The Great Escape

A dim light glowed along the cracks of the door, “Where am I? How did I get here?” the words did not escape my lips but lay trapped in my throat, rumbling along my vocal chords and spilling out in a dull moan. “Am I to remain trapped here?” I outstretched my arms, groping blindly in the darkness, running my hands along the walls, feeling for a way out. I let my hands glide along like sandpaper, sending a flesh-turning sound echoing throughout my prison. Stepping forward from the wall I immediately walked into a large wooden door and collided with a thud. I stumbled back and falling to the ground, sending the carelessly strewn objects on the floor to the edges of my small confinement.

With so much fear resting below the surface of my consciousness, I sat in the dark and contemplated my means for escape. In the silent darkness, thoughts swirled around my head; as they began to come together, neatly forming a brilliant plan, my concentration was shattered. A soft sobbing penetrated the walls of my jail, consistent moans of sorrow broken only by brief gasps for breath. The sound broke my heart but gave me hope of freedom. “Help me, I’m trapped in here and I don’t know how I got here but please help” I called out loudly, again my words twisted and contorted as they escaped my lungs leaving me with a sharp indecipherable shriek. In frustration I slammed my fists against the ground, shaking the door on its hinges. The crying on the other side of the door stopped and was replaced with deafening silence, not so much as a fresh breath broke the air. Standing to my feet I again groped the air, finding the door again. “This is the only way out” I muttered and again my voice betrayed thoughts, emanating a long low moan.

Grasping the handle I shook it violently, threatening to break it from the door itself. A loud scream was heard from the other side and I immediately let go, falling to the back wall and listening carefully. Within moments a booming roar bellowed from the other side, it sounded hurt and angry. The screaming continued again and the roar responded once more, growing louder before silencing. It’s tone grew softer, creeping closer to my small room. I listened carefully as each step of this beast drew near. The doorknob began to turn and I rapidly grasped at the objects littering the floor, throwing them over myself in an attempt to hide, peering out with but one eye. The door opened and I glanced up, making certain I remained completely still. I saw the beast that had made such fearsome noises and it sent my skin crawling. The beast was round of head but had flaps of flesh dangling from the side of its face. It’s eyes were small and beady and it had a beak that protruded from its head only but a short distance. I could see tendrils gripping the handle of the door and wrapping around the side of the doorway as it searched the room with eyes alone. Turning its head it barked at the whimpering spawn behind it and soon the crying ceased. Slamming the door shut once more the beast stomped away and I was left alone, knowing only the taunting pleasures of the freedom that lay so close, yet so far away.

I understood now that I could not alert the young beast, and that if the large one returned, it would tear apart this cell in search of me. I placed my ear against the door and listened intently. I thought I heard crude beastly whispers, but nothing like the behemoth that nearly found me; it was now or never, if I could make it past the little one I would be free. I felt a breeze of wind as a window cracked open. I slammed my shoulder into the door once, twice, three times and tore through. The door fell to the side and the little one shrieked again, alerting the alpha. Quickly I darted around in search of the window, until there at last I saw the beauty of a full moon and my path to salvation. As I made my way for the open window I was stopped dead in my tracks by a second creature, as small as the other. They both screamed, their long limbs and tendrils flailing wildly in the air. I reached down and grabbed a sharp object, lunging it into the beasts chest before leaping out and escaping into the forest.

As the man burst into the room, he saw his son crying on the bed and the friend who spent the night lying on the floor in a pool of blood with scissors in his chest, “What happened” he shouted.

“I told you there was a monster in my closet” The boy screamed back between sobs.