Daniel turned in his bed, desperately trying to keep his eyes shut. When they slowly pried open, he cursed and rubbed them before looking at the clock on his bedside table. The red numbers that were softly glowing in the dark read 2:34am. Cursing, he laid back down onto his bed, and shut his eyes again.
He already knew that he was not going to be able to go back to sleep, but he had to get to that party tomorrow, he needed to try to get some rest if he was going to stay up all night it. For about 10 minutes, Daniel lay there, eyes closed and slowly breathing, but something caused him to sit up in his bed. It was a faint sound, like glass getting tapped. It sounded like it was coming from downstairs.
Daniel, sat there, puzzling over what he had just heard, but the sound stealthily floated up to his ears again, confirming the fact that he was actually hearing it. Slowly pulling the covers from his legs, Daniel reached onto his bedside table and grabbed his music player. Turning it on, he opened a page on the web to make the screen glow brighter, and used it as a flashlight as he began making his way towards the staircase.
He heard the tap again, and thoughts of burglars came to his mind. Daniel paused, and the tap got louder. Daniel stood at the top of his staircase, puzzling over whether it was a good idea to investigate, or if he should just get back in his bed. He glanced at his parent's room, but sighed when he remembered they were gone for the week.
Deciding to investigate, Daniel grabbed his baseball bat from his room before slowly descending the stairs. When he reached the bottom, a loud BONG resonated from the patio door in the kitchen, making him jump. Daniel slowly walked towards the kitchen, turning his back to the front door.
When he reached the kitchen, he looked at the window, but nothing was standing behind it. He walked up to it, and checked to see if it was locked. When he confirmed that it was, he looked at the glass, and noticed that there was what appeared to be a blotch of slimy clear fluid on the outside of the glass. Almost as if something was rubbing its tongue on it. Daniel watched for a few seconds, and thought he saw something move between the trees that were located beyond his backyard.
A shiver ran through Daniel's spine. He had spent the majority of his last evening reading scary stories, and a few lines from one that he read came to mind. Shaking his head and assuming he was imagining things, the boy turned away, to head back upstairs. He stopped walking when he heard a few muffled thumps coming from the other side of the door. He turned around just in time to see a pale figure charging towards the window.
When the figure reached the door, it smashed right through the glass, and Daniel tripped from fright. Loud growls escaped from whatever this creature was, and Daniel quickly scrambled to his feet. Then he began to run towards the stairs, but a sharp pain in his right foot momentarily distracted him. He quickly glanced down, and saw that it was bleeding. Daniel didn't start thinking about his foot yet, he could hear the creature in his kitchen growling, and he could hear it slowly walking towards the staircase. The boy quickly bolted up to the second floor, and threw himself inside of the nearest closet he could find. Once inside, he held his breath before a gasp could escape his lips. His foot was seriously hurting, and when he touched it, he felt a piece of glass sticking out from his heel. The contact with the shard made him gasp, but he clamped his hands over his mouth to muffle the sound.
The creature was walking upstairs, and Daniel watched it through a crack that was located between the two doors of the closet. The monster was tall, and vaguely human shaped. It had no arms, it didn't wear any clothes, and it had a large head with razor sharp teeth sticking out from between its lips. The monster was crouching low, sniffing the carpet of the stairs, and Daniel realized, to his horror, that it was smelling the trail of blood that had leaked from his foot. Soon, it was standing right in front of the closet, and let out a piercing cry. Daniel chose this moment to act, bursting out from the closet, and jabbing his bat towards the monster's face. The boy felt the wooden weapon connect with the monster's ugly jaw, and the creature's roar was silenced momentarily.
Daniel tried to run past the monster, but it recovered quickly from the blow that he had dealt. It kicked at him with one of its powerful legs, and hit the boy on the right side of the rib cage. A loud snap was heard, followed by a crash as Daniel was sent sprawling across the floor. The boy could hardly breathe, he was lying on his stomach, and all of his senses were being overridden by the intense feeling coming from his ribs. He barely heard the creature walking up behind him, barely felt the clawed foot pressing against his shoulder and turning him on his back. The last thing Daniel saw was an open mouth full of sharp teeth diving straight for his face.