Day 2: Horror

"AUUUUGH!"

Ash's eyes shot open, nearly jumping out of his skin. He was laying in his bed and was just getting to sleep, his senses deadening, when the scream completely sharpened them once again.

"Was that May?" he wondered fearfully. He uncovered himself and shivered a moment as the night's chilling wind blew through. Ignoring his body's discomfort, he stood up and put on his pajama pants and a long-sleeve pajama shirt to insulate himself. Then, after grabbing a flashlight and struggling to get out of his room due to his messy floor, he opened the door and stepped out. He turned on his light and shone it around, looking to see if anyone else was awake. There was nothing. At least for now. Seeing this, he shone his light down the hall and slowly made his way towards the stairs.

A sudden click startled him, causing him to whip around and shine his light behind him. He huffed in annoyance when he saw that it was just his door closing of its own accord. "The wind is pretty strong tonight," he muttered to himself as he turned back towards the hall's end.

He looked down the staircase, which appeared to be even longer than usual in the dark night. He slowly stretched his foot out and placed it down on the first step. A small creaking sound could be heard, but it stopped after a while. Once he was secure, he brought his other foot down to the next step. Again, a small creaking, but nothing out of the ordinary. He repeated the process a third time, and the result was the same. Now comfortable, he walked down the stairs at his usual pace and reached the bottom faster than he thought he would.

"May?" he called uncertainly. There was no reply. His chest tightened, and he started to turn towards the living room when a sudden slam nearly knocked him over. Reeling from the shock, he lost his balance. Luckily, the couch was right there, so he moved over to it before he fell down. Once he had control of his body again, he shone the light towards the source of the sound.

Then he sighed in relief. It was just the swing Mom bought. It had fallen down again. Ash grumbled to himself about reminding her to buy a new one (again) as he continued searching the house. "May?" he called again, this time a little louder. Still no response. He shone his light over the living room, illuminating the television, small sofa sitting to the side, Switch docked below the TV...but no May.

Just as he started to get even more worried, he noticed a light go on behind him. He turned and saw that it was coming from the kitchen. Fearing the worst, he grabbed the baseball bat his mom kept handy just in case she needed to clobber any robbers and slowly made his way towards the kitchen, shining his light in there.

"Hello?" he called. Once again, there was no response. He slowly made his way into the kitchen and shone his light around. The table was normal, the cupboards were closed, the digital clock on the microwave pulsed at its normal pace –

"GAHHH!" Ash screamed, jumping back in shock when his light shone on a frightening sight. May was sitting in a chair, completely stiff and unmoving. Her eyes were so wide that her pupils were practically invisible. Most of all, however, her face was as pale as death, her mouth slightly ajar. Now more afraid than ever, Ash slowly came up to her, shining his light on her.

"May?" he said again. There was no response. He waved his hand in front of her eyes, trying to gauge a reaction. Nothing. "May, what happened?" Still no response.

Thinking she saw something terrifying, Ash bent down beside her and followed her gaze. It was fixed on the refrigerator, which was slightly ajar. At that, Ash remembered the light he noticed before, having forgotten about it when he came into the kitchen, and walked forward, still cautious, to inspect the fridge.

He opened the door and looked around. All the food seemed to be the way it was earlier today: the meat was still in the meat drawer, the cheese was still with the dairy, and the apples were fresh as ink in the bottom drawer. Nothing was rotten, everything smelled fine, and the temperature was normal for a refrigerator.

"Was it in here?" he asked, turning towards her. She still didn't respond. He looked back in the fridge, examining each shelf. "I don't see any pests in here. What's in here that could have possibly –"

And then he saw it. "Oh. Oh my goodness." He realized why May was so stiff and pale and utterly horrified.

He rolled his eyes and closed the fridge. "All right, come on," he said, coming up to her. "Let's get back to bed." He picked up her stiff form and carried her bridal-style up to her room. After laying her down in her bed, he went out and closed the door, securing it to make sure nothing could get in. Then he went back to his own room and laid in his bed once again, welcoming the warmth the covers gave him.

"In all seriousness, though," he wondered, "who ate all that leftover ramen?" Unseen by him, Pikachu, curled up in a ball, gave an evil smile before promptly going back to sleep.

I don't know why people like horror so much. I honestly can't stand it, especially after taking a class a few semesters back where we watched two horror movies ("The Fly" and "Alien") over the course of the semester. I didn't actually watch them from start to finish; I'd already seen enough (and for those of you familiar with the material, yes, I did see that one scene in "Alien;" UGH).

That's why I decided to take a different approach to this theme for today. Did I do a good job of emulating a horror atmosphere?