Brevis Tabulatorum (short stories)

Quiescis (quiet)

He took off down the road at a sprinting pace, although I couldn't quite see what he was running from or even running towards. It was one of those things that you don't see often; a man in all black running from something at 6:45 pm. Was he running from someone, or worse, something? I wasn't going to wait around and find out so I started walking to my house which was a few blocks from the street I was on. 21 Willow Street. "Don't walk that way! You'll be taken!" The man had come up to me now, out of breath, and had a horrific expression. "Why? What's that way?" I asked the man rather standoffish. He just pointed his finger which I noticed had vines around it. That's when I saw it. This..this thing was an abomination of sorts. It was twisted literally and made out of birch wood. However it looked almost humanoid but to the point where it was just barely able to make out. Like when you see a shadow figure in your room in the middle of the night and it ends up being just a chair or something. It looked too real to be real, if that makes any sense.

Then it started moving with all of its twisted movements; morphing in and out of different things like a bubbly surface. It gurgled and grimaced with its sharp teeth that hung out of its face at 3 inches long. Then opened up its mouth so wide it probably didn't even inhabit a jaw. The poor man that had been running just a few seconds ago was now being eaten alive. The creature's tongue, if u could call it that, wrapped around the man splitting him in half. Blood spewed everywhere and the creature's grin kept growing until it's shoulders. It stood about 8 feet tall and it was very skinny. The man then turned to mush and the monster swallowed it; well more of drank it. It turned its attention towards me and screamed like a madman. I ran so fast down the block that when I reached the wrong block and found myself at the dead end road I just kept running. I ran and ran and ran into the forest and got shredded by the twigs and trees. After a couple more seconds of running I realized that this was the monster's turf. It knew the trees, the plants, the wildlife, everything like the back of its hand. I stopped to catch my breath but only for a moment. I looked around but couldn't see it, I looked up and there was nothing.

Then I screamed. I screamed so loud. The pain in my stomach was as if my insides were twisting and turning and burning. Then an explosive burst came from my chest and flowers of bright pinks and reds bloomed out of me. Then it all became

Quiet.