Perkins Park
The moment she left the house she knew that this night was going to be a mistake. It did not matter that, a month ago, he had given her the monogrammed handkerchief that she had always wanted; he still made her apprehensive. They were finally going out again and it was a beautiful night. They were just going to “Dave and Busters” so they would be out in public, but she was still nervous. As they continued to walk he became increasingly agitated; laughing unnecessarily and poking her, which is something he had never done. He then tried to pull her into an alley, grabbing her arm forcefully and not letting her pull away. She became frightened and vowed to run as soon as the chance arose. He forced her into the alley and shoved her up against the closest wall, slapping her incessantly. Her terror overtook her, clouding her mind from rational thought. All she wanted to do was escape from this maniac. With her free hand she reached up and raked her nails across his face, bringing blood. With a loud cry, he put his own two hands to his face and she was free.
She ran towards the cluster of trees, not caring where she entered, just wanting, no needing, to enter. She lunged into the first opening that she saw, not noticing the branches tearing up her clothes and skin. Blood immediately started to drip down her arms, soaking the handkerchief. She stumbled over logs and pushed bushes out of her way as she got deeper into the forest, gasping for breath; she could herself muttering the words “oh god oh god” over and over again. She finally saw the edge of the clearing and even though she was completely out of breath she pushed herself just a little bit more to reach that clearing. Just as she hit the clearing, she stumbled, falling to the ground, using her already bruised arms and hands to protect herself from the brunt of the fall. She stayed where she was, on hands and knees, panting, not daring to look up just in case he had seen her, just in case he was there with her right now. She didn’t think she would survive if she saw him again. Then a low chuckle started to fill the clearing and dread pierced her heart as if she had been stabbed.
“You didn’t really think that you could get away from me, did you? I grew up in this city, in these trees. I know them like a fat kid knows his pastries.” He laughed, this time more than a chuckle. She held her breath, afraid that if she didn’t she would scream. Moving her head slightly, she peered up at him through a parting in her stringy, brown hair.
“Leave me alone!” She breathed heavily through her mouth. She watched as he crossed his arms over his chest, his shadow under the bright streetlight looking like his evil twin coming to get her.
All of a sudden she heard him scream, a hitch pitched scream that she never thought him capable of. It was cut off with a snapping noise, with only silence to fill where his scream had been. She raised her head in a hurry, using the hand not holding the handkerchief to shove her hair out of her face. What she saw made her blood run cold and her body filled with terror. Blood was spurting out of the place where his head and shoulders used to be, saturating the rest of him and the brown ground around his feet. It was amazing his body was still standing, but there it was, the blood turning the ground to mud. Immediately she got her feet underneath her, still clutching the handkerchief. It had meant so much to her when he had given it to her, she was not going to let it go now. Although she did not love him anymore, she had loved him then. Her feet started backing her body towards the trees, trying not to rush as to not draw any attention to herself. She looked frantically around, trying to see how to get out when this black thing, looking almost like a giant spider leg, come out of the bushes and snatched the rest of his body away. A scream was lodged in the back of her throat, wanting to get out. Her eyes saw what her mind did not want to believe: a shadow slowly formed under the light. It looked almost human but the shadow was disjointed, disconnected somehow. She stumbled to the edge of the trees, not wanting to see that shadow take its complete form. She did not think she had the strength to force her way through the bushes, but she knew that if she didn’t she would die.
I applied the brakes to my bike, thinking I had heard a scream. I took my bike light off the front of the handlebars and shone the yellow light into the trees at the edge of Perkins Park. ‘There is no way that someone is in there at this time of night’ I thought, a coldness creeping into my spine. I was unsure if I should check it out, fear making me stay at the edge instead of entering. Everyone knew that Perkins Park was dangerous at night. One could easily get lost in there, or worse, get attacked. Wood City was not one of the nicest or safest cities in the United States. I finally came to a decision; I hit the kickstand so I wouldn’t have to leave the bike on the ground, tucked the light into my pocket and started walking towards the trees. I looked around, making sure that no one was following me and entered the trees.
I winched as the bare branches of the underbrush scratched my arms and legs. ‘Next time I will make sure I am wearing longs sleeves… as if I am going to do this again!’ I thought, brushing branches out of my way. I was not really sure of where the scream, if in fact that was what it was, had come from, and I did not hear any other noises, but I thought I was heading in the general direction. Perkins Park was big, but not that big. I was almost positive that I would be able to find out where that scream had come from; trying to convince myself that it hadn’t been a scream and that nothing terrifying and horrible was happening in the trees that I was tromping through at the moment. To pass the time as I was hiking, I came up with a scenario in my mind: I was coming to the rescue of some damsel in distress and I would find her and save her from some dire situation and then we would fall in love and live happily ever after. I let out a sigh, ‘if only… man I need a girlfriend’. It had been a few years since I had had one and I was starting to get lonely. I was jerked out of my thoughts when I heard something coming towards me, and coming fast.
