The Darkening Laugh.

     The dark always scared me. From childhood on up it kept me awake at night, paranoid  that there might be something in the dark, hiding in my room. I used to sleep with my parents because of it. Now, with me being sixteen, being scared of the dark is a joke to people. “How could you be scared of the dark?” “You’re such a baby, grow up why won’t you.” 

     Nobody understood. Nobody asked why. Nobody knows. I hear it almost every night, it wakes me up, and keeps me awake. Sometimes it sounds different, sometimes, it’s quiet, and sometimes it's loud, but no matter what it sounds like, it always sounds horrible. Sometimes It’s like someone playing an instrument, but has no experience with playing, the loud horrid screeches bleeding out your ear. 

     It was the night of the new year that I found it, 12:00 dead midnight, what was behind the noise. I heard it again, that horrid laugh. I thought it was over, I haven’t heard it in so long. Out of the blue it comes. It was worse than other times. It was louder. 

     I covered my head with my pillow, cutting me off from the hearing world. I went under my sheets and blankets and covered myself. I had the Idea that If I couldn't hear or see what it was, then it couldn’t hear or see me. It was a stupid thought. I forced myself to go to sleep, thinking about school the next day and my friends and what fun we were going to have. After what felt like hours, I finally fell asleep. There weren't any dreams, just plain darkness. Not a single light. 

     The noise started. I could hear it. Even through the headphones I had on. I still heard it. That horrible screeching, that horrid laughter. I woke up but didn’t move a single muscle. Something grazed my foot. Pure cold swept my body at that slight touch. My heart was beating fast. My mind was racing. Everything felt cold. I couldn’t take it. 

     I threw my covers up to face whatever was there. Nothing. There was nothing. That nothing scared me even more. That horrid laughing grew loud. Like it was screeching through a speaker on full blast. My ears were ringing, hurting, throbbing. Something sticky went down the side of my face on both sides. I raised my hand to touch it. Blood. 

     I couldn’t find my voice. I wanted to scream, scream my lungs out for help, but nothing came out except a tiny grunt. The blood rolled down my neck and seeped into my pajamas. My whole body was frozen in fear. Then the noise stopped. It just stopped in an instant. I was surrounded by quietness until there was a creak. The door to the room was creaking. It was creaking and opening. Slowly and slowly until it opened all the way.

     Once again, there was nothing. Nothing behind the door that creaked open. Just plain darkness. I think that’s what did it. That’s what made my voice come back. I screamed, and screamed and screamed and screamed. That quietness was no more. My frozen body was no more. I got up and plunged into the darkness, running into walls, knocking over stands and pots and furniture, trying to get to my parents room. The sides of my neck, sticky with my blood. 

     As I continued to run into things, I ran into a door. My parents' door. The light in their room was on, it was shining through the crack underneath. I raised my hand to bang on the door but the door opened by itself. The light inside shone through the darkness behind me cutting into it, forcing it to back away.

     What laid before me brought something new inside my body. Some type of feeling I've never had before. Something I could never feel again and could never explain. There was blood everywhere. On their bed they sat staring at the ceiling, mouths stuffed with their own decapitated fingers. They were tied to each other leaning on one another. Where their eyes should have been were not, instead they were replaced by more darkness mixed in with blood. They had no bottom part of their body. All that were attached were the torso, arms, and head. Their ears were gone, stamped across the room with metal stakes. Their legs were nowhere in the room, what remained of their eyes were laying on the floor and their stomach, oh god their stomach. 

     Weird little tubes that looked like worms were coming out of what was supposed to be a stomach. Their stomach was cut out, replaced by these weird red worms. Although the worms didn’t move. Everything was covered in red, the carpet, the bed, the walls, the ceiling, the T.V., their dresser. Everything.

     I stood at the doorway, taking in this image, and then I heard something behind me. I looked back to see more nothing and droplets of blood, footprints of blood leading away from the room and into the darkness. I backed up and ran towards my dad’s dresser. The blood leaked down the mahogany wood, staining my hands. I rummaged through looking for it and came across it under his dress shirts. A metal instrument, leather running down the handle of its sleek body. I’ve never used a gun before, but I've seen it in movies and my dad once showed me how to shoot it without me actually using it. He just demonstrated it. 

     I picked it up, trying to remember what my dad said. “Turn this switch off, cock it back and fire.” It was heavy in my hands and cold as well. I turned the switch off on the side of the gun, cocked the top back and breathed in slow breaths. My heavy chest,  heaving up and down. Sweat running down the scalp of my blonde hair, blood drying up on the sides of my neck, and plunged into the darkness. 

     I put my hand out to make sure I didn’t bump into anything and looked for a light switch. I found two and turned them on. The lights above came on and revealed the wide hallway I was in and plunging more light into the family room. I could barely see in there but I saw a large shape bent over, the head moving in a viscous way. There was a loud chewing noise, along with a loud ripping noise. It looked up and stopped whatever it was doing when it saw me. I froze again. The gun pointed in that direction, but I froze again. The thing slowly came out of the darkness and revealed what it was. 

     It was a clown. It wore an oversized green and white suit. One half of the suit was green and the other was white. A white ruffle around his neck, he had no shoes, his bare feet looked moldy and old. Splats of red all over. There was blood splattered all over his clothes, and his face, his face was white, deformed, disfigured, chunks of his face missing but you could still see the red paint that was supposed to line his smile. Strands of hair coming out of his head. His eyes were gone, replaced by more darkness. He was holding a leg, with chunks of flesh missing. Blood running down his mouth. 

