Patapsco River Horror Story

Chapter 8

Sue drove out of the parking lot down Columbia Pike and took a right on Main. She rolled down the window a few inches. The car felt stuffy for some reason or maybe it was just her. She felt unnerved that Neil experienced something like she had but she also felt a little better knowing she was not alone in this. She did not understand what was happening.

Sue drove over the Patapsco River, which divided Howard County on the west side of the river from Baltimore County on the East. For some reason she felt a little more at ease now that she was on the Baltimore County side. Maybe it the fact that she was out of Ellicott City and Howard County or maybe it was all just her imagination. The past two year or so have not been the best years for Sue. After Don died she has had a hard time paying the bills.

Sue had felt for sometime like she was on a treadmill and life was passing her by. She took a right turn on to Oella Avenue. The Patapsco was now on her left as her mustang rode along its banks. She peered out the front window through the darkness and trees at the river. Searching the bank on both sides, she tried to catch site of the woman Neil was talking about.

She gave the car more gas as it rode up an incline on the road. Then she slowed the car as she came to a spot on the road where she could look down over the river. Sue scanned the river again looking for movement or anything that caught her eye. Her search came up with nothing. She hit the gas once more and head up into Oella.

She pulled into the driveway of the home she has lived in for more then five years. She turns off the engine and the headlights and sat for a moment in the dark. Images started flashing in her mind. Images of the events she saw on the bridge that night. Sue tried to fight them off but the images were to powerful.

While the images flash through her mind she opened the car door and got out. Sue stumbled her way up the driveway and on to the sidewalk that wined towards the house. She couldn't stop the images, tears pool in her eyes; she reaches her arms out trying to feel for the door. Sue finally reached the front door. With her house keys in her right hand she searched for the door nod with her left.

Finally finding the door nod Sue inserted the key and turned the nod. The door opened and she fell in on to the parlor floor. While she laid there on the floor with horrifying images in her head and tears in her eyes Sue kicked the door shut with her foot. The house was dark and silent which did not help her situation at all. The darkness made the images in her head even more vivid.

The images of old steam trains, loud steam whistles, lighting, thunder and figures dressed in black flashed in her head as she picked herself off the floor and stumbled up the stairs. Sue shut her eyes and grabbed for the railing with her right hand as she inched her way up the stairs. Her left hand knocked photos off the wall as it guided her up to the landing. She fell on the landing at the top of the stairs. Sue then crawled into the bedroom, then on to her bed.

She laid there face down on the pillow and was only able to kick her shoes off. The images swirled in her head. The room and the bed felt like they were spinning. Sue was afraid to open her eyes to see if the room was really spinning. The images faded in and out of each other.

Sue felt the stomach acids in side her churning. She was not sure how much longer she could take it. Her heart was beating hard in her chest and her head was throbbing. Lifting her head off the pillow Sue's eyes slowly adjusted to the blue moon light that washed over her bed from the window next to it. The window lit the room enough for Sue to roll off the bed and crawl into the bathroom.

She made it in time to violently empty the contents of her stomach. The images in her head stopped after she finished vomiting but her head was still throbbing. Sue knelt in front of the sink and took a mouth full of mouthwash then spat it into the sink. She wiped her mouth with her hand and pulled herself up in front of the mirror. The blue moon light was the backdrop in the mirror.

The mirror hung on the wall over the sink in front of the bathroom door. Sue stared into the dimly lit mirror. Staring back out at her was not her refection. Sue jumped back from the mirror. The image in the mirror does not move.


Sue slowly moved forward toward the mirror again. She took a good look at the figure in the mirror. It was a woman in a dark cape with a hood. Sue studies the woman face; she looks like she was in her late teens to early twenties. There was not enough light to see the color of her eyes or the color of her hair.

The woman in the mirror looked sad and a tear rolls down her check. She looked young but her face looked weather beaten or it just may have been the lack of light. Sue did not know what to make of the image in the mirror. Her hands shook as she lend on the sink. The image of the woman in the mirror slowly faded into Sue's reflection.

She stood there for a moment in shock staring at her own reflection. She felt the fear churning in her stomach and she fell to her knees. Sue began vomiting once more. This time as she opened the bottle of mouthwash she only saw her own reflection in the mirror. She stubble out of the bathroom and fell face down on to her pillow.

The tears flowed freely from Sue's frightened eyes. She faded slowly off to sleep. It was a dreamless deep dark sleep. Clouds moved in the night sky became dark. The clouds covered the moon.

Sue woke Saturday morning. Her head was still throbbing. She looked at the clock on the night stand. She was shocked to see it was almost 10:30. Sue dropped her head back into her pillow; she didn't want to get out of bed.

