Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Chapter One: Street Lights

As a child, I never knew that other kids my age would play the game of creating a being running atop the street lights at night while going on a road trip. After that one fateful night, I stopped going on road trips and if I were to go on them it would have to be during the day because once nightfall hits something I could never imagine comes to life.  I was about 8 years old when my family and I was going to see my grandparent out in South Carolina, they lived in Summerton and it was a far trip going down to see them but we managed to get there every other summer. On this particular evening, I just had finished playing with my Gameboy and decided to look out the window for a while looking at all the passing trees, it was nighttime at the point which I hadn't realized, considering I was very into my game at the time. I've must've been looking out the window for a while now when I noticed a weird shadowy figure running in the woods at the same pace as the car. I usually see them every summer I go down to see my grandparents but I just look away and find something else to do or just to sleep seeming we were probably almost there. They always disappeared when I looked back making me reassure myself that it was just my imagination and I could go to sleep and not worry about it. That didn't happen this time when I looked back out the window... I felt my heart start to race as I kept watching this shadowy figure keep running through the tree line and sooner than later start swinging from lamp post to lamp post when it came up. The car was moving fast but I could make out what the creature was. It had long pale arms and a somewhat short torso, with long legs to match. It never looked directly at me but with the glances, it did take I noticed that its eyes were huge and all black. I never saw the creature's full face but I could tell that it did look sinister.  I kept staring at the creature as it was running hoping someone could pull me from this trance but to no avail, I just kept on staring. What seemed like forever the car finally stopped at a red light the creature stopped with it, this time staring right at me and I could see its face in its full entirety...  The face was as pale as the rest of its body with large dark black eyes and no nose just holes where it should be but then it smiled at me and with that, I saw his sharp razor-like teeth creep up in a grin. It started to walk towards the car and I turned away to tell my dad to hurry up and start driving as there was a monster coming close to the car. Knowing my parents, they didn't believe in anything like that and thought my imagination was just getting out of hand.

"Calm down buddy, I can't just run a red light okay, just go on to sleep and we'll wake you when we get to grandma and grandpa's house okay?" my dad said looking through the rearview mirror.

" But dad look, it walking towards the car and I don't have a good feeling that it's friendly, and I just don't wanna still be here when it gets close, so please dad just hurry up and go," I said almost crying at this point. I looked back at the window to see how far the monster was from the car and to my surprise it was gone...

" See buddy there isn't anything out there. It's just your imagination playing tricks on you during the night." He said, which reassured me a bit. 

I continued to start the window for a while making sure the monster was absolutely gone. I don't know how much time had passed but I ended up falling asleep in the car and woke up to the car stopped at a red light. The light shining through the car woke me up and batting my eyes open I realized that my parents weren't in the car. Looking around frantically it was still nighttime and only 3  in the morning.  The car had its hazard lights on and my parents' door open with no sign of them  in sight. I quickly jumped into the front seat closing both doors and locking the car, not know what might've taken them.  I opened the glove compartment to find the small flashlight my dad had always kept for looking under the hood of his car on nights like this when the car broke down. After some looking, I finally found the flashlight just as when the light from the stop sign turned off. Now I was surrounded in complete darkness except with the car hazards on. I turned on the flashlight and couldn't see much out the windows of the car but there was no way I was going out there. Just then I heard rustling around the car and instantly turned off the light and ducked down. I heard more rustling and then a growl from my side of the car and I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my breathing. My heart was racing and I swear it was about to jump out of my chest. I thought back to the monster I saw earlier and thought I was about to have a heart attack with how I was heart was beating faster than I could comprehend. The monster started walking around the car as I heard its footsteps and slammed its hands on top of the car hood making me jump slightly. I started peeing my pants and almost screamed but then it climbed to the top of the car banging on the roof trying the pry it open. At that moment I quickly unlocked the car and ran out towards the woods and didn't stop running till my lungs gave out on me. I don't know how long I was running but I turned around to see if the monster was following me and to my surprised, it was at least a few feet away. Its dark eyes now shone a dimly yellow glow as it stalked its way towards me. Backing up slowly not wanting to take my eyes off the creature I backed up over a root and fell back still looking at the thing. It started to smile again blood dripping from its mouth this time as it grinned at me. It started to crawl much faster and I scrambled to get up and start running again but just as I turned around to stand it grabbed my leg and started dragging me through the woods and I scream for the life of me, hoping someone, anyone to hear my screams and save me from this nightmare. After a few yards, the creature picked me up and looked me directly in the eyes, and licked its lips. It opened its mouth wide ready to swallow me whole when it stopped just as my hair hit its tongue and dropped me. I scrambled to get away from it when I noticed a small arrow in its back. I wasted no time running back through the woods to the car. I heard it scream and I ran faster hoping it wasn't running after me.  I was only a few feet away when I saw another car right behind my parents' looking around to see if anyone was around. I yelled to the man to get his attention and he looked over running over to me as I ran into his arms. Crying I was trying to tell the man everything that happened when I heard the creature scream a deathly yell once more and the man scrambled to get me in the car and drive off, to a police station I suppose.  I didn't sleep at all till I got to the police station wondering if the creature was following me, but it wasn't and I was relieved. After some intense questioning from the police and of course them not believing my story they went out to see if they could find my parents. They found the car but it's been 20 years and I still have no answer as to what happened to my mom and dad. I was taken in by my aunt and her husband for the rest of my youthful years. After that incident, I stopped sleeping in the dark and alone. I stopped driving in the nighttime and always wondered if the creature was still out there looking for me. I'm 28 now and have my own apartment in a small town, the events are still clear as day, and the shadows still alive and well in the corners of my eyes.