     It continued to slowly move towards me, taking advantage of my frozen fear. It moved closer and closer and made that horrid noise. That laughter that haunted me for years, my body finally clicked and my dads voice ran through my head, “Pull the trigger and shoot. Shoot your heart out Jessie.” 

     Bang!

     The clown stumbled back as a bullet rammed through his shoulder. It dropped the leg and held his hand to his wound. It looked at me in so much anger and screamed a high pitched scream. My ears started to bleed again.

     Bang!

     It stumbled back even more as it took another bullet to the other shoulder. I rendered both of his arms useless but he came at me screaming again. 

     I pulled again and again and again. 

     Bang! Bang! Bang!

     The clown stumbled to the ground, blood flowing out of his body. It looked at me with a pained expression. I aimed the gun at his head and shot my final shot. 

     Bang!

     The clown didn’t move. Blood poured out of the body, soaking the carpet staining it red. I slowly made my way towards the body and nudged it with my foot. It made a weird sloshing noise. A sigh released from my mouth. There was a knock at the front door that rattled the house. Nothing happened but another knock. After a few minutes of knocking, the door came down. 

     “NYPD!” Someone yelled. 

     The lights to the rest of the house came on, slicing through the darkness. A police officer arrived at the hallway, 

     “Holy crap!”  He yelled.

     The officer looked at the clown laying on the ground, and then looked at me. He reached towards his radio, “This is officer Torento, I need assistance on West Cherry Road, 12231.”

     “Copy that”  It replied. 

     “Honey, I need you to put the gun down and come to me.” 

     I listened. I put the gun down, fell to the ground and broke out in tears. They walked me outside my house, as they came out with three body bags. The sirens blared in my face as one of the officers stationed me in his cruiser. I sat there, pondering on what just happened. That’s when I heard it again, the horrid screeching laugh. 

The Man 

     “Rosie, did you hear me?” 

     Rosie sat at the window, staring out, lost in her thoughts. 

     “Rosie, I said, did you hear me?”

     Rosie, looking up, distributed from the thoughts racing through her head. “Huh, yeah I heard you.”

     Her mother gave her that look she always gave, “what did I say then.”

     “What.” 

     “I said, what did I say?” She grew annoyed at her daughter. 

     “You said, you’ll be out with your friends and be back around 11:30, there is leftover lasagna in the food and if I don’t want it then make a sandwich or something. Call you if anything happens and you love me.” 

     Her mother looked at her stunned. “Yes, well, I'll be going now.” 

     She opened the door, looked back as if she was going to say something, but just sighed and closed the door. Rosei stayed at the window, watching her moms car pull out of the driveway, her headlights blaring through the glass. 

     The thoughts that raced through her mind came to a halt, like a car being forced on the brakes, screeching tires and leaving a mark on the gravel street. She got up from the window and went to the fridge to get something to eat. She decided to eat the lasagna for dinner later and maybe have a PB&J. 

     She turned the T.V. in the living room on with the remote on the counter while she was making her sandwich. When the sandwich was complete she made her way to the couch and sat down. 

     A few hours went by just watching T.V. shows. The clock showed it was 12:01 A.M. when she looked at it. Mom should have been home by now. What is she doing. She thought. Her eyes grew heavy and she felt lazy as well. Her energy was being drained as she grew tired for some sleep. She stood up, stretched and turned the T.V. off. She passed by the window and stopped to close the blinds for the night. Outside was pretty dark, the only light that was occupied was that of a street light, placing a faded circle of light under it.

     Something got her attention, it took all that laziness away as she saw what stood there. She felt a sudden warmth wash over her body as a dark figure stood outside her house, underneath the street light. Rosie couldn’t see who it was because he wore a black hoodie with his head down and his hands in his hoodie pockets. His black pants and shoes, falling into the darkness, as if he were a drawing of an object being shaded. 

     She stared out, keeping her eyes on the man, standing just a street away from her. The man didn't do anything but just stand there. The darkness swirling around him, engulfing him as if he was the darkness. Only the light from the street lamp shone down, enabling him to be visible to the eye. If that light were not there, he wouldn’t be visible.

     She closed the blinds, held her breath for a quick second before peeking through them again. The man was still there. Rosie noticed something off. Before the man was standing right underneath the street light, but now it seemed as if he moved a little closer to the house. Her heart started pumping, her palms grew sweaty and the air around her was freezing. She moved away from the blinds, breathing hard and made a quick move to turn her kitchen and living room light off. She was compelled by more darkness, she grabbed her phone off the couch and made to call her mom. 

     The phone rang in her ear, it continued to ring for at least 2 minutes before she ended the call and texted her instead.  

     Mom, there is someone outside the house.

     She waited for her to respond, but she didn’t. She waited for a minute before turning her phone off. She’s probably turned her phone off. She thought. Instead she called the police. 

     “911 what's your emergency?” 

     ‘Hello, there is someone standing outside my house.” 

     “Ok, and do you know him?”

     “No, it’s some complete stranger. Can you come please, I'm scared.”

     She walked over to the blinds and peeped through. The man still stood there, but he got closer to the house now. He stood in the middle of the street, hands in his hoodie pocket. 

     “Ok ma'am, can you describe him for me please.”

     “Yeah, he’s wearing a black hoodie, gray pants and black shoes.”

     “Can you describe his face at all?”

     “No, it’s covered by his hood.”

     “Ok, we’ll send someone over so just stay in the house and…” 

     The line went dead. Her phone died. 

     “Shoot.” 

     Rosie groped around the couch and looked for her charger. She couldn’t find it and was stopped dead cold when she heard something outside. Knocking. It was a soft knock, as if a pillow was on the door, muffling out the noise. She froze, looking up at the door window, and saw a shadow pass over. Then she heard knocking on the window. She got up slowly but bent her knees, crouching. She moved around to the kitchen and quietly grabbed a kitchen knife from its holder. Then she heard knocking again, but it was loud. Pretty soon the knocking came to a banging. The front door shook, and the door knob rattled.

