Annie woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of a thunder clap coming from outside. She hurriedly crawled over to her bedside window to look outside; as she expected, it was pouring rain outside. She barely remembered her parents mentioning something about a thunder storm that was coming from the east, but she wasn't expecting such a thick fog. Shaking slightly, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and pulled the blanket around her shoulders to keep warm. Bringing her face closer to the window, she could actually barely make out the rain drops against the night sky and the thick fog outside the house. She looked up at the black canvas that was the sky and saw the full moon shining in the sky.
She gave a weak smile at the sight. The full moon gave her some comfort. She didn't mind the rain, but thunder absolutely scared her. She was able to take some comfort in the fact that the moonlight shined dimly in her room.
She crawled back over to her pillow, and held her teddy bear close to her chest before finally closing her eyes. She began to slowly drift off into sleep, but woke with a start as thunder clapped once again. She scrambled over to her window, and looked up at the moon again. However, before she even got over to her window, she realized something.
There was no moonlight in her room anymore. She saw that the moon was covered by a dark storm cloud.
She shivered slightly, suddenly feeling colder, even though she had her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The shiver seemed to reach her very veins; it felt as if her blood had turned ice cold. She gripped her blanket tighter, feeling safer for some reason. Why wouldn't she feel safe, though? There was no reason why she'd be in danger.
Still, she felt a bit nervous, so she decided she might as well go sleep with her parents. They never minded when she slept with them if she was frightened by a bad dream or if she was startled in her sleep by a bump in the night. She spun around on her bed, and quickly walked towards her door. As she reached out her hand to turn the doorknob, she heard a crash coming from the other side of the house.
She jumped and drew her hand back, suddenly feeling safer in her own room. She turned around and quickly jumped back on her bed; she gripped her teddy bear and pulled the blanket over her head, shutting her eyes tightly as she tried to ignore the sudden cold that had come over her room-- no, her room was actually quite warm. It was she that was cold.
She heard another noise coming from across the house; this time it sounded like a scream. She blinked twice and stuck her head out from beneath her blanket.
"Mommy..." She whispered into the night.
She took in a deep breath and jumped out of bed, this time just carrying her teddy bear with her. As she held out her hand to open the door, the knob slowly began to turn, and the door slowly creaked open. She didn't jump, just slowly drew her hand back in response. She swallowed and slowly walked into the hallway.
It seemed...darker than it usually would be. It was night time so the lights would be off, but for some reason it just seemed darker. No...it was her eyes. They weren't adjusting to the light for some reason. It was like the hallway was set in eternal darkness. She wanted to turn back; she wanted to run back into her room and lock the door. But for some reason her legs wouldn't let her. They slowly carried her down the pitch black hallway towards her parents' room.
Her veins felt like they had been frozen in ice, but still the hallway was warm. She was the only thing that was cold in the house. She felt as if she were covered in snow-- no, not snow. Something colder than snow; colder than ice. She didn't know what it was that made her feel so cold, but she felt a primal fear. It was a terror that crawled up from the very recesses of her mind; it was a fear that had been passed down from Adam and Eve themselves: Death.
As she kept walking down the hard wood hallway, she suddenly stopped when she felt soft carpet in between her toes. Her parent's room was open; but their door is never open. As she stood there, completely still for what seemed like an eternity, she came to the realization that she had control over her legs again.
Turn around and run! She berated herself in her thoughts. Run back into your room and lock your door, where it's safe!
But she couldn't run. She found it impossible. Her mother screamed, and she had to find out what was going on. But before she could start creeping further into the room, she realized something: She could hear the rain outside, and it felt...cold in this room. It was both an unnatural cold and a natural one. The crash she heard...could it be that the window in her parent's room had been shattered? It must have been, because she could smell the all too familiar scent of fresh rain. But another scent wafted into her nostrils. It was familiar, but at the same time it wasn't. She knew what it was, but at the same time she couldn't quite place it.
She was going to take in a deep breath, but she was shaking too much. She could only breath short, shaky breaths-- barely even breaths, more like gasps. It felt as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs. It wasn't difficult to breath, but her shaking body prevented steady breathing.
She slowly crept around the corner, and saw a terrible sight; of all times for her eyes to adjust to the lines.
