Never getting home

A Story by Stephanie

This story was part of a school project I did last year, nevertheless I still really enjoyed writing this text. Sorry for any misspellings, feel free to correct me and give criticism.

“Could you please fetch my books in school on the way back from Riley?”, my little brother Calvin begs me over the phone. “I’ll do your dishes?”

“I don’t even know if it’s still open”, I respond.

“My friend Michael was there yesterday at around 10pm I think and it was open for him. Don’t ask me what he was doing at school by 10pm”.

“Wait, you think it was open? You don’t even know for certain?”

“Aww come on Sophia! You can at least walk by school and see if the doors are open. I really need those books tonight.”

“Hmph, fine I’ll do it. But you’re doing my dishes for the next week.”

“Thank you big sis’!” he exclaims happily, “but wait, what, I am not doing your di…” I manage to hang up on him before he can argue against it. I would have done it for free but he was the one who offered payment.

I pass by the school building when I walk to the bus station near Riley’s house. From there I take bus 46 going south. And if I am not mistaken, there is a bus leaving by 8.12pm. I check my phone, 7.43pm. If I hurry up I might make it. To be on the safe I up my walking pace a bit. Behind some houses the school building starts to appear. It is a big boring building made out of bricks with a few very big windows.

As I reach the entrance I consider lying to my brother and just tell him that it was locked but something pulls me to the door. I place my hand on the door handle and cautiously pull it towards me. To my surprise it opens. Slowly I step inside, terrified of setting of an alarm. I stand in the middle of the big and spacious entrance hall with no signs of any alarm. Unaware that I have been holding my breath I let it out in a sigh of relief. Okay, Calvin’s locker is on the second floor, I think as I start walking towards the stairs that will lead me there. The only light source in the staircase is a broken lamp which light constantly flickers on and off. It gives of an extremely eerie vibe, though if I have gotten this far I might as well keep going.

When I make it to the second floor three lamps in the ceiling light up to welcome me. The corridor has never looked longer. The lockers that align the walls have a green hue to them and the cold light from the ceiling lamps gives this place an eerie feeling as well. I look at the locker closest to me, it has number 202. If I am correct Calvin’s has number 278. Great, now I have to walk to the end of this creepy corridor. I glance at my watch, 7.50pm. I better hurry up if I am going to make it to the bus station by ten past eight.

My footsteps echo in the corridor as I walk towards his locker. When I finally reach it it hits me, I do not have his key with me! Why do I have to be such an idiot? Forgetting the key to his locker? Ughh! I hit my head in annoyance. Stupid! I have been standing facing his locker and as I turn around to walk away from the locker the lights go out. I freeze. It is pitch black and the only sound is my own heavy breathing. I do not dare to move a single inch from where I am standing. My eyes starts to adjust to the dark but I can still only see about ten feet in front of me. I can feel a chill going down my spine when I suddenly hear a sound coming from the end of the corridor. It sounds like it is coming towards me and I squeeze my eyes shut in denial and fear. But what terrifies me even more is that whatever that is heading my way is not walking. It sounds more like it is dragging itself along the floor. I can feel my cheeks getting wet from tears which have escaped my tightly shut eyes.

As the sound gets closer and closer I hesitantly open my eyes. They adjust quickly to the darkness and from the shadows a dark haired human now approaches me. It slowly crawls towards me and what I see makes the blood in my veins freeze.The creature is extremely pale skinned with long, straight dark haired parted in the middle. Where its eyes are supposed to be it is instead two black gaping holes and its cheeks are covered in the blood that arose when the eyes were torn out. Its jaw hangs loose and I can see that its mouth is full of jagged and sharp teeth. It crawls with the help of its arms in an unrhythmic movement. When my eyes reach its waist I can not help but clasp my hands over my mouth at the horrible sight. There is nothing there. The same as with the eyes it looks like the legs have been violently torn off. The only thing left is some strands of flesh and a horrendous amount of blood. The creature has even left a trail of blood behind itself.

Hobbingly I start to move backwards away from it. I bump into the wall and choke as I do so. When the creature once more appears out of the shadows I start to hyperventilate and I put my hands on each side of myself. I stare down at it and when it meets my gaze with its hollow eye sockets I quickly turn my head to the side and once again squeeze my eyes shut. It is now so close that I can hear its raspy breathing and the sound of it dragging its bloody body along the floor. I could probably outrun if I were to run but I am too scared to move my limbs. When I feel its cold hand wrap around my ankle I scream on the top of my lungs. I scream until my throat hurts so bad that I have to stop.

Only now I look down expecting to see the ghastly creature at the base of my legs… But there is nothing there. The lights are back on again and there is no sign of the creature or the trail of blood that it had left behind. Puzzled I look around, searching for any evidence of what I just experienced. Nothing. I do not want to stay here a second longer so I gather myself and run for my life. Down the corridor and the staircase I run faster than I ever have until I reach the entrance hall. I slow down to pull the door open and…

The door is locked. The door is locked! I start to panic as I violently try to get the door open, but to no success. Someone or something must have locked it. My shaky hands tremble after the lock on the door when the lights go out again. No, no, no, this is not happening! I desperately try to convince myself that this is all a dream and that I am in reality already home. That I will any second now wake up completely drenched in sweat but safe, at home, in my bed. But when I hear the now familiar sound of the creature dragging its dismembered body along the floor, a chill once again runs down my spine.