She came crashing through the trees right into my arms. Blood was dripping down her arms and I could see that she was exhausted. She let out a scream as she ran into me; I tried to hold her up but her momentum brought us both to the dry leaves on the ground. I landed hard, a moan escaping my lips, covered by the sounds of the leaves crunching under me. I tried to cushion her fall, but she had passed out and she rolled off me, making a rough landing on the ground next to me. I lay there for a few moments, not really sure what I should do next, thinking that I really should have brought my Iphone so that I could just call the police or something. Then I remembered my bike; what on earth was I going to do with that? Although by this time, it was probably stolen anyways. ‘Forget the bike’ I thought begrudgingly, getting to my knees after my little hiatus. ‘I can do this. She can’t be that heavy… she doesn’t look fat or anything’. My knees popped as I stretched and stood all the way up. Grabbing her by the armpits, I started to drag her across the dead leaves. After a few moments guilt started to trickle into my heart because soil from the ground was being added to the dirt and blood that she was already covered in; not that she noticed or anything, but I still felt like I should at least try and pick her completely up.
A heavy weight abruptly fell on my back, pushing me and the girl back onto the dead leaves. A growling noise was heard throughout the clearing, encircling us as if we had surround sound out in the wilderness with us. I could see nothing around me, not even the trees anymore, as I scrambled to my feet, grabbing the girl’s hand so that I could protect her; she was my “damsel in distress” after all. A large hairy arm enclosed around my waist, pulling me off the ground; I tried to hold on to the girl, but her hands were slippery with blood and my hand was pulled from hers. I was lifted high into the air, the hairy arm digging painfully into my waist. The hair was coarse, not soft like human hair, and it dug into my skin, making the skin raw and bloody. My body unexpectedly stopped about ten feet off the ground and the arm turned me around; I had no idea which way I was facing, the strange darkness that had enveloped the area had still not lifted. All I knew was that I was not facing whatever it was that had a hold of me, and I still did not know what it was. I tried to pry the arm off of me, but every time I touched it, the arm gave me a squeeze almost like a lover’s squeeze. This squeeze, however, made the pain excruciating so I did not enjoy it. I felt myself slipping away from the world, my eyelids grew heavy and I felt like I could pass out at any time, and all I could think about was if the girl was still alive. The thought of the girl made my eyes snap open. I looked around, as if I could see, and tried to spot the girl in all of this darkness. My movements, however, made the arm dig in again so I kept as still as the tenderness in my skin would allow me.
My eyes grew wide as I saw a face suddenly appear in front of me. It did not have a body; it was just a large floating, pale face. I tried to look down, but what was below the face was pure madness; it just couldn’t exist. I had heard stories of these creatures that walked the night but had no body; that lived on the flesh and blood of humans but I couldn’t believe it, I wouldn’t believe it. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the madness, hoping this was all a dream; that I would wake up in my nice apartment, with my roommates and we would all laugh about this crazy dream. The growling from earlier once again filled the space, but I kept my eyes shut, not particularly wanting to see where it was coming from. To make matters worse, a very low laughter intermixed with the growling. The laughter and the growling became one, ringing in my head as well as in my ears. It was the worst sound I had ever heard and it felt like my head was going to split in half if it didn’t end. I could sense something trying to force my eyelids open and I tried my hardest to fight against this thing that was in my head, but I was powerless to stop it. The pale visage swam in front of my face as my eyes were forced open.
“How dare you try and steal my dinner from me…” a voice whispered, seemingly coming from nowhere. I felt the insanity enclose my mind as the thing in front of me started to smile. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it and I started to smile too. Beautiful images of me with lots of women started dancing in my mind, my mind doing what my body couldn’t; fighting against the unbelievable, leading me to believe I was just having a dream. Unexpectedly these pleasant images turned into nightmares as I felt my right arm ripped from its socket. I looked at where my arm used to be and could not believe that it wasn’t there. I saw the blood pouring from it, but my mind would not take it in. My mind wanted to focus on those beautiful images, not the pain that was spewing forth from my shoulder. The world started to turn gray, but I was brought violently back into that world when my other arm was ripped off. The attractive images in my mind completely forgotten, maniacal laughter could be heard from my mouth and I did not believe that it was mine. All at once the pain started seeping into my body; my laughter turning into crazed screams.
I didn’t think that I could feel any more pain than what I had just experienced, but the face started to move slowly towards me. His laughter covered my screams as he came closer and closer, his mouth opening widely, two teeth in particular longer and pointier than the others. A pain like I had never felt before in my life ripped through my body as those two teeth pierced my skin. I could feel the blood being sucked from my body, drop by drop. I kicked my legs feebly, trying to find contact, still trying to live although I knew my life was a lost cause. As my blood was taken forcefully from me I had one last comprehensive thought: if my “damsel in distress” was alright and if she would have made a good girlfriend.
Her eyelids fluttered as she came back into the world. She groaned, trying to move but everything on her body was stiff and in pain. She felt sticky all over and she was not sure as to why. She could also feel something licking her legs and could hear the lapping noise of the tongue. She lay there, not opening her eyes, hoping that it was a dog that was licking her and she had somehow spilled gravy on herself. That she was outside of “Dave and Busters” and she had tripped and fell. She knew these thoughts to be untrue, but she was not willing to open her eyes to find out the truth. She could sense the tongue moving up and that scared her more than what she thought the truth was, so she opened her eyes. What she saw made her immediately go insane. Her pupils rolled into the tops of her eyelids and she had no more thoughts. What looked to be a pale, body-less face was floating an inch or so above her legs, licking all the blood off her body. And this creature was doing it with a large, joker-like smile on its face. When the creature had licked her clean it picked up her lifeless body, looking as if it was floating on thin air, and stole into the night, its laughter fading as light pierced the darkness with the rising of the sun.
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