Graveyard

Staring down at the letter, I felt dark feelings of dread collect in the pit of my stomach. To be honest, I can truly say that at the time I would've loved to throw the it into the bin and get on with my mundane and insipid life but I knew that I wouldn't be able to live with myself afterwards. That I would always be wondering, never knowing what it was about, who sent it, what it said.

So, taking a deep breath and ignoring the unfamiliar feeling that rose up in me, I opened the letter.

Again, the only thing inside was a thin slip of paper that was written on with an elegant gothic script. I chewed on my lip as I read it. "You seek the answer yet you dont know the questions" Feeling a shiver run down my spine, I sensed the strange feeling descend down on me again. It seemed to tell me to turn somewhere, to move...
I glanced up and saw a door. The faint light ommitting from it instantly captured my attention, making me bristle. And then I knew, almost instinctively, that that was were I had to be.

I walked cautiously through the throng of chattering students towards the door.
STOREROOM NO ENTRY TO STUDENTS it read, in large red font. But I barely looked at it before closing my hand over the freezing doorknob. Traces of fear flitted through me but I ignored it them, keeping my mind clear. The door swung open with a taunting creak, revealing a surprisingly large room, decked with various different cleaning utensils and a long metal pole in the corner. As I sniffed the air, I could detect a faint smell of rotting flesh that mingled in with the strong smell of bleach, making me feel slightly queasy.

Then the door slammed shut.

I span around in alarm, my eyes widening as I saw what had shut it.
A large orange hand.
Or, more rather, a writhing mass of tentacles.
But before I could react, it slammed into me, catapulting me into a wall. It was clinging on to me, squirming around my stomach. I leapt back, and watched in horrified fascination as the slimy mess slid off me.
Only to lunge at me again.
But this time I was ready. I twisted to my side, grasping onto a broom which I spun in my hands and struck on one of the tentacles.
It didn't even flinch.
A tiny part of me heard the slight creak of the door opening but I dismissed it; I was too wrapped up in what I was doing to care. I took a deep breath and looked up past the squirming mass of tentacles to the creatures body, expecting the worst. And it was. A bulbous orange mass of sickly looking flesh, almost resembling a grotesque mix of an jellyfish and a octopus.

But just as lethal.

Its immensely hideous form was expanding, writhing and pulsing in irregular jerky movements. And then I noticed something else. Or, to be more precise, someone else. It was Jason, standing at the door with his mouth set in a shocked O.

One of the creatures thick tentacles reached out for him but his reaction was too quick, grabbing a mop and whirling it expertly around him, just like he did at his capoeria classes. His mouth was now set in a straight line and the grim determination in his eyes was clearly apparent.

He whipped the mop around and hit it on the creature full on its bulbous stomach, earning just a furious snarl from it. Then an idea began to form in my mind, and before I knew it, I was already moving, clambering up a tall shelf in brisk yet fluid motions. I timed it exactly right, swinging the long metal pole right into an air sack just below its main body as it reared up to attack Jason. It hit right on target, and began to spasm, its thin taught flesh rippling and shifting like water. It collapsed to the floor and I jumped lightly down from the shelf, right infront of Jason. His dark skin looked almost pale, making his bright eyes glimmer. His breath came in hard gasps and he was staring at me with a mix of bewilderment and fascination. But when he looked at the creature that lay on the floor, his eyes widened even further.

I glanced down at the newly dead corpse but to my surprise, I felt nothing but a slight sense of satisfaction, as if I had suceeded in a trivial task. I opened my mouth to say something but no sound came out. Frowning, I cleared my throat and tried again. "Fuck, lets get the hell outta here." My voice sounded almost alien, even to me. So I cleared my throat again.

Then, like a hundred times before, I cleared my head of the innescesant useless jabber and walked past jason to open the door, leaving him looking almost awestruck, his mouth hanging open. As an afterthought, I turned back around to face him. "Oh, and you might want to close your mouth, your catching flies." And, with a thin smile, I walked out the door just as the bell rang.

I had barely gone a few steps before Jason caught up with me again. "What the fuck" he gushed, sounding almost breathless as he ran his hand over his dreads. "I mean, how did that..." He let the question trail in the air, his unnatural eyes bright with undeniable excitement and awe, and something much, much darker... I rolled my eyes, irritated, just when the feeling that I was being watched intensified, making me turn. And, just as I did, I saw a bright flash of ginger, and beneath it, a pale freckled face. I froze, and was running before I had even noticed.