As I walk to my friend Trish’s house, I just begin thinking of how we met. She always seemed like the snobby rich girl everyone pretended to like and I was the shy wall flower that everyone called a loser. We ended up having our lockers right next to each other freshmen year of high school, and we ended up talking one day. Some how, we became instant friends and now we’re thought of as being the best friends in the entire school.

I’m about ten blocks away from her house when two guys run up to me, nearly making me crash into a light pole. It’s my boyfriend, Toby, and Trish’s Bf, Jake. “You goin’ ta Trish’s?” Jake asks me as Toby combs his fingers through my long chocolate brown hair, like he always does. “Yeah, and Toby, please stop, you’re ticklin’ me!” I answer, playfully swatting away Toby’s hand and smiling. “We are sooo comin’ with!” Toby announces, starin’ in my hazel eyes with his playful, deep blue ones. The rest of the way there we debate over the best movie of the year. My money’s on any horror flicks, cause I love a good horror story.

After finally deciding between a horror movie or an adventure flick to be the best movie, we come up to Trish’s house. Actually, house is a major under statement, as if I was saying a grizzly bear was a chipmunk. Her house is a mansion, with five stories, twenty bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and don’t even get me started about her backyard. We knock on the door and Trish is quick to answer, and ushers us in with a “How is everybody?” “Oh my gawd, Val. You will not believe what Brittany told Jeff to tell Josh and what Josh did to Rebecca!” Trish exclaims excitedly, beckoning me to the sofa to listen. “So here’s what Brittany said,” starts Trish, as the guys go grab sodas and come back to hear the latest. “And the Jessica….” Trish stops in mid sentence. A door slams shut a few floors up and a few rushed footsteps follow.

“Well, that was creepy…” says Toby, getting up and lookin’ up the flight of stairs. “Let’s go check it out Toby!” exclaims Jake, like an eager puppy waiting for approval. “Ok ok, we’ll be back in a bit.” He says lookin’ back at Trish and me. “Good luck on your ‘adventure’.” We both say and begin gossiping again once their up the down the hall. “Jake is such an idiot.” I say, getting bored with the gossip for a moment. “Well, Toby... Toby has a bad choice in girls!” Trish fires back, folding her arms to look like a five year old that couldn’t have a cookie. We both glare at each other for a moment then, as usual, we cant harmoniously, “jk, jk, jk lol, ol, ol!”

After about an hour of gossiping the guys still haven’t come back. “Should we g have an ‘adventure of our own?” Trish asks, laughing. “Sure! They probably found your theater or arcade and got ‘lost’!” I exclaim, motioning air quotes in the air. We both laugh ‘till our stomachs hurt and began our search.

We walk, bored, around the first floor, our Airwalks tapping the marble floor like ballerina shoes, making us realize how deathly quiet it is. I look over to her ancient grandfather clock standing tall in the hallway and worry a little. “Whoa, it’s already 6pm! Do you think your parents would care if I spent the night, cause I know my Mom won’t.” I ask, hoping that my Mom really wouldn’t mind. “Nah, they’re too busy on their stupid yacht to care!” Trish shouts, looking frustrated and hurt.

As Trish goes off on how much her parents don’t care and how they’re never home, I hear a horrifying sound. I turn to Trish, who has stopped her ranting and looks as scared as I feel. “Did you hear that?” I ask nervously, already knowing the answer. Before she can answer, we hear it again. It’s like the sound of bone being cracked in half, painfully, and meat being ripped off it by a ravenous beast. “Yes!!!” she screams her reply to my question, as she runs up the stairs, with me close behind.

Now on the second story, we stop and try to catch our breath. “What…the freak… was that!?” I pant, trying to breathe after sprinting up twenty-five steps. “How… am I… supposed…. To know?!” she screams, obviously having the same breathing problem as me. We finally get enough air, calm each other down, and decide to restart our search for the guys.

“Dang, it got dark!” I remark, staring out one of the long, glass windows at the night so enveloped in darkness and clouds, not even the light of the moon could penetrate it. “Yeah….” Trish trails off, as she slowly drifts closer to me and we both begin shivering from the chill of fear. Suddenly, the lights dim, and completely die out, surrendering us to the complete and total darkness. “Val!” I hear Trish scream from somewhere near by, but with no light she is as lost to me as the moon outside. Suddenly, I hear a blood-curdling scream and an ear piercing crack just like the one before, then complete and terrifying silence. “Trish!!” I scream desperately, hopelessly wishing for a reply as the lights, giving me mercy, slowly flicker back on. As I look around, all the light reveals is a puddle of streaming blood and a trail of murderous, blood-red footsteps.

Gripped with ice cold fear, I begin following the footsteps, my heart pounding like an impatient animal in a small cage. The footsteps abruptly stop in front of a door with a bloody hand print streaked across its maple skin. I grip the doorknob that burns my flesh with its cold. I slowly creak open the door, gripped in the hands of fear, and step inside.

To my horror, there lie my three friends with mangled bones, drenched in puddles of blood on the hardwood floor. Unable to scream, I turn to the door to escape, but the lights flash out like bolts of lighting and the door slams like thunder in my ears. I stand there, drenched in fear and darkness, not knowing what to scream or where to run.

In the black nothingness, I hear footsteps, splashing in blood like a toddler in a pool, enjoying every splash, encroaching on me more and more. A blood drenched hand shoots out of the darkness and grips me, thrusting me to the ground. As my mind slowly spirals from the blow, I try so hard to scream, try so hard to do anything. As darkness envelops my mind and body, I just wish that my fate will come quickly.

I wake up, panicked and drenched in sweat, staring around my room. Breathing heavy, I try to calm myself by whispering, “I’m at home. It was just a terrible nightmare.”
A low hoarse voice echoes out from the dank shadows, “Was it now?”







The End???