Scream.
Another scream.
More screams.
And even more screams.
The sounds echo throughout my house and float into my bedroom while i lay on my bed, shivering in fear. I should be hiding or something, but I’m stuck to the bed, unable to move because I’m tied to it. My brother and i had played a game yester-night and whoever lost was to be tied to their bedposts.
How could something that seemed like a fun idea at the time sound so wrong and absolutely stupid now?
It probably has to do with the fact that people…no, creatures are in my house and i am unable to do anything. Since I’m tied to the bed, movements would cause noise, and it could attract the attention of…those beings.
It’d been a rumour just two weeks ago. Old Man Kinkard had gone for his usual fishing sessions, and instead of fish, he’d discovered a dead, mauled body. At the time, the town police said it’d probably been a dog or wolf or wild beast, since the river was near the woods. Old Kinkard didn’t agree, and insisted it was some monster.
But eleven days ago, Young Master Abraham Sanchez was found dead, his head severed from his neck in haphazard cuts. After a postmortem analysis, the coroner said the beheading couldn’t have been done with a knife. A claw was found lodged closed to his vertebral column though, and when investigated it was discovered that it matched no living animal’s DNA. Not the documented ones, at least.
And there are over a million, if not a billion of animals.
The police tried to hide the information, but somehow it got leaked, and soon the townspeople knew that there was something fishy going on.
Something, or someone, was out there, and it/she/he was dangerous.
However, when a full week after the young master’s death, no deaths came up, the town police held a public announcement saying there was nothing to worry about.
Of course, there were a few skeptics, but the townspeople relaxed.
For the past four days, it didn’t seem like the creature would return. Life was good.
Until today. Rather, tonight.
Beads of sweat fall down my face as i hear a scream. And this time, i recognise the voice. Isabelle.
My sister. My only sister.
My face loses its colour.
No.
Her screaming lasts for about forty seconds, and then is abruptly cut off.
She…they…
No.
A putrid smell wafts into my nostrils just as i hear something making repeated noises, like someone was trudging up the…steps.
Someone is climbing the stairs. And the stairs lead straight to my room.
My blood literally runs cold.
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I stay stationary, listening in absolute fear as the sound of the steps comes closer, closer…
“Stop”.
That definitely does not come from me. It comes from the door. Right at the door.
And it comes as a growl. A human growl. Low enough to be a threatening command, and loud enough to make me know that whoever said it wields great power.
The growl that comes after that isn’t one of great power. It isn’t human either. But the owner of that growl sounds strong. Very strong. And angry. And frustrated.
“Leave. The. Way”.
“You’ve done enough damage to this house, Ga. Let’s go”, the powerful person says.
There’s a scoff, and i sense the anger laced in between the sarcasm of that scoff. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy slaughtering that traitor couple”.
“Harold and Jacqueline were pawns in the master’s game. I was assigned to destroy them. You, on the other hand, were not given permission to disturb this town. We had one job, idiot, and now you’ve put the people on high alert”.
“I was hungry”, Frustrated voice says.
“You were being stupid. And now, you’re being unreasonable”.
Another inhumane growl floats through the door to my ears. “I want to wipe out their entire household”.
“Stop now. Leave”.
“They betrayed us. Let me destroy their offspring and enjoy the screams of agony. Would you deny that you didn’t like hearing that girl wail?”
“Leave. Now”.
“No. Stand aside. I want to eat this one and relish her flesh”.
It wants to relish my flesh?
I gulp in fear, then almost gasp in horror as the putrid smell I perceived earlier somehow gets into my mouth.
One of the creatures lets out a frustrated sigh. “If the Master hears of this, you will have yourself to blame. Let. Us. Go”.
“No”.
“I am warning you one more time, let’s leave- ”
The speech stops abruptly as the door that separates me from the outside world is removed from its hinges, broken into irreplaceable pieces.
Splinters of wood fly onto my bed, but my widened eyes do not acknowledge that, instead they fall on the humongous being standing at the door way and widen even more.
It (yes it’s an ‘it’. It’s too horrific to give it a human gender) has slime and mould covering every inch of its build, with three horns sticking out of what i should call a head. Its eyes are bottomless pools of vomit green, and when it sets its eyes on me, it grins. If i can even call it a grin.
Moss covers its ‘teeth’, and when it opens its mouth to speak, the putrid smell i had ignored before in my shock rolls off of it in waves.
I’m unable to hear what it says, because just as it opens its mouth, a “swish” noise sounds through the air and its head is severed from its…neck?
I guess you can call it that.
The putrid smell becomes even worse, and i begin to choke. However, I’m still stuck under the ropes, so i can’t run.
“That’s enough”, a voice says, and that’s when i remember the creature wasn’t the only one present in the house.
I swallow, my emotions switching from shock to disbelief as i stare at a man standing calmly behind the fallen figure of the creature.
He shakes his head, grimaces at the weird coloured liquid flowing out of the being, and freezes when he sees me looking at him.
That’s when I scream.
