CREEPYPASTA: The Top Hat

Rebecca was passionate about horror stories. On his shelf stood out all the titles imaginable from any fan of this genre and even some more unpublished, first editions, obtained thanks to the pocket of his wealthy father. However, by the time he was 15, she had read all those books, some even twice, and possessed a vast knowledge of any known paranormal event. But her curiosity and anxiety to continue researching did not cease, leading her to immerse herself in the vast field of the Internet once books could not bring her anything new. One day, when she returned from school, she entered a forum of people adept at the mysterious and paranormal, where she discovered a link that all users rated as the best website in the history of terror. In it, one could have access to countless stories, news, images and even chilling psychophonies. Rebecca did not hesitate to click on the link and accessed the website automatically. She spent about two hours exploring it, reading stories about ghosts and apparitions, totally motivated, listening to psychophonies that made her hair stand on end and watching the odd video. . . until something caught her attention. She hadn't noticed it until now. On the right side, a strange icon had appeared, resembling the silhouette of a deep black top hat. Not quite sure why, she brought his mouse cursor to it and clicked. Soon, the page changed and a chat took up all of his computer monitor. Above, in black and red letters, it reads the message: “only for the bravest. Contact the afterlife”.

Obviously, she wasn't afraid of anything, or so she thought, and she didn't hesitate to start writing a message. “Hello”, and pressed enter. Instantly she received a reply. “Hello, welcome, what would you like to know?", “Who are you?”, “Someone, but that's not important”. Where are you from?”. “From a place you wouldn't like. Compared to your room, my home is gloomy and dark".

Rebecca was able to feel her heartbeat run wild. She was very excited and wanted to continue that mysterious conversation.

“Do you know how my room looks like?”

“Purple walls, bed on the right, a big wardrobe with turquoise doors at the foot of it and your pc table is right in front of it". Rebecca felt her heart turn over, she was starting to get scared, almost for the first time in her life. Her rational side was activated and she thought that someone who knew her would be playing a joke on her, someone who knew her room. He relaxed a bit and, thinking it was a joke, decided to play on. “Where are you talking to me from?”

“From your house”

“From which room?”

“From yours"

Rebecca laughed. He imagined that George or Vanessa, even both together, would be responsible for that.

“All right, in that case. . . Why don't I see you?”

“Because you're not looking at me"

The girl felt a twinge in her chest. Her mind began to play thousands of movies and horror stories and, for a moment, she felt like the protagonist of one. She was afraid to look up from the monitor. She knew nothing would happen, but still his body was like petrified. “Wouldn't you like to meet me?". It suddenly appeared in the chat. Rebecca didn't answer. She felt the urgent need to reach for her phone and call her father. She didn't want to look anywhere in her room. She slowly raised her right hand to grab the mobile phone, which was on the table next to the keyboard. When she held it in the palm of his hand, a new message emerged on the pc screen. “I came to see you, you called me, won't you look at me?". A thud from the corridor startled Rebecca. It was like the sound of a heavy sack falling on the carpeted floor. Then she began to feel the sound of something creeping almost rhythmically down the hall.

It was getting closer and closer. Rebecca quickly got up from her chair with her cell phone in her hand and began nervously looking for the “daddy" contact. She was so out of control, she couldn't get her fingers to work. The noise stopped. It must have been right on the other side of the door. Rebecca was panting. She couldn't breathe. The door began to open slowly and a foul smell invaded the room. Then a yellowish, bony, half-mutilated hand appeared behind the door frame and rested on the floor in front of it. The hand was followed by a long, extremely thin arm, covered with pustules, which seemed to be about to break. And behind one arm, continued the other, and then a head covered by a top hat. The figure crawled a little further until it was completely exposed. It had no legs; it was just a torso that used its arms to move around. He stood in front of her, at the door. The girl couldn't see his face, because his head was down. Then, slowly and heavily, that creepy foreshortening began to rise over his arms and left his face exposed. Big round black eyes stuck in it, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. Just two balloons that looked like they were about to come out of their sockets. He had no nose and his lip-less mouth had a wide smile. It was a blank face, but very pathetic, creepy. That being stood before her, a few inches off the ground, leaning on her long arms.

The light in his room went out and a heart-rending scream flooded the room.

The Chapter Hunter