Scary Story

We were running away from it. Tree branches scratched our arms and legs. A girl ahead of me tripped on a log and fell down. I raced up to her and dragged her to her feet. We caught up to the others and continued on. All around us there were screams of terror that would be suddenly cut short. The cabin lay in front of us, just a few more yards. It raised our spirits and made us run faster. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears as I ran. We burst through the door and collapsed, tired and breathing hard on the floor.

After shutting it, a man got up and did a head count. I did the same and came up with…twenty? That couldn’t be right. There were fifty to begin with. Even it couldn’t have killed so many in just half an hour. The man’s face went pale as snow as realization dawned on him.

“Oh…my…word!” whispered the girl who had tripped. She looked as shocked as I felt. People soon started to panic. The man surveyed everyone with a look of authority.

“Everyone stay calm,” he said. “Now, clearly it has grown more powerful,” his voice was too calm and he spoke as if nothing had happened. Didn’t he realize what was happening? “I’m sure we’re safe here until morning. It doesn’t hunt during daylight. So, everyone should get some rest for tomorrow’s journey.”

The girl who had tripped looked at me. “Thanks for the help,” she said. I tried to look friendly, but I wound up looking grimmer than ever. There were two beds per room. It was supposed to be a safe house for a large number of survivors, like what we were supposed to be.

In the middle of the night, I suddenly jerked awake. My bed was by the window, and in the window it stared at me. I wanted to run and scream, but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed by fear. My brain kept telling me to move, to run, but my muscles wouldn’t. It stared at me for hours, with that single red eye, and then it left…just left. I didn’t think I could fall asleep, but at some point I did.

When I woke up, it was dusk…wait, dusk? We were supposed to leave at dawn. I rushed out into the hall. It was dark and I slipped on something. Something wet and warm was seeping through my jeans. It was blood. Frantically, I searched for the source and discovered it was dripping from the ceiling. There was a second floor to the cabin, so I went to the fireplace in my room and grabbed the metal poker. I started towards the stairs.

Suddenly, I heard quiet footsteps coming from behind me. At the bottom of the stairs I stopped and waited, the footsteps creeped carefully closer. The hairs on my neck were standing on edge and my muscles were tensing. I gripped my weapon tighter and prepared to swing. My palms were sweaty and for a second I thought the poker would fly out of my hand. The footsteps were almost upon me. I turned and swung, but hit nothing. There was no one there. Was I hearing things? No, I could have sworn something was behind me.

I continued upstairs, more cautious and panicky than ever. When I got to the top, I saw something moving behind me from the corner of my eye. I whipped around, but once again no one was there. My fear had me backing away from the stairs. As I backed up, I knocked into something. When I turned around, I saw the bodies of the twenty survivors, all lined up on the floor. Suddenly, I felt heavy breathing behind me and turned to see, but not fast enough. Everything went black.