She finally realized she was completely naked. She was not able to remember taking her clothes. Sue looked over the side of the bed to see her clothes scattered all over the bedroom floor. She looked under the sheets at her feet to see she was still wearing her socks. Sue throws the sheets off of her and stares at the ceiling.

She stubbed out of bed and into the bathroom. Flicking the light on Sue studied the mirror. She pulled it open and looked at the items on the shelves for a few seconds. Then she examined the back of the mirror, as if she was going to find something that would explain what she experienced last night. Leaning on the sink Sue scanned the rest of the bathroom, looking for some type of answer. The only thing she found was the fact that she needed to clean the bathroom.

She turned and walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. With her head in her hands she stared down at the floor. Lifting her head up sue looked back in to the bathroom. It was so quiet in the house she felt almost uncomfortable. She fell back onto the bed.

"Am I going insane?" Sue asked herself.

"I need to pull myself together and get this day started." She said out loud.

She got up off the bed and walked over to the closet to get her bathrobe. After putting on the robe Sue walked out onto the upstairs landing. Looking down the stairs she noticed the photos on the stairs. She slowly descended half way down the stairs and picked up the photos. Standing on the stairs she stared at the photos for a moment.

"Did I knock these off the wall last night?" Sue said.

Her mind wondered back to last night. She barely remembered parts of last night. The night started at the bar in Ellicott City, she remembered. Sue could recall her conversation with Neil after she left the tavern. Her memory got sketchy after she got in her car and drove home, she remembers little after that.

After hanging the photo back up on the wall, Sue slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. She walked over to the stove and stared at the coffee pot for a few seconds. Her mind was wondering again, back to last night and the conversation with Neil. She filled the pot with coffee and water and turned the stove on. Her mind then wondered back to the night on the bridge in Ellicott City.

She started to remember the events of the night before as she was driving home from the bar. It all started to become clear in her head. The adventure up the stairs, the photo, the pain in her head, the pain that was there last night and the pain that is still in her head this morning. She collapsed in a chair at the kitchen table. Her head starting to spin again from last nights liquid spirits, she puts her head in her hands and closes her eyes.


After she gathered herself together she got up out of the chair and walk out of the kitchen. She held on to the railings with both hands as she walked up the stairs. Sue stopped at the top of the landing and took a deep breath. She was out of breath from the climb and her head was still pounding. After she regained her breath she returned to her bedroom to take a shower.

Sue entered the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror she removed her robe. She looked in to the mirror for a moment. Almost daring the figure to appear again, Sue tried to imagine the figure in her mind. This time the pain in her head blocked the image from her mind.

She stepped out of her robe that was on the floor around her ankles. After picking up her robe and hanging it on the back of the door Sue took one more look in the mirror before stepping in the shower. Pulling the shower door closed, Sue turned the water on and then turned the shower on. She jumped back out of the shower stream when the cold water hit her face. Putting her hand under the water Sue tested the water's temperature.

During the time Sue was showering, she had a feeling someone or something was watching her. She continually looked through the semi-transparent shower door to see if someone was in the bathroom with her. On one occasion she even opened the shower door to make sure she was alone. She could not enjoy her shower with this feeling hanging over her. Sue took a shorter shower then she normally took

Before Sue turned the water off in the shower, out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a figure standing in the middle of the bathroom. The figure looked very dark. Though the semi-transparent door it looked blurry. She turned her head to get a better view of the figure but it was no longer there. After turning the water off she slid the door of the shower open and stuck her head out.

Sue scanned the bathroom for anything unusual but the steam was so thick she could see nothing. She stood in the shower for a moment. The bathroom was so silent all Sue could hear was the water dripping off her body and hitting the porcelain at her feet.

"Is anyone in here?" She whispered.

Hoping no one would hear her or reply. She noticed at that moment, that her heart was racing and her hands were shaking. Not only her hands but her whole body was shaking. Sue grabbed a towel that was sitting on the sink and wrapped it around her wet body. She stepped out of the shower and walked in front of the mirror.

When the steam finally started to dissipate Sue notice the mirror on the medicine cabinet was open, so it faced the shower.

"I don't remember leaving this open." She whispered to herself.

Sue closed the mirror on the medicine cabinet. The mirror was covered with steam from the shower. She put her hand up to the mirror to wipe it off but hesitated. Sue was afraid of what she was going to see behind the steam. She wiped the steam off the mirror and was relieved to see her own refection in the mirror looking back at her.

Her refection looked back at her until the steam reclaimed the mirror. She turned and opened the door. The steam escorted Sue out of the bathroom. She looked towards the window the sky was cover with clouds. Her mood matched the sky outside the window.

Sue got dressed. She went back down stairs to drink a cup of coffee. The smell of the coffee invaded the second flood of the house while Sue took her shower. She hoped the coffee would lift her mood after the events of the night before. The coffee Sue put on before she took her shower was ready as she poured herself a cup the phone rang.....