O Horror, Horror, Horror!
She didn't remember falling asleep, but when she woke up, she was not in her room, but in the parlor, on the old red sofa. She remembered her father told her that this sofa had been the Hawkeyes' for three generations now. She yawned and stretched, and observed that the room was not as bright as it should be, even at night. They never turned off the lamps on her pleas that she would be scared to go to the toilet at night without proper lighting. But this time, the room was only dimly lit. Not that she knew how it was possible, for the parlor had only one big chandelier lamp that could only be bright when lit. Nevertheless, she rose from the sofa and headed to the room.
In the midst of her ascending the stairs, she heard a creak. True, one of the boards of the lower stairs was unstable, but it would only creak when someone stepped on it. Riza was sure it was pretty late already, perhaps even past midnight, and was somewhat sure that Mr. Mustang was already fast asleep and her father too, if he were not still busy in his study, researching on something he refused to let her know. Even if her father were still up, though, she was very sure that her father wouldn't be wandering around the house this late. He wouldn't even emerge from his study at mealtimes, so why would he be out at night? Riza at last decided to ignore the noise and thought perhaps it was the wind, or her ears or mind were playing tricks on her.
Riza was on already on top of the stairs when the creak was once again heard, and this time she was sure she wasn't imagining things. Her heart pounded quickly. She considered going back down to check, but the scared, timid part of her told her to run. Reason had always won on her, though, and she finally descended the stairs once more, although slowly. She was very glad when she reached the bottom of the stairs and saw nothing, but the little superstitious part of her screamed that it might be some inhuman creature stalking her. Her heart hammered in her ribcage once more. This time, she decided to make a run for it and was at once at the top of the stairs once more. She only stopped briefly to catch her breath before resuming her run. She almost screamed when she crashed into something – no, someone; she was pretty sure it was a body she crashed into. She looked up to see a tall man; she breathed in relief, a tall man could be none other than her dad…
Or not. The tall man's head was very pale to the point of almost bleach white, and he had fangs. This time she screamed for real, and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her before she could think of anything else. She could feel she was being followed – she heard footsteps, presumably those of the very pale tall man she crashed into before. She didn't know him; how on earth would he be in her house? Except, of course, he was some unannounced guest, but then again, her father never had any unannounced guests. Besides, her father already had a student: Mr. Mustang. Riza's heart thumped so quickly that she could hear her blood rushing inside her veins. Before she realized it, her feet ran away automatically. As she ran, she could hear footfalls behind her – it must be the pale man following her. Riza ran as fast as her little feet could take her. Suddenly, she noticed the broom closet just a few feet ahead of her. She immediately thought of hiding there, in big hopes that the fanged man wouldn't notice her. She opened the closet, and when she took the first step inside…
She screamed and screamed as loudly as she could. She didn't even notice that no one heard her even though she was not alone in the house. In the broom closet was a yellow skeleton which appeared to be smiling maliciously and waving its bloody hand at her. She took flight from the sight at once, terrified that the skeleton would also go after her and capture her if she was not quick enough. She somehow ended up in the first floor once again, and when she noticed this, she quickly headed to the front door and went outside, still running as fast as she could. No doubt she was on full adrenaline support, because she was never a good runner, at least not that good, and she wasn't even out of breath yet. She ran past the Hawkeye Manor's garden, not turning her head once. She did not notice that all the pretty flowers had wilted. She did not notice that a forest of tall, barren trees had grown in front of her house. She just kept running and running, wanting to be away from what seemed to be an endless nightmare.
The Hawkeye Manor was far from population due to its large grounds. In the past (and still now, though only legally), the Hawkeyes owned not only the grand manor, but also the very large ground surrounding it, including the current garden, several fields and even a farm. To reach the nearest school, Riza had to walk a one-hour distance. To arrive outside the Hawkeye grounds itself took twenty minutes. Riza had always liked the peaceful atmosphere, but now, she wished someone else (that was not the man with fangs or the skeleton, of course) was there with her. The feeling of being followed had never left Riza. In fact, she felt two presences instead of one going after her. By this time Riza was quite out of breath, yet she knew she could not stop running if she did not want to fall to the hands of those two creatures.
