Bloody Friday

This day started out as every other does. I woke up, got up, got dressed, went to school, boredom. No different from the other four weekdays. Wrong. It may have started the same but it didn’t quite end as planned.

It was a Friday afternoon and everyone was buzzing with the excitement of the weekend looming ahead. I always had double Media Studies on a Friday afternoon, an interesting but relatively uneventful lesson on most normal days.

I sat in my usual seat with my friends Brian and Carl, a laptop sat in front of us. As usual the sky outside was dark and cloudy. It almost looked like nighttime.

‘I hate editing,’ I said, as I used a pin that I had taken from my Textiles class to pierce my fingernail.

‘I hate it too,’ Brian turned to talk to me and saw what I was doing. ‘Do you have to do that? It freaks me out!’

‘You freak me out but I don’t run around in circles whining about it, do I?’ I said, then added; ‘And yes, I do have to do this!’ He sighed, smiling and turned back to the laptop. I chuckled.

I was just about to pierce another nail, lining the pin up carefully, when there was a loud smash and a roar from the front of the class. I jumped and the sharp point of my piercing device slashed my finger covering the tip of the pin with blood. ‘Shit,’ I muttered angrily, as screaming erupted from the entire class. I looked up abruptly.

There stood a gigantic creature, unlike anything I had ever seen in real life. It had dark green-greyish skin, sharp claws and teeth and an almost piggish snout. Its shining, blood red eyes glared at us all, taking us in before It threw It’s head back and screeched horrifically.

Two people tried to run past it to get to the door but the Thing saw them. One was knocked away so hard that when he hit the wall it cracked; upon further inspection I saw blood oozing from his ear and he wasn’t breathing. The Creature grabbed the other boy and ripped his head off as easily as you or I would take the lid off a pen. The Creature held the boy’s headless corpse and put the neck to Its mouth. When It was done sucking the blood, the Monster flung it aside and roared again, temporarily satisfied.

Everyone screamed in unison and fled to the back of the room. If only this was the first floor and not the third, I thought desperately. Then maybe we’d be able to escape through the window. The Creature leapt towards us suddenly and grabbed Maria. She screamed as It held her.

‘Maria!’ I screamed, but it was too late. The Thing pulled her apart, then dropped her remains and carried on. Maria hadn’t been a close friend of mine, but she’d accompanied me all through my school years. Seeing her torso laying a couple of feet away from her legs made tears well up in my eyes.

The whole class started running around aimlessly, screaming as if that would save them. I backed up slowly, terrified as I watched my friends and classmates being ripped to pieces.

In the middle of the chaos the Monster stopped and sniffed the air. It suddenly turned in my direction and looked at me, then slowly began to walk towards me. I froze and watched It, feeling petrified. I let out a small whimper as It got closer.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Brian leapt out in front of the Thing. He waved his arms and screamed at It. It roared again and made to grab him. Brian jumped out of the way but then It picked him up.

‘No!’ I shouted. It was squeezing Brian hard. I stood frozen with fear for a moment. What am I going to do? I thought. It’s going to kill Brian. It’s going to kill me. It’s going to kill everyone. And I can’t do a thing about it.

It was then that I realised that I was still holding the pin. It was still covered in my blood. I knew it was stupid but something just told me it was the right thing to do. I quickly brought my hand back and threw it at the Monster’s arm.

The Creature roared as the pin embedded itself into Its’ arm. It dropped Brian. Nothing else happened for a moment then Its whole arm began to turn to stone, spreading from the middle of Its forearm where the pin had made contact. The Monster screeched with anger and pain and leapt forward, swatting me aside. I hit the wall hard.

I stared up at It, and at that moment, I realised two things at the same time. One: This was actually a Chripotera. Two: My blood was able to kill them, the same as Saya’s.

It was then that I realised what I had to do. I picked up a shard of glass and cut away my sleeve, then made a deep slash down my arm.

‘Argh!’

I looked up quickly. Carl was running towards the Chripotera, screaming and holding a broken metal chair leg.

‘Stop!’ I yelled, but again I was too late. He succeeded in forcing the chair leg into the Chripotera’s belly but I knew it would do no good, It would just heal Itself. The Chripotera put his fingers together to make a dagger and drove Its hand into Carl’s stomach.

When It finally took It’s hand out, blood shot out of Carl’s wound, back and front. It covered the whole room, including me. I looked around and found I was the only person who was still alive. Brian was alive but unconscious, lying at the Chripotera’s feet.

I leapt up and ran forward. It slashed at me but I sidestepped. It tried again and again. I ducked and dodged It’s blows, then jumped forward and pressed my bloody arm to the wound in It’s belly. Finally It managed to hit me away. I hit the floor but quickly sat up to watch as the Chripotera turned to stone.

It roared and screeched until finally the creeping stone reached Its’ face. Unable to make any more sound Its’ eyes darted around frantically as realisation hit. Then finally, the red glowing coals that were Its’ eyes turned grey. Slowly I stood up and approached the stone figure. Standing in front of It, I looked up and down the statue almost sadly.

The door suddenly burst open. My head snapped up and my mouth fell open. Even though I had only ever seen the drawn versions of them, they were instantly recognisable. Haji and Saya stood in the doorway staring at the massacre in shock, then at me, the only visibly alive person there. I must have looked terrible, my hair and clothes drenched in blood, my clothes ripped, the slash down my arm and any other cuts I had received.

I stared back at them in shock and surprise, then my vision blurred and I began to feel dizzy. I slowly fell to the ground, Brian and Carl, the Chripotera and me, all grouped together.

© Amber Williams 2008