El Tigre Hombre

“Bye sweetie, I won’t be gone for long! Make sure to do the laun-” 

“I know, Mom, you can go now. Love you.” James interrupted his mom with an eye-roll. 

“Alright, don’t stay up too long, bye!”

The door slammed shut and James’ mom waved goodbye as she backed out of the driveway. 

James is turning 10 in a couple of days, and his parents told him he could stay home alone when he turned 10. Of course, he is excited, who wouldn’t be? It’s his first time having the whole house to himself!

It was 9:30, and James’ bedtime was 10:00, so he had to go to bed in a little bit. But James thought, since he was home alone, he could stay awake for as long as he wanted!

James’ room is at the very end of the hall, near the living room. The hallway is large with two bedrooms, and a bathroom at the very end. His bedroom is the closest to the living room, it's the first door on the right.

James was playing Subway Surfers on his tablet, as he heard a loud thump echo through the house. James shook it off thinking it was his mom. But not long after, he heard another sound. It sounded closer. Then, James remembered he was home alone. 

James doesn’t have an app to call his mom on his tablet, since it isn’t activated, nor has her phone number memorized.  But, there is a house phone in the hallway where the sound is coming from.

James went towards the phone, shaking in fear. As he walks closer, he hears breathing on the other side. James rushes to get the phone runs outside to the shed and locks it. The shed is old, and run down. The roof has holes everywhere, and the floor has a hole, enough for James to escape from whatever was trying to unlock the door. 

James sits down in a corner, facing the door and the hole. He looks at the phone and attempts to call 911. He sits there while it rings,

“Hurry up, come on!”

-”911 what’s your emergency?” an operator finally answered.

- “You got to help me, ther-”

Suddenly, James was interrupted by a long pause.

-"Hello, is anyone there?” the operator asked impatiently.

-“Yes, there is a scary noise coming from my hallway and I am home alone.”

-"Okay buddy, you got to stay calm okay? Stay on the phone with me, where are you right now?”

-“I am in my shed, I cannot stay here for long!” James replies.

-“Do you know your address?” the operator asks.

-“Yes, it- it is 198 North Jefferson Avenue.” James replied.

The officers are talking to each other, yet James can’t comprehend what they’re saying.

-”Are you sure that is your location; I cannot find that on here. If you can, go check the front address and tell me the numbers you see, can you do that?”

James gulps. Terrified, he bolts to the front and looks for the number, he realizes that this isn’t his house. This wasn’t even his neighborhood. Confused, James walks back to where he originally was. But to his surprise, nothing was there. It was just an empty backyard. 

James walks out the door confused as hell and shouts,

“Hello?” Complete silence.

“Is anybody there, where am I?” 

Again, nothing. Nothing but his echo. Everything looks abandoned. Like it hasn't even been touched, like everyone left. But why?

James wanted to know where he was, he wanted to go back to his mom. Sadly, he left the house phone in the shed. 

James remembered the old phone he had seen, he went back to the house he saw it at, but the phone wasn’t there. Nothing was there. Everything just- disappeared. 

In the distance, James sees a movie theater in the distance, wondering if people were there. There were cars in the parking lot. But again, there weren’t newer cars, there were old cars, like cars in the 1960’s.

James heads towards the theater. He hears crows chirping and the sound of wind yelling. James, already scared enough suddenly feels something strange, like someone is watching him. He tries to ask who’s there, but nothing comes out, nothing but a whisper. As James shivers down to the theater, he hears something bolting from behind him. 

There was an empty field in the distance with tall grass for him to hide in. James sprints towards the empty field, scared and wondering what the hell is going on. Out of breath, he has time to look behind him. The theater wasn’t there. Again, nothing was there, besides more empty land. But there was one thing poking out the ground. Looks something like a small dead tree. James walks towards the object curiously and cautiously while still having that weird feeling of being watched. Yet, there aren't any objects near him for the thing to hide behind. 

As James walks toward it, it slowly starts fading away. 

“Yo- you’re not scaring me.” James stutters. 

“Show yourself, I demand.”