     “Leave me alone! She screamed. 

     The door knob and the shaking stopped at her voice. Rosie was genuinely scared out of her mind. She didn’t know what to do. So many thoughts raced through her ADD infested mind. There was silence after a while, and Rosie thought the man actually left. She stood up all the way and felt a sudden urge to pee. That’s when the banging started again, but this time, it was as if the man was throwing his whole body weight against the door. The door shook violently with every throw of his body. She broke out in tears of fear for her life. Was she going to die? Was everything in life she ever did pointless if she was going to die? She joined the cheerleader squad, she got straight As, she made freinds, all so her life could be in good hands in the future. So she had made something out of her life. All of it just to die in the hands of a hooded man. 

     The window on the front door shattered as a brick was thrown, splintered glass spraying everywhere. She raised the knife and held it up in front of her.

     “Leave me alone you bastard!” 

     Then his face appeared. His face, unrevealed from his hood drawn down. It was ugly. Dirt patches on his cheeks as if he hasn’t showered for months. His eyes droopy from what looks like lack of sleep. His skin, as pale as the moon on a dark night. His hair, all raggedy, dirty and greasy. He smiled and his teeth were rotten and yellow. She didn’t want to imagine what his breath would smell like.

     Tears rolled down her face as she stood in the kitchen staring at the man from the door window. He stared at her, smiling his gruesome smile. He pulled back, fast, and broke the door down. It came off its hinges, crashing into the doorway floor. 

     “Help!” Rosie yelled.

     The man walked inside the house, still smiling at her. 

     “Get out!” 

     The man started laughing. He laughed and laughed and laughed, until he stopped and came walking towards Rosie’s direction. Rosie stood where she was, holding the knife in her hand.

     “You come any closer and I'll stab you! I mean it!” 

     The man stopped walking, still smiling that horrid smile of his. Then he lunged. Rosie was taken by surprise as the man came at her, knocking the knife out of her hands. She moved quickly to the left as the man grabbed for her, ripping her shirt down he side. She moved around the island counter and made towards the door, but the man stood at the doorway, blocking her entrance to the outside. She tried to scream for help, “Help! Help m…” but was muffled as the man forced his hand to her mouth.

     He pushed in and knocked her over to the ground, looking down onto her smiling that horrid smile. She kicked his leg and it went inward in a weird way making a loud snapping noise. The man fell to the floor, holding his leg. HIs smile was gone. He looked at her with a tightened jaw and intensive eyes. He made a low grunting noise and grabbed for her but she kicked him in the face and scurried to her feet.

     The man bellowed in pain and held his nose, thick black blood ran down. She ran towards the stairs, climbing the steps at a rapid pace. She immediately made towards her room. She opened the door only to come face to face with the man standing right in front of her, in her room.

     He grabbed at her hair and grabbed a full fistfull. Rosie scrambled and screamed but the man kept a tight grip on her flaming red hair. He dragged her down to the floor, hauling her down the hallway and back to the  stairs. Her body viciously went from side to side to get out of his grip. It was no use. The man was at the top of the stairs when she grabbed his arm and bit down. Thick blood ran from the bite wound and down her chin, the taste of it was horrible. Like an animal just died in her mouth and left it’s feces inside.

     The man let out a roar and let go. Rosie then kicked him in his broken leg, sending him down the stairs, hitting the railing on his way down. She got to her feet, vomited from the taste of blood and stumbled to the bathroom. She swiftly opened the door and closed it all in one motion. She didn’t bother to turn the light on but made sure to lock the door. Then she turned the light on. 

     There was a wood cabinet off the right wall where she kept all of her hygiene products, such as her toothpaste, soap, brushes, etc. She dragged the cabinet in front of the front door and sat against it. A few minutes went by in silence until there was loud banging on the other side of the door. The cabinet shook with every loud bang. The banging stopped and was replaced by another sound, a kind of wood splintering sound. The man was stabbing at the door. 

     Splinters of wood went in every direction inside the bathroom. There were narrow holes in the door from the door and Rosie could see his eyes looking through the knife wounds on the door. 

     She was terrified. She didn’t want to die. All she could do was to continue to push her weight against the cabinet so he couldn't get through. Tears ran down her face, blood was running down her mouth from his arm, her hair was a mess, she was a mess. The man continued to stab through the door, and then suddenly stopped. She stopped crying and listened. There was silence, now she heard her mom calling for her. 

     “Rosie. Rosie, where are you.”

     She stopped crying and listened. 

     “What happened here? Rosie! Rosie, where are you!” 

     Rosie hurried to her feet and pushed the cabinet away from the door. She threw open the door and sprinted to the stairs where her mom was coming up. 

     “Mom!” She ran into her mom’s arms, her face streaked with tears and blood.

     “Rosie! What the heck!” Rosie’s mom held her in her arms with a tight grip.

     “What’s going on? Why is everything a mess? Is that blood on your face? What happened?”

     She held her in front of her so they were both facing each other. Rsoie explained everything briefly. How there was a man outside and how he broke in the house and how he tried to kill her. When she was done, she heard sirens outside. There were a lot of them. Rosie and her mom went downstairs, where the door was broken down and the living room was a mess. Outside, there were close to seven police cruisers parked outside. 

     She would have to explain to them what happened as well. As she walked over to the officer coming up, she noticed something in the back, in the back of the street, hanging in the darkness, being one with it. She saw that horrid grin, that pale face, she saw the man winking at her, he walked backwards, disappearing into the dark. 

