Mr. Cooper's Reality

The thick swampy brown water swayed with the slowing footsteps of Tommy Grady, a young teenager stuck in a pool of unforgiving dead fish. The moon lit up the bamboo ladder in front of him. The boy climbed quickly, his heart pounding out of his chest. The sounds of the muffled screams from behind him increased his speed across the poorly built bridge. The bridge made a sharp right and led into a wooden hut. Tommy turned around, he stopped, stunned with fear. The thin, scrawny man with the burned eyes and no mouth ran toward him with loud muffled screams. His long greasy hair swayed as he ran. Carrying a blowtorch in each hand, ready to burn young Tommy to death. Tommy quickly turned around and dove out of the small window and landed in the nasty murky water.

Tommy lifted off his bed quickly and flopped on his floor. He got up slowly rubbing his sweaty forehead. “Tommy lets go, breakfast is ready!” His mom called out to him from down the stairs. He didn't bother to brush his nappy headed shaggy hair; he put on his pair of dark blue pants on from yesterday and jogged down the wooden stairs. His mom grabbed the sleeve to his black Metallica shirt with her index finger and thumb. “Didn't you wear this shirt yesterday?” she asked.

“Yeah, is that bad? It's the weekend, no school.” He replied.

“Well, I hope you at least change tomorrow.” She said.

“You know me momma.” Tommy said as he brushed by his mom to get a couple pieces of bacon.

“That's what I'm afraid of.” She said. Tommy chuckled. He slipped on his loosely tied shoes and made his way outside. His friend James was walking up his driveway.

“Hey bro, they finally finished that haunted house down the road. My mom said she'll give us a ride, wanna tag along?” James asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He replied, turning around to open the door. “Heading to that new haunted house with James and his mom. I'll be back later.” He said to his mom.

“Okay, just be safe.” His mom replied.

“Alright, lets go!” James said excitedly. “So do you have your costume ready for Halloween?” James asked as they started walking to his house.

“Not really, I don't really know what I'm going to be.” Tommy replied.

“Dude, you could use your dad's old blowtorch, take out the fuel and you got a start.” He said.

“I don't know, what else would I wear with it?” Tommy said. As the words left his mouth he couldn't help but to think about his ongoing dreams about the unknown man. The speechless, psychopathic man with the blowtorches. He started thinking about the dreams now, clouding his mind with an imaginary chase through a dirty swamp and wooden village.

“You alright, man? You seem out of it today.” James asked.

“I'm good,” Tommy replied. “just had a bad dream.” He scratched his forehead while he massaged his left eye with his palm.

“What about?” James asked while turning into his driveway.

“I'll tell you when we're not with your mom.” Tommy said. James opened the door.

“You boys ready to go?” Cynthia (James's mom) asked. The two boys nodded then walked over to her van and got in. Tommy jumped in the backseat, James got shotgun. “So how is your mom doing?” Cynthia asked.

“She's doing good, miss Cynthia. I think she said something about going to dinner with you and Mr. Kevin tonight.” Tommy replied.

“Yeah, she emailed me a couple days ago talking about that. If your mom can get John away from his video games.” She said.

“My dad does love his video games.” Tommy said. James quickly turned around in his seat.

“Dude, I owned your dad in a game of Free-For-All last night! He kept on running into the same room over and over again.” James let out a little laugh. “He's pretty good. Not good enough to mess with this though.” Cynthia rolled her eyes.

“I'd love to see you try to do that in real life.” Tommy said.

“Hell no, dude. Your dad's been to Iraq like three frigging times.” James replied. Cynthia made a right turn into the parking lot of the newly opened haunted house. The large black building had the Grim Reaper holding his chipped scythe on the building next to the red letters which spelled 'Death's Portal'. Next to the haunted house was a small video game store labeled 'Gamer Place' and a fast food restaurant was in the same complex along with other miscellaneous shoe stores and clothing stores.

Cynthia slowly parked to the closest parking spot she could get. “Alright boys, I'll be back to pick you up in a couple of hours.” James and Tommy hopped out of the van and started walking toward the haunted house.

