Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-24474804-20140422181424

Hey there guys, this is my Pasta, I tried to post it, but apparently it was deleted, would like to know why. And don't just say "It wasn't scary" If it wasn't scary please let me know why.

They Came after me

By Stonestreamdubs

I'm just a college kid living with his parents, there's nothing particularly special about me, other than a few athletic acheivements in high school. I'm slowly making my way through college, having just finished an associates degree at community college, I didn't have any study habits so to speak in high school, and it took me a few years to develop them at community college before I was ready to attend any real university. I had just been accepted to a higher in-state University last month, and to celebrate this year we went on our annual ski trip and as usual, to a small mountain town in Colorado. We managed to get several VERY full days of skiing in, which was actually quite odd to me. I mean, there really wasn't that many people in the lift lines at all. I think I should explain this a little better, you see, Colorado is known for being well, a “party” state, as I'm sure many of you know, Cannibis was made legal there recently, and even before then, medicinal marijuana was easy enough to obtain. So many of the “college kid” activities included skiing and snowboarding on the weekends. So even if it wasn't Spring break (which we were closer to at the time) I'dve expected college kids to flock out here for some skiing that weekend. But that wasn't the case, in fact...I didn't see that many college kids or kids my age out here this weekend, I mean really, did they just all decide to go to another resort this weekend? Then again, the place we were staying at, was...pretty ritzy, I mean my dad was complaining half the time at how much per night they were charging us to stay in our condo. So, I shrugged it off as “They probably couldn't afford it, I mean they're college or fresh out of college kids.” So, as I was saying, we got in some really good skiing that weekend, more runs than we got at most places. But as I mentioned earlier, I did achieve some athletic awards in high school, Top 10 in the state in Wrestling to be precise (Pardon my bragging) so, a 7 hour day of snowboarding didn't quite give me the workout I had been continuing to have since my high school days. Training hard and staying in shape like that is hard to just let go of so easily. So every night after we had dinner, I went out running in the high altitude of the mountain town to get the cardio-vascular workout I had been dying for all year. Now going out running in this town was...creepy to say the least. I mean, I went out running at around 8 PM, still early even for people over 60 and yet...there wasn't ANYONE out this time of night. I mean, I know some places don't allow night skiing, but there wasn't anyone at the bar/restaurant by the ski-lift, no cars in the parking lots and no one still walking around, I mean this place was almost completely shut down, and quiet and somber as a graveyard, save for a few lights on outside. In fact, I don't even remember seeing any snowcats on the mountain either. For those of you non-skiers, a snowcat is a grooming machine that grooms the snow on the mountain after a skiing day to make the snow smooth scrape free. And most places groom the mountain at these times. Again, I shrugged it off as, “Old and well off people attend this mountain, they get a full day of skiing in and collapse on the couch by 7, and as such, the resort probably runs a tight ship and gets the groomers on the mountain by 4 or 5, immediately after the last skiiers are done as to not disturb the guests.” This assumption kept my feelings of slight trepidation during my solitary run at bay as I ran through this desolate resort. But...another feeling ran through me every night as I ran...a feeling I just couldn't shake...Every time I ran inbetween a street light or a condo's front entrance light and into the darkness of a street or snow-covered trail...I felt like I was being watched....like someone or something was stalking me, afraid to step into the light for fear of being exposed. This feeling persisted EVERY time I went running at night at this place. I would of course then stay close to the roads as to be “protected” so to speak by the headlights of the occasional passing car. And when I got back to the condo I would shower, watch TV, relax and forget about it. However...on the last night, both stupid, blind bravery, and curiosity...got the best of me. As there were no snowcats on the mountain at this time of night with the potential to run me over making me flatter than a pancake, I decided to...run up the mountain for a bit. I mean, just running around in town wasn't enough, if I really wanted to get my heart and lungs pumping, I had to take it to a new level. So that night I laced up my boots instead of my standard running shoes and began my trek up the mountain. As I thought, not even the sound a ski-patrol snowmobile, not a soul on the mountain to get angry at me and give me a ticket or a unenforcable warning, should I be breaking any curfew rules. My heart was pumping as I ran up the dark, desolate mountainside, my breaths getting shorter as the altitude began taking its toll...a cool breeze running through the pine trees as I kept making my way up the mountain. Now why I did this...to this day I ask myself why...I mean, even if I hadn't encountered...them. The potential of running into and being eaten by a mountain lion or a pack of wolves was just as good. But I said to myself from years of camping “They don't