Out of nowhere, a guy starts to walk towards him, slowly and steadily, but whatever he touches, disappears. The guy is tall, with a black suit and a tiger mask. It looks like he is giggling by the way he moves.

“If you’re not scared, why back off?” The man asks. “Come and give me a hug!” 

The man reaches his arms out and starts walking towards James. 

“Come on, it’s just a hug. Don’t be shy!”

James screams, “Stay away from me!” and runs away, not knowing where to go. James tries to run forward into the big empty field, to see if there is anything over there. Yet, he had no luck. 

As the man gets closer and closer, his giggles start to get louder. James looks back to find nothing there, not even a field. Just- nothing. Everything was just black. There wasn’t even a sky, it just seemed like a border blocking something. 

James walked towards that dead tree, pulling it, and to his discovery, everything was fading back. Fading back to how it originally was. It wasn’t just a field thought. It was James’ neighborhood. James ran as fast as he could to his house as it was fading back into place. 

Eagerly, he went inside, everything was back to normal. James went to the shed to grab the house phone where he left it. He grabbed the phone and instantly dialed 911, wondering if they’d believe him. I mean he is a 9-year-old, with an imagination after all.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“I know this might sound crazy, but I was just in the past, and there was a man after me and…”

“Woah woah, slow your roll kid, slow down would ya? Now start again from the beginning slowly so I can understand your problem.”  The operator said.

“I’ll start from the beginning. I was at my house, home alone and I heard some noises from my hallway. The light was off too. I grabbed the phone that was in the hallway and ran to the shed.”

“Okay..”  The operator said confused.

James informed the officer about all that happened.

“I called you guys earlier, and you guys told me to check my address. Here is where you might not believe me. I went to check, and I was teleported somewhere else. I went to the front to find out that I wasn’t at my house. I went to the back to get the phone again confused, and there wasn’t anything there. The man was tall, in a suit with a tiger mask on.”

“Okay sir, I do believe you, because this isn’t our first call about this. Describe the house for me, would 'ya?”   The operator asked.

“It was a very small blue house, with one window, and a door. It had white rusty pillars holding the house up.”

“That’s what I thought!”  The operator said quieter. 

“What?”

“That has happened to many people before, it does it to kids who stay home alone, and he has found his target. He isn’t a real person either.”

“What do you mean by ‘not a real person’?”  James asks.

“Well it’s a hologram, everything there isn’t real. It’s all in your imagination. Why don’t you think it happens to adults?”

James thinks for a while, if it happens again, he can outsmart the guy. If he doesn’t show fear and walks up to him bravely, what will he do? Will he be scared, or will he not change?

“Do you know how it happens and how to do it?”  James asks.

“I do not, but why would you want to anyway?” 

“I- just to prevent it from happening again to myself or others, you know?”

The conversation lasted hours, but eventually, the operator had to end the call. However, they said You need to be in your house, near your hallway with the lights off at night. Once you hear a noise, you’ll know it’s working. Even if you are scared, show no fear. That’s all it wants. It feeds off of fear. 

“The monster also has a name. The monster's name is El Tigre Hombre, which is in Spanish and translates to The Tiger Man in English. The Tiger Man originated from Mexican culture and was talked about to make kids not stay home alone. Everyone thought it to be a myth, even parents confirmed as well.”

Suddenly, footsteps were coming from behind James. Footsteps are loud like they are sprinting at full speed. James quickly looks behind him and screams bloody murder. The Tiger man jumps on top of him. 

“AAGH!”

“Honey what’s wrong, are you okay?!” James' mom asked.

“I’m- alive. So that was all just a dream? It felt so real.” James said to himself.

“Oh James, I'm so sorry, I got you and will make sure nothing ever bad happens to you.” James’ mom says while holding James, rocking him back and forth.

James is crying inside but trying to hold back those tears to show that he is brave. 

“Is The Tiger Man real?” James sniffles.

“No sweetie, he isn’t real.” The mom says in a deep masculine voice.

James attempts to jump out of the way to look, but his mom is hugging him super tight. James struggles to breathe. He looks up and sees The Tiger Man.

James starts to lose consciousness barely alive when the man says, “Good night.”