Old Man Epps
Old man Epps was a brutal old man who had no friends in world. He was an evil old soul who wasn't gregarious in nature and quite callous! One day a little boy whose name was Matthew just happen to be high in a tree in an empty lot next to old man Epps' house that gave a good visual inside when he noticed all of his mirrors were covered. The next day the little boy saw him and asked, “Why do you have all of your mirrors covered in your house?” The evil old man looked down at him and asked, “How do you know this?" The little boy responded, "I was up in that tree over there and I could see through the windows that they were all covered." The old man never said a word he just grumbled.
"I asked you a question the little boy repeated, "Why do you have all of your mirrors covered?"
"Because I don’t like what I see? Now get away from me before something serious happens to you!” The old man uttered.
The little boy left and went on his merry way speaking to people coming and going.
“Hello! How are you today?” The people responded friendly and said, “Just find how are you?”
“I’m just great!” He replied.
Several days passed and the little boy remembered the old man and decided to pay him another visit. “Mr. Epps!” He called out. “I told you to stay away from me!” He reminded Matthew. “But why?” The little boy inquired. “Because I don’t want to be friends with you! You’re small and you wouldn’t understand!”
“Yes it is true that I am small but I can understand and feel many things. So why not tell me what’s bothering you and I’ll listen. I promise I won’t judge you!” The little boy confessed.
“Well since you must know, you see all my life I’ve hid myself from the world. I was raised in dysfunctional family environment and had a very abusive childhood; I have parents to thank for that. I killed my father with an ice pick and I poured gasoline on my mother while she was sleeping and set her on fire. I cut a little boy’s legs off and watched him bleed to death and piece-by-piece I sliced and diced a little girl because she kept screaming wouldn’t shut up. I’ve done many cruel crimes and I’ve served time in prison for what I’ve done yet to this day still I’m paying for each and every one. I don’t know why I did those awful things to them, they’ve done me no harm but something came over me and it just happened.”
What came over you?” The little boy inquired.
“Something evil! I see it when I look in the mirror and it’s quite hideous!” He confirmed.
“I’m sure it’s all in your mind Mr. Epps. You’re just letting your imagination get the best of you! You couldn’t have done all of those awful things.” The little boy consoled.
“No! It’s not my imagination! I’ve spent 60-years of prison time to prove it. I’m a very bad man with an uncontrollable urge to kill. I’ve even cut out the tongue of a dog because it just kept barking! Now go away and leave me be!” The old man shouted.
The little boy left and went on his merry way speaking to people along the way when he ran across one of his friend’s older brother whose name was Sam.
“Hi Sam! How are you today?” Matthew greeted.
“Say let me tell you something boy. If I were you, I’d stay away from that crazy old man before something awful happens to you. I've heard strange things of those who became associated with him. The mailman doesn't even deliver his mail to his door in fear of something happening to him. The Energy Company doesn’t even read his meter. No one goes near him except you. He’s murdered many people and if you’re not careful, you may come up murdered. So take my advice and stay away from him! I've warned my little brother to stay away from him and you should too!"
“Oh he’s not that bad, he just needs a friend to talk to that’s all!”
"Okay? It’s your funeral!” Sam advised.
One evening the little boy was playing on the sidewalk near old man Epps’ home. He witnessed him dragging a large black sack from his house to his vehicle, lifting it and throwing it into the trunk of his old car as he quickly drove off. The little boy wondered why he left in such a hurry while leaving the door to his home wide open. As he walked over to close his door, he became curious and decided to enter.
The place smelled some awful like he hadn’t cleaned in years. There were dirty clothes and rags smeared with bloodstains lying around everywhere. There was an excessive amount of water bugs all over the place resulting into quite an infestation. As he walked through the house noticing all of the covered mirrors, he decided to uncover one just to see what old man Epps saw. Slowly he walked over and without hesitation he quickly snatched off the sheet from one of the mirrors; after a minute of staring he screamed out with all his might then ran. People were curious as to what was wrong with him.
Several months passed and the little boy never said another word to anyone. His parents had given up after taking him to various doctors to have test run on him trying everything they could to get him to speak, but instead he screams out as if he were in great agony or pain. Sometimes he'd scream out like a woman or child being tortured and other times he screams like a man or howls like a wounded animal in distress. Then he’d become silent as he lie still staring into space with a terrified look on his face while strapped to a bed in the psychiatric hospital.
No one knew what terrible thing happened in that house that day or what terrible things the little boy saw in that mirror. The incident hit the front page of the town’s daily newspaper and many came to see the little boy through a small looking glass of his room in the psychiatric hospital. Some prayed and lit candles for him and others wept because he was a very gifted, loving and friendly little boy with a good soul. Rumors say that the little boy was possessed and some say that the boy's outward screams were cries of the many dead victims who were brutally murdered. Some say from deep within it was the little boy's way demonstrating the torture, pain and suffering of all of those tormented victims possibly from the images he witnessed in that mirror.
As for the old man, well lets just say he was never seen again because of what was in the mirrors, the gruesome evil plagues of his past and now that they were uncovered, his wickedness consumed him torturing him in every possible way.
You see the mortal of this story is that the subconscious mind is very powerful! You can’t run and hide from it, no matter where you go it will always be there waiting. Consequently, you can believe that whenever you do evil to someone, it always comes back to haunt you.
