It's a weekday. I'm in high school. I am sitting at my desk gripping a pencil in my hand, struggling to muster up some form of an answer to some bullshit chemistry equation. As a high school student, my brain's secondary mindset to the answer to this question is why the hell I need to know this crap. I mean, English and Literature I can understand, since I'll need to know how to speak, read and write in the country I live in, and at least with Algebra I'll probably need it to file taxes and stocks or to take measurements when I want to do some home improvement. But I don't plan on getting a job in any science department, so why is this a part of basic education instead of some college course? In the recesses of my mind, I think about flunking this class on purpose to make a point, but then my right mind reminds me of how completely and utterly stupid that idea is.

As I continue to scribble away at the meaningless assignment, I begin to get a strange feeling. I don't see or hear anything yet, I just feel it. I don't feel scared or sick yet, I just feel off. Then it hits. The darkness. It hits me like a thick wall of bricks coming in at the speed of a train (You're probably wondering "How the hell does he know what that feels like?" I don't. It's a metaphor). I suddenly lose all sense of reality as the darkness overtakes me. It's as if I was transported into a strange new world for no reason whatsoever. Yet the strange thing is, I'm still here. I'm still in my room, at my desk, doing this fricking chemistry work. It's next to impossible to explain. I see the darkness, yet I can also see my room. I still feel the pencil in my hand, and I still see that disgusting shithole of a piece of paper called chemistry homework. As much as I despise that paper, I'd much rather be looking at it that looking into the darkness. If hell existed in a person's mind, I would be that person. Mere human words, no matter what the language, cannot describe the indescribable horror that is the darkness. Think of any terrible place. Go ahead. I dare you. Think of the most horrible event in history, think of the scariest and most painful way to die, think of that thing that terrified and traumatized as a child that likely still haunts you to this day. Whatever you can think of, I can guarantee with all my life that it is as comparable to the darkness as a dust mite is to God.

Petrified by the void that lies before my eyes, I notice something in front of me. I can't tell what it is yet, but I can see it stalking through the shadows like a child creeping into his parents bedroom at night. Whatever it is, it is certainly not human, not in the slightest. I don't think it sees me, either. It's not moving towards me, but rather along my plane of view. It's not looking at me, but rather straight ahead, into the darkness. It kept moving in that direction for some time, never changing direction or even turning its head.

I knew I didn't have much time. It may be unaware of my presence at the moment, but it wouldn't be long before it caught me out of the corner of its eye. And then, just like the others, it would come for me. What these strange beings intended to do to me if they ever reached me was never clear, but judging by their appearances alone, I could imagine it wouldn't be a tender hug. Shoving my chemistry homework aside, I got out my drawing pad, flipped to a fresh page, and got my pencil ready. This action must have generated enough movement to catch the creature's attention, because once I looked back up from my drawing pad, it was staring right at me. I couldn't see its eyes, but I could see the shadow of its elongated head had now gone flat, and it had stopped walking forward. Bracing for the heart-pounding experience to come, I tightened my grip on my pencil, and watched the creature take its first step towards me.

I fixed my gaze on the now approaching creature, trying to make out a basic form. I could see it had a round body with long, spindly arms and legs and a long, thin neck. I quickly sketched the outline, doing my best to make it as accurate as possible to what I was witnessing. This was the easiest part, but it was also the most important. Without an outline, I would be forced to sketch out one piece of the creature at a time, and experience has shown me that such a course of action will narrow the gap between me and the creature in next to no time. As I looked back up, I could see that its legs bent completely backwards, with sharp, curved claws on its toes, like the killer claw of a Velociraptor. Its hands were especially strange. They were almost human, with five bony fingers on each hand complete with long, wicked looking nails. As spindly as they were, I could tell that this thing had a strong grip. If it got ahold of me, chances are I would not get away. Drawing out these disgustingly evil looking hands gave me chills. It was just as horrifying on paper as it was in real life. Then again, what was real was as far from clear as it could get at this point.

Finally, from out of the darkness, the creature's head came into view, and my God, what a head it was. It resembled that of a ibis bird, with a long, curved bill. As is walked, its head bobbed like a chicken, but instead of looking comical, the bobbing came across as irregular and ominous. Its eyes were wide and blood-red in color, with tiny black pinpricks for pupils. Those eyes seemed to stare right into my mind, my body and my soul, if not beyond. They made the creature appear not ridiculous, but psychotic; its eyes gave off a vibe that said: "I am going to tear you apart, and I'm going to enjoy it." Just then, I noticed a tongue flick out from the tip of its bill. It was long and wormy, like the tongue of an anteater, but the end of it appeared to be needle like. Now I knew exactly what this creature had in store for me. It planned to take hold of me in its repulsive hands and jab its bill into my flesh. Its tongue would then proceed to snake its way through my body, probing my organs and coursing through my veins, tasting the succulent flavor of blood before finally impaling my heart, thus changing the course of the fluid that keeps me alive from throughout my body to inside its mouth, its throat, and eventually its stomach.

Now that I recognized the horror that awaited me, I realized that I had to pick up the pace. I had been so transfixed by the creature's elegant and yet revolting appearance that I had nearly forgotten about my drawing. My hand zapped back into action, and I did everything in my power to capture every aspect of the horror that now stood only feet away from me on a piece of paper. I reluctantly drew its eyes. Godammit, even on paper those eyes seemed to pierce through me like a hot knife. But alas, my drawing was nearly complete. I quickly added some shading, some additional textures, and some muscle definition. Yes! I was done! Surely I was safe now…

The damn thing was still coming towards me. Fuck! What did I do wrong? I frantically glanced back and forth from the creature to the drawing, trying to find anything I had missed. I couldn't. Oh God, was this the end? Is this creature just too powerful to be banished? As I stared into its demented eyes, bracing for it to drive that hideous beak into my body, I noticed its tongue flick out again. That was it! I forgot to draw the tongue! As fast as I could make my hand go, I sketched its thin, slithering tongue sliding out of the tip of its bill. As one final touch, I added a few drops of blood trickling from the tongue, so that I may erase the sickening image of that thing prodding through my insides. After I drew the last blood drop hitting the ground, I looked up at the creature once more. It's revolting head was now mere inches away from mine. As its bill opened up and its tongue emerged with a vicious hiss, the thing faded away into thin air.

Once the creature was gone, the darkness slowly began to disappear as well. It was then that I realized I had been holding my breath for the past minute. With that, I took in possibly the biggest gulp of air I had since the last time this happened. It was over; the darkness was gone, at least for now. I looked down at my drawing pad, and saw the abomination now trapped on a piece of paper. Its eyes were no longer looking up with malevolence, but regret, as if it were begging for forgiveness. I didn't feel bad in the slightest. I knew it was only a ploy to get me to set it free. Another of these things had tried the same trick some time ago, and I vowed to never make such a dire mistake ever again. However, as repulsive as the creature was, I had to say I was pretty damn proud of myself. The details were quite intricate, and the shading and textures were top notch. The fact that it still chilled my bones only furthered my pride in my artistry skills. But that was enough admiring for now. The deed was done, and the nightmare was over for the time being. Now it was back to… ugh… chemistry. Fuck my life.