A few weeks ago the body shop opened up in town between Main Street and College Road. It was a shop that everyone could bring in their car and works on it or get it costumed. After the day it opened, a strange person driving a red and blue 1973 Pontiac Trans am firebird into gate 16. It didn't seem to look human inside, but it showed it outside as 23-year-old Freddy Barnswerth could see through the driver's window. Freddy drove a rusted, broken down Plymouth hemi 'Cuda that he'd recently bought from a retired old lady that used to be in the air force back in the 1920s. Freddy kept his eye on whatever the new customer was. He didn't know what it was or how he could explain it. The strange human stepped out wearing a black long overcoat, with women's high heal boots and dainty little fingers. Freddy stared at the stranger as his blood ran cold. Very gradually, the stranger got out of the car and closed the door. The stranger was wearing a blue bandana and sunglasses, she removed the sunglasses and there were two white eyes glowing straight at Freddy. Gravely, the stranger turned toward Freddy's frozen body and said;

"Might, you know where the office is?"

Freddy felt like screaming, but it felt like deep inside him, there was something that was keeping him from screaming or trying to scream.

"I...it...it's up there...near gate 1." Freddy choked out.

"Thank you." The stranger said.

Then, with a blink of an eye, the stranger was gone as if it were a ghost...quiet, motionless, and fast. Freddy watched the stranger ghost through the doors of Mr. Kellup's office, giving him quite a scare. Mr. Kellup explained the rules;

1. No smoking, if you want a smoke, goes outside in the yard.

2. Place all tools where they go.

3. Clean up any spills around the area.

4. Bullying is not allowed.

Freddy shivered as the stranger magically made 46 dollars appear from the hand and lay in down on the desk for the payment. The stranger then ghosted out of the office and as the stranger walked to Gate 16, tools automatically begun to fly and place themselves on a soft blue towel. Everyone was staring and murmuring under their breath questions like "Did you see that?" "How'd she do that without..." and "What's going on?"

Freddy placed his hand on his heart to see if it stopped from all the mysterious horror that was happening to him so fast. The stranger then came up to Freddy curious at first and said;

"I smell your...fear..."

Freddy swallowed hard and went to get a cup of coffee to help him feel better. There was a voice that felt like it was following him.

"Coffee won't...sooth you...no matter how many cups you have..."

Freddy looked behind him, he only saw the stranger working away on the motor. Something scary was going on and Freddy didn't like it.

As Freddy went to get a styro-fome cup to fill up, he saw Mr. Kellup talking to the stranger. Freddy sighed and told himself to calm down and have his cup of coffee already. Without paying attention, he accidentally overfilled it and coffee spilled on the floor...or it was about to until it was suspended in mid air. Freddy witnessed the floating coffee stand still for a minute and then it begun to spell out a message that clearly read out "I AM A LADY CHANGELING, FEAR IS SILENT" Freddy gasped in horror as the message dropped on the floor. Mr. Kellup came up behind Freddy to get himself a coffee.

"Are you finished getting coffee yet?" Mr. Kellup asked giving Freddy a scare.

"Yeah...um... let me just clean up this mess before it gets sticky." Freddy said as his heart pounded hard in his chest.

Freddy got a paper towel and wiped up the mess.

"Did I scare ya?" Mr. Kellup asked.

"Little...but did you see what happened? There was coffee floating in the air and it said something...and that something said 'I am a changeling, fear is silent.' I'm telling you the truth, Mr. Kellup. I saw it." Freddy said.

Mr. Kellup stared at Freddy for a while. He looked at the wiped-up coffee and back at Freddy.

"Maybe you went into a flash forward." Mr. Kellup said. "Ya know like a Deja vu."

Freddy rubbed his throat and went outside to calm down. Perhaps the warm sunshine and fresh air would help him calm down.

'What did that message mean when it said fear is silent?" Freddy thought to himself as he had a seat on a large wood stump.

As Freddy thought, Mr. Kellup came out with his coffee and sat next to Freddy.

