Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

The Glow of a Screen Haunted

The screen springs to life with a hiss and a pop as letters, numbers, and symbols plaster themselves across it. At first, it’s gibberish—no words, no sense, nothing but randomness. But soon, spaces appear, words start to form, letters disappear, and meanings begin to take shape. Dale stares at the screen, wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open in wonder.

“I have come to see the light,” Dale mutters to himself as he reads the words from the screen, his voice broken and confused. He swallows and takes a deep, stuttering breath, rolling his tongue across his lips. “W-What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he hisses with a slight twist of his lips.

The screen ebbs and glows once more, flickering on and off without a care in the world. Randomness litters the screen again, a sea of unending confusion. Then, slowly, as before, words form from the tirade of chaos.

He squints his eyes into narrow slits and scrunches up his nose. “Meaning is lost on those who do not see,” he reads from the screen. He leans back and smiles nervously. “Y-You’re gonna have to make a lot more sense than that, b-because if you’re trying to communicate with me, you have to earn it, not act like a bitch and burn it all down,” he spits, like a player with time under his belt and a baseball bat at his side. Unfortunately for Dale, he has neither.

The screen pops, and colours explode like fireworks before him. Words splinter across the screen, designed not to make sense—but words are words, and when they come together, sense is all you can ask for. And sense—trying to give meaning through a randomness of letters, symbols, and numbers—is far grander than merely living and keeping yourself safe.

He furrows his brow and smirks as a thick string of saliva rolls into a corner of his mouth, dripping precariously from his lip. He curls his lips, flicks his tongue, and pulls the saliva back into his mouth. “You think you’ve got all the power—think again,” he says, thumbing toward himself. “I’ve got two thumbs and two hands full of ample fingers. How many you got? What’s going to happen when I leave you here and go back home?” he chastises.

The screen stays silent, as if thinking of its comeback. Dale smiles broadly and nods. “That’s what I thought—that’s what I’ve always thought,” he says, puckering his lips and leaning back to look down at the screen. “I won. I am the one, so why don’t you make like a figment of my imagination and disappear down the drain with all the other shit,” he says smugly.

The screen continues its silence as he nods, basking in his bravado.

“That’s right—you got it, you know who t—” He doesn’t get to finish, as the screen explodes again, and a river of letters and numbers spews forth, leaving only a few words on the screen.

“The road to better things is paved with disasters,” the screen reads. He snarls.

“What, are you threatening me now?”

The screen pops again—more words appear. “I don’t t…” The last word trails off, smaller than the rest—hinting at something. Dale leans in, clenching his fists, his face twisted in frustration.

“What the fuck is your problem?” he spits.

A single word appears on the screen. Dale leans back, his lips trembling as a wave of sweat pours down his brow. “W-W-What?” he stammers.

The screen brightens, a soft humming filling the room, growing louder. The letters begin to crawl across the screen, twisting and turning, as if alive. They form words, then dissolve, swirling and reshaping, faster and faster.

Dale watches, mesmerised, his own reflection caught in the screen’s glow, eyes wide and unblinking. He tries to move, but his body feels distant, like it’s no longer his to command. The letters pulse, each beat pulling him closer, deeper, into the screen’s glow.

A final line appears, steady and sharp.

“Look closer, Dale. I see you.”

The screen flickers. Dale’s face stares back at him, distorted and grinning—a smile that isn’t his own.

And then, just like that, the screen goes dark, and the screen lights up the empty room with a soft glow.