The Following

     It was Brandon's idea. It was his stupid idea. I can’t believe I listened to him. Now he’s dead. His head lay somewhere in the school grounds along with the others. It was horrible. What happened? All of it. 

     He got the idea from a stupid T.V show called Teen Life. It was one of the corniest shows I've ever seen, but Brandon seemed to like it. In it, the characters snuck into their school at night and had a party. Brandon thought it would be fun to try it out. Instead of some grand ol time we were supposed to have, it led to me sitting in a police cruiser with Emma, and the rest of my friends dead inside the school. 

     “What’s going to happen?” Emma asked me. 

     I looked at her, Paul’s blood, stained over her white blouse. 

     “I don’t know.” Me myself was covered from Brandon’s blood. 

     The police officers stood outside of the school searching the grounds. There were at least nine cruisers parked left and right and three ambulances spread throughout the parking lot. Everything seemed to last forever, but it was only in a matter of ten minutes. The small white numbers beamed through the computer on the car's dashboard. 12:12. Ten minutes had passed, it was 12:02 when it happened. 

     “What do you mean you don’t know?”

     I ignored Emma, I don't have time for her whiney self right now.

     “Jake!”

     “Look! I don’t know what's going to happen, but I need you to shut up.”

     A police officer came to the car and opened the door, “Young man, I'm going to need you to give me a statement about what happened toni…”

     Emma’s whiney self interrupted, “Can’t you take us home. I want to go home!”

     The officer looked at Emma, annoyed, “Ma’am, we will take you home as soon as we have a statement.”

     The officer took out his notepad and waited for me, so I told him.

     We arrived at the school around 11:59. I’m not proud of sneaking in, but what’s the fun of not sneaking in. There were about four of us, me, Brandon, Emma, and Paul. We snuck in by jumping the school fence, and coming in around the back. Then my good pal, Paul, picked the lock to the door in the back of the B Building. From there, we just had a good time.

     We ran through the halls, spray painting some nerds locker, (That was Brandon’s idea) and had a food fight in the cafeteria. The only reason why Emma was there, and the only reason why Emma was there was because Paul had a thing going for her. Personally I would have chosen someone else, beside the whiney white girl, but I guess her looks made up for her attitude.

     We went into our homeroom classroom and decided to snoop around our teachers' things. 

     “Bro, did you know Mr. Hans was a wrestler?” Paul asked. He held up a picture that showed Mr. Hans taking down some Mexican dude. 

     “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Emma said. “Mr. Hans is a big man. It’s like he could crush a watermelon with those arms of his.” 

     “Why are you lookin at his arms?” Brandon asked.

     “I’m just saying. Anyways I like a man who has some definition to his body.” She gave a glance at Paul.

     Paul caught this glance and looked away, flustered. Brandon dug deeper in Mr. Hans' drawers and found a pack of cigarettes. “I didn’t know Mr. Hans smoked.”

     “What kind are they?” I asked. 

     “Umm, Marbolo.”

     “Toss' em here. Those are the good kind.” 

     He threw the pack, and I caught it with one hand and brought out my zippo with the other. It was a score, these were fresh and brand spanking new. I opened the pack and pulled one out. Then I lit it. 

     “I’ll never understand you Jack.” Paul said. 

     “You don’t need to, just go with it.” 

     Paul gave a smirk and started to dig in Mr. Hans' other drawers. 

     “Can you smoke that somewhere else?” Emma whined. “I don’t like smokers.” She gave that annoying white face I always hated. 

     “Get used to it.” 

     “There’s no stopping Jack and his packs, I've already tried and I'm pretty sure you ain’t going to convince him more than I could.” Brandon stated. 

     I blew out a puff, “Dang right you are.”

     She gave a disgusted look. “Can we leave now?” She looked at her phone, which was an ugly shade of pink. “It’s already 12:02, and i’m pretty tired, I need my beu…” She was cut off by a loud bang. Like someone dropped something made of metal that was heavy. 

     It shook us all. We stopped what we were doing and looked at each other.

     “Shoot.” Brandon said. 

     “Kill the lights, Pauly, kill em fast.” I said 

     Paul ran to the light switch, cut em off, and closed the door. We cleaned up everything, put away everything as quickly as we could, looking out of the glass windows lined in the classroom that revealed the hall. Another bang shook the school quiet. 

     “What is that?” Paul asked. 

     “I don’t know, but I'm pretty sure it ain’t no janitor.” Brandon replied. 

     We stayed in the darkness, hidden out of sight from the window, but still able to see through. There was another bang, but it was followed by a sound of metal dragging noise. I found myself holding my breath and let go. 

     “I’m scared.” Emma whispered. 

     “Shh.” I said.

     The dragging noise got closer and closer. That’s when I saw it. Not him, or her, but it. There was no way in my sixteen years of my life have I ever seen a man or woman the size of that thing or look like that thing. It was stacking over six feet, probably reaching seven feet, it wore some type of blacksmith jumpsuit with a leather apron over it. On its head was what looked to be a potato sack, but there were two black beady eyes in front. He carried a brutal looking ax. There was dried blood staining his blacksmith clothing and staining the metal on the ax. Although there was no blood on his potato sack. 

     He walked by the window, dragging the ax behind him, making that loud noise. I was scared out of my mind. I heard a little whimper right next to me and saw Emma, squatting down next to me. She was about to scream. My reflexes took over as my hand went to her mouth to stop her from getting us killed. 

     “Be quiet!” I whispered. 

     It wasn’t Emma I should have worried about though. Paul was bent over behind a desk and fell backwards in shock. He stumbled over a desk knocking it over, making another loud banging noise, this time from us.