"Ya know, I've been thinking. Since I need help keeping this shop running, I thought it'd be nice to help me clean the bathroom; keeping a fresh roll of toilet paper when it's gone, cleaning the toilet clean, keeping the sink and mirror clean, and emptying the trash. I've already put Charlotte, ya know, the new customer in charge of night guarding since she looked like the right person to be on guard, like a guard dog...a demon on guard ya know what I'm saying." Mr. Kellup said.

Freddy started panting in terror.

"You...you mean that...that...THING! Why...Will I be working with her?" Freddy asked.

"No, that all depends if you have time to clean the bathroom. If you forget in the daytime, you can always come in at night and clean it. Charlotte won't mind you being there." Mr. Kellup said.

"I sure wouldn't want to clean the bathroom at night. I'll do it, but I think you need to know, that I don't think Charlotte is a human and that bothers me...no, it scares me to think whatever she is, she isn't a human being. I saw her ghost through your office and the tools flying as if they had a mind of their own." Freddy said.

"You'll get over it, and feel comfortable around Charlotte sooner or later." Mr. Kellup said.

Then, Mr. Kellup got up and walked inside. Freddy sat outside for 15 minutes by himself. He didn't think anyone would be outside, but he was wrong. There was someone that was outside! Freddy felt a shill down his spine and he shivered. He wondered why he felt cold even though it was clear sky and it was summer. Freddy turned his head and saw Charlotte. Freddy's blood turned cold again. Charlotte was looking for an extra part in the car part dumpster. Freddy stared at her trying to figure out what was so scary about Charlotte that made him tense up with fright. As, Charlotte frantically looked in the dumpster, she sighed in frustration. Steam poured out her nostrils when she had sighed as she kept looking for the part she was looking for. Hubcaps, bolts, pistons, nuts, headlights, and mufflers were only there. Charlotte growled as if she were part tiger in frustration. Charlotte quickly went for a dive making it all fast for Freddy to see how Charlotte was able to dive into the dumpster. He tried to replay it all in his mind in slow motion. He closed his eyes and replayed what he had seen. First, there was the growl that wasn't human. Second, there was the leaping up. Third, came the motion downward and last, was the dive. Freddy still didn't see how Charlotte did that. When Charlotte got what she was looking for, she ghosted inside. Freddy gulped down his fear and sighed. In a minute, Freddy went back inside to work on his car. Freddy got tools he needed to fix his car and calmly walked back to his 'Cuda to start on the engine first. He thought it'd be safe to mind his business. A thought on how Charlotte dived into the dumpster was still bothering him. What was Charlotte?

As Freddy was working on the engine, bullies from Freddy's high school came and surrounded him. They started picking on Freddy.

"Hi-ya Worthless! Dis is uh peasant surprise ta see ya." said Freddy's most despised bully named Greg in his best redneck impression.

"Leave me alone Greg. I've got bigger problems than to deal with you." Freddy said.

"Aww, ain't that too bad, fellas?" mocked another bully named Henry.

"I'm serious! I've seen tools fly with a mind of their own, a senseless grave message floating in mid air spelled in coffee, and something that happened so fast outside. I have no time

"To deal with you morons." Freddy said.

"Aww, poor Worthless. Hey, Mack, let's all help him out to get rid of these scary thoughts." Greg said.

"Yeah, he needs it." Mack said.

"Whadda ya say, Larry. Do you agree?" Greg asked.

"Plenty of it, my friend." Larry said "Whadda 'bout you Mike".

"I'd agree to." said another one of Greg's friends, named Mike

"Stop it! You don't know what you're dealing with." Freddy shouted.

But the bullies didn't listen; they all got wrenches and beat up Freddy with a black eye, and some bruises. Most were scratches. Freddy shouted "Stop it!" over and over ordering them to stop. And as all hope was about to be lost, Charlotte ghosted inside Freddy and took control of his body. She made Freddy fight back with claws magically sprouting out from his fingers. She stood Freddy up on his feet like a puppet and struck Greg first across the face. The other bullies were stumped as Charlotte shot out of Freddy's mouth and into Greg's body.

