𝑨𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒔𝒆 | 𝙹𝚎𝚊𝚗/𝙴𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

|01|

Your feet hit the forest floor, sprinting away from your impending doom. The leaves crunch under your weight and the tree roots act as an annoyance in your path.

One manages to grab hold of you and your body falls to the ground with a thud. You wince at the contact and scramble to get up before those things catch up.

"Shit," you hiss and feel the dirt under your nails as you clench your fist full of forestry while pushing yourself up off the ground. You find your footing again and continue running even though you have no idea where you can go where you'll be safe.

Maybe it's because you are scared or because of the uneven terrain, but you're about ready to collapse from exhaustion. You can't catch your breath, but you need to hurry so you shove away your pain and focus.

You have to run.

Up ahead you spot an old run down house that is no longer inhabitable. There's no way you can continue to run in this state, so you use the last bit of your adrenaline and rush towards the house.

Once inside, the smell of decaying wood and mold suffocates you. You ignore it for now and search for a room that you can hide in.

Most of the walls are crumbling down, but the bathroom looks secure enough. You throw yourself inside and slam the door, looking to barricade it with anything you possibly can, but no such luck.

You open the door back up and grab the chair you saw at the dining table and drag it back with you, pushing it up under the handle to keep it shut.

The world is quiet. Too quiet.

You go to the bathtub and crawl inside, sitting in a ball on top of the chipping paint. You try to control your breaths, making them shallow and slow.

You're scared. So very scared.

Crying like a baby sounds like a reasonable response to your situation, but it's also a stupid idea. You can't let your guard down.

There's a shuffling sound just outside in the hall. You place your hand over your mouth to silence the whimpering.

This is it. You're going to die.

The deep groan of one of those things is heard against the door and you hear it begin to scratch at the decaying wood.

Oh no.

You look around, finding you've locked yourself in a place with no escape. It was a dumb mistake you made, but you really weren't worried about escaping. You just wanted to hide.

The scratching becomes louder. Stronger. That thing is going to get in. The wood is in no way solid and if someone pushes hard enough the door will crumble.

Well...you suppose you'd rather go out now than to live through whatever hell this is.

Your eyes shut, hearing the door begin to give way at the weight of the monster eagerly trying to get to you. The wood cracks and you watch as a hand creeps inside, the rotting flesh ripping as the shards rub against it. You don't want that creature to be the last thing you see, so even as you listen to it get closer, you refuse to look.

The gurgling and hissing sound that comes from the creature is repulsive and damn right terrifying. Your lip quivers with fear.

Hot breath tickles the skin on the side of your face and you hold your breath to keep from breathing in the stomach-churning smell that comes with it.

Suddenly, the door is kicked down aggressively and your eyes snap open. The creature is no longer focused on you, but at the boy who enters the bathroom.