Are You Really Alone After Midnight?

By Robert Meyer

Do you often wonder if someone is watching your every move? As a child, did your parents check under your bed or in your closet for monsters? As an adult, have you gazed up into the stars and wondered if there is some other type of life out there? Have you ever asked yourself if our own government is watching us? Are You Really Alone After Midnight? is a book of thriller stories, so come and join me and some of my characters as we look into outer space, time capsules, and haunted houses and see

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781644621974

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Are You Really Alone After Midnight?

Robert Meyer

Copyright © 2018 Robert Meyer

All rights reserved

First Edition

Page Publishing, Inc

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc 2018

ISBN 978-1-64462-196-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64462-197-4 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

The Beast that Dwells Within

It is a Friday afternoon. Mrs. Williams is preparing the evening meal when the front door swings open as three children come rushing in.

Michael, the eldest, yells out, Hey, Mom, Dad, guess what? I made it!

Mr. Williams enters from out of the garage with a puzzled look on his face and says, Michael, slow down. Made what?

Michael, excited, out of breath, stops to catch his second wind before saying, Remember Monday’s football team tryouts?

His mom and dad nod, saying yes.

Mrs. Williams breaks in suddenly. You made the team!

Better than that. I’m going to be the next All-American Pro Football star! he says. Just kidding, but I did make head quarterback!

His thirteen-year-old sister, Shelly, cockily, with a mocking tone in her voice, asks, May I please have your autograph, O mighty, great one?

While Michael and Shelly begin to push and shove each other around, Lisa, aged six, tugs on her dad’s arm. Mr. Williams leans down to pick her up. Hugging her tightly, he asks, What is it, Lisa?

Mrs. Williams sets the last dinner plate on the table, yelling out, Dinner is ready! Come on, everyone, let’s eat!

As the family sits down around the dining room table and begins to eat, the phone rings. Mr. Williams gets up from the table to answer the phone.

Hello? Yes, I understand. We will be there as soon as we can. Mr. Williams hangs up the phone and returns to the dining room.

What is it, dear?

With a somber look on his face, Mr. Williams replies, It’s Mom. She just passed away this evening. Aunt Sue was with her. I am so glad she was not alone. I told Aunt Sue we would be there as soon as possible.

Mrs. Williams then tells the children to finish up their dinner. Michael, I want you to go and find all the luggage from the attic as soon as you finish eating. Your father and I will need the big suitcase. Give your sisters the medium one, and you can take the smaller one with the duffel bag. Shelly, I want you to pack your things and Lisa’s. As soon as you do that, I want you to go next door and ask the Meyers if they can come over and water the plants and feed the animals while we are gone. Tell Mr. Meyer we will be gone for about a week.

While the children are rushing around, doing the things their mom has told them to do, Mr. and Mrs. Williams are discussing whether or not to leave that evening or the next morning. After a few minutes of debating, they decide to go ahead and leave early the next morning.

Charles tells Michael to help him go ahead and load up the luggage in the van that evening so they will not have to mess with it come morning. Kay tells the girls to go ahead and help their dad and brother take out the luggage to the van so they’ll get done faster and everyone can go to bed.

Six o’clock that morning comes early. Charles and Kay rush around, getting the children up. Charles tells everyone to hurry up and get into the van as he is getting ready to lock up the house. Kay goes over last-minute details quietly in her own mind, making sure they have not forgotten anything.

While driving down the road, Charles and Kay are into a deep conversation about his mom’s death; the children have all fallen back to sleep. Things are quiet and going well.

Charles tells Kay that the weather is not looking good. Can you believe all this fog all of a sudden?

I know. It is like it came out of nowhere. This is strange!

When they have driven all but a few miles through the fog, a deer comes out of nowhere and runs right into the van, causing Charles to lose control. The van starts to spin and ends up in an embankment.

Charles and Kay look back to make sure the kids are all okay. All excited, the kids want to know what has happened.

We hit a deer. Are you all okay?

All at one time, the children say, Yes, Mom, we are fine!

Charles gets out to assess the damage. He walks around the van, and when he gets to the passenger side, he shakes his head and stands there for a moment in disgust.

Kay, leaning halfway out of the window, asks, How bad is it, dear?

Not good at all, Kay. I am looking at the undercarriage. The tie-rod is bent. Looks like the axle is broken, the damn bumper is bent into the tire on this side, and the headlight is broken. I’m going to need the cell phone to call a tow truck.

Oops!

"What do you mean oops?"

Well, Charles, I kind of forgot the cell phone!

Well, Kay, isn’t that just dreamy? Guess I’ll be walking, or perhaps you would like to walk!

Nope, not really!

I saw a house off the road to the right about a mile back. Guess I’ll start walking back there to see if the people are home and try to use their phone.

Charles, should the kids and I go with you?

Well, I suppose so. You can’t very well stay here, now, can you?

The family start walking back to the house, and thirty minutes later, they find themselves standing on the front porch of a house appearing to be over a hundred years old.

The house is a huge two-story home, with the porch wrapping around the whole structure. Large white pillars line the porch edge. The front doors are double doors. The top story has balconies outside some of the windows. The house reminds them of an old colonial home. It is obvious that no one has lived there for several years. They can tell that time and weather have taken a toll on the old home.

