Hmmm…let me see…where did we leave off? The stalker I believe. Ok, so I've decided that I'm not going to go on any more updating sprees because my head almost exploded and I ended up in the pentagon for a couple of days because the government wanted to know where my special powers came from. I said it was the sky, and then they force-fed me hotdogs until I confessed that I had received them from a hobo on the street for a toothpick. The world will never be the same…ANYWAY…back to the scary story! BOO! Happy Halloween Everyone! (I'm going as myself…a WEREWOLF! Awooo!)

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In this chapter we find Carter sulking and then…!

Chapter 6

A Noteworthy Deterioration

Carter continued up along the path to the church. He scuffed his worn shoes on the cobbled pavement, bitterly. Bitter about life, bitter about death. But mostly bitter about the things that had been happening. His life had been fine up until a few nights ago. Everything was peachy, and the summer sun had shown down hot and happy. But now, that hot and happy sun had changed. Now it burned with misery, with pain and injustice. That once pleasurable orb now represented the hell his life had become. An assault, a murder, and strange occurrences. And remembering nothing. That was what bothered Carter the most. He knew something must have happened in those massive blank spaces that he couldn't recall at all. It was an unnatural sort of thing though. It's not like you forgot and could recall it. Those massive unknowns were completely blank. No matter how much he groped around those spots there was nothing, like reaching out over a dark ledge. Nothing.

The whole affair left a sour taste in his mouth as he trudged along, the scuffing echoing along the silent night. A sea born breeze rippled restlessly through the trees, making them dance and sway in a mild prelude of what was to come if Won's predictions were correct. It seemed likely because the breeze was unearthly warm against the cool night. Carter sighed, just another thing to deal with. He stopped and looked up at the silver clouds moving swiftly across the navy sky. Tall tree tops whipping about as if to tear the things down. All was not right. Everything felt like it was on edge, holding its breath, bracing for the unknown. Everything was stagnant, but upset, like the churning depths of the placid volcano. The exterior was normal, but deep within, down to the farthest reaches; chaos was reaching its boiling point.

Carter quickened his pace, growing uneasy. Something big was going to happen; he could feel it prickling up through his skin along with panic. But what was it? Why was this night different from the others? He glanced around warily, but thinking better of himself the priest inhaled and exhaled slowly. He was being silly again. Another product of an overactive imagination was what this little panic was. Nothing was going to happen. Carter once again continued along his way, trying to push the suspicions to the back of his mind. But like a closet too full, thoughts came tumbling out helter skelter and he fought to keep them down.

Carter stopped dead in his tracks. He knew this feeling all too well. This same sort of fear he felt in the clinic last night. He had been wrong to ignore those feelings, because in the morning there was the corpse. Carter bit his lip. There had to be something. His mind couldn't be playing games with him this time. There was no other reason why this sort of panic would be present. There was no other explanation. That was the terrible part.

The priest swallowed, aware of the sweat beading on his brow. That dream on the hill came back to him. It felt the same. That stifling breeze, that panicked feeling, it was all coming true. Carter tried to fight the panic. It was as hot as the breeze, rising steadily up his body, pricking up the hairs on the back of his neck. Everything became twenty times louder, he could hear everything. Everything.

Carter tried to control his breathing, but the world was rushing about. He bolted down the path as it spun wildly. He found himself staggering around, trying to keep consciousness. His body knew somehow if it fell here, it wouldn't survive. As much as the priest tried to overcome this instinct of self-preservation he couldn't stop running, stop swaying. But then Carter heard it. Loud and clear over his own pounding footsteps. Something was chasing him!

Carter cried out, trying to run as fast as he could. But run to where? He couldn't think, the only thing was to get far away. "The church isn't the safe!" Somewhere in his mind kept on shouting out, but Carter was beyond hearing. He had completely panicked. The thing was still coming. It was gaining. He could hear the pounding coming from behind. Rattling after him.

Carter rounded a corner, trying to remember where he was going. Everything was so dark. It was the darker part of town, just a path from one end to another, no houses or stores, just a path. Where the hell was the church! Without realizing it, he had run on to the wrong side of town. Deep inside Carter's lungs were burning, and his sides ached from the physical exertion, but the sound of that relentless thing kept him going. He didn't want to look, fearing a nightmarish monster. So he kept on lunging blindly forward, praying to find somewhere safe.

But it was gaining still. Now rasping breaths were clear, a metallic jangling even clearer.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Carter screamed, clawing out at the air desperately as his body failed him. The priest tripped over his own legs and fell hard onto the pavement with a painful thud. He lay there for a second from shock before frantically flipped over on his back, trying to see what was coming after him. But there was nothing.

Carter looked around wildly, the taste of copper trickled into his mouth. Where did it go! He lifted himself heavily to his feet. Where the hell was it!

A loud crack resounded through air and in an instant Carter's leg was filled with a dull pain. He looked down in horror at a stick going in his bloody thigh and coming out the other side. The priest whimpered at the morbid sight, sinking back down to the ground. This was it. It was all over. This was how it was going to end. Carter looked over at the bushes. That was where the stick had come from. Now the monster was to come out too and finish its job. Something new came over him just then, rising up to his throat.

"WELL THEN WHERE ARE YOU! COME FINISH YOUR JOB ALREADY!" He called out defiantly, a new anger arising deep within his gut. "IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THINGS COULD GET MUCH WORSE FOR ME NOW COULD THEY? SO HURRY UP!" Carter stared angrily at the bushes as nothing came out. "What are you waiting for you wretched thing!" He called out, tears seeping into his eyes and then falling to mix with the blood on his leg. "Can't you even finish what you have started? Do you not have the guts?" Carter wept bitterly. He was injured. He was angry. And most of all he was alone. Even abandoned by his predator. Slowly the loss of blood began to make Carter weak and dizzy. He fell to his side, arms weighing a thousand tons. The priest lay there, breathing heavily, his vision blurring. On the very edge of consciousness he could just perceive the thing coming out of the bushes. And it said these words:

"I want you to suffer."

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Oh, this chapter gives me goose bumps every time I read it. Definitely one of my better chapters! ) Heehaw. I got my first iPod today, and right now I'm listening to it. I've been waiting for a long time for one. (It's a little green Mini) Oh! They are so cool! I've already got 895 songs on it! At the very moment I have typed this I was listening to Matallica's "Unforgiven." -starts singing to it- So I dub thee unforgiven…

Ok, that's all for today. Goodluck and Goodnight.

K. W. Lycan