TOP HAT

TOP HAT

Hi…..my name is Jason, Jason Brent……. I don’t know whats going on but i came here looking for help. I heard that this is a place for people like me, who have stories like mine. Well…here it goes….For the past few weeks i’ve been being chased, well not quite chased but…well…haunted….by this..this horrible, monstrous…..well…THING. I wont live much longer, but i felt it was important to leave a message, or a warning.

It all started a few weeks ago. I was driving back from work. Now, i’m not a very courageous guy, so when I saw that man getting beaten up in the dark alley, about 7 blocks from my house, I decided it was not my business and it was better left alone….but then something happened…..out of the corner of my eye i noticed that it wasn’t much of a fight….but…more of a slaughter. The man seemed to be completely motionless and, well, accepting to his fate…i would have normally disregarded this and just have kept on driving but….the thing that was demolishing that poor man was…..not normal….he seemed to have sticks sticking out of him, or limbs of some sort….but the most discernible quality of it…..was a slick, black top hat.

I looked back and saw it glance at me…it seemed to have multiple eyes but…it seemed impossible….I assured myself that it was a trick of the mind and hurried off. I went straight to sleep that night…..I had a vivid dream…no… it was a nightmare. I was sitting in a room that I had never seen before….I was unable to move…suddenly things got blurry and I saw a figure entering the room. It was very large and seemed to be almost spider like. It turned to face me and i gasped in horror. Standing before me was an enormous spider, about the size of a couch, standing before me….wearing a top hat. Instead of tendrils on its face, it had a huge, toothy smile from cheek to cheek. And…its eyes…..so many bright red eyes staring into my soul. I watched in terror as it started tearing into my chest with its huge, gruesome teeth. I could do nothing but scream. The last thing that i remember before i slipped into death was a shrill, high-pitched voice whispering, “Shhh….this will only hurt for a second!”

I awoke with a jolt. I quickly darted my eyes around my room looking for the monster….but there was nothing there. I went through the rest of my day shaken and scared and could barely focus at work. I couldn’t get that horrifying image out of my mind. As i drove home…. my eyes happened to catch something in the same alleyway of the incident the night before….it was a crumpled piece of notebook paper with sloppy handwriting on it saying:

HE IS MR. TOP HAT BEWARE

I wondered what it meant. For my sake…i should never have taken that paper. What happened next will haunt me for the rest of my life…and so I leave this warning for those of you listening

BEWARE OF MR. TOP HAT

If you see him, run away. Do not let him do to you what he did to me. They thought I was crazy. No sane person would believe in a giant spider wearing a top hat. They wanted to put me in the crazy house. “Jason,” they said, “we all think that is what would be best for you.” No. They’re all wrong. I am not afraid of him anymore. I have accepted that my death will come at his fingertips. Tonight i’m going to him. Tonight i will finally be free. Goodbye world….and beware. He will find you. He will kill us until we are no more. He is God. He is Death. He is freedom. Beware Mr. Top Hat.

Matthew Friedman and Andrew Zolenski