     It was almost past the classroom when it stopped. It turned its head and looked inside the classroom. Paul was visible to him. It dragged its ax towards the door and brought it down. There was a cold splintering sound as pieces of the door went in every direction. It hacked at the door one more time, dismantling it of its form. 

     It had to bend its head in order for it to come inside the classroom. Now that I got a closer look at it, even in the dark, I could see more of it. It wore no gloves, its hands were dirty, bits of its gray skin was missing. The fingernails were torn off revealing a pinkish-grayish skin underneath. Its leather apron was cloaked from a mixture of dirt, blood, and what looked to be oil. It wore massive brown boots, the same color as its filthy apron. The potato sack on its head was unsanitary, bits of sewing string, poking out in odd places and angles. There were two beady eyes, painted black. It turned its head toward Paul, and that’s when Emma screamed. 

     Brandon lunged towards me, pushing me out of the way as it swung its ax down. It barely missed Emma as she scurried away. The ax got stuck to a wooden desk, it lifted it as fast as it came down. There was no escape. It blocked what was supposed to be a classroom door leading into the hallway.

     “Jack, do something!” Emma yelled. 

     I hate it when Emma whines, even in a life or death situation. It was an odd picture if you were to look at it on the outside. Four kids, having a standoff with some giant ax holding thing with a potato sack over its head. My cigarette was still in my mouth, puffs of smoke coming out. If I was someone else and I saw what I was about to do, I would have that, That person is badass. 

     “Forget it.” I said.

     I reached in my waistband, and pulled out my dad’s nine millimeter pistol.

     “Holy crap, Jack, you were carrying that thing around?” Brandon yelled.

     The ax thing came towards me and raised its weapon. 

     “Go to hell you son of a gun.” 

     I aimed the barrel at its head and pulled the trigger. 

     Bang!!!

     The shot filled the cold night air, ringing and echoing down the school halls. Blood spurted from its head, and it fell back, dropping the ax. It went down with a loud thud. Emma, Brandon, and Paul, took this opportunity and ran for it, going over its dead body. They were halfway down the hall when Brandon noticed I wasn’t with them. I wanted to know what this thing was. What was behind this dirty potato sack? I stepped over its torso and arrived at its head. Blood continued to flow through the hole I just made, making its way down to the chin. I squatted down, looking for an opening of the bottom part of its mask, turned its head from left to right, but I couldn’t find an opening. All I saw were stitches. The potato sack was stitched to its neck. 

     “Jack!” Brandon yelled. “Let’s go!” 

     I looked at Brandon and then back at the ax thing. So much for having a fun night. I got up and took a long puff of my cigarette, “Where’s Pau…” 

     “Jack!” 

     The ax thing grabbed my leg and jerked me down. I went fast, my cigarette flew out of my mouth as I hit the ground, hard. There was a stinging sensation in my head, as if the force of the impact traveled all the way to my skull. I saw little black dots, filling my vision. My gun went sprawling out of my hand, sliding on the tile floor in circles. I felt someone push me followed by a loud ripping, slashing sound. A warm liquid splashed over my face and body, soaking my clothes. 

     Someone yelled, my body got dragged, and I thought I was done for. Killed by some crazy ax holding thing. The little dots in my vision started to disappear. Emma was the one dragging me. Paul was at the other side of the hallway, waiting for us, and Brandon, Brandon’s head lay in front of the classroom, his body dead and limp next to it. There was blood everywhere. It was Brandon's blood life fluids that were all over me.

     The ax thing was following us, about to catch up.

     “I can walk.”

     Emma let go and I got up swiftly.

     “Come on! Hurry up!” Paul yelled at the end of the hallway. 

     Emma and I ran towards him, leaving the ax thing in our dust. We turned down a hallway, went down the north corridor, skidded right and arrived at the Art classroom at the end of the lobby. Paul hastily opened the door and all together, we flooded through. Shutting the door behind us and turning the lights off. There were windows in the classroom, two of them, the only problem was that they were polycarbonate panels. There was nothing in this classroom that was capable of breaking even a car window. Let alone this type of window, it was not possible. My gun was somewhere back near Mr. Hans class, so that was out of the picture. 

     Paul knows this as well, since he works with his dad at a window company, Emma however, didn’t. She grabbed one of the plastic chairs, (Cheap school, can’t afford some real chairs but can afford some tough windows) and threw it at the panel. 

     “Come on! Help me!” 

     Are all white girls this stupid?

     “It’s useless Emma.” Paul said. “Those windows are hard to break, and a plastic chair won’t even so much as scratch  it. 

     Emma dropped the chair to the floor. “So we're stuck here?” 

     “I wouldn’t say that.” I said. I sat on a table and pulled out Mr. Hans pack. Took one out and lit it. 

     Emma walked over to the other side of the room, next to where the door is. Not the best spot to sit in if you ask me. 

     “I can’t believe you.”

     Was she talking to me? “Believe what?”

     “Here we are, about to die, Brandon got his head cut off and here you are smoking a cigarette. Like you don’t even give a crap. 

     This dog. 

     “Why can’t you be more like Paul, someone who actually cares and isn’t such an butt.” 

     I got off the desk quicker than a lion on a gazelle, I was over her in an instant, my whole six feet towering over her. 

     “You don’t think I give a crap? You don’t think I care that one of my closest and best friends just risked his butt to save me?” I squatted down to her level. The smoke of my cigarette smothering her face. 

     “You’ve got a lot of nerve talking this crap to me, you know that.” 