“Dude, this is gonna be so much fun!” James said jumping up and down using Tommy's shoulders as support.

“Ten bucks you crap yourself before it even starts.” Tommy replied.

James pushed him slightly. “Dude, don't put me down today of all days.” Tommy pushed open the left glass door and held it for James. “You pay here and I'll pay for lunch.” James said.

“Kick ass.” Tommy said as they walked up to the counter. It was very dark on the inside of the building. There was a glass case with nick-knacks you can purchase on the right wall with very little light. The counter was straight ahead of them. On the left of the counter there was a walkway that looked more like a purple portal with the word 'Enter' above it. To the right it was the same just with 'Exit' over it.

The guy at the counter was very old. He wore a black hooded cloak with some blood stains on it. The scythe next to him itself was drenched in blood. He leaned over the counter, blood could be shown dripping from his jaw as if he just got done eating a raw steak. “Welcome to Death's Portal, how many of you will be going to hell today?” The old reaper asked.

“Two.” Tommy replied as he took out his wallet.

“Twenty dollars, young soul.” He said.

“Here ya go.” Tommy said handing the man two tens.

The man pointed to the portal. “Thank you, and have a nice journey through Death's Portal.” The man laughed maniacally. They walked through the walkway which made a sudden right. They stood at one end of another hallway. Bodies with hooks through their chests were up four or five feet on the wall. Blood dripping from their toes. The wiggled and moaned and weakly cried for help. They looked very realistic.

“Dude, this is so cool.” James said. They walked down the hallway which then turned them left into a big empty room. A big empty dark room.

“I can't see a single thing, man.” Tommy said. The lights flickered on then off in a quick second. He saw a thin man standing ten feet in front of him. They flickered again. The man was two feet closer. The man was only wearing a pair of dirty brown pants, he was very skinny, pale, and had thin, greasy, long hair that came down to his elbows. They flickered again, he was gone.

“Dude, I'm about to crap myself...” James said. The man quickly grabbed James's shoulders from behind him tightly. Jame screamed. “Fuck!!” The lights came on bright as ever. The man was once again gone. Tommy laughed. “Dude, that's not funny!” They both walked through the room and into another.

The room was dark red. Fog crept up their ankles. A cloaked man what looked just like a black smudge ran across their path. The boys walked slowly on the red stoned path. To their left and right were dead bodies, some still alive. The doorway three feet ahead of them had a poorly build wooden sign on the right that said 'Entertainment Room'.

It was barely lit by two torches that hung up on the wall. In the middle of the room was a wooden table with leather straps on the sides holding in a victim. The black cloaked man walked up the the table ignoring the boys. He stared at the man on the table. The cloaked man removed the hood from his face revealing a bloody skull for head. He turned, grabbed the scythe that was leaning against the wall next to a hanging, rotting corpse. “Please don't kill me!” He screamed.

“Kill you?” The cloaked man questioned. “You're already dead.” He stated. He raised the scythe above his head and swung down, piercing the stomach of the trapped man. The man screamed, not dying at all. He lied there, wiggling and screaming. The cloaked man turned, his empty eye sockets focused and the two boys. “You two,” He said as he raised his boney hand and pointed at them. “come with me.” The cloaked man walked past the squirming, bleeding, screaming man and unlocked a wooden door.

The boys walked toward him. Tommy got pulled back by the man, James stopped two. “Get out of here while you can! Get the fuck out now!” He screamed and squirmed more.

“Lets go, I don't have all day.” The skull faced man said. The boys past the door like he wanted them to do. The man shut the door behind them. “Ah, here are my workers.” The man said. From left and right there were many people working to activate many odd looking contraptions, putting together scythes, washing skulls and other bones, taking eyes out of decapitated heads, cutting off arms and legs with hacksaws. “Where are my manners? My name is Grim.” He said. “Do you want to see how I gain my slaves?” Grim asked. Without an answer he walked in to the next room. In the room was all black walls with a chair in the middle. There was a male tied to the chair with rope. The skinny man from before walked quickly up to him and pummeled him. “There's another working man.”

