As I Lay Here

As I lay here... cold, and slipping into the eternal darkness that is death. All that comes to mind is what I had done to end-up like this. As I lay here... watching the bloody mess that I have become slowly, but certainly die away. All I can do now is attempt to tell my story.

Since I was little I had always felt... different than all of the other kids at any of the schools I would go to. I never got along with people in or near my age group. I would either play too rough or end up hurting someone without even trying. I had always stayed near people older than me so I could be myself for the most part. I acted mature; I didn’t try to start trouble... although it would always somehow find me. I was a good kid. I just had issues with the other kids about my age.

I was born and raised in a small town just south Fort Worth, Texas in a town called Benbrook. Ever since I was about six my aunt, uncle, and their three kids have lived with my mother, grandmother, and myself... I never really met my father. My aunt’s name is Mary, she is my mother’s sister, and she is married to a man named Luke and they have three kids. Their first born is my cousin Jane; she never really said much and always kept to herself but she always seemed happy. The other two are Daniel and Noah, named after biblical figures; they’re twin brothers and are the polar opposite of their sister.

When I was about nine, my family began looking for a larger home so that everyone could have their own space. We moved into a large house on the top of a hill in a small upper-middle-class neighborhood. The house had two large master bedrooms and three smaller rooms with three and a half bathrooms. It’s a two story house with a basement. We have lived here for about eight years now. Jane is in college now and only visits on summer and winter breaks. I am a junior in high school, and the twins are almost done with middle school.

On the weekend before spring break, the adults of the house left to go on a vacation. They left me behind to watch the twins while they were gone. On the second day of spring break the twins had a play-date scheduled with one of their friends from school. I drove them to their friend’s house and waved as I drove off. When I returned to the house I noticed someone sitting in front of the door looking like they were waiting for something. When I drove up to the house I saw that it was Jane, which was odd because she would normally spend time with her friends over spring break.

We greeted each other as I opened the door and I had noticed something was different about her. She seemed... gloomy. She was normally quiet but this time it was like she was depressed.

“Is anything wrong?” I asked her. She just said “no”... at this point I felt confused since I could normally tell if someone around me was upset or depressed. We spoke while sitting in the living room and I persisted to ask her if she was upset about anything and she just kept saying no, yet each time I asked, she seemed more and more depressed.

After talking, we walked to her old room and I asked her “Do you need any help unpacking?” and she said “No, thanks.” and shut the door behind her but there was something off... When she shut the door, it was in a manner in which to tell me not to come in, instead of just needing privacy.

So I heeded what I thought to be a warning and walked away. She came out of her room a few minutes later, dressed in pajamas although it was only three in the afternoon. She plopped down on the couch and then curled up in a fetal position on her side.

We caught up for a little while then watched T.V. for a few hours. At about 6pm we heard a knock on the door. She sat up and we looked at each other.

“Were you expecting company?” she asked.

“No.” I said.

We heard a knock from the door again but this time it sounded more demanding and I saw panic in her eyes as it seemed she knew who it was. I walked over to the door and looked through the peep-hole. I saw a man about 6” 4’ who had an overly muscular body-tone. I, myself, had the look of a football player but he looked more like a football player on steroids. He had a scruffy beard and was wearing a white tank top with sagging shorts; he looked like the average scumbag to me. As I opened the door slowly he tries to bust open the door, he failed, I was able to hold the door so all he really did we hurt his own shoulder. He staggered back then looked up at me as I looked down at him.

“Can I help you?” I said sarcastically.

“Where is she?!” he barked.

“She? Who are you talking about?” I asked, although I had a good feeling I knew who he was talking about.

“You know damn well who I’m talking about, now hand her over or give me back what’s mine!” he said.

I looked back inside at the couch where she was but she had disappeared. I stepped out closing the door behind me and said

”If it is Jane you are looking for than I have to tell you that she is not available and I will have to ask you to leave.” He looked at me as if he wanted to attack so I prepared for anything he would throw. We began to brawl in the front lawn of the house; he stepped back, away from me, and tripped on the root of a tree that was sticking up out of the ground. He tumbled to the bottom of the hill and looked up at me with the glare of someone who wanted to blood. He pointed at me from the base of the hill and yelled “Fine! But it’s your own fault for want happens.” He then turned and ran away. I wanted to go after him but I wanted to ask Jane what just happened more.

I ran back inside as it started to rain and went straight to Jane’s room. I knocked on the door. “Is... is he gone?” she asked with a timid voice.

“Yes,” I said, “but what was all that about?”

“I guess I should explain...” she said.

She opened the door and we walked to the living room where she began to explain. He was her previous boyfriend, his name was Derik and he was after a stone she taken from his apartment. She showed me the stone, when she took it out of the bed I began to feel a strange tugging sensation in my chest and my head began to ache. She saw my reaction and quickly put it back in her bag.

“Are you okay?!” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I replied.

I tried to stand up but I soon collapsed to the floor unconscious.

I woke up the next morning (or what I thought was morning) on the couch dazed and confused. I remembered I had to go get the twins so I got up and looked out of the window into the backyard and saw them playing while Jane was sitting on one of the lawn chairs watching them.

I walked out and asked, “Did you get them?”

“Yep.” she replied.

