I want to thank...
Call Me Blue Streak, Xirbot, Invader Crystal, AND Psychogizmo for the reviews they gave! Thank you! Now on to the story! R&R please
Cindy burst into tears and raced forward. She dove onto the figure causing both to fall.
"ACK! Easy now…what happened?" Jake asked.
"You…I thought you…were dead." Cindy cried.
Jake looked up from where he lay pinned on the floor to Zim and Dib who had looks of pure relief. Jake tilted his head slightly and stood up, bringing up Cindy with him.
"Guys, what happened?"
"Well, Cindy said she woke up and was laying next to a corpse that she thought was you." Dib answered.
"How could I be a corpse if I was using the bathroom? I think you just imagined it sweetie. Probably a bad dream you woke up to."
Jake rubbed Cindy's blonde hair and planted kisses atop her head. She craned her head up and glared at him.
"I didn't imagine it. Just look in my room th-there is one of my b-broken perfume bottles."
Zim shook his head from side to side in disagreement then stepped forward a few steps, folding his arms across his chest.
"I do not know what this "perfume" you speak of is, but I saw nothing broken in your room."
Cindy pushed off of Jake and stepped forward facing Zim. She glared at him with a fierce and deadly glare. Zim just stood there and returned an evil sinister glare. Both staring each other down when suddenly there was a bang.
The sound echoed throughout the silent room causing everyone to jump. Then there was a loud clapping of feet racing across the floors upstairs, creaking floorboards, the footfalls became louder, heavier and more frequent as the 'thing' upstairs seemed to move faster.
"W-what's that?" Jake asked with a shiver.
"I-don't-know." Dib answered.
Suddenly the lights in the kitchen flickered; on and off, on and off. Then they went out. The room was dark. Zim fumbled around in his pack and pulled out his flashlight and pressed the rubber button. Light flickered on and he aimed at every corner. Nothing.
"Hey, Zim. Aim the light to the ceiling. The light will reflect off and illuminate the room some."
"I know that, DIB." He emphasized 'Dib' as if the name were a taboo.
He aimed the light at the ceiling and suddenly there was a scream. Everyone jumped and yelped. Zim ended up dropping his flashlight and everyone heard its crash and other softer noises as the glass to the light broke. The light was out. The scream was close, almost like the one screaming was in the room with them. Dib suddenly had a fearful thought of a green one-eyed monster with green tentacles and large sharp fangs gobbling them all up one by one.
The lights came on and everyone's gaze turned to the entry way for the kitchen. They all screamed.
"Oh shut up will you? Your voices are annoying." Gaz growled.
She walked passed them and reached into a few cupboards before finding a bowl and cereal. She got some milk from the fridge and took a seat at the table.
"Gaz…was it you that screamed?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah, I couldn't resist." She grinned evilly.
Cindy glared daggers at the younger girl and made a move as if to strike Gaz, but then decided against it and grabbed an apple for herself from the fridge.
Dib walked through the long hallway upstairs. Looking at the red painted walls that had a gold border at the top corners of the ceiling. It was beautiful. Though the walls were bare, no pictures shown, no posters, nothing. Just bare walls that were the color of blood.
Dib suddenly stopped moving. He heard a ring. Constant ringing. What is that? He thought to himself. Suddenly it clicked. A phone. He followed the noise into his room where Zim was currently organizing his pack and laying out several items on the floor.
"Why don't you get the phone?"
"I don't use inferior human technology." Zim spat as he cocked a dangerous looking ray gun and then set it neatly beside five other ray guns.
"Are all the weapons necessary?"
"Yes. Something is here, Dib-worm. I know you can feel it too," Zim said suddenly feeling very awkward, "Answer the phone human."
Dib frowned and reached for the phone, pressing it to his ear.
"Hello?"
No answer. There was nothing but silence. Though no one had answer Dib had a feeling that he was not the only one on the line. He could hear raspy breathing…almost as if someone were having trouble taking air in and out of their lungs. He could just feel that something else was there, waiting, listening. Suddenly instincts overtook and out of pure fear he slammed the phone back onto its holder.
Zim jumped at the sudden noise and glared at Dib, but stopped realizing how visibly shaken Dib was.
"Who was it?"
"No one seemed to be there." Dib answered.
