Halloween Short Stories

Too Far

Too Far

My name is Josh Nichols. In all my nine years of life, the only time I've felt safe was when I was by myself. Alone; that word speaks to me, in a way perhaps different than to anyone else. Alone is how I feel, alone is who I am.

Alone is what I want to be.

For as long as I could remember, I've always been different from the other kids. I was quiet, shy, and because of that I became an easy target. During class, Scott would sit behind me, drilling his pencil into my back. During lunch, Cody would steal my bread and spit on my salad. At recess, they all came for me. I can't remember the last time I was able to play on the swings.

Everyday, I walk to school, because it's safer. The bus driver is polite to me, but no one else is. I have no friends there to protect me, and the other kids find it amusing to make me stand in the aisle, purposely taking up every seat just so that I can't sit. Hilarious. Even better when the driver insists I take a seat, and the unfortunate kid elected to allow me to sit spends the ride punishing me for it.

Even walking to school can get me into trouble. The kids now know that I prefer walking, and lay in wait behind some bush, ready to pounce on me as I walk past. There are back roads to school, however, and I have learned them all. It doesn't matter if I can avoid them on the way, though, as they just punish me after I get to school.

The teachers all know what is going on, but they do nothing to stop it. Once, when I was younger, I'd told one of my teachers about all the bullying, but he just frowned at me and said, "Toughen up, boy. We all go through hard times in life, it builds character."

At home, my parents tried to be understanding, but telling them did little good. Whenever they found out what the other kids were doing to me, they confronted the other kids' parents, who promised that the bullying would stop, but did nothing, or they didn't believe what they were told, or blamed me. No good ever came from talking, and I gave up on that tactic long ago.

After all that I'd been through, I decided that being alone was better. I found every hiding place I could, sat in the back of the classroom, and suffered in silence.

Alone, or so I thought.

They came one day during lunch. I was hiding behind the school dumpster, polishing off the last bit of apple I'd managed to sneak away from Cody. I looked down at my Ninja Turtles watch, 11:45- I had ten more minutes before I had to make my way back to the school. Lunch was supposed to be over at 11:50, but I always waited five more minutes to try and avoid Scott and his gang. I looked up and peered around the edge of the dumpster- no one was in sight.

Leaning back, I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd escaped this time, but I couldn't use this hiding place again. Scott and his gang always found me, eventually.

I could see movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look behind the back of the dumpster, and saw a shadowy, lanky creature crouching in the shadows. Startled, I jumped up and hit my head on the lip of the dumpster lid. I cried out in pain, but quickly covered my mouth with my hand. I looked back and the creature was gone.

I looked around, but there was no trace of the shadowy figure anywhere. After calming down for a few minutes, I made sure the coast was clear and went back to school.

Over the next several days, I saw more and more of the creature. Though it was always in shadows, I could see it had dark hair, and the blackest eyes. I began to sense its presence, feeling a cold, tingling sensation in my chest whenever I was about to see it. Then, one morning, it finally spoke to me.

I was hiding in a storm drain pipe, just next to the school by the small grove of trees by the parking lot. It was cold and dank in the pipe, but I didn't mind until I began to feel the coldness in my heart. Looking around, I could see the creature just behind me, crawling slowly toward me on all four limbs.

"What are you?" I whispered, surprising myself.

The creature cocked its head sideways, peering at me with its black eyes. It opened its mouth and said, in a raspy voice, "I am a friend." The words were more drawn out than a normal, human voice.

"Friend?" I whispered back, the word felt foreign to me. "I don't have any friends." I hung my head, and looked down at my dirty hands.

The creature crawled forward and pointed at its chest with a clawed hand. "You do now, I'll show you." It tapped on the wall of the pipe, and the sound echoed loudly.

"No, don't do that!" I shouted. "They'll hear!"

But it was too late. The bright light at the mouth of the drain pipe was blocked by the sneering face of Spencer. I tried to back farther in, but strong arms pulled me out.

"Well, well," said Scott after throwing me to the ground outside. "Looky what we got here. Our old buddy, Josh!" His friends cheered and he looked down at me with his evil green eyes. "What shall we do with him?"

I tried to get up, but Scott kicked me in the stomach, and I hit the ground, gasping for breath. I looked back at the drain pipe, and saw the creature crawl out on its belly, unnoticed by the group of boys. It looked at me, putting its finger to its nonexistent lips, and got behind Scott.

The creature gave me a look, and made a gesture. I understood: we were to attack as one. I slowly got my feet under me, getting into a crouch. Scott heard me move and turned toward me just as I lunged at him, with the creature grabbing him from behind at the exact same time. The creature pulled Scott down to the ground as I got on top of him and I started hitting everything I could reach.

Scott's friends, stunned that I was actually fighting back, just stood there with their mouths hanging open. I pummeled Scott's face, neck, and shoulders while screaming at the top of my lungs. While I was hitting, the creature reached out from under Scott and dug its claws right into his eyes, and blood began spurting out, covering Spencer's terrified face as he screamed in agony.

I stopped hitting when I felt the warm, damp blood on my hands. I heard shouting behind me, and turned to see Mr. Edd, the teacher in charge of keeping kids inline during P.E. running toward us. I looked back at Scott to find not the creature's, but my own fingers digging into the pits that were, until seconds ago, Scott's eyes.

I lifted my hands up, feeling the liquid ooze around my fingers, and started laughing.