Rip. Snap. Crack. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgrKYKZliY
These are the words to describe my friend being eaten by whatever’s in the dark, whatever is in the shadows that I refuse to investigate. All I can do is run, run, run until I’m in the clear.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfOg2tC4HG
Except I’m never in the clear.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2PRvbFVH4
Snap. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHlErkoqFH
It sounds like my friend’s tibia breaking in two, but it’s a dead branch this time. I turn to my right, toward the sound, and see something moving under the light of the moon. The best I can describe it is that it’s big. I know that’s childish––unliterary-like––but if you were ten yards away from this monstrosity, “big” would be the only word you can think of, too.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwXdNZGp3o
There you go: monstrosity.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iqVaV7QRP
The rain makes the leaves on the ground slick. The distance I’m putting between myself and the house behind me seems to get smaller instead of greater. But the house isn’t the only thing I’m running from anymore. It’s the house and the big something to my right. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4whIXB7oh
It snarls and I see foam dripping from its chin. Hair clings on random sections of its grey skin and other parts are raw, as if flesh never grew over those areas of its body.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡPONM2ALJ0P
How did I get here? I’m wondering the same thing myself while trying to get away from this house that seems to be pulling me back in.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ767x2it98k
There was a pamphlet at my work. It was the last one of its kind, advertising a quiet getaway in a rustic house isolated in the woods. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3oul7sWfR
Isolated. Quiet. Rustic. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4G0QIBCrB
Those are the words the pamphlet used, and I thought I would be stupid not to rent it out for the weekend. Bring a friend and a couple six packs, it was a win-win situation.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡryHz6KSzT0
Until the basement started breathing fire and the second floor swarmed with legions and headless children. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡUS4jmprPmG
It went from win-win to lose-lose in one night. In two hours, actually.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzLnAC5bex
I give up trying to outrun whatever is now bounding toward me and dart back into the house. Smoke permeates throughout the air, but at least the fire is out in the basement. I hear my friend screaming in the living room. Whatever is munching him isn’t done yet. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡNG5vgbf8L9
Before me are the stairs, and at the top of them is a woman. She’s in a wedding dress––a dirty, old wedding dress.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9G1e0oDrd0
“Byron, you’ve come back,” she says to me in a deep, baritone voice. She extends her arms out to me and I take a step back.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VATiawomK
I cough on the smoke. “I–I’m not Byron.” I tell her, “You got the wrong guy.”copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡVar1FHdUQY
Her eyes flash red, I kid you not, and she descends the stairs without touching one step with her feet. “Come to me, Byron.” She smiles, then I realize that’s all she can do is smile, because she doesn’t have lips. One eye hangs from its socket by the red fibers I can’t remember the name of. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZF5dFtR7H
I take a step back, and what I feel on the back of my neck is more than just my hair standing on end. I turn to see the monstrosity looming over me, tongue lolling out of the side of its mouth, eyes green, pupils a vertical slit.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfCs9UCFjZ
“Byron,” the bride says. She doesn’t have hair. She doesn’t have breasts. The dress hangs on her boney shoulders, her arms still outstretched. “I’m yours.”copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡqf9SgOztJq
In the room next to us my friend is screaming my name. “Shut up!” whatever is eating him growls. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNq7TDNmvU
The monstrosity behind me growls, and a string of its saliva falls directly into the back of my collar, the thick, gummy fluid trailing down my spine. I shriek, bypassing the bride and into the kitchen.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3naFPjAsZU
A knife. A pan. A spoon. I’ll take anything that I can swing in front me like a child.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡrq9BippRT9
“Byron!”copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡilXItQmgcS
A bolt of lightning splits the house in two, the flash of white blinding me.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgglV5FwyF
Before I know it, the bride has me in her arms. I’m staring into the face of someone’s great-great-great grandmother, and she’s trying to kiss me without lips. The one eye in her socket closes while the other bounces against my cheek. I squirm but her skeleton arms hold me tight. Before I know it, her teeth are mashing my lips.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡq05zBnZ1fS
My friend continues to scream, and I think: It sure is taking a long time to eat him.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxe8gHYCYb
Suddenly the bride’s arms let me go. More accurately, the monstrosity rips them from their sockets and beats her with them. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡuarLwnQcTp
Is it protecting me? I wonder, then decide that I don’t care the monster’s intent. It’s time for me to go.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkpXU0kT1A
I jump over the chasm that the lightning strike opened up and spring out the front door one more time. The rain doesn’t let up, and yet somehow the iridescent moon is still present, beckoning the horrors of this night to come out.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡMc80koIj1H
My heart leaps back toward the house, toward my friend, but there’s nothing I can do for him now. At least he’s stopped screaming. If I can’t be a hero, then I can be a survivor.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwRWhnj8zd
Whack. Slap. Bang.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡxryWosXJlZ
These are the words to describe the monstrosity beating the already dead bride. She’s screaming, “BRYON! BYYYYROOOON!” copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8bs8wQRPS
That experience alone discourages me from ever tying the knot. I mean, any second her arms might detach and be used as weapons against her––or against me. I don’t want to marry someone expendable. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjopfGMzOm
This isn’t the mentality to have right now. I need to escape.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmNljbNhV9
I get in my car and start it. Thankfully the dead-car-cliché isn’t fulfilled. The tires struggle to find traction on the muddy road, but the screaming and roaring behind me abates as I leave the front gates. Automatically they swing shut behind my car. I don’t remember them being automatic––then again, I don’t remember poltergeists ever chasing anyone with a baseball bat, yet it happened. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡgehrGqYxhN
I am everyone’s humble, petrified witness.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡqP6Pfmv1Wk
Ten minutes down the road, as my fear slowly dissipates into denial, something shifts in the backseat. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJHb40nRhi
I don’t want to look in the rearview mirror, but I have to.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yxi0eJYL0
Yellow teeth gleam at me in the mirror; blue lips pull back and a crooked nose flares. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcQS15fw7b
“No one leaves my house until I’m done with him,” the colorful mouth says. Spit flies onto my shoulder and I look over and see specks of blood. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvUyHYz5QR
Something tells me this is Byron. copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRpVap9UoV
Now I feel guilty for kissing his wife.copyright protection168ＰＥＮＡＮＡV97L28RhFZ
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