     “Jack.” Paul tried to interrupt. “Jack, enough, I'm sure she didn’t mean…” 

     “Quiet Paul. She needs to hear this.” Paul went quiet. “Brandon got killed because he got touchy. Touchy feelings get you killed. From now on, no more touchy stuff.” Emma nodded her head. “I might not be the best person, I might not be the nicest person, but I still care, and I swear, we’re getting out of here, but for that to happen, you need to stop whining. You got it?” Emma nodded her head. “Good.” 

     I stood back up, and went back to my table. Paul looked over at me with such hopelessness in her eyes and fear. “You think we’re getting out of here?” 

     I looked him in his eyes, I lost Brandon, I can’t lose Paul.

     “I swear, we’re getting out of here.” Paul looked like some hope went through his body. “Now go get your girl Paulie.” He smiled awkwardly and walked over to Emma. He was probably to comfort her, I don’t know. He never got the chance. The door came crashing down, the same time an ax came whispering through the air, landing on Paul's head. The ax thing tugged the ax from his head and swung it sideways, his blood spilling over Emma. 

     “Shoot! Emma!” I didn’t have to say anything else. Emma got to her feet and ran towards me. We were trapped. I didn’t know what to do that could get both of us out alive. “Emma.” I said. “On my three, I want you to jump to your right, on your feet, and through the door. I want you gone. Don’t look back.”  She looked at me, fear in her eyes, it reminded me of the time I saved a kitten from a vicious river stream, the look in its eyes were the same as Emma’s. “Just do it.” She nodded her head. 

     The ax thing continued its way towards us. 

     “One.” 

     Emma shifted her body, ready to jump. If I timed this wrong, we both just might die. 

     “Two.” 

     So much for touchy feelings. 

     “Three!” She jumped to her right as the ax thing swung its ax down at me. I propelled the chair in front of me, slamming it in its lower body. Its ax went flying out of its hand, missing me by barely just an inch. The ax struck the window behind me, not breaking it, but bouncing down somewhere behind me. If I stayed where I was, I'm pretty sure, the ax would have split my ankles.

     I pushed with all the strength I could muster. The ax thing fell backwards, the chair smashing into its rib cages as it went down. The chair didn’t do any damage as it was a plastic chair, but I sure did. I got on top of it, striking it in the face. Letting everything out. I felt more cracking underneath my fists, it didn’t block anything, it just let it happen. I kept hitting until it grabbed me and chucked me sideways. 

     I went flying, a desk slamming into my sides, knocking the wind out of me. I struggled to breathe. The ax thing got up and looked in front of it. The ax. If it got the ax I would be done for. Turned over and kicked a desk into its legs. It stumbled sideways and fell over. I turned around and lunged at the ax, grabbing its handle. The ax thing did the same. I had no chance, in brute strength, this thing is way over me, but my adrenaline kicked in and enabled me to yank it out of its hand and swing it sideways, sticking it in its side. It made a grunt of pain and put its hand to its side. Blood seeping through its clothes. I couldn’t take it out. It was deep. The ax thing kicked me forward, propelling me into the wall behind me. I think I'm about to die. The ax thing secured the ax in its hand, and pulled. It came out with ease. Yeah, I think I'm dead. 

     Unexpectedly, the ax thing came to its knees with a loud crack. Emma stood behind it with a fire hydrant in her hands. God dang it. I thought I told her to leave. 

     “Jack!” She lifted the fire hydrant and connected it to the ax thing’s head. It went sprawling over.

     “I thought I told you to leave.” 

     She looked at me, “Sorry, touchy feelings got in the way.” 

     I quickly got up and ran out of the classroom, the ax thing was still on the floor. Together, we ran through the halls, we flew past the front office and out the school doors. The moonlight bathed in my face. There were two police cruisers, parked outside in the parking lot.

     “Help!” Emma yelled. 

     The officers looked at her, they looked like they were having a good conversation until they saw the blood on her clothes and the blood on my face and clothes. 

     “Holy crap!” One of them said, 

     I looked at the other officer and recognized him, he was a friend of my dads. Officer Mike. 

     “Jack?”

     I ran as fast as I could, out of the school grounds and into the school parking lot. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I couldn’t believe I made it out alive. I made a promise, a promise I didn’t keep. I lost both of my best friends. Right in front of me. Everything hit me at once, and finally after what seemed like hours of horror, after the reality of what happened. I finally cried. 

Your Such A Freak

     “And the winner of tonight's show is Leonardo Gonzalez!” The T.V. blared in the still night of Crescent Moon Institute for the Mentally Ill. In short, the CMIMI. Josh, the night staff sat in his office, watching the late night reality game show. The patients were supposed to be sleeping although, he didn’t expect them to be all asleep. As long as they were in their room and not making any issues for him. 

     He didn’t like his job, but it was the only job open for him right now. It was either this or working at some fast food restaurant. He preferred the good money. He got along with the patients though, they didn’t give him any problems when he worked the day shifts. It was a co-ed institute for young adults ranging from the ages, nine to seventeen. He worked most of his shifts in the Pheonix and Crow units. He found it funny how they were all named after birds. 

     There was one particular patient that always caught his eye. A young thirteen year old girl by the name of Mary. She wasn’t trouble, but she was always picked on. He never understood why. To him, she seemed like such a nice girl. She always kept to her self and never caused any issues. He couldn’t be surprised though, some of the patients here are pretty cruel. 

     He’s had to save her many times from the torture of others. She been in many fights, none of which she fought back. She just took it. They called her many names, weirdo, loner, and freak. The last name was the one most used. “Your such a freak!” Some would say. He felt bad. She just took it all. 

     At one point, he had a talk with her. It was when all the other patients were in the cafeteria, eating dinner. She stayed back because one of the other patients had just almost beaten her. 