Her parents' bed was splattered with blood. Her mom lay flat on her back, her eyes wide open, but empty; it was almost as if her soul was drained from her body. There was a good reason for that: fresh blood trickled down her throat and onto the bed, a dried pool of blood forming beneath her. The space next to her was empty; Annie's dad was missing.
Her eyes widened as her head slowly turned towards the sliding glass window in her parent's room. The sliding door had been shattered from the inside, not the outside. And crumpled outside the shattered door was the tall, strong figure of her father. There was no pool of blood, so he was probably fine. Strangely enough, though, that was not what had startled her-- no, not startled her. Made her blood stop flowing.
In the middle of the shattered window, facing her father, stood a tall dark figure. He wore a high collared cloak, and wore a tall black hat. It wasn't the figure that terrified her, strangely enough. It was the...energy. It was his very presence that made her blood-flow halt in its tracks. There was something unnatural about his very presence, his very existence, in fact. It was inhuman...it was another word she couldn't quite place.
But then, as if sensing her very presence, he slowly looked over his shoulder. Thunder and finally lightning flashed in the background, closer than little Annie would have thought possible. The very brief flash of light revealed his sinister, lopsided smile. It was very brief: Just a glimpse that could take place in a second. But even from that very brief glimpse, she knew that she would never forget what she saw. His teeth-- no, his fangs-- glistened with blood, and that very same crimson nectar trickled down the gray skin of his chin. And his eyes-- they were like looking into Hell itself! His irises were crimson; a deep, deep red that can only be called a purely evil color.
Now she knew she needed to run! She had to turn and flee from this man, this thing-- whatever he was, and never look back. But for some reason, when that monster fixed his eyes on her, she felt frozen in place; her legs wouldn't obey her command.
Run, legs! She screamed inside her mind, for she found it impossible to make any sounds from her mouth that was hanging agape to match her widened eyes. Turn around and run, please!!
Her legs wouldn't turn her around and make a break for it. They only shook beneath the weight of her own body, her arms shook too. Finally, her grip loosened on her teddy bear; she dropped her teddy bear; her fingers twitched, and her arms shook with the rest of her body. The man had suddenly appeared only five feet away from her, and the upper portion of his face was cast in shadows by his top hat. But his eyes-- his evil, red eyes-- seemed almost to glow in the shadow cast by the rim of his hat. He smiled coyly at her, his white teeth glistening with blood. He held out a hand, cold and gray like his face; he extended it to her, as if beckoning her to be his next meal!
"Please, come to me," He said in a low, almost friendly whisper. But it wasn't friendly; the man tried to make it seem friendly, but his voice was like ice. It was dead, yet alive; his breath was rank with blood; his very breath was both chilled and blazing hot. It was as if death itself had walked into their home-- no, invaded their home. "Take my hand. I promise, it won't hurt."
"You're a liar!" Annie screamed without warning. She suddenly felt as if she had control over herself again!
She stopped shaking, and her legs instantly sprang into action. She scrambled past him, into the backyard. She knew it was raining outside. She knew she would be freezing outside. But suddenly she felt as if her blood was rushing in her veins, giving her energy to run from this place. She quickly climbed over the slippery fence in their backyard, and let her legs carry her as far as they could.
Her blonde hair became soaked with water falling from the sky; it became instantly matted to her skull and forehead. Her pajamas were soaked, and her sleep pants became splattered with mud as she ran through black pools of water and dirt. Her short little legs carried her restlessly, carrying her as far away from her house as possible. She didn't know where she was going; she didn't care! She had to escape from that man-- that house-- everything that she once knew. The very house had become tainted with blood, with evil.
She ran and ran for what seemed like forever. But she could still feel Death on her heels. She didn't dare look back, though. She simply couldn't. She knew if she looked back, her life would be over. She had to find somewhere safe, but she didn't know where to go. She suddenly forgot that she had friends; she forgot that her grandparents lived a mere two blocks away from her house. She forgot every possible safe haven; she had no sense of direction as she ran towards the woods that would serve as her safe haven for as long as was needed.
She ran through the fog into the forest, running and running without end. The rain finally ceased, but water still fell down her cheeks. Her cheeks were warm with tears, and mucus crept out of her nose. Her sobs were the only thing that echoed off the bark of the trees; other than her broken sobs all was silent. She came to a stop in a small circular clearing in the middle of the woods.
