The Sidewalk

I swiveled on my knees to see the most horrifying thing I could ever imagine. It was thin, it's bones seem to stick out of its flesh as it towered high above me. Mocking a human form it had two legs and multiple arms, four joints in each which made its stance seem crooked and broken. The hands were barely there; just flesh stretched over the base of its long, sharp fingers. Its round head jerked toward me as I fell backwards in sheer terror. Its gray flesh sunk where the eyes should've been, it had holes for ears and its large smiling mouth took the majority of its bald head. "Don't scream." I thought as it put two of its hands on either side of me and lowered itself. "Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream." It's mouth opened, unfolding long sharp fangs like dozens of needles. "Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream." Slowly it dipped it's head closer to me, it's thick pointed tongue slithering down towards my face. "DON'T SCREAM. DON'T SCREAM. DON'T SCREAM. DON'T SCREAM. DON'T SCREAM. DON'T SCREAM." Another growling hiss interrupted the monster before it could lick the blood on my forehead, it's saliva dripping onto my face as it wrenched itself back up. There were two of these creatures. The indescribably rattle erupted from their throats as they seemed to argue. I pushed my legs out from under me a little by little, afraid of the scraping noise would attract their attention. The second creature pounced towards the first, piercing the ground with it's sharp fingers. That wouldn't been my head if I wasn't already up and running.

I didn't know if I was going the right way, but I didn't care. The "right" was whatever lead me far from those things. I didn't feel pain anymore. That as the amazing gift of endorphin and adrenaline. I felt like I could run forever if I had to. Unfortunately I couldn't. Not because my body quit, but because my iPod did. I had gotten to a point in the battery where the back-light no longer came on. I shoved it in my pocket and sank to the floor, trying to catch my breath. I pressed my hands to my face, repressing the sobs that so wanted to escape. But I couldn't make any sound than I already was. Just by breathing, no, probably just by having a heart beat those things would find me. There was no telling how many there were either. I felt doomed. Horribly, horribly, doomed.

As I let my hands fall away I saw them. I could actually see them. There was a hazy blue light on them, and everything else. I looked up instantly, afraid those demons glowed in the dark. But no, if I had any luck that day, it would've collected in the bio-luminescence of glow worms. I felt myself smile as I looked up at the beautiful sparkling trail of light. Gelatinous fishing lines hung near the lights like parts of a natural chandelier. I stood, admiring the beauty and forgetting about the monsters as I followed the worms' path.

I about cried when I saw the chunk of cement. I rushed toward it, breathing in the fresh night air and dancing in the moonlight. I saw cars' headlights flashing by, and called out for someone, anyone to get me out of this hell! Where had that voice gone in the back of my mind that told me to shut up? I froze when the rattling came from both ends of the tunnel. It felt like I was shot, four times across the chest and then slammed into the ground. The creature had swatted me, and skewered me on its claws. As I lay crushed and impaled under the might of this giant thing, the second one lifted the cement slab and all the earth underneath it. Raising it high above its head it pushed it back into the hold and wedge what I saw were not sticks I stepped on earlier, but human bones in the surrounding cracks.

"A trap." I thought as blood trickled from my lips."They set a trap."