     “Mary, come here.” Josh said to her. He was sitting at one of the tables near the wall. “Sit down. I want to have a talk with you.” 

     Mary’s lower lip was cut, dried blood occupied it. She sat down at the opposite of the chair, looking afraid. 

     “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m not gonna bite you.”

     She looked at Josh with sad eyes. “They always say that.” 

     Josh sat up straight and put his phone away in his pocket. 

     “Look, your a good girl, you don’t give anybody any issues. You do what you need to do and you always keep your promises. If you say you’re going to do something you really mean it. It’s sad to see you in a place like this. You should be out there, hanging with your friends, having a good time.” 

     “I don’t have friends.” She said. 

     “What i’m trying to say, is you need to stop letting people walk all over you. You’re a human being, you deserve to stand up for yourself. Stop letting these people do this to you.” She stared at the table, she looked like she was about to cry. “Stand up for yourself. If they hit you, you hit them back harder, if they kick you, you kick them harder. If they call you a name, you call them something worse.” 

     “I don’t want to.” 

     “Why? Why don’t you?”

     “Because if I do, then people won’t help me.” 

     “What do you mean people won’t help you?” 

     “People hate people. That’s how life is. There are no good people and no bad people, just people. If a person hits another person, then that person should leave it alone. Don’t do anything that puts them out of line.” Now she was on the verge of tears. “That’s what my dad told me before he died.” 

     “Mary, you don’t have to do that. Im sure your dad meant something else, because if your dad were here right now, I am one-hundred percent positive he would tell you the same thing i’m telling you. No dad want’s their daughter beat and not do anything about it.”

     “Well, he’s not, and he never will be.” 

     The other patients walked in the double doors to the unit, all having a wonderful time, chit-chatting left and right. Mary just sat there, wiping away the tears before they came over. 

     One of the patients, George, came up and smacked her in the back of her head, “Sup, freak” 

     Josh got up quick, “You do that again and I’ll have you on unit restriction.”

     “Josh backed away, “Dang dude, chill, it just a joke, ain’t gotta protect your girlfriend here.”

     Josh gave him a mean look. 

     The rest of the day, Josh kept a close watch on Mary, making sure no one else messes with her. 

     He looked at the time on his phone, 12:03, A.M.. It was time for him to make his rounds. He grabbed his flashlight and exited out of his office. The long corridors were drak and kind of had an eerie feeling to it. The whole night had a eerie feeling to it. The doors to the patients rooms were all open so the night staff could make sure they were all in there beds and asleep. Josh made his rounds, flashing the light in the rooms, checking on the patients. It was going to be another long night. 

     …

     The voices grew louder. Telling her to get up, do to others what they have done to you. Make them pay. She didn’t want to. Her dad told her to never give in to the voices, no matter how scary it might be, no matter what they say. So she lay there, silently crying as the voices grew louder. Get up! Make them pay! Kill them! Make them pay! Make them pay! Your such a freak! 

     Mary couldn’t stand it. She was scared. So scared. She wanted her dad, she wanted her mom, her dog, her sister. She wanted to go back home, but she couldn’t. As long as the voices stayed in her, she couldn’t go back home. Not after what happened. She didn’t mean to do it. The voices told her to do it. To hurt that boy, make him pay for calling her a freak. Her parents found out and sent her here. Where everyone calls her a freak. 

     Her dad told her a lot of things, but the one she listened to the most was not to do what the voices say to do. She loved her dad, so she listened, but it was hard. Each day, the voices grew louder and louder, more violent, telling her to do things she didn’t want to do. They started as whispers. She found out if you do what the voices say to do, them they go away. She wanted them to go away. 

     She held a pillow to her head, trying to drown out the voices, flopping around in her bed. A bright light flashed by her and she thought it was the voices coming out, she quickly sat up and saw it was Josh, he was making his rounds. 

     “Are you ok?” He asked. 

     Mary liked Josh, he was the only one who didn’t call her a freak or say anything mean to her. He was nice. He tried to help her even though she didn’t want the help. He was also very attractive. All the others girls have tried to seduce him but he never gave in. He was strong minded and very smart. That’s why she liked him. He was humble, responsible, and caring. 

     “Yeah. I just need some water.” 

     He smiled at her, and waved her over. “Come one, I just refilled the water jug.” 

     She got up out of her bed and put her slippers on. It was cold, and she was sweating. Together they walked down the corridor to where he office was, outside of it was the water jug. 

     “Let me get you a cup.” He said. 

     She waited, but the voices grew louder. Kill him. Make them pay. Kill them all. Do it! Go away, she whispered, sweating even more. He breaths grew heavy and she began to rasp for air. She tried not to show it when Josh came back with a small cup, he handed it to her. She took it with her shaky hands hoping Josh wouldn’t notice. He did, but didn’t say anything about  it. 

     “Bad dreams?” He asked. He looked solemnly worried. 

     She held the cup to the faucet of the water jusg and pushed down on the plastic button, water filling her cup. “Yeah, bad dreams.” 

     She held the water to her mouth, plunging the water down her throught in quick swallows. Josh stood there looking her with his worried blue eyes. 

     “Thank you.” She said. 

     “No problem, if you want some more water just come down and tell me.” 

     “No, I mean thank you for everything. Your the only one who actually cares.” 

     Josh smiled, “ Anytime, Mary.”