The two boys were stunned and amazed at how realistic it looked. The long haired man looked directly at Tommy. The look was terrifying, it send chills down his spine. Grim walked past the man, the boys followed. He opened another door which was the exit. “Thank you for visiting, come back soon.” Grim said. The boys left.

“It should have been longer.” James said as they walked down the sidewalk to go get something to eat.

“It was realistic as hell.” Tommy said, thinking about that stare.

“It was scary as hell too. I was about to throw up, did you smell that place? The front desk was cool and all but the bodies smelled so...gross. And did you see the way that guy was looking at you? Did you know him?” James asked.

“No, I've never seen him before.” Tommy said. They walked into the McDonald's. They walked up to the counter.

“Ah, the smell of greasy fries. Way better then that smell back there.” James said.

“May I help you?” Asked the black guy behind the counter with a snotty attitude. James always had a thing with black people. He didn't dislike them or anything, he wasn't racist at all. Just for some reason he's never met a black person that's liked him.

“Yeah, two number fours, large sized.” James said.

“I'm gonna go find us a place to sit.” Tommy said. “This place is packed.” He left to go find a seating place. Tommy found an unoccupied booth in the rear corner of the restaurant. He plopped down and slid over to the corner. He folded his arms in front of him on the table and rested his head there. He gently closed his eyes, thinking about the glare of the long haired man.

Tommy lifted his head, no one was moving. He looked around, no one was moving a single muscle. It was like life had put itself on pause. Tommy got up out of his seat and walked to the counter. James was right around the corner holding the tray of food, frozen in mid-step. “James?” He said puzzled by everything. James didn't talk, blink, or move. Time itself had stopped. Tommy walked slowly out of the McDonald's only to find and empty parking lot. It suddenly got very cold.

“Do you feel that?” Asked a deep whisper. Tommy looked around. No one was there but him. Everyone in the McDonald's had gone, vanished, disappeared. He turned back to the parking lot. There was the man in the middle. The man from the haunted house...the man from his dreams. The only difference from the real man and the dream man was that the dream man's eyes were burned and he had no mouth whatsoever. This man had eyes and a mouth. The thin hair dangled from his greasy skull. His scrawny chest was scarred all over. The dirty, brown, blood stained pants flapped with the wind. With a blowtorch in each hand the anorexic man ran towards Tommy.

“Dude, wake up” Said James as he dropped the tray on the table. “Eat up.” Tommy took a long sip from his soda and started unwrapping his cheeseburger.

“I'm so tired, man.” Tommy said.

“What time did you get to sleep last night?” James asked.

“Regular time. It's just...these dreams I've been having. They tire me out.” Tommy replied.

James, who was shoving french fries down his throat asked. “What were they about?”

Tommy took a deep breath and replied. “It starts out with me running through a nasty swamp in the middle of the night. I'm not just running...but...I'm being chased. While being chased I find this ladder made out of bamboo or something. It's a small ladder. When you climb up it it leads to this kind of wooden village, it's weird.”

“Wicked, dude. So who's chasing you?” James asked.

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Tommy said taking a huge bite out of his burger.

“Dude, you can tell me.” James said. “Please?” He begged.

Tommy looked out of the window while chewing. He wondered why he looked out the window. Was it for dramatic effect while James waited for an answer? Or was he trying to find the long haired man through the crowded parking lot? “Do you remember the part in the haunted house, which by the way made no sense at all, where the long haired dude was beating the hell out of that guy in the chair?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah.” James replied.

“Him. But in my dreams he was different. His eyes were...like...burned or something. And his mouth, he had no mouth. He carried blowtorches too. Which is why I was acting weird back at the neighborhood when told me to use my dad's old blowtorches.” Tommy said. He let out a slow breath of relaxation. Relieved that he told someone and finally said something. He didn't forget about that haunting glare of the man though. The images still linger around in his brain.

“Are you sure you've never seen that guy at the haunted house before?” James asked.

