Red Mask (a 'creepypasta' of sorts)

She didn’t like it, to play hide and seek,

with her friends who visited once a week.

She hated that stupid game that they played,

but her friends, determined, would not be swayed.

When it was her turn to go, run and hide,

no one would offer to sit by her side.

Then when she would find herself all alone,

a man in a red mask comes into her home

Up through the boards all gaze and stare,

the red mask comes to claim his fare.

Up through the boards to claim a soul,

the red mask comes to take his toll.

They found where she hid the last time they played,

and they all ran screaming, shocked and afraid,

of the closet scene so damning, obscene,

that makes nightmares from each and every dream,

of the sight of a girl stitched up with lace,

arms and legs twisted and bent out of place,

crimson blood a pool that flooded the space,

and a red mask stapled onto her face.

Up through the boards all gaze and stare,

the red mask comes to claim his fare.

Up through the boards to claim a soul,

the red mask comes to take his toll.

-o0o-

Repurposed

some folk keep their demons in the cupboards

    some under the stairs

    under the bed locked up in pairs

some folk keep their demons in their pocket

    others far, far away

    some keep their demons locked up

    hoping to keep them at bay

I keep my demons ground fine

    to add sparkle to my eye shadow

    a shimmer to my waterline

        their blood a paste to moisturize

    and make my skin oh – so – fine

conditioning my hair with demon bile

    a jar in the fridge for nail polish
no need to abolish

    the sinful little fuckers

if they come for me

    I’ll eat them up

        munch and bite

            demon bone to keep the teeth white

-o0o-

This poem was inspired by this picture posted by a friend on Facebook:

Grace and the Lich

Grace brought her sword and silver shield

and wore her iron helm

she saught the barrow in the field

beneath the greying elm

she came to slay the lichly gloom

who stalks the fields at night

and break his bones within his tomb

to end the fearsome sprite

her guide is Morgan, whitebreast crow

who flies about her head

to look above and let her know

of things that lay ahead

she let Grace know as up the road

the lich was lurking there

standing in the bushy woad

with nettles in its hair

she struck the lich about its head

it crumbled into ash

so off she went to find its bed

where sleeps his boney stash

she found the elm and pushed aside

the door of moss and bark

and made her way down inside

into the gloomy dark

and two by two the bones were lain

as teeth cut to the bone

and so was our dear Grace then slain

lichkind don't dwell alone

-o0o-

The Shy Thing

I've always seen him
the shy thing
standing behind doors
hiding around corners
nobody sees him
but I do
he's very shy
the shy thing
with his little smile
his little teeth
his long claws

he doesn't eat much
usually the rotting things
at the bottom of the bin
he likes them
they're easier to eat
and they taste like something
he likes the grease on the polystyrene containers
I bring home
he likes spicy food

nobody believes me
when I tell them about him
they can't see him
they think he's imaginary
but I see him
he's always been here
for as long as he can remember
in this house
and he knows all the best places to hide
under the small table in the hallway
nobody looks there
up the three doors in the ceiling
nobody notices them
behind the television unit
in the empty cupboard nobody uses
often you'll hear a light go on or off
but you don't know which light it was
it's the light in the ceiling
in the dead of night
you can sometimes hear is feet shuffle
he doesn't walk so well
he's been hurt
long ago
so he shuffles
wearing odd socks
the ones that go missing in the wash
I gave him an old shirt of mine once
and we became instant friends

I made noodles for him once
he didn't like them
he left them till they went all green
then he slurped them up

he's a very good friend
one day the bad people came
they said they fix the electricity
one man went up into the ceiling
he never did say what he saw
but he came down his rickety ladder
white like a crushed fast food plate
he wouldn't say
his boss said he was being silly
the shy thing sat on the boss' head
I don't know what everyone else saw

but the boss died some days after that in hospital
they said his brains went all green
the shy thing said he went to visit the boss
in hospital
he said it was the only time he'd ever leave
when he went out to eat
he said that with a smile I didn't like

but
the shy thing is such a good friend
but now I don't like going up into the ceiling any more
not since the boss came to stay in my house
I didn't like it
but the shy thing insisted
the boss screams a lot
when the shy thing locked the boss up in the ceiling
then I couldn't hear the boss so well any more
which I liked
he's very afraid
and that makes me afraid
the screams upset me
but the shy thing keeps him quiet with his nails
most of the time anyway
but nobody else can hear the screams
I guess
some people are good
at only seeing and hearing
what they want to

-o0o-

Bag Man

He scratches on the window pane
He calls to every child by name
He snatches them into the rain
And every night he does the same

Here and there a missing soul
Night rent with cries, anguished mothers
Who plead for loved ones eaten whole
By night hiding darkly others

At night check window, hatch and door
Make sure your child is tucked away
He comes for those that rise before
The sun that keeps the fiend at bay

And just because you're grown up now
Does not mean he won't do the same
He'll find you someday, soon, somehow
His scratching at your window pane

Your blind to him and where he goes
But his eyes will always find you
He always watches; always knows
He's standing right behind you