She crouched on the ground, and hugged her knees close to her chest as she cried and sobbed. She was thankful to be alone, though. Away from that ancient evil that had invaded her house.
Alone... She thought to herself, a shy, reluctant smile slowly appearing on her face as she wiped away her tears and mucus. I'm...alone. I'm alone...and...and safe.
Yes, she actually felt a small amount of relief, despite the fact that her mother was dead and her father probably shared the same fate. She was alone in the forest; sure, it was dark, but she felt...normal again. She was cold, but it was a natural cold. It wasn't the unnatural, unholy cold she had felt in her house. Now she was cold because it was cold outside! Because she was wet! She was cold for all the right reasons.
And her blood-- it didn't feel cold anymore. Her veins no longer felt as if they were encased in ice. Her heartbeat was normal, again. And the adrenaline pumping in her veins had begun to wear off.
Better still, she began to notice that there was a sliver of moonlight in the clearing. She looked up at the sky and saw the dark clouds beginning to roll away from the full moon. The circular clearing was now bathed in moonlight; that alone brought a nervous smile to her face. She actually felt safe. Bathed in moonlight, alone, away from the place she had once called home. Tomorrow morning she could go to her grandparent's house: It would be safer to move during the day than it would be at night.
She was about to close her eyes, try to get some more sleep before the sun would rise. She wanted to feel sleep's warm embrace-- but she couldn't close her eyes, nor could she move from that spot. She suddenly felt rooted to the spot.
Her eyes widened-- threatened to pop out of her head-- as she suddenly realized what was happening. She began to feel that unnatural cold again: Her blood ran cold, her veins were suddenly encase in ice. But no; something else was wrong. Now it felt like there were daggers slicing her brain in half! Stabbing at the recesses of her mind. Then there was a screaming inside her head-- it was her! She couldn't open her mouth, but in her own mind she was shrieking in terror, threatening to destroy her very own psyche from the pure terror that began to take over her.
Now something else was happening. The clouds once again resumed their position in front of the moon, blocking her only source of light. She nervously looked down at the ground, and opened her mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out.
The wet ground beneath her feet was beginning to quickly frost over! But it wasn't a regular frost-- it was unnatural. It actually seemed to be burning her very feet, but she couldn't move! She was rooted to that spot; she was rooted to the clearing in the middle of the forest. She couldn't run from that place-- she couldn't even scream! It would have done no good-- that primal fear was beginning to take over her-- the same fear that roots all men to the ground beneath their feet, no matter what they want to do. Death was on it's way.
She suddenly felt as if she could stand up, but that was all. She still just sat there, doing nothing. Waiting for something to happen. Her heart was pounding in her head, deafening her to the rustling of leaves in the distance. But still, she knew she was no longer alone. She knew who was coming. Death was coming to claim yet another soul for himself. But he came slowly, as if to savor the fear of his victim before he drained her blood. Yes, it was precisely that. He was whetting his appetite with her fear, building up his thirst for blood. Annie knew this: She knew this sadistic monster was feeding on her, even now. He was feeding off her emotions, drinking up the fear as if it were fine wine. But that wouldn't be enough, she knew. It would never be enough for the beast. He needed more than mortal fear to fuel him-- he needed the sweet nectar that gives life to all living beings. The blood is the life.
She rose to her feet, but not by choice. HE was controlling her. She had no choice anymore. She wanted to run, to flee, to keep running until the sun would rise. But she couldn't; she was rooted to the spot by this beast's hypnotic power. In fact, he was watching. She could feel his evil piercing gaze on the nape of her neck-- she could almost feel his hot, yet icy, breath on her neck. It felt almost as if he were right behind her, when he was a mere several feet behind her, watching her; licking his sharp fangs expectantly, waiting to strike.
Finally, the beast could no longer take it. With mere thought he forced the young girl to slowly look over her shoulder at her attacker. And what she saw terrified her.
He was indeed not human-- he was not even superhuman-- he was undead! His gray skin clung to his skull; he looked more like a beast than he did man. And his eyes-- they were now like that of a cat, only red, and full of hatred and hunger. And he smiled that evil, crooked smile, baring his fangs as he prepared to strike. The little girl was drained of color; she couldn't move. She shook violently in that spot, a single tear trickling down her cheek as the hourglass that was her life slowly began to trickle its last drops of sand.