My eyes shot wide open from the lion like roar of the thunderstorm, shaking my ear drums, causing my body to wake up. I sit up in my silky white bed, and take a glance over at my alarm clock. '2:38am'. I sigh, and lay my head and body back down, sinking back into my mattress. As I gaze into the darkness of my room, I begin to wonder to myself, could anything be hiding in the shadows? I close my eyes. 'Stop pretending like there's always something watching you, Ivy'. I think to myself and sigh deeply. 'It was just another nightmare, there's no monsters, there's no ghosts, and there is DEFINITELY, no zombies'. I reassure myself, and turn onto my side. As I start to drift off back into my slumber, I thought maybe I heard the whisper of my name, but it was most likely my imagination playing games with me. I grip my sheets tightly, hoping I would wake up tomorrow safe and sound, knowing I was utterly alone, and safe inside my house.
"Rise and shine Ivy!" I hear the familiar voice of my one and only mother yelling from down below the stairwell, and I replied with a loud, hard, annoyed groan. Suddenly all the thoughts and memories of today came flooding back into my brain, making me forget all about being sucked into dreamland. I knew if I didn't get up now, my mom would probably come upstairs and bug me for 30 minutes on end, so I just accepted my fate and stood up, looking down at my feet. My mother needed me to go uptown today, and get some groceries, along with a newspaper. She was going out of town today and wouldn't be back for a week or so, so she needed to get me 'prepared'. I waddle over to my vanity and look in the crusty mirror. Man, I needed to wash that thing. I grabbed a hair brush, and brushed through my tangled up mess of a head of hair. Once I was satisfied, I walked over to my closet and picked out a plain yellow t-shirt, along with light baby blue short shorts. I tucked the ends of the t-shirt into the shorts and looked at myself in the mirror. 'Well, decent enough'. I think and walked out of my room, but I stopped in my tracks, and turned my head. My eyes wandered into the large, long, darkness filled hallway beside me. It always gave me a horrible vibe. If I EVER, saw anything walk down that hallway, or even crawl at me from the ceiling, I think I would break. I darted my head away from it, just so I could stop giving myself these horrible thoughts. Its not like anything as dumb as creatures crawling on the ceiling would happen anyways, i was being foolish. I took a deep breath and headed downstairs, turning the corner entering the large kitchen where my mother awaited me. "Hey Ivy, now you know you need"— I cut her off, "Yeah I know". I said in an annoyed voice, putting on my black Nike shoes with a sigh. "Are you okay Ivy?, you seem upset." My mom asked with slight worry in her voice. "Look I'm fine, I'll just go uptown, grab whatever I need or whatever you want me to get and I'll be on my way home." I didn't regret sounding like I was ticked off by her, because i was. I would've rather just been in my bed right now, enjoying sleeping in, on a nice summer day. Yet she was making me do all the dirty work, and I hated it, she never let me do what I want, and I felt like I had no control. I mean come on, i was 17, couldn't I just do what I wanted? My mom looked at me with a strange look, almost a look of hurt. Maybe even disappointment. "See you next week." I said with a grumble and stood up, opening the creaky brown front door, and walked out into the lawn. It was pretty out today. The sun was shining and the weather was just beautiful and gorgeous. I walked down the stone path to our gravel driveway and picked up my rusty old bicycle, I haven't ridden this baby in ages. I heard the low howls and barks of the dogs next door and the talking of the old couple from across the street on their front porch. I always forgot their names. I got on my bicycle and started to pedal out of the driveway, moving on to the road which led me down our street. I rode smoothly against the grey rock and stayed to the side of course, so no car or truck or anything would come into contact with me. Once I made my way out of my neighbourhood I started bike down by the forest and by the creek which would lead me right into the heart of our town. I always hated walking or biking or even driving down this road, it had always creeped me the heck out. The forest in general gave me eerie vibes and I didn't like what I thought might be inside of it, lurking, watching, waiting. I kept looking to the side of me about every five seconds and peddled as fast