while, wandering around the town. She had excluded other people by having her headphones on and listened to music. So, even though she was out, she was kind of in her own sad little world. She didn't talk to other people, nor greeted anyone. She was just walking. The weather really reflected her emotions as the skies had been gray the whole day, occasionally drizzling. It was late autumn, the colorful leaves of trees had fallen, leaving behind only bare and miserable scene. Erin hoped that it would start to snow soon, because at least then there would be some beauty in the outside world.

The young woman kept strolling around the town without destination. When the darkness fell over the town, and all the lamps offered light to the wanderers of the evening, she began to head towards her home. Many happy people passed by, which was like a knife of bitterness to her, stabbing her right to the heart. Oh, how she envied their happiness. She gave grim looks at people like those, and just kept walking, feeling so lonely.

Eventually she made it to her home. After she fumbled a little with her keys, she unlocked the door to her apartment and slipped inside her home. She clicked the light switch, and a dim light brought some sort of illumination to the lobby. She sighed a little, took off her coat, scarf and shoes, then proceeded further into her small apartment. Erin felt a little hungry after being out for so long, so she headed to kitchen to look for a meal. She opened the fridge to see its contents, staring a little while at the selection. She decided to warm up some cheap store's chicken soup and threw it to the microwave. While it was getting warm, she also prepared tea for herself. And when both were done, she took them and settled down to a couch and began to watch TV.

Erin let out a content sigh. Having some warm food and tea after getting out of chilly autumn weather, it just felt so good and relaxing. Probably for the first time during the day she felt pleasant. When she was done with eating and drinking, she intertwined a blanket around her body, took a comforting position on the couch and continued to watch whatever was coming from TV. And after a little while, she drifted to the land of dreams.

But then she woke up suddenly. She was feeling a bit dizzy for a second. Then she registered a strange feeling, it was like she felt threatened. Erin looked around in the dark room, the only light source being the turned-on TV, even though the only thing it showed at that moment was static. That was odd. She raised herself from the couch and began to tiptoe around her apartment. Why, even she wasn't sure. But she felt she had to do that.

Moments later, Erin began to calm down a little, because she had not found anything suspicious after wandering around her home. She made her way to the bathroom to wash her face and get prepared to move to bed. She turned on the light, walked to the sink and got some water running. She washed her face, and when she was done, she turned off the faucet. She looked at her reflection.

And saw something strange.

There was something purple bleeding out of the top of her head, staining her black hair. With increasing panic, she was fumbling her head with her hands, and the purple goo stained her hands as well. It was starting to hurt like hell too, it was like something inside her skull wanted to get out. She was screaming in pain, running in circles, ripping out her own hair. All she wanted was to make the horrible ache to go away. She began to hear laughter around her, see shadow people. It was like her sanity was bleeding out of her head.

Erin had no idea when she had lost her consciousness. She found herself from the floor of the bathroom. She cranked herself up, noticing that the pain was gone. She looked at the mirror, but everything seemed normal. No purple goo in her head. She was confused. What had just happened? Was it all a bad dream of some sort? She certainly hoped so.

She was certain that she needed a good, long sleep.



[b]DAY 25: INNER MONSTER – GLIMPSE OF A FUTURE[/b]

The sky had got painted in crimson color, the full moon was dripping blood onto the world below. Feeble clouds were trying to diminish its eerie light, but in vain. A harrowing wind was howling, blowing through the barren land. The leaves had fallen from the trees, the trunks and branches now standing there like dried up corpses, reaching for the heaven of the bloody moon. In the forsaken corner of the land, there was a small village. Usually calm and quiet place, but tonight, it was set in flames. The fire was spreading, licking, eating every building on its path. People were screaming, running in panic, the mothers catching their children so they could escape from this inferno, while the men tried to protect them from a threat that had targeted their village.

The raging fire wasn't their only concern at that moment. A horrendous beast had made its way to the village, spreading chaos. It was huge and covered in black fur, it had four limbs and the front ones were larger size than the hind legs. It had two bushy tails that moved in an unnerving way, it was like they were snakes. Its head resembled a wolf, and it had horrible fangs. In its head was a pair of black horns that looked like they were sharper than a sword. In its yellow eyes a gleam of madness was shining, along with thirst for blood. A group of men were trying to fight against it, shooting arrows at it or fend off with spears.

But the weapons seemed to be rather ineffective. The fur coat was hard and impenetrable like a finest armor. The arrows and spears were like mere sticks to the beast. The arrows wouldn't even get stuck to its hide and would simply fall off, and with a one single blow from its front legs, the spears would snap like a twig. Bit by bit it became apparent to the men that they could not best this beast and began to run away as well. The slowest people would get mauled to death, getting crushed by its jaws, the claws that were like sickles would tear apart anyone. Blood was staining the ground red and the roar of the beast would shake the buildings and the hearts of helpless people.

Amidst the chaos, one brave man appeared on the scene. A mage. He stood there for a while, wanting to get noticed by the creature. And soon, he got what he was wishing for as the beast turned its head to his direction, then rushing towards him. The mage began to cast a spell and soon a blue circle appeared above the being's head, beginning to shower it with blue blasts. But just like the ordinary weapons, these merely annoyed the creature. With one swing from its front leg, the circle was broken, much to the surprise of the mage, and he barely managed to get out of the way when the beast smacked the spot where he had stood just seconds ago. The man tried to cast a new spell, something stronger, and in a moment, a purple lighting flashed down from the crimson sky, striking the beast at its head. And for a short while, it did stop. The electricity was running all around the monster's body, but soon the creature snapped out of it and the effects of the lightning subsided. With a mighty blow from its front leg, the mage got thrown, hard, against the wall of a house. The impact was so strong that it crushed his bones and he couldn't move anymore. Apparently now he wasn't interesting anymore to the creature as it continued on its way to wreak more havoc.

That night, many people died, many lost their homes and everything that was dear to them. All because of the enormous beast, only its roars now echoing in the empty, burned streets.

And that was when he woke up. He was panting, being shocked by the visions he had just seen. The young man in a form of a black cat looked around; he was in a narrow alley, staying out of the sight of many people. He waited for a while, just breathing. When he had managed to calm down a little, he looked at his body. Still just a cat, not a monster. He shook his head.

He knew that what he had just seen was just a dream. But he knew, oh he knew, that she, the one who was supposed to be his mother, had planted the seed of a monster inside him. He was cursed, he was becoming like that beast slowly, but surely. This inner monster of his, he feared it, hoping that it would never get out of him.

He knew that he needed help. But who could help him?

The young man stood up and began to walk away, his mood darkened by the nightmare. Where would he go, he didn't know. Desperation was gnawing at his soul as he was walking in the waking town, all alone in the world.