     Mary threw the cup away in the small trash and walked quietly back to her room, quietly placing her soft feet to the tile with each step, trying not to make any noise. It would have been a quiet night if not for the voices. If they were out of her heaf, they would boom through the corridors, bouncing off the walls. The voices grew louder now, saying the same thing over and over, MAKE THEM PAY! MAKE THEM PAY! MAKE THEM PAY! MAKE THEM PAY!!! She grew dizzy, her head spinning, her arms growing weak and falling limb, her legs feeling like jelly, her heart beating fast, her breathing growing shallow, heaving in quick breaths. The air around her went cold. She felt something coming, something bad. Was it the voices. Did they finally find a way out. She feared that might be happening. She wanted them to leave but not in this way. 

     “Go away!” She screamed. “Leave me alone! Please” 

     Her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees, holding her head. It was like she was on fire. Like she was being burnt alive in a stone oven. Her head was killing her. Her whole body was killing her. She felt pain in every part of her body. Something liquidy started rolling down from her nose, leaking into her mouth. It tasted like metal. She thought she was going to die, but she didn’t. Everything stopped. The pain, the voices, everything. She wasn’t in the institute anymore, she was floating. She could see through her eyes, but it felt like she wasn’t in control of her body. Like she was thrown into a darkness she could never come out of. 

…

     Josh heard the screaming. He ran to the end of the corridor as fast as he could, Mary was on her knees, screaming her head off. Her voice echoed down the hall, bouncing off the walls and into his ears. 

     “Go away! Leave me alone! Please!”

     Other patients were arriving at their doors, tiredness and irritation showing on their faces. Some rubbed their eyes sleepily. 

     “Mary!” Josh screamed. He ran over to her, “Mary! It’s ok!” She stopped screaming. The quietness was frightening. Not a single sound was made, not even the sound of the occasional beeping from the alrm system at night, not even a peep from his T.V. in his office. 

     “Look, its the freak!’ One patient said. 

     “Why is she screaming. I was having one good dream too.” Another said. 

     “Someone shut her up!” A third said. 

     One of the patients actually came out of the room. When Mary had fallen to her knees, she fell in front of Georges room. Josh saw George but didn’t have a quick enough reaction to stop him. He was too far. 

     “Back to your rooms!” Josh yelled. He couldn’t make it in time. George held her up by the hair and slapped her in the face, “Shut up you freak!” 

     Mary fell to the ground, limp. George stood over her, and spit in her face. “Freak.” 

     George turned around back to his room when Mary jumped up. “Mary no!” Josh booked it down the hall, the other patients zooming by him in a blur. His keys rattling on his side as he ran. All his practice in high school for cross country and he was still too slow. she grabbed George’s arm and bent it the other way, a loud crack sounded the air along with George’s screaming. She was whispering something, Josh could make out some words, words saying something like “Make them pay.” George held his arm, the whole thing was placed in a odd way, something wet and shiny poked out while blood pured out from around the poked out bone. 

     Josh stood there, frozen, trying to contemplate what had just happened. Mary broke George’s right arm. He remembers telling her to fight back, but not like this, this isn’t what he meant. This is the complete opposite of what he meant. This doesn’t look like Mary, it looks like an intruder has taken over complete control over her body. 

     The other patients realized what had happned after just standing there and started screaming. The unison of the high pitch screaming broke Josh out of his frozen sate, and yelled at the other patients. “Everybody! Back to your rooms!” 

     Mary stood over George, “Get away from me you freak!” He cried. He tried to crawl away and kicked at her, Mary went back as she was struck in her face. He turned around to use his other arm to try to get up, but Mary grabbed his legs and pulled him down. He fell like a tree, coming down hard. He landed on his face and on his arm, George started screaming even more, “Help me!”

     “Mary, no!” Josh screamed, he ran towards her, put his arms between her armpits and tried to pull her away, but it was completely useless. Mary had grabbed Georges hair, another hand wen’t to his torso and she pulled. There was a loud ripping noise as his head came flying off, blood went pouring out everywhere. George’s blood splattered all over Mary’s and Josh’s face. He pulled her back in a suplex kind of move. He held her on top, trying not to let ehr get away. Whispering in her ear, “Mary, this isn’t you. Please stop, if your still in there, please stop this.” Josh never knew a thirteen year old girl could be so strong. She stood up, Josh on her back and went running backwards. Josh was slammed against the wall behind him, his head hit the metal box carrying the fire extinguisher. The glass inside broke and Josh fell, limp. Mary turned around, her bloodshot eyes, deep black pupils staring at Josh. She would have killed him to if the Mary inside didn’t do everything she possibibly could to stop it. She stood there, breathing heavily. Mary had managed to take her body back, she would have gained that control if it wasn’t for the metal chair that struck her back, sending her flying. 

     “Weird freak!” 

     Mary qucikly got up, scattered to her feet and growled at the boy who hit her. 

     “What the heck.” He whispered. 

     Mary bolted straight at him. He dropped the chair and started to run away but Mary grabbed the chair and threw it at him, knocking him flat on his stomach. She picked up the chair and brought it down to his head, crushing his skull, blood splattered everywhere, his teeth went scattering across the floor, his eyes smashin in his head. Everyone started screaming. They were frantic. Mary went for one after another. Tearing limbs from out the bodys, smashing heads in, ripping their tongues out, shoving her hand in their throats, grabbing a handful of intestines and bringing them out to the outside, where they have never seen light. The other staff were there in an instant the second they heard the screaming, but it took Mary mere minutes to kill off the other patients. Everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.

     When the staff had arrived at the unit, Mary was stationed in the middle of everything. She was drenched in the blood of others, her eyes not the same eyes as the Mary they knew, but the eyes of an intruder. Josh stayed in the same spot where he was knocked out, untouched, but the blood from others had stained his blue scrubs. It was a nightmare sight, nobody could explain how they felt when they seen what they seen. Some would say this was just another incident of the Devil’s Playground, but others, they would say it was just the Beginning.