as I could just so I wouldn't have to see that forest again. I made my way past creepy woods, and past the doctors office, soon arriving into town. There were lots of people out driving today which was surprising considering our town was pretty quiet and a lot of people weren't active at all here. There were a few kids may be walking the dogs and a few old couples who are hand-in-hand to walking down the sidewalks. I saw a few kids, and a group of teens biking down the street. I've seen them before in high school. they were freshmen, and I'm almost one hundred percent sure I've seen them get bullied by some of the guys in the older grades. I so badly wanted to help them but I knew if I even tried I get myself into trouble with the guys. And nobody wanted to get in trouble with them. I watch them bike by and soon turned my gaze away and continued paddling down the town's road, heading toward the grocery store. I passed the library but soon slowed down, something had caught my eye. I rode my bike up onto the sidewalk, off the road and hopped off my bike, standing it upright and locking it in place do it didn't fall over. I walk a few seconds over to the library and look up at the towering building, it was so old fashioned, looked almost a thousand years old. Everything was made of stone and it was just so... large. I walked up the old, chipped away, cracked cobblestone stairs and looked at the two giant brown wooden doors, with the old fashioned dragon handles. I wrapped my palm around one of the door handles and opened it just enough so that I could fit inside. The door closed behind me and I jumped at how fast and hard it slammed back into place. A kid looked up at me and then back down in his book. He was new, I haven't seen him before but.. I could tell just by his looks and weight, he would definitely start to get picked on. I felt bad. I looked away from him and walked over to the windows, specifically the giant one showcasing things out into the street. That right there was what had caught my attention. I didn't know why it was just.. a book. It felt magnetic as if I had been pulled into the library by a force, by the book. I ran my fingers across its hard cover, cleaning dust off it as my fingertips glided across. I cringed and wiped my fingers on my shorts, clearing the excess dust off me. I felt a cold old wrinkly hand touch my shoulder, and I thought I almost had a heart attack as I darted myself around to look at whoever, or whatever had just touched me. She gave a confused look. "May I help you..?" The old woman asked. I laughed slightly out of embarrassment and leaned back a little as I put my hand on my head. "Oh jeez uh, I'm okay!" I chuckled nervously. "Sorry I— I thought... you— you just scared me." I chuckled quieter, but the woman didn't even smile, she just.. stared. Stared at me. She eventually moved again and grabbed the old dusty book off its showcase. "Were you looking at this?" She asked and handed it to me, her arms a little shaky. "Oh, yeah, I was actually." I said and gently took it from her hands, holding it in mine. "What is it about?" I asked and look down at the book, not paying attention to what was in front of me. "Oh my.. it's a wonderful story!" She says in a voice like she was talking about a memory from her past, maybe about a grandchild. "It's full of adventure, excitement! Adrenaline...'' I felt a cold shiver run down through my spine when I heard her say that word. Something about her tone, just, something about the way she said adrenaline, didn't give me nice vibes. "May I rent it?" I asked and looked back up at her, but raised a brow and looked around when I realized we were already at the checkout counter. "How did we—?" She cut me off, "Did you not notice? We were walking over here while you and me were talking!" She smiles and grabs the book from me, scanning it and putting it in a little plastic bag. "Here you go sweetheart." I smile as she hands me the bag. I take it. "Thanks." I say and let out a lighthearted grin, trying to seem nice. I start to walk toward the door, opening it. When the door cracks open halfway I hear the old tune of the woman's voice from inside "Enjoy the story!" She calls "It's going to get wild!" She chuckles, but I don't laugh, nor do I even smile. I turn back around and don't answer, I just leave. I don't think I really liked the woman at all. She scared me. I started to speed walk back over to bike and plopped my book inside the basket at the front of the bicycle, soon hopping on, and riding away, forgetting all about my shopping. All I wanted was to get home.
