Golden

A night stroll takes a turn for the worse.

Golden eyes.

 

I walk down Tuscola Road, taking a turn into McDonald’s parking lot. It’s late, really late. A few cars roar past on the highway but other than that, it is silent. The gas-station lights illuminate only the surrounding area and anything further was nothing but black.

 

I order a large pop and exit the restaurant. I had walked and lost track of time, realizing it was getting dark before I had enough time to get home. I continued to mentally chastise myself.

 

Waiting, I turn and face the remnants of my old elementary school. It’s closed now, falling apart at the seams. The ceiling to the gym collapsed and almost killed a few kids and ever since had been barricaded off.  The lawn is overgrown, the windows broken. Seeing it like this, it saddens me a little. The parking lot is black, but if I stare long enough, I can see a small flickering light near the old playground.

 

The ice in my pop swishing alongside me, I make my way towards the decrepit building and towards the light.

 

Plastic skin.

 

By the time I make it halfway across the parking lot, I am regretting my decision. The darkness is thick and uncomfortable. I contemplate going back, but decide not to be a wuss and continue walking. An old lamp flickers above me, not helping my already frayed nerves.

 

I cannot remember why I came here in the first place. I take a sip of my pop, as if it will help calm me. The fuzz of the lamp is all I hear before I am plunged into darkness.

 

If it wasn’t thick before, it has become unbearable now. The darkness swallows me, pulling me into its grasp. My eyes adjust and I realize I have somehow wandered into the playground. I pull my arms around me as a sudden cold breeze whistles past.

 

I scream at myself to leave, yet my feet stay planted on the mulch ground. I shiver and try to make sense of my surroundings, but it has been so long I can no longer remember my way or let alone see it.

 

The swings rattle.

 

Warm hands.

 

I jump and turn to face the swing set.

 

A large black mass slips into the darkness.

 

My blood runs cold. My breaths come faster and my eyes start to water. I am scared. Truly horrified. I don’t know what’s happening around me and I don’t like it. I can’t see hardly two feet in front of me.

 

The silence is constricting, but I don’t know whether I want to hear something or not.

 

The mulch rustles.

 

I open my mouth to yelp, but my vocal chords freeze. I am sweating now despite the fact I am freezing cold. I can’t figure out whether to run; if being chased it worse than being observed by whatever lurks beyond my line of sight.

 

Large mouth.

 

I drop my McDonald’s cup and spill cold pop all over my feet. The cool liquid seeps into my socks. I bend over to pick up the fallen trash and stand when my neck is met with hot breath. As warm as it is, it sends an electric shock down my spine. I freeze.

I cannot move as much as I shout at my body to do so. I want to leave. I want to run. Tears flow freely from my eyes and I can’t stop them. My head explodes with the possible outcome of this situation; my mind is so overrun I can’t function. I utter a small moan of fear and the sound of my own voice startles me.

 

A low grumble echoes in my right ear. I squint my eyes as tight as they will go.  If I don’t look at it, it’s not real. A warm hand grabs my shoulder and that reality is no longer in question. It pulls back, turning me towards it.

 

I keep my eyes closed as I am turned around, 180 degrees.

It stops and I wait. It breathes slowly and I listen, waiting for it to leave.

 

It takes its hand from my shoulder and the breathing quiets until I hear nothing but the wind.

 

I muster to courage to finally open my eyes.

 

Gold. Its eyes are gold, buried deep within its blackened skull. Its skin shines like plastic, clinging to the bones that protrude at every joint. Its mouth curls into a smile and opens wide, unhinging like a snake’s to show off its brilliant array of teeth. They glow white, being the only thing besides its eyes that seemingly produce their own light. With one swift movement, the creature lunges at me and I silently scream. The air is stolen from my lungs and I fall unconscious before my body hits the ground.

 

Whispers.

 

I woke the next morning, dazed and confused. Wood chips clung to my hair and my I made my way home one way or another; my memory after the incident is foggy.

 

To this day I’m plagued by nightmares of that creature; sure it will return one day. It waits for me until I have been spent. Until I have nothing left to give. I have changed, as told by my friends, becoming reclusive and unresponsive. They question my wellbeing, my happiness, my sanity.

 

And frankly, I do too.

 

I don’t know what, I don’t know how, I don’t know where, but I do know it will come again. It whispers to me. Reminding me it is never gone.

 

Softly, it coos; “It is simply a matter of when.”