"Yeah, right, nothing but human lies!" Zim spat back.
The phone rang again. Dib didn't even reach for it. He looked at Zim and gave a straight challenging glare.
"You answer it." He told Zim.
"Fine, Dib-worm. Afraid of your own pathetic use of communication."
Zim picked up the phone and raised it to his ear.
"Hello?"
No one answered. Nothing but silence on the other line. Someone…or something was on the other line. Listening to him or waiting for him to speak.
"Hello? Who is this? What do you want?"
Suddenly there was a soft sound of rustling almost the sound of wind blowing the leaves of trees. Then there was a loud scream from the other end. Zim pulled away from the phone, yelping at the moment the scream came on. Once it died down Zim replaced the phone by his ear. He heard someone screaming. Someone familiar.
"HELP ME! HELP…IT'S COMING. ZIM WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? HELP ME, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
It was the man he had heard on the other side of the closet door. Then the phone went dead silent and the loud ring signaling the person on the other end had disconnected. Zim placed the phone down and stared wide eyed at Dib. Dib just stared back offering no smile or glare. Just a blank emotionless stare.
"Dib…what was that?" Zim asked.
Gaz had decided that she wanted to snoop around. She needed some time away from the two lovebirds, Jake and Cindy. They were driving her crazy, giving each other kisses and hugging each other tightly. It was disgusting. She felt like she would've thrown up if she hadn't left.
She was walking away from the kitchen through the short red walled hall and was about to walk up the stairs when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. She paused, staring to her left into a dark family room. It held a TV. She beamed and walked down the stairs and switched on the lights. But no light came on in the room. She shrugged and walked over to the TV. She pressed the power button and the screen lit up, but no pictures came on. Just a bright gray screen. She looked around and saw a couch in the far corner of the room with a black remote on the leather surface. She walked over and snatched the remote and threw it, hard, at the TV's screen. The remote fell to the ground and the TV gave a low hum.
Images played before her eyes. Fast. Children crying, people falling from buildings, a ladder, a burning baby, murky swamps, black widows in webs, angry dogs, hissing cats, a hummingbird, a bathtub, blood, piled human corpses set afire, then the screen turned black. The power went out and Gaz found herself shaking. Those images. They were not only disturbing, but also frightening. She pulled herself away from the TV, backing out of the room fast.
She turned and held back a scream that threatened to burst from her lungs and out her mouth. She raced from the family room and up the flight of stairs. She made a right turn into her room and shut the door, hard, locking it behind her. She turned, while switching on the lights, breathing hard and gasped. She stared wide-eyed across the room at the one window by the couch Zim had slept on. The glass of the window was written on with black letters:
'0 down and 5 to go'
What was written gave her chills because there were five of them; Jake, Dib, Cindy, Zim, and herself. Did that mean something was after them? Gaz caught sight of something below it and looked to the floor. She yelped and jumped back, muscles tensed with fear. Two severed hands lay on the wood floor. They were coated with blood and the blood ran in a pool around them. They were the hands of a man; large, plump, and with fine hairs on the fingers. Those hadn't been there before, she knew it. Someone must have just placed them there. Then again she could be imagining everything and it was probably fake, but she didn't test her theory of it being an imagination because she didn't want to end up actually touching it and finding it to be real. But if someone had just placed them there then that would mean they weren't alone in this house. Someone or something was here.
A loud noise brought her back to reality and she jumped. The phone was ringing. She answered it and was met with silence. There was only that of a soft hissing noise; white noise. The static ended when the line was disconnected and the dial tone rang through her ears. The lights in the room flickered and suddenly Gaz felt really small. She jumped back not knowing what to do. The lights kept going on and off repeatedly.
Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt and her breathing sped up. The fine hairs on the back of her neck raised, a chill went down her spine, her muscles tensed, and her eyes darted everywhere in the room. She wanted to believe she was alone in the room, but deep down she knew she wasn't and that there was something in there with her. Something dangerous and not human. She could feel its presence all around her. Then the lights stopped flashing and went out. The room went dark and a scream broke the silence and rang throughout the house. All at once the screaming ceased. The lights turned back on and an eerie silence filled the air.
Please review!- I hope you liked it! Stay tuned for the next chapter...