I open my front door and race inside, slamming the door behind me. I growl and leaned against the back of my door, sliding down it and soon sitting on my rear end on the tile floor. I hold the book in my hands, staring at it. "What's so special about you huh? What made me want to buy you so bad? Why are you so weird? WHY WAS THAT LADY SO WEIRD?!" I yell to myself, throwing the book across the room, and groaning as I hold my head in my hands. 'I forget about everything, I forgot about the groceries, I was rude to my mom before she left for a week, I acted like a weirdo in front of the lady, I mean, how much worse could I possibly get? Not to mention the fact I'm such a scared little wuss!' I yell at myself in my mind, causing my eyes to get hot and foggy, as I begin to cry into my hands. I stay sitting there for a minute or two, before looking up and sniffling, staring at the book. I wipe my tears eyes and stand up, walking over and picking up the book. "I bought you for a reason. I might as well read you." I say to myself with a shaky voice and gallop upstairs, quickly racing past the ominous hallway, and into my room, shutting and basically slamming my door shut. I sigh and walk over to my bed, laying down on it on my stomach. I flip open the book cover, there was no name. Why didn't this book have a name? I shrugged it off though, as I began reading. Hours by hours past as I read page after page, chapter after chapter, word after word. I yawn, and let out a little squeak. I think that was the first noise I've made in 8 hours. My eyes felt tired, really tired. Have they been like this the whole time? Have I not noticed? The book had just been so captivating, I guess I lost track of the real world. I fold one of the corner pages down, and close the book, setting it aside as I look at my alarm clock. '10:29pm', it read. I stand up, walking over to my window, facing away from my room. I stare at the yard, it's raining. Thundering just a little too. I sigh and continue to stare at the sky. Suddenly, there's a voice, and a cold, large hand on my shoulder. "Ivy." The dark, low rumbly growly voice says in a whisper, right into my ear. I screamed loudly and whip around, accidentally smashing my arm right into my window, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. I lean back, making myself almost fall through the broken, shattered window, but I catch myself and take hard, throbbing deep breaths as I scan my room. There was nothing. There was no one. I swear I couldn't have imagined that. It was too real. Someone, had touched me. My heart hurt, as it beat extremely loud, and the rain droplets hit and pounded on my back, causing me to become soaking wet. I didn't move. I hear a noise, and my eyes go to the direction of my closed door. My face goes pale, as I watch my door open slowly, so painfully slowly. It creams and groans as it soon lays open. Yet no one had been there to open it. My chest thumps. Thump after thump I tell myself, 'you can do it. Just move your body. Leave your room, better yet, leave your house. You can do it. On the count of three, run. Run and don't look back. Run to your neighbors. You can do it. STOP. BEING. SCARED.' I inhale. My heart stops beating, and I run. I ran so fast I thought my heart might have just exploded. I expected to run down the stairs, but came into contact with a hard stone wall. "W—what..?" I stutter as my voice breaks, and so does my heart. I turn around, and my door is gone. My room is gone. I face behind me, there's a stone wall. I face beside me, there's a stone wall, I turn to the other side, there's a stone wall. I face in front of me. There's the hallway. My hallway. The. Hallway.
My eyes go wide, and my heart skips a million beats at a time, as my face turns the lightest shade of pale. I don't want to be here. "WHAT IS THIS?!?" I scream at the top of my lungs "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! WHY AM I HERE! LEAVE ME ALONE!!" I screech, with tears burning my eyes. The darkness of the hallway captivated me, as I stop yelling, but I hyperventilate. I hear a low laugh, and I back up, hitting the stone wall. The laugh sounds rigged, almost scratchy like. And the voice begins to chuckle more and more until it stops. Now there's nothing, and I am on the floor, holding my head. I remove my hands after a few seconds of silence, and stare into the dark hallway. Nothing. I then hear a pitter-patter, it was far away, and I start to hyperventilate more and more as it gets louder and louder. Once it felt like it was right in front of me, it stopped. There was absolutely nothing. "Where the hell are you ...?" I whisper to myself. I feel something cold on my head, and I reach my hand up and touch my hair. It was slimy, and gross, almost like saliva. My face turns white once again, and I slowly turn my head to look up at the ceiling. My body goes still as I see her. She was there. On my ceiling. The woman from the library. "Boo." She smiles, showing her rigged sharp teeth. And pounces at me with a loud screech. I scream.
My eyes shot wide open from the lion like roar of the thunderstorm, shaking my ear drums, causing my body to wake up. I sit up in my silky white bed, and take a glance over at my alarm clock. '2:38am'. I sigh, and lay my head and body back down, sinking back into my mattress. As I gaze into the darkness of my room, I begin to wonder to myself, could anything be hiding in the shadows? I close my eyes. 'Stop pretending like there's always something watching you, Ivy'. I think to myself and sigh deeply. 'It was just another nightmare, there's no monsters, there's no ghosts, and there is DEFINITELY, no zombies'. I reassure myself, and turn onto my side. As I start to drift off back into my slumber, I thought maybe I heard the whisper of my name, but it was most likely my imagination playing games with me. I grip my sheets tightly, hoping I would wake up tomorrow safe and sound, knowing I was utterly alone, and safe inside my house.
