Bogleech.com's 2016 Horror Write-off:

You're It

Submitted by Kirby Mongerr

It had started so simple. I was 6, second year in school and my friends decided we should play tag. It started off well, running and laughing and all that. Then someone touched me and said "You're it!" and then everyone ran from me. I chased them, still thinking it was a game. I didn't bat an eye when kids not in my friend group ran as well, thinking they were in on it. I thought the same when kids older than me ran, the whole school was in on it. Then the bell rang and everyone bolted inside, and I jogged after them. And the school seemed empty. But when I looked I could see people for the briefest moment, running away.


"The games over now guys" but they kept running, avoiding me like the plague. I started crying, and went to tell a teacher, but as soon as she saw me she ran as well. I cried harder and tried to reach her, but she scrambled into an air duct I couldn't reach. Another teacher locked himself in a supply closet to avoid me. This went on for hours, as I tried to reach anyone in the school and they all did anything and everything they could to avoid me. People jumped out windows, barricaded doors, all to get away from me.


I cried for so long. Then the school bell rung, and I was hoping it would be over, and my parents would comfort me and do something about it. I stood near the street looking for my mom's car. It drove around the corner, coming closer. Then she saw me. The car sped away, driving right past me and out of sight, way over the speed limit in hindsight. I had to walk home. And when I got there it was all barricaded up. Everyone who saw me along the way ran.


Its been years and it hasn't stopped. Everywhere I go, anyone who sees me runs and its just been getting worse over the years. When I was 8 animals started running from me too. When I was 11 statues started turning their heads so they couldn't 'look' at me. When I was 14 characters in tv shows would run off screen as soon as I looked at them. Same with live action shows. It took me becoming 15 to make news anchors shriek and run off. When I turned 17 my reflection stopped showing up in anything. Maybe it was for the best, I might start trying to run from my reflection. When I was 18 clouds would make a hole around me, never coming overhead. Winds would blow around me, same with rain and snow.


I was able to live by just walking into shops and taking what I wanted. No one could approach me, and security cameras would turn away from me as soon as I came in view. Once when I was 12 I was so desperate for anyone to look at me, to acknowledge me, I kidnapped a guy. I hid from him until he was close and grabbed him. He shrieked and struggled and screamed and I tried to hold him down. He headbutted me in the face and ran.


I tried again a few years later, and I immediately dragged this guy into a room and locked the door. He bit his own tongue and drowned in blood, rather than be near me.


Its only getting worse. The radius of effect is getting larger. A few years ago I could walk outside and see hundred run and drive away. Now they've already left before I can see them. Sometimes I want to get on top of a building and see how large the radius is, but I'm also too scared to know how far people are going to avoid me.


I wonder how long I'll have to live before the radius covers the planet. Will they all fly off into space? Or will I find billions of corpses huddled in some remote corner of the world?