one of our own

A Story by prowsie

i'm new to this site , and not much of a writer. but i thought i'd give it a try. this story is about a man who finds a baby in a dark alley , and decides to take care of it.

It all started when gary was on his way home from work. It was already dark outside and he was the only one on the street. It was a long day at the office , and he was very tired. As he kept on walking he quickly checked his briefcase to be sure he didn't forget anything at the office. As he opened the briefcase , a picture fell out of it. He picked it up and looked at it . On the picture there's a lady , with a red coat. Definitely not someone he had seen before , maybe it's the wife of one of his colleagues , and he put it in his briefcase by mistake. On the backside of the picture there was some writing. It was very vague but Gary was able to read a few words : "16 ..... pick .... up". He's not sure what it means. He put the picture back in the briefcase and closed it. It's weird to see the streets this empty , it's not even all that late . As he walked past a small alley , he heard a weird crying coming out of it. He didn't know what to do , the crying sounded almost like a baby. He went into the alley and the crying became louder with each footstep. Behind a green trash bin there was a small basket. Gary was certain the crying came out of the basket. He picked the basket up and looked inside of it. It was a baby! But what kind of person would leave a baby out here in the cold? He decided to take the baby with him. His wife and two children stared at him in the weirdest way possible when he came home with the baby. He told them how he found him , and his wife agreed with him that bringing the baby with him was the smartest thing to do. The next day they went to the police with the baby , they checked the hospital records to find out who his real mom is. There were no records of him , nor was there any record of someone with the same DNA as him. That day Gary and his wife decided to take care of him , and raise him like on of their own. The years went by and little Daniel , as they called him , grew older. Gary and his wife decided to never tell him how they found him. It was his 16th birthday , and everyone was happy for him. to bad that Gary had to work today , and couldn't be at home with his family. Once work was over , Gary hastely put on his coat and ran out the front door of the office . The street was empty , just like that day he found Daniel. He stopped at the alley he found Daniel in 16 years ago , and remembered that day. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and a manly voice whispered in his ear "looking for something?" . Gary turned around quickly and saw a small man in a yellow coat. There were atleast 50 holes in his coat , and his pants didn't look to fancy either. Gary immediately identified him as a homeless. There's been a lot of homeless people in the city lately. "no sir , i was just bringing back some memories" Gary said. The man stared at him with a weird grinn on his face. "And what may those memories be about then? surely an old stinky alley like this won't bring back good memories." the man said. "In this alley i found an abandonned baby , 16 years ago , me and my wife take care of him like he's one of ours." Gary said with a smile on his face. The man looked somehow shocked , like Gary just told him he murdered someone. Then suddenly the man bursts out into laughter. Gary didn't understand what was so funny about the story. The man stopped laughing and stared at him. "then you must not know about .... them" the man said in a serious tone. "them?" Gary replied. " Back , way back in time , the place where this alley is built now , used to serve as a place to burn witches." the man said. "These witches were known as the cuckoo witches , since they let others take care of their children untill at a decent age they come and pick them up again." the man said. suddenly a lot of stuff flashes through Gary's head. the picture of the woman , the writing on the back , it all comes together. Gary doesn't have time to respond to the man and runs to his home. Everything looks normal , he rings the bell , no one opens the door. As he leans against the door he notices it's open. he steps inside. Immediately he falls to his knees. On the couche there are three bloody dead bodies. The faces are cut off , and the number 8 is written in blood all over their skin. Then he notices a figure standing in the kitchen. It's Daniel , he's holding a knife in his right hand. "Daniel .... wh....what have you done?" as Gary finished his sentence the front door behind him flew open. A woman was standing in the doorway , in a red coat. Her skin was grey , grey like ashes , like she got burned in a fire not to long ago. she points at Daniel , who drops the knife and starts walking towards her. they give each other a hand , and the woman looks at me for just a second. her eyes were white , just white , nothing else. as they walk hand in hand out of the door , the smell off smoke suddenly penetrates Gary's nose. once the woman and Daniel left the house , an ocean of fire engulfed the doorway , there was no way to escape.