“You left yourself a sticky note on the fridge saying to get them today. So I got them for you.”

“Oh, thanks.” I said.

I looked out at the twins and saw a shadow in the trees behind the fence and yelled, “Daniel, Noah, get over here!” as they ran back the shadow disappeared into the trees.

“Let’s go inside.” I said.

The next day they were going off to camp in Colorado. Their parents had already paid for the tickets; all I had to do was drive them to the airport. I had finally gotten home around 7pm. When I got home I saw Jane curled up in the corner with a kitchen knife pointed out in front of her. I ran over to her and looked where she was pointing and saw a figure standing there motionless, simply staring at us. It backed away from the window and vanished into thin air. We sat there staring through the window for about five more minutes.

Finally, I got up and ran to the door to check if it had left. When I opened the door I didn’t see anything there was a thick fog surrounding the house. There was something off about the way I felt at that moment... instead of fear... I think I was actually trembling with excitement.

I looked around for a while then ran back to the house. When I walked inside I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was blood on the walls saying “It’s all your fault!” and on the floor in front of it was the dead body of Derik. He was pale and both of his wrists and his neck were all slit open, but it looked like someone else had written that message on the wall. I looked around the room and noticed that Jane was nowhere to be seen.

I thought she had retreated to her room again, but when I went to look she wasn’t in there. I was the only one in the house. I began to panic and started searching up and down through the house to see where she had gone. I saw blood stains on the wall near the front door. I walked past it and it led me outside where I saw what appeared to be the marks of someone being dragged away.

I followed it around the house and into the woods I led me to an old abandon shack. I went into it and saw a trail of blood leading to a trap-door. Inside was a long dark stairway that went into pitch-black darkness. I followed the trail of blood into a room that was dimly lit by candles. In the room I saw... things I can never forget.

I saw bones and human remains. Some still bloody, some that hadn’t event decayed completely, and some that were just ripped and mangled limbs of other people. I saw Jane tied to a post wrapped in barbed wire. She was bloody and beaten. She was still breathing though. I ran over to her and tried to untie her. I took her down from the post. I turned around and started to walk back to where the door was, but it had disappeared. We were trapped in this room that was covered with the stench of death.

I searched the walls looking for a way out of this room. Suddenly I noticed the wall on the opposite side of the room began to bend and contort into a doorway. The section of the wall that had turned into a door fell to the ground. The light from the candles didn’t reach the doorway so all I could see was pitch-black. Two glowing, red eyes boar into my very soul as they pierced through the darkness, it did not move, it just stared into the room from the doorway. I was frozen in fear but felt something else... it was the same feeling as before...

I was excited. I didn’t know what to expect from whatever I was seeing. I heard a low growl coming from it as I saw its sharp fangs gleaming. It stepped into the light of the candles and I saw its face. Its face looked more like the skull of a large dog and its body looked like a cross between a bear and a man. Its fur was as black as the darkness that surrounded it. I was excited to see what would happen next but my fear got me to curl up in the corner of the room.

Seconds turned to minutes as I stared motionless at this creature. It began to move toward the still unconscious Jane. It stood over her and began to breathe as if it was sniffing her. She woke up and saw it staring at her. She let out a blood-curdling scream but was quickly silenced with a bite to her throat. As its teeth pierced her skin, blood came squirting out. First a little then so much blood began to poor out of her that her skin quickly turned pale and her eyes rolled back. I heard a violent snapping noise.

It had broken her neck and began to rip her limb from limb. My excitement quickly faded in exchange for shock at how easily it ripped her apart. I got up from the corner and dartted to the doorway. I glanced back and saw what was left of Jane and began to run as fast as I could through a long, dark hallway. After running for a while I heard a terrifying screech coming from the creature. My guess was that it was finished with Jane and it was looking for its next meal... Me.

I soon came to a stairway leading up to a trap door. I ran up the stairs as I heard it rushing towards me. I got to the trap door but it was locked. I tried and tried but I couldn’t get it to open. I heard the creature coming closer and closer and finally found me. It rushed at me pushing me through the door, breaking it open, and knocking the wind out of me. I flew a couple yards away then hit a tree.

I looked around and saw a tree that I could climb. I ran to the tree but was met half way by that thing. It flew at me and took a chunk from my torso. I doubled over in pain but was able to make my way to and up the tree. It searched for a little while later then gave up and ran off. I was relieved it was gone and I passed out on the tree branch and fell to the ground I got back and saw a large gaping hole in the side of my body.

I already knew I had lost too much blood to go back and find Jane so I found a tree near the door and lay down propping my head up on one the roots. Old thoughts of how sorry I was to the ones I loved and how I should have protected Jane passed through my head. As I lay here... cold, and slipping into the eternal darkness that is death. All that comes to mind is what I had done to end-up like this. As I lay here... watching the bloody mess that I have become slowly, but certainly die away. All I can do now is attempt to tell my story.

POLICE REPORT

Multiple gruesome murders in Benbrook, Texas. The body of a 17 year old male high school student and the remains of a 19 year old female college student found in woods. Eye-witnesses say they saw a strange creature leaving the scene. More remains of earlier victims have been returned to their families along with the high school and college students. Your local police station asks you to, please, contact us immediately if anyone sees the so-called "creature."