The Madness Within ✓

XX.

The creature's upper two limbs, the same that dragged the man down the window, grabbed the window that I was standing by and the creature began climbing up towards me, using the upper limbs to pull itself up to the window. I panicked. Without thinking twice, I grabbed the axe that the man dropped and hit one of the limbs, causing the creature to let out a muffled screech and fall off the window. I pulled out the axe and ran away from the library.
What is that thing?! I've never seen it in this forest before, so why did it suddenly appear and kill the man? Are there more creatures than just the ones on the statues? How many of these creatures are there?

Oh, god. Going here really was a mistake.

As I ran away from the library, I saw the creature make its way up the window. It climbed inside the library and began scanning the area, its empty face searching for my presence. I ran downstairs, which alerted the creature as it began walking towards the staircase. Can it hear me? It doesn't have any ears, does it? Does it use vibrations to find its way around the house to me or something?
I ran through the hall, towards my room. The creature followed after me. It was harder for it to run, due to its large legs not being able to fit through the hall, which gave me an advantage. I stormed into my room and immediately shut the door after myself, then locked it. I also ran to the window and checked whether it's still locked, and once I was sure that it was, I looked around the room.

Should I hide? Should I prepare to attack once it walks inside the room? Maybe it'll give up trying to get me once it learns that I've locked the door.
Loud thuds could be heard from behind the door. The creature walked towards the door, then there was silence. I felt my heart stop beating for a second as I held in my breath, hoping that the creature would go away. I gripped the axe tighter and shut my eyes, waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly, the thuds that the creature's movement made began getting quieter as the creature ran off someplace else. Was it gone now?

I resumed my breathing and carefully walked to the door, making sure not to make a sound. Once I was by the door, I leaned closer to the door and rested the side of my head against it, trying to hear if the creature was still walking around. I could hear silent thuds somewhere in the distance, maybe in the living room. Or the kitchen.
I rested the other side of the axe against the ground, letting my weak body calm down and take a break for a second. I was trembling, trying really hard to keep all emotions inside me, as any little sound could alert the creature that was currently in the house with me.

I could hear strange sounds coming from the room the thuds came from a while ago, this time it sounded like it was moving things around. Was it looking for something? If so, is there even something it could want from the house?
Maybe it's after the photos my grandma took. Or maybe there's something else that I'm not aware of. And if it is something else, it's probably too late now to know what it is anyways. As long as it leaves as soon as it finds what it's looking for, I don't care anymore. I just want to go home. I want all this to stop already.

After moving around multiple items in the living room, the thudding returned as the creature began walking back towards me. I froze in place and covered my mouth and nose with my hand, trying to control my breathing to be as silent as possible. The creature's loud steps were closer and closer to my room each second. It knows I'm here, doesn't it?
Am I gonna die?

Once it reached the door to the room I was in, it stopped again and there was silence once more. Suddenly, the creature hit the door with something, which resulted in a loud bang coming from the door. I jumped and screamed, letting a few tears slide down my face. I grabbed the axe and clutched it tightly, then looked around the door. I need to get out of here.

BANG.

Another loud bang came out from the door as the creature hit the door with something again. My breathing got faster as I desperately looked for a solution. For a way out of this situation. If I ran outside, it would definitely catch up with me. It's too fast outside. It has room to walk around there. I'd be at a disadvantage outside, while the creature is at a disadvantage here, inside the house.

BANG.

My thoughts got interrupted by yet another loud noise coming from the door. This time the creature hit the door harder, resulting in a part of the door flying out.

I need to hide.

I wiped my tears off from my face and slid down under the bed. It was definitely not the best hiding place, but there was not a better option. I still had the axe with me, so if the creature decides to look under the bed, I can hit it in the face using the axe, which would give me enough time to run away and think of what to do next afterwards.

BANG.

BANG.

The creature was now clearly becoming impatient with the door, hitting it as much as possible. I gripped my axe tight and waited for a good opportunity to strike.

BANG.

The door finally broke down. The creature stood by the door for a while, then stepped inside. There was silence inside the whole house. The only thing I could hear was my own heart racing. Is it trying to look for me, or is it just standing there?
I tried my best not to move, hoping that maybe the creature might end up thinking that I ran away into the forest, and it might run off too. But instead, it just stood there, not moving an inch.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could stay still without moving. Maybe it knew that and waited on purpose. Maybe it knew I'm here all along. Maybe it's playing games with me.
I closed my eyes and prayed for all of this to finally be over. I prayed that all of this was just my imagination playing tricks on me. God, maybe I really was going crazy. Whatever it was, I really wanted it to stop.

Suddenly, the creature placed something on the ground. I opened my eyes to take a look at what it was. It was a small cassette player that looked like a small portable radio. The creature began walking around, almost as if it was searching for something. When it seemingly found what it was looking for, it returned to the cassette player and put it inside. It was a.. strange tape.

A loud, high-pitched and almost deafening sound came out from the tape, then suddenly, a voice could be heard from it.

„Hello," the voice said. It was the voice of an old man. He seemed happy in the recording, and there was loud clapping in the background as he said it. But then, right as he finished that word, he got cut off. Instead, another voice from a different recording began playing. The voice this time was of a young woman. She was crying. The word that she said was, „Clara," then she got cut off again.

Was the creature trying to communicate with me? It seemed like it was taking parts of different recordings to form a sentence in order to talk to me. But if it was trying to talk to me, then how did it know my name? Are the villagers aware of this creature as well? Does it normally do this?
Everything that was happening in this moment was too much for my tired brain. I still didn't move and held the axe tight, not losing my caution just yet. It could be a trap for all I know. This is my first time seeing and talking to this creature, so if anything, I should be cautious to the very end of this.

The creature pressed a button on the cassette player again, which resulted in another loud, high-pitched sound, then followed by another sentence that the creature was trying to form. This time, it used three different voices again to form another, seemingly longer sentence, using one voice for one word. The people whom the voices belonged to all had different emotions in the recordings, making it slightly hard to understand the words at first.

„I'm," the first voice of a young, laughing girl said, then followed by a „your," that was spoken by a yelling, angry man.

But the third word made me freeze in place.

I dropped my axe and my hands began trembling. Did I hear that correctly? Maybe the voice said something else and I just misunderstood. But if it didn't.. is this really true?
The third voice was.. my own voice. In the recording, I'm still a young, small girl. I seem very happy in that recording.

„grandma!" said the last voice.

I'm your grandma.