The Story Behind the Free Couch
Posted by heather
Date Posted: 10/21/2005

It was early spring, when you first hear the birds start to sing. When the cool breezes pick up the scent of fresh wild flowers, and carry them through the air. My two sons and I had just moved to Oklahoma from Colorado. We were staying with my grandmother temporarily, which turned out to be very convenient, because she lived only an hour away from my little brother, whom I hadn’t seen in about three years.
I immediately made contact with him and made arrangements to go visit him on the following weekend.
When I woke up on Saturday morning, I didn’t have a care in the world. The air was clearer this morning and the breezes seemed cooler. This day was perfect, nothing could go wrong and nothing bad could happen today. So my boys and I set off on our long awaited trip. I remember we sang to the radio and acted silly the whole way.
When we finally arrived, my brothers family met us outside and we all hugged. We spent the remainder of the day catching up and conversing about our usual complaints about the government, society, and life. At one point during our conversation, my brother had interrupted me to say, “oh yeah! Do you like our new couch? It was free.” As he pointed to the old slightly worn, leather couch, I replied, “you can’t beat free!” but then I turned my attention to my overactive children without a chance to question the story behind the free couch.
Later that evening, when the children had long been asleep on their pallets, and yawns began making their way around the room, we said our goodnights and I decided I would sleep on the couch. So when all of the lights were out and I was getting myself situated on the old, worn sofa, an uneasy feeling settled over me. An uncomfortable feeling I realized that I had been ignoring all day. I laid there on my back staring at the ceiling. All of a sudden the air around me seemed to thicken, my skin turned hot almost instantly. Immediately I felt this enormous pressure on my forehead. My head ached, my skin tightened, and burned. This was nothing like a headache. Out of instinct, I turned my head to the side to look behind me. All the while thinking to myself, you know there is nothing there. But then I closed my eyes. And in my minds eye I saw a face only inches from mine, staring me down hard. His eyes were deep red, his skin looked rotted and scared. His hair was streaming down, long and thin and the color of crushed gravel. He opened his mouth to reveal rows of razor sharp, rotten teeth dripping with clear, slimy fluid. And he hissed at me like a rabid cat about to attack.
My eyes shot open, and I felt like electricity had just surged through my body. I couldn’t move. The hairs on my arms stood on end and fear had paralyzed me. I felt this decreped demon’s presence standing over me, staring and hissing. Fear fought with my own exhaustion until I finally passed out.
I woke the next morning to my brother shaking me, “Good morning, sunshine.” He said as I slowly sat up. Every inch of me was in cramps. “Your free couch is a piece of crap. I am aching all over.” Then I recounted my story of the demon to him and his wife. They both sat very still and quiet through the whole story. When I had finished they looked at each other and my brother told me the story behind the free couch...
“We were driving home one day from town when we noticed this couch was sitting at the end of a driveway, on the curb. It was the old house that sits next to the cemetery. We figured they were throwing it away so we pulled over and heaved it on top of the jeep. As we were driving home I had a funny picture in my head of a demon just sitting on the couch as I drove. I told my wife about it, we just laughed it off and kept driving. When we got home and were carrying the couch into the house, I had another picture of that same demon riding on the couch as we towed it in. So it would seem that this demon was a little upset that you took his couch last night.”
My brother got rid of that old couch right after me and my boys left his house. Looking back, I know that I have never seen a face like that in the movies and he was not just a part of my imagination. This experience taught me to examine things in a whole new way and it opened my skeptical mind. I also learned that it may not be a good idea to pick up furniture off the side of the road, even if it is free.

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