The Shadow Skull- A Short Story

The Shadow Skull

I laid awake in bed, staring at the clock tick by. It's 3 am. My face remains warm from the hours of laughter and midnight stories spent with my friend Simon who now laid on a mattress beside me. I absorbed the silence of the night. Not even the tree's were swaying at this hour.

A quiet rumble lurked through my room. "Not those pesky rats," I whispered to myself. I sat up in bed to observe the noise. The left side door of my wardrobe slowly squeaked open as a skeleton-like hand reached out slowly. I inhaled sharply. Faster than I could process the hand wrapped around Simon's ankle and pulled him into the wardrobe before he had time to scream.

I hurdle out of bed and stumble into the hallway. The moonlight casting hallucinating shadows across the floor. My feet were loud on the creaky floors as I ran down the hall. I swung open my parents bedroom door. The bed was empty.

Their wardrobe is sprawled open, doors still swinging.

I could've sworn I flew down the stairs. I stumble into the living room  and attempted to open the warped sliding door, it's too stiff. The house was so quiet. Even the walls seemed to be holding their breath. Quiet thuds came from the stairs. I freeze in horror as dark shadows stalk along the ground towards me.

My legs buckled beneath me, I begged them to work. "H-hello?" I quivered. Knowing there was no time to wait for a response I whirled back to the door and busted it open with the small amount of courage I could muster.

The frosty grass stung my bare feet, morning fog making my vision murky, my ragged breath visible in the air. I ran towards the garden shed across the lawn. The cold door knob bit my fingers. Pushing against the door that was barely hanging from its hinges I stepped inside, locking the door behind me. There was barely any place to hide in the crammed shed filled with rusty rakes and shovels. I huddled under dads dusty work bench. 'Does It know I'm here? Did it follow me outside?'

Shadows spilled out of the old fertiliser cupboard like heavy fog. I held my breath. 'This can't be real, these things only happen in movies.' I assured myself.

The shadows crawled up each other forming the shape of a man. It stood 12 feet tall, it's head bent down to fit in the shed. It had no eyes but I could feel it's deathly gaze slither over me, a predator accessing its prey. It's body was a black skeleton. Night black smoke weaving through each bone.

"What are you?" I stuttered.

A ruthless grin sprawled across the monsters face. It's mouth was so wide it could swallow me whole. I could make out it's needle-like teeth in multiple rows, teeth dripping with... blood. The blood of my loved ones.  It's huge hand reached out towards me, it's fingers longer than my arm.  It brushed a finger throw my hair, delicate for something so evil. I felt like a statue in a graveyard. I tried to scream but it was locked in my lungs.

Its mouth opened wider than humanly possible as it lunged at me.