thanatophobia // joshler [✓]

a flat tire

the once busy city was now dead silent.

the once proud standing buildings were either burned down or claimed territory that was marked with graffiti.

it wasn't always like this, though. i guess i should explain how it got this way.

people have heard this scary stories or have seen the movies dealing with "the purge". this was no different, except it was a harsh reality people had to deal with.

around mid 2011 the city that never sleeps soon turned into the city that never wakes up.

there was an invasion, gang wars had gotten worse and this time nobody could stop it. police were killed on the spot, swat teams were taken out in the blink of an eye. no authority could save something this far gone.

but what happens when you've been secluded into this pure-bred white neighbourhood where nobody knew what was going on with the rest of the world.

well let's ask the nice dun family who just happened to be driving down the ny x interstate this particular night.

__________

dad decided to take a trip down to new york since he found a better job offer there.

it seemed way too good to be true though, but we'll just have to see when we get there.

i was sitting next to my sisters ashley and abigail and my brother jordan was in the backseat.

my mom and dad took up the driver and passenger seat.

ashley was on my left, and abigail was on right. they both fell asleep so their heads were resting comfortably on both my shoulders.

jordan fell asleep about 2 hours ago and my dad looked like we was about to fall asleep.

i couldn't sleep though, i wasn't feeling tired for some reason.

it's like once we got on this highway my mind wouldn't let me doze off. like a warning sign.

but i just brushed it off as anxiety since we were out of our hometown.

my mother, who wasn't asleep, turned around slightly from the passenger seat to look at me,

"honey do you have service on your phone?"

i took out my phone to see i didn't have any signal.

"no," i shook my head, "why?"

"i was just wondering is all." she shrugged, now facing away from me.

about 10 more minutes on this never ending highway did our drive come to a screeching halt.

literally.

my dad jolted up from his half slumber and sighed deeply, "we have a flat tire."

i sighed but quickly noticed something in the view of or headlights.

it looked like a man... a man in a full skeleton onesie.

the face was covered with the full head hood and his head was cocked to the side. he was holding a metal object in his hand.

a knife.

"dad...?" my sister abigail who was now fully awake said in a terrified voice.

"it's probably a hitchhiker hun don't worry about it."

without warning, there was knock slam on the window that abigail was sitting next to.

it was another man, in the same skeleton onesie.

then another one appeared on ashleys side.

my terrified sisters were now clutching my arms tightly and now jordan was fully awake in the back seat.

we were surrounded my skeletons.

with no warning, both windows shattered and glass was everywhere.

everything seemed to happen so quick. both my sisters were ripped out of the we through the smashed windows.

their skin getting caught in glass as they were being dragged to the ground.

my mom and dad were pulled from the car seats as well.

jordan, trying to fight off one of them, was being yanked out as well.

then it was my turn.

i tried holding on for dear life but my seat belt did nothing but make the skeleton aggravated.

my head hit the car door as i was being dragged out of the car.

i hit the concrete so hard there was moment of paralysation.

a flashlight blinded me but i saw a skeleton holding me down with a knife to my throat.

i could hear the blood curdling screams coming from my sisters and i heard jordan struggling to fight them off.

the screams were silenced by the sound of two bullets firing.

"NOOOOO--" my mothers screaming was silenced with another gun fire.

i could hear jordan and my father being beaten right next to me.

as this was all happening, the skeletons were still bounding me to the ground, but to my surprise there was a guy in a red black ski mask who came into my blurry vision.

he stared down at me and nudged the guy who was holding a knife to my throat.

he got off me, but before i could do anything, the other skeleton impaled my side with the sharp blade.

i wailed in pain as i felt the warm liquid pour out of the tender wound.

"i got it." one of the skeleton guys said.

and before i knew it there was spike of pain from his fist colliding with my face.

and i was now out cold.