Riza was unspeakably glad when the nearest village came to sight. The houses were all dark, except for one house at the very end of the lane. She knew this house belonged to a kind old lady, whom everyone in school thought crazy. Riza often sympathized with this woman because the naughty boys from school liked to throw stones at the old woman's house. However, Riza did know that this lady was very kind because she had offered Riza shelter and a very delicious apple pie on a rainy journey home from school. Riza hoped the lady wouldn't mind her bothering for quite a while, at least until those who were running after her went away.
Riza pounded on the small cottage's door, panicked. She was worried that the two men (or no-men) would get her before the door was opened. Her worry was quenched when she heard the door creaked open. She was halfway through her sigh of relief when she realized that it was an old woman who opened the door, but not the familiar, friendly-faced one, but a stick-like one clad in black with an almost sadistic looking smile.
"Why, my dear, are you looking for me?" was the old woman's greetings. Her smile looked malicious to Riza, who was cowering in fear.
Riza, unable to form an intelligible reply, asked incoherently, "Why… you… what… where… the usual old lady?"
The old woman's smile widened. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. I'm the only old lady in this street. You seem terrified, child, please come inside and have a seat for a while."
It was as if the old woman had hypnotized Riza, because she entered wordlessly. But throughout her whole encounter with the black-clad woman, Riza felt like the woman's gaze was burning through her. The woman's eyes were abnormally yellow, and the light that seemed to come from them made Riza feel sick.
"Take a seat, my child," the old woman commanded with her cackle-like voice. Riza, though terrified, obeyed wordlessly. It seemed like she couldn't go against this woman's word.
"You look scared, my darling, what's wrong?" the stick-like woman asked her. Even though Riza did not look her in the eye, she could feel the yellow gaze burning a hole through her. Riza did not open her mouth to reply.
They were silent for quite a while, before the old woman stood up and gestured for Riza to follow her. They arrived into a dark room with a black cauldron in the middle.
"Ah, my potion is almost ready," the woman smiled in satisfaction. "You have arrived at the best of time, my child. I did not even need to seek for you."
Riza's eyes widened in fear and confusion at her. "Yes, yes. This potion is meant for you," the old woman explained, still smiling. The cauldron emitted green smokes and a terrible stench. Riza turned around and attempted to run away, but she was stopped mid-step by cold, rake-like fingers on her shoulder.
"Why are you running, sweet child? Aren't you afraid to face the dangers outside? Weren't you running away?" The old woman's voice seemed even scarier now. Riza was frozen to her place, unable to move even a finger. The woman poked a finger into her shoulder. Suddenly, her vision began to waver. She felt her knees buckle under her.
"Yes, yes, sleep, my dear," the woman cooed sickeningly. Riza was losing consciousness now. Her last thoughts before she passed out was,
Must… stay… awake. Have… to… run…
Riza awakened in a dark room, screaming in terror. She was lying on something soft… What if the witchlike woman had her captured? What if… what if… Riza felt a large hand on her shoulder and she shrieked again.
"Hush, Riza," her father murmured soothingly, rubbing her back in comforting circles. "I told you not to read your mother's horror storybook."
A/n: I meant this to be posted on Halloween, but I only thought of this like 10 minutes before I had to go to bed and only managed to type the first 565 words. I then meant to finish this on Monday, but I was so busy that I hadn't the chance to use the PC. And that happened again on Tuesday. So belated Happy Halloween to everyone! This was the first horror I've ever written (and you probably have expected the ending), so I hope this is acceptable. I probably won't ever come up with something like this again, or at least until next year's Halloween, so I hope you all like it.