Crooked

The video tape was the first thing which laid its step in my house 7 days ago. Note the time, because it will be a bit important later on…

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. As a side-job, I used to collect antiques from wherever I could. Sometimes a vase, sometimes a portrait, sometimes maybe some hocus-pocus, sometimes gramophones…

But gramophones – I guess – had only vinyl records as their accessory. Not a tape.

Now that I remembered, the shopkeeper was also a bit scared when I placed the gramophone on his table.

‘Um, how much does this cost?’ I asked him.

The shopkeeper looked at it, and then, replied:

‘Fif-fifteen dol-dollars.’

As I gave out the cash, I noticed that the man was afraid. What was so…

Strange about it?

I asked him about it. What he said was even stranger than I expected it,

‘Sir, the gramophone is cursed. I would request you to replace it for another…or else…’

‘Or else what?’ I asked. My mind was already laughing at the word ‘cursed’.

‘Or else, the Crooked Man will get you…you dunno..already sixteen have gone away because of that tape. I guess you know that a tape by the name of “Crooked” has been circulating…’

‘Mr. Hodgson, I guess you are a very good fan of the Conjuring franchise. But seriously, this is way too much.’

Having said it, I picked up the wrapped gramophone, and went out, despite the ‘buts’ by the old shopkeeper. I had already been hearing some reports of it…people suddenly disappearing after viewing a tape by the name of “Crooked”…but as opposed my brain was to all of this, I simply turned my ears away from it…stupid urban legends.

(damn how wrong I was)

After placing the gramophone on the small table, I took out my video player from under the TV cabinet. It wasn’t used at all, and I was surprised indeed that it was still working…

I inserted the tape over there. I didn’t know why, but I was – kinda – feeling ‘The Ring’ vibes. Popular back in those times…but I guess Samara wasn’t going to burst out!

But something else happened as I opened the tape.

Screaming.

Just as the picture flicked up on the screen, I jumped back so hard that I hit my hand at the base of the sofa.

There was a lot of static and glitch, along with a lot of pounding – as if on the television screen – along with a lot of screaming. I tried to figure out ‘Help me!’, ‘I’m trapped’, ‘HE WON’T LET ME GO!’

Then, suddenly, it stopped. There was darkness.

My forehead was covered with sweat. What the…

Then, the darkness began to fade – bit by bit – and then, what remained of it was a dark floor, and on top of it was a pentagonal red-coloured music box. It was labeled in an Old England style, but the rest of it was smudged away, so only one word was legible…

‘CROOKED’

Now, why would a music box be named like that? Crooked…crooked…I muttered the word several times…and that was when I realized it…

The tape. The tape called ‘Crooked’. And it was playing right now. In front of my eyes.

A renewed curiosity came over me, as I saw the old music box open up. A slightly-tattered voice came out. It was a rhyme, a rhyme which was popular among toddlers…

 

‘There was a crooked man,

Who walked a crooked mile,

He brought a crooked six-pence

Upon a crooked stile

He brought a crooked cat,

Which bought a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together

In a little crooked house…’

 

The song continued to play for two more times, but then what I saw was bizarre.

The music box cut to a man lying on his bed. The bed then cuts off to an old man who is walking down the road, booed by the passers-by. Then the image cuts off to the man sobbing quietly in his room. Then, the room was empty. Another flash, and there was someone hanging…

Hanging from the ceiling from a noose!

And then – as the last line played – the face of the old man came into view, and he gave a smile…

A twisted, crooked smile.

Then, everything stopped. I was so hypnotized by it that for a few seconds I sat over there. Then I stood up.

I sat down on my sofa, thinking what had happened. But I was interrupted by one thing…

Wasn’t the water bottle sitting over there looked a bit twisted?

I picked it up, and sure enough, it was.

Strange, I muttered. How much I put my effort to fix that – nah, it remained twisted like that!

Suddenly, a sound made me jump.

‘C-CR-RUN-UN-CHH!’

Something had fallen down in the next room. Reaching there, I opened up the light.

A photo frame had fell onto the floor, but the picture…the picture…

The picture was also twisted.

And crooked.

A sense of dread came over me. What the hell was happening over here? As I surveyed around my room, I saw that every thing was more or less twisted. Or crooked.

Just like…just like that old man!

Suddenly, I heard a voice. A low, cold voice…

‘Crooked and twisted souls…crooked and twisted souls…’

I turned back, and gasped. My shirt was already drenched with sweat.

Whose tall shadow was on my wall in the evening light?

The shadow was a bit bent forward, and the nose too…

Just like the…

Crooked Man!

I slowly went out. Something wasn’t right. I had to call the police…someone was definitely over here…I had to call…

But just as I dialed the number, a loud scream was heard, and then, the living room tube light burst into pieces. Now, only the now-risen moonlight flooded the room a little.

The receiver dropped down, and as I picked it up, I screamed.

The phone had also been twisted!

And then, sounds of static suddenly came into my ears. I saw that the TV had been opened – opened to the last scene I had seen on the tape…

The tape!

I searched for it everywhere around the sofa but no, there was no tape.

Where did that damn…

Then, I realized that it was still inside the player.

I tried to yank it open but no!

The cabinet was jammed shut!!

Then, my eyes fell upon the scene, and saw that it was the same room, where the old man was hanging from the ceiling, but this time…

This time, there was no man hanging over there. Nor there was any old man over there…

And then, once again, I saw that shadow again. On the wall in front of me..

It came closer…

Closer…

Closer…

And then, it disappeared.

I just sat over there on the floor for a few moments. I wasn’t able to register anything…

‘Where are you?’ I whispered in fright.

And then, just behind me, a cold and rasping voice came behind me…

‘Right behind your crooked self.’

I turned around, and screamed.

A tall and twisted old man was looking at me!

And that was when I fainted…amid a loud noise of laughter and a chant of the rhyme…

'There was a crooked man

Who walked a crooked mile…’

***

'Huh-hh--Ah-hh-hhh!'

I woke up with a start. There was darkness all around me...

Where was I?

I got up and moved...

'Thup!'

My feet stubbed on something. As I massaged it, I realised where I was.

It was glass. I was inside a...glass house?

And then, it all became clear to me.

I smiled. Yes, that was it.

The crooked man was perhaps a man who was tormented by others in his living days. Unable to bear it, he committed suicide. Since then, his soul is out there, seeking revenge on others and trapping them, giving them a taste of blood...

Tortured blood.

I could feel a stinging pain spreading slowly...but that didn't matter now...

I now understand why it was sent to random people...

Well, I sighed, I guess food poisoning my wife and stealing the insurance wasn't a good idea after all...

It only made my soul

Crooked.

Its now been 7 days since I had arrived over here. I miss Earth.

There he goes again, as I saw my neighbours bearing excruciating pain and screaming aloud, while the menacing laughter of an old man dances about. I could make out them, screaming,

'HELP ME!'

'I'M TRAPPED!'

'HE WON'T LET ME GO!'

And all the while, the familiar nursery rhyme began to haunt...

'There was a crooked man

Who walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence

Upon a crooked stile,

He bought a crooked cat,

Which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a crooked house...'

***

M.Macabre

20.12.2020

Dedicated to: The Alienist