“No.” Tommy replied.

“He's gotta know you. I mean, he must know you if he were to looked at you like that.” James said. They sat there quietly while finishing their meal. While they walked out of the McDonald's James asked. “Dude, wanna go back there and ask for the guys name? Maybe he's just got a lot of makeup on and you don't recognize him.”

Tommy thought about it for a second before letting out a doubtful “Alright.”

“Alright.” James said as he and Tommy walked back into the haunted house. They charged up to the counter. Before the old hooded man could begin James had already started talking. “Hey dude, my older bro knows the dude with the long hair, him and my bro were supposed to hang out later tonight. My and my friend Tommy here were supposed to be tagging along. We forgot his name and my brother can't find his charger for his cell phone so we can't ask him because he's at work. We don't want to ask the guy either because we don't want to offend him or anything. He's a scary dude.”

Of course all this he said was a lie. The old man looked under the counter and pulled out a folder. He eyed the papers inside. “Hmm...Nicholas Cooper's his name.” The old man said.

“Thanks, dude.” James said. They walked out of the haunted house quickly and turned left to go to the game store. “Nicholas Cooper. Ever heard it?” He asked.

“Never in my life.” Tommy replied.

The rest of the day was normal. They looked at some video games, then went home. While they hung out til dinner time that name 'Nicholas Cooper' bounced against the walls of his skull. His brain hungered to know more.

Later that night he ate quickly and went to his room. He walked across his bed to his black desk with his desktop turned on. He went on the internet and googled 'Nicholas Cooper'. He searched through over twenty pages of shit. Nothing interesting had shown. He started to grow tired. He leaned out of his chair and onto his bed. The time on his clock said 10:32. His eyelids started to get heavy, they stung just by being opened. Suddenly everything was dark.

Tommy woke up in the middle of the night. The window between the bed and computer desk was wide open. He got up and leaned out to look. He saw a large building through a small patch of woods. The sounds of faint screams could be heard from there. The cold nights air blew through his skin. Curiosity raged though his veins. He had no choice but to climb out of his window and climb down the loose bricks. The dead leaves crunched under his running feet. The moonlight shined his path to the building. The building looked burned, abandoned, windows were broken. It was a large building too, four stories tall. He stood there staring at the building. His fists clenched in fear of what might happen to him and busted through the door.

Bright lights blinded him temporarily. He rubbed his eyes, waiting for his vision to adjust. When he could see he saw that he was in what looks like a hospital. Nurses were racing to their patients, men in white coats were passing by. Tommy walked forward slowly, confused. How could a place so dark and deathly on the outside look so clean and bright on the inside? “Get him!” yelled a gruff voice coming from the hallway to the left. Two built men were running down the hallway at full speed. Tommy stood there watching them. Still in shock of where he is. He turned his head to the right to see who they were chasing. Tommy turned his head back to the men just in time to be tackled to the ground.

He struggled to get out. “What the hell? Let me go!” He yelled, wiggling for freedom.

“Shut the fuck up!” The man on top injected a needle into Tommy's neck. Tommy's struggling got weaker and slower until he soon fell unconscious.

Tommy woke hours later in an empty white room, tied to a metal chair which was bolted to the ground. Ahead of him was a glass window. On the other side of that window was his mom, she looked different though. She looked...older. Next to her was a handsome black-haired doctor reading off a clipboard. “Do you understand?” He asked her.

“Yes, doctor.” She replied.

He flipped a few pages before looking back at her. “He's created a different universe for himself. He believes his name is Tommy Grady, he also thinks he's fifteen years old. Apparently today when he got loose today he went to a haunted house called 'Death's Portal' with his best friend 'James'.”

“Death's Portal?” She questioned. “That place has been shut down for well over ten years.” She said.

He struggled in the chair. He turned his head to the left, looking at himself in the mirror. He screamed. Blood dripped from his lips onto his chest and raced down his ribcage.

“He's stopped eating completely, he thinks he's not real and that the life as Tommy is reality.” The doctor said. “I'm sorry Mrs. Cooper.” The End