go into areas where there's a lot of people.” I even said to myself this mantra “10 or more people is a threat, 1 person is a snack.” Why I kept trekking up alone is just due to sheer bull-headed stubborness. I kept pushing up the mountain, the freshly groomed snow crunching beneath the weight of my boots, stopping occasionally to catch my breath and take a drink from my ice cold water. As I made my way further up the mountain...I began to hear something...a strange rustling in between the trees and in the underbrush...too plentiful and low to the ground to be wind. I stopped after my next running burst to listen closely. As my panting began to slow down from catching my breath, I began to hear it a bit better...aside from rustling...I heard...whispering...a high-pitched chatter that was almost indiscernable at first, but got louder as I waited and listened. It sounded like...”He's so big, makes a big meal he would...” And an anxious “Yeah! Yeah! Let's get em'!” “No, we waits, gotta catch him when his back's turned!” A cold chill then ran down my spine...colder than the air around me...I looked around to see where it was coming from, I looked into the darkness of some pine trees and peeked into the permeating darkness of the night...Large...round...yellow glowing eyes peered out from the underbrush...The rest of their body obscured by the branches and leaves, and as soon as they saw I had spotted them...I then saw several sets of sharp, jagged, teeth immediately bare forth as if to smile at me with some clearly pathetic attempt at innocence. I finally said to myself under my breath “Okay...time to go...” And began to back up...but before I could even take my first step to run they all screeched at once, “NO!!!! STAYYY!!!!” This prompted me to immediately run as fast as I could down the mountain. I could feel them all chattering behind me saying “We gonna get em'! We gonna kill em'!” I dared not look back at the horrors behind me as it would slow me down, I kept running, ignoring the rapid beating of my heart and my lungs trying to draw in the thinness of the air around me. But I could feel them catching me as my body was now drawing on my last reserves of energy, regretting now that I hadn't gone so far up the mountain, even though I had practically just started running, my legs were beginning to go numb, I could almost feel their rancid breath as they hissed and cackled behind me. I had to find a faster way down, I knew if they caught me, they would rip me to pieces, that's obviously what those teeth are for, I knew despite the adrenaline rush I couldn't keep this up for long, I spotted a metal sign on a trail next to me and immediately pulled it out of ground throwing the flat side down about 10 feet in front of me. Disreguarding any notions of straps or safety, I jumped onto the sign and glided down as if I was snowboarding again. I began to slide down the hill faster than I was running before the sound of their evil chittering and cackling growing more distant. Still desperately catching my breath, my legs burning with pain now as I kept them flexed and stiff so I could stay on my makeshift board, the hissing and cackling and their rancid breath smelling of rotten meat became more distant. As soon as I reached the flatter part of the ski trail where the ski-lift started and where the trail ended, I jumped off the sign and sprinted back to my condo, not caring if I could hear them or not, I didn't know if they were behind me, all I knew and said to myself was “I have to get back to the condo!” I made it to where the condo building was, quickly punched in the code on the door handle to get in and slammed the door behind me...I slumped down, collapsing onto the floor, exhausted beyond all belief. Thanking god I was still alive. I was so physically exhausted from the whole ordeal, that my legs wouldn't even move for almost 10 minutes. It was 20 minutes before I even managed to get up, I walked back up to our floor, my legs shaking whenever I lifted them to walk up the stairs, quickly showered and climbed into bed, the whole experience terrifying me, I kept a lamp light on, something I'd only do after watching an extremely scary movie. I sat up in bed, eyes darting about the room seeing if I could still see them, and I told myself “There's no way I could get to sleep after that.” The covers pulled tightly around my body as if that would somehow protect me. Although tiredness quickly got the better of me and I fell fast asleep even with the bright lamp light on. I woke up the next morning half expecting for one of those things to be in the room with me having come out of the closet as if from my darkest childhood nightmares or waiting outside my window. I had begun to wonder if the whole thing was a dream. But the tiredness and lactic acid still in my legs told me otherwise. We quickly packed up that morning and piled into the car. Before going to the airport to return home, we went to the condo service office to turn in our keys and check out, but, there was a bit of a line though so I had some time to kill. Despite the burning in my muscles, and my desire to just sit in the car and sleep, I was still a bit on edge, the whole experience making me a bit paranoid. I happened to see an idle worker there getting some of the free coffee offered there. Questions about what those things were raced through my mind. So I approached him and relayed to him my experience and asked him “Has anyone else ever seen those things before?” He said “Oh...so you ran into “them” huh? Well...you'd better run during the day and keep some light on in your house for a good while...because...they've come after people before.”

  