The wind brings in the smell of rain, while thunder rolls into the distance. Charles starts to enter the house, but the door is stuck shut. He asks Michael to help him as he picks up a log off the porch.

Now, Michael, on the count of three, let’s take the log and try to break open the door.

Dad, are you sure we should do this?

Yes, son, I am. No one has lived here for a long time, and we need to get Mom and your sisters out of the weather.

The door finally gives way, and as the double doors swing open, the pungent smell of death rolls out, almost making the family vomit.

Charles, I don’t think this is such a good idea! Kay exclaims.

Well, little miss, I forgot the cell phone. What else do you suggest we do if you all don’t stay here?

As the family enters the house, Charles has a flashlight, shining it around. They walk into a large room with a fireplace in it, and Charles then begins to look for ways to get a fire going. After a few minutes, he gets a nice, roaring fire started. The glow from the fire lights up the entire room. Above the fireplace is a picture of a woman shaking hands with President Lincoln.

As Shelly looks around the room, she says, Looks like this old house hasn’t seen life in it for years. Or a housekeeper either.

Charles and Michael go outside to gather more wood from the front porch, and as they come back into the house, both loaded down with an armful of wood, both doors slam shut behind them, scaring them half to death. Charles puts his wood down and starts looking around the room and finds an old oil lamp still full of oil. He pulls out his Zippo lighter and lights the old lamp.

Charles, who slammed the doors shut?

I don’t know, Kay, but what I do know is that it wasn’t me or Michael. We had our arms full of wood.

Are you sure this house is safe for us to be in?

Kay, you worry too much. It will be fine. It was probably just the wind. I need to get going and try to find us some help.

As Mr. Williams starts to walk out, he gets down the road a ways and a carload of kids drive by, not even stopping to ask if he needs any help.

Minutes later, the six college kids pull up to the old house, bursting in through the front doors, not knowing that Mrs. Williams and her children are inside. The kids are stunted to see anyone there.

Spike says, Who are you? Tony, I thought you said your cousins said no one lived here!

Shut up, Spike. He did tell me that.

Hello. I’m Kay, and these are my children. Our van broke down up the road, and my husband has gone for help. We don’t live here. He just brought us here so we would be out of the bad weather.

One of the girls slips out from behind the guys and introduces herself. As she extends her hand, she says, Hi, my name is Lynn. This bully here is Spike, the shy one is Trish, the quiet one beside her is my brother Tim, the odd one, as we all put it, is Jodi—just joking—and this big lug is Tony.

Lynn bends down to shake the little one’s hand. Who might you be?

My name is Lisa.

Well, Lisa, that is a very pretty name!

Lynn looks back at Kay and asks, Is there any way we can help you?

Not unless you have a tow truck handy.

Just then, a loud crash comes from the basement.

What on earth was that? Kay exclaims.

Don’t know, ma’am, but the boys and I will go down and check for you. Come on, boys, let’s go!

As the boys get ready to go downstairs, they hear another loud crash.

Spike rolls back his shoulders and says, I bet your cousin set this whole thing up, Tony. So help me, if he is down there, I’m going to wring his neck.

Michael and the three boys enter the basement with caution, slowly going down the steps.

Tony yells out, Is there anyone down here? He then shines the flashlight into the darkness.

Spike feels something brush up against him. He raises his arm up to fight if off, knocking the light out of Tony’s hand. The four boys stumble around, bumping into one another in complete darkness.

Way to go, Spike, you big ox! Now help me find the flashlight you knocked out of my hand, you big goof!

Michael yells out, I found it over here in the corner! Picking up the flashlight, Michael turns the light back on. As he shines the light around the room, Tony notices a wooden door with writing on it.

Michael, shine that light back over here. I saw something on this door.

Michael hands the light to Tony, and as Tony shines the light back on the door, he yells for Tim.

What do you want?

Come look at this writing on this door! What is it?

Oh, man, I don’t believe it. I have seen this writing only one other time, and it was in one of my Gothic books, and this writing is over two thousand years old!

Tell us what it reads.

Tim begins to read the writing on the wall, and as he does, a pungent smell comes from behind the door.

Michael covers his nose with one hand and says, Man, what is that smell?

Tony places his hand against the door and yells out, Damn! This door is ice-cold!

Tony picks up a hatchet out from under the steps and begins to beat the lock on the door. With one final blow, the lock breaks open. Hearing screams from the girls upstairs, Tony and the boys run back up to see what is going on.

Meanwhile, Charles comes upon a small country store, and as he enters, he sees an old man sitting behind the counter, reading a newspaper.

Excuse me, sir, do you have a phone I could use?

The old man points to the rear of the store as he keeps reading the paper, not missing a word.

Thank you.

Charles walks back to the phone, picks it up to dial, and finds out that the phone does not work. Charles walks back to the front. Excuse me, he says, sorry to bother you, but that phone does not work. Would there happen to be a garage nearby?

The old man looks up from his paper and says, There is one about thirty miles from here, over in Thompsonville. What is the problem?

My van broke down about five miles from here. I hit a deer and messed everything up. The axle is broken, the tic rod is bent, and the bumper is messed up.

Where were you headed to?

My family and I were on our way to my mom’s funeral in Springfield.

Where is your family at?

"I left them at an old house about two miles back from the van. We saw it on