Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26050841-20150205105816

The rain was pouring down hard. Thunder was cracking in the sky. Any living thing would be in shelter. Anyone except for my dumb ass.



I had lost track of the time, so here I was running down the street as fast as I could to get home before 11:00 came.

I took out my phone. It was 10:48. 

“Okay Google,” I told my phone. “ How far from home?”

 I was still a two and a half miles from home. I knew I wouldn’t make it in time. I couldn’t run fast enough.

<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">You may be wondering why I’m not just in my car, cruising home, not worrying about the time. The thing is, it broke down about 4 miles ago. Lucky me, huh? I didn’t get good phone service out here when it was sunny outside, let alone in a thunderstorm. Fucking AT&T. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">After what felt like another two miles, I checked my phone again. It was 10:58. At this point, my legs felt like snapping in half but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t be caught by “it”. I say “it” because I have no idea what it is. All I knew was that it was big, nasty and had an ear-piercing screech. Anyone it caught after 11:00 rolled around, well…they were finished. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Once I ran the curve that led to my house I checked my phone. 11:00. Fuck. I saw my house all  the way at the end of the road, about a fourth of a mile down.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Then I heard the screech. The screech that made me want to rip my ears off. Once it ended, I could hear twigs snapping as the thing got closer.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">At this point, I was ready to piss myself. I ran off the road and hid in the woods opposite of where the twigs were snapping. I climbed up into a small tree and squatted on one of the larger branch. To my horror, I realized that it was still coming towards my direction. Then I remembered: It hunted by smelling it’s prey’s fear.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I checked my pockets for anything that could useful. All I had was my phone and some lint.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Great. Maybe I could attack with the lint. Heh. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">The humor disappeared as soon as that thing came into my line of sight. It was about 9 feet tall. It’s skin was mahogany. It was built like a Rhyperior from Pokémon. One eye was missing, and in the socket were a group of maggots crawling in and out of the hole. The other eye bloodshot and the pupil was black. It’s tongue hung from it’s mouth, saliva dripping down. It was like eight inches long. It had claws like a hawk and its feet were the same. The only clothing it wore was a ragged loincloth with holes all over it and grass stains. Around the loincloth was a belt accessorized with human heads. Some were decayed and some looked fresh, maybe a day or two old. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">It started sniffing around in my area, looking for me. It couldn’t pinpoint my exact location,  but it knew I was close by. An idea popped into my head. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I took out my phone. The clock read 11:06. I went to the alarm and set it for 11:07. I pressed “Okay” and turned the volume all the way up. I threw my phone a little ways and waited for waited seemed like forever. The thing was coming towards my tree when… <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">da da doot doot da da doot doot doot da da doot doot <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">... <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">my “The Final Countdown” alarm went off a little deeper in the woods. He stopped in his tracks and turned towards the noise. As he went to investigate it, I climbed silently out of my hiding spot. I got to the bottom of the tree and dropped to the ground. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Snap. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"> I landed right on a twig. It spun around and beamed its one eye directly on me. I broke out into a full on sprint. I could hear it running right behind me. That thing was a LOT faster than I was expecting it to be. I looked behind me and saw that it was gaining on me. I turned back to look where I was going only to run smack into a tree branch. I landed right on my back.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">It approached me and lifted me up by my shirt collar. It’s breath was so putrid it could singe your eyebrows. I started kicking it in the chest to try and break free to no avail. It punched me in my mouth and I could feel the blood trickling down my mouth. The creature licked me with that Venom tongue of his and slammed me into the ground. I blacked out. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I regained consciousness again and it was still dark. I had the worst headache I’d ever had in my entire life. I sat up and saw my phone right next to me, though I swear I remember throwing it. I remembered being face-to-face with that beast. Why hadn’t it killed me? I picked up my phone and checked the time. It was 10:58. That meant I was unconscious for almost a full day. It also meant that thing was coming out in 2 minutes.

<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;">I saw my house right down the street, about a thirty second run. I got up to run when I ran into air and fell on my ass. I got up and felt what I just run into. It was like an invisible wall, on all sides of me. I couldn’t go anywhere. It was like a mime had built a wall around me. <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;">I looked at my phone again. 11:00. In a last ditch effort, I tried to get through that invisible barrier. I ran right through it. Where had the barrier gone? It was like it had disappeared when the time hit- <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;">Oh. <ac_metadata title="What Happens After 11:00 (Fixed after Deletion Appeal)"> </ac_metadata>