"Wha...what's going on?" Greg asked scared now.

"I've been trying to tell you something." Freddy said.

Charlotte controlled Greg as she made him beat himself up with the wrench for a few spots; eye, face, nose, and head. Charlotte made Greg drop on his knees with a bloody nose and she forced Greg to keep his head up. Charlotte shot out of Greg's mouth and flew around Greg like a screaming banshee. She made a circle around him multiple times releasing black vape smoke as she orbited around Greg.

"What the..." Greg said frightened unable to speak.

Charlotte then put her face into Greg's face. She scowled at him with an evil look for a minute. Charlotte then orbited faster and faster around Greg; her body swooped, erasing Greg and his friend’s memory. She came back and landed on her feet. Freddy couldn't believe what he saw. Freddy didn't say anything. Charlotte went back to working on her car while the bullies went about their business. Freddy wanted to high-five Charlotte and say thank you to her for standing up for him, but he was too afraid to come to her. He didn't have the courage.

Freddy would sometimes go out with his friend to the movies. His only fear was that one moment or the next; Charlotte would appear out of nowhere and grab him from behind his seat, dragging him off into who knew where to expect who knows who. Freddy was unstable, shaky, and nervous. Whenever, Freddy went to the theaters alone, he feared the same thing. He kept expecting that Charlotte would appear out of the screen and grab him and to devour Freddy.

When Freddy came home from the movies that night, he was white as a ghost. His mother, Beatrice would ask him why he always looked so pale and ghost like. She worried about him.

"Nothing just tired." Freddy would tell her.

Freddy didn't know what would happen if he told his mother about Charlotte. He feared that if he did, the disturbing creature would come after him when he was asleep and rip him up to shreds. Freddy's mother would never believe it.

As Freddy drifted off to sleep, he had a nightmare. An awful one too. It started out in a movie theater where he is alone and he is enjoying some popcorn and suddenly, this quick black shadow orbited him out of his chair with his mouth covered. Freddy tried to scream but it didn't work. No one would hear him. The shadow then dropped Freddy in front of a beam of light where the hungry beast; Charlotte was waiting with saliva and drool dripping down her face. Freddy struggled to get loose but he was trapped for good and there was no helping him. The screeching roars of Charlotte began to be impatient. The shadow pushed Freddy forward to Charlotte's gaping maw. Freddy tried to scream but it was faint. The muscular creature snapped its jaws hungrily as the shadow got closer and closer to Charlotte. Freddy twisted and turned to get loose, but he was held down into a death grip. Locked! Finally the shadow pushed Freddy inside the mouth of Charlotte and down the throat Freddy went. He fell and fell until he hit Charlotte’s stomach. He was no longer tied up in a death grip. He was now sitting in stomach acid that oozed around his feet. He could feel something rub against his ankle and it spooked him. It urged him to run, but he was frozen with fear from the waist down. Freddy held his breath. In a second, the creature rose up from the stomach acid to look above the surface.

It was the ugliest thing Freddy has ever seen! It had twenty eyes on a head and its body was all supported by one vain. Freddy screamed loudly as the stomach creature rose higher and higher to drown its victim. It wrapped its body around Freddy and pulled him under the stomach acid, holding him down. Bubbles rose up as Freddy fights for air! Freddy tries to tear himself free but the creature had him wrapped up tight like a ribbon.

A second later, Freddy woke up alarmed and sweaty. He checked himself if he was okay. Freddy was okay and only wrapped in his bed sheets. Freddy worked himself out of the sheets and he turned on his lamp to calm down.

'Thank goodness it was only a bad dream" Freddy thought.

Freddy slumped over. Oh what a frightening dream he had. What if Charlotte looked muscular when no one was looking? What if Charlotte really did eat humans? Would Freddy be next?

Freddy got up and washed the sweat off of his face with cold water. He saw that his face was white as a ghost.

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