Young Writers Society

This is rated 16 for language, but there is none. I rated it higher because I wasn't sure how gory or creepy, people might find it. And 16 was the next after 12. Enjoy!

Angelina dashed down the sidewalk, heart beating at the rate of a galloping horse. She had lost her flip flops, not caring to pick them up, too frightened to stop. Her bare feet hurt as they pounded on the concrete, but she ignored it. Her modest one-piece bathing suit restricted her from running at her full speed, but she still managed to get to her house within seconds.

She slammed the door behind her, then stood still, trying to catch her breath. He whole body was shaking violently. Her mom called from somewhere in the house.

“Angel is that you?”

Angelina took a few seconds to respond, not trusting herself to speak at first. “Y-yeah mom.”

“Please don’t slam the door so hard, OK?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Angeline said.

She finally pulled herself together and skipped up the stairs. She reached her bedroom and quickly grabbed some clothes to change into and then ran to the bathroom. She couldn’t stop the shaking as she turned the water on and let it warm up. Neither could she help glancing behind her to make sure no one was there, even though she had locked the door.

She hopped in, but no matter the temperature of the water she shivered. Her mind was racing a million miles an hour, trying to comprehend what she had just seen. It wasn’t possible was it? Things like that didn’t happen. Did they?

In her little neighborhood! No! And yet she had seen it. She let the warm water stream down her face. Then she quickly spun around, scared that there might be someone there. Stop it! she yelled to herself mentally, no one is in here. No one is going to attack you. But it was possible. She had just seen it was possible for one of her friends to be in a so-called safe environment and still be . . .

Angeline shuddered at the thought. The remembrance of their walk home from the pool. They had been talking about a sleepover. Then the beast had leaped out of nowhere. Angeline had fallen backwards. When she had gotten up her friend was gone. Blood and guts were all over the sidewalk. Her friend was gone.

Angeline realized she had had her eyes closed and jerked them open wide-eyed. What if that person, or worse yet beast, was lurking just outside the door, waiting for her to come out? What if it had killed her mother and siblings already?

No, it can’t be! She quickly shut off the water, listening intently. There was no noise. She gulped. It wasn’t normal. Greg and Carl would usually be making plenty of noise. She had heard them when she had come in, hadn’t she? Yes. No . . . maybe? She couldn’t remember. She was becoming freezing, standing there. She quickly toweled herself and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. She shakily pulled on her socks and listened for noise as she scooped up her bathing suit and towel from the floor.

Cautiously she grabbed the handle. You're sixteen! you don’t have to be so terrified! Or do you? Your friend was just . . . destroyed. She summoned up all the courage she could muster and yanked the door wide open. It banged against the little thing that protected the door from hitting the wall. It recoiled loudly.

“Angelina!” her mom called from downstairs, “what are you doing?”

Angelina sighed. Her mom was safe. “Sorry mom, just opened the door a little too hard. My hands are kinda full.” Which wasn’t true.

“Well don’t bring the house down on us, please.”

Angelina went to her room, threw her clothes in her dirty clothes bin and hung up her towel. She sat on her bed, a little relieved, but not by much. After all just because she was safe didn’t mean that the thing could come back and kill them in two minutes. Angelina tried to remember what it looked like, But it had happened too fast. She was knocked away from the attack. She lost sight of her friend for just a few seconds. Then everyone was gone.

Angelina hesitated to tell her mother. She knew it sounded ridiculous for those who weren’t there when it happened. Besides, monsters didn’t exist. so they say, she thought. But no human would’ve made that vicious and bloody of an attack so quickly.

Finally she ran out of her room down the stairs and to the left into the living room. Her mom was on a beige couch, on her laptop. Angelina slid to a stop, nearly toppling into the ottoman. Her mom viewed her.

“What is wrong with you Angel?”

“Mom,” Angelina said hesitantly. She could feel her voice breaking. “Mom, I was walking home from the pool with Sarah.” Suddenly the words came in a rush as her voice broke like and dam, and quite literally the water busted out of her eyes. “Andamonsterattackedusandshewaskilled!” Her voice was a shriek and she crashed down onto her mom’s lap.

“Whoa,” her mom said surprised, then slowly as she realized something was majorly wrong, she cradled Angeline in her arms. Angelina didn’t move. Her body wracked with sobs.

Her mother spoke softly and gently. “Angel, it’s OK. Shh, shh it’s gonna be fine.” She began to rub her hands through Angelina’s hair. It was a gesture her mom did often when Angelina was upset. It soothed her and helped her release tension. It always was a reassurance of her mother’s love. And it made her feel safe.

Today it did nothing for Angelina.