You're Next...

The Nightmare on Pleasant St.

"Come on, Mom! I want to get to Dad's place quick! New Hampshire's getting a really big storm." I followed after my mom as she went to go get something to eat on the road.

Every Friday, I went to my Dad's place in Denver and every Friday, we have a blast. Staying up all night watching horror flicks and crime TV shows while eating chips and sundaes with Coke and whipped cream. I never have that much fun with my mom. Mostly because she just sits around all day, moping about having to work at the gas station for 2 hours every week, while I'm working my butt off trying to let us keep this house and keep myself and my mom alive. And on top of that, I am under-paid. Actually, I'm not paid at all.

"I'm coming! Why haven't you gone grocery shopping yet?! I'm hungry and you're never home to get me my beer from the fridge!" My mom turned around and screamed at me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just too busy doing all the other work that keeps us in this house and keeps us alive! You know? The work that you're supposed to be taking care of instead of making me do child labor!" I fired back.

"Let's get out. I'm looking forward to having you gone for a night", she muttered under her breath.

We got into the car. I would've driven myself to Denver, but I didn't have my driver's license.

My mom drove in silence for the whole long drive to my dad's place and I sat in the passenger seat and looked at the clock in silence. 8 pm... 9 pm... 9:30 pm. I wanted to leave during the afternoon but my mom wanted to sleep until 7 pm so, I had to go with her. Otherwise, I would've gotten kicked out of the house.My dad was waiting for me at his door with a smile on his face. He was really excited to see me. Not just the fake smile that you give your friends when you see them. I was excited too. Bring on the chips.

"Dad!" I ran towards my dad as my mom pulled away without saying anything.

"Hey! My boy!" He greeted me with a hug. I may be embarrassed to hug my old man in front of my friends but no one ever said you can't do it when you're alone.

My dad pulled me inside without looking at my mom.

"So, I have some movies lined up. Take your pick. It doesn't matter. Cuz' we're watching all of them!" my dad was really excited about tonight. He danced his way into the kitchen to get the snacks. I took a look at the movies. Beddy die-time, Paranormal Activity, Crime and Art, and the Nightmare on Elm Street. The Nightmare on Elm Street sounded good. I heard it was a classic but I had never watched it.

My dad rushed in with soda cans, popcorn, chips, whipped and all sorts of other junk. This was going to be fun.

I popped the CD into my dad's modern high-tech DVD player. He was cool like that. We sat comfortably in the living room, gaping a the TV screen for 2 and a half hours.

Then, somewhere in the middle of the movie, things started to get real.

"Ha! The graphics are so bad!" My dad and I joked around about the old graphics in these movies. The movies are so old that you can clearly see that the characters are dolls.

Eeekkkk... The door in the movie creaked open. I bit my nails in anxiety. But there was no door in this scene of the movie. I looked at my dad. He understood the same thing and was looking at me. Eeekkkk... There was the sound again. Now, I was sure that the noise wasn't from the ancient movie.

It was coming from behind us.

I inched my head side-ways to look at my dad. He was sitting there, thinking the same exact thing. He was trying to look behind him without moving his head but, instead locked his eyes on mine with a frightened expression. We slowly turned our heads together. We were both scared to see what was behind us; lurking in the darkness of the house...

What we turned and saw was even more frightening than anything we ever could imagine. There was a dead body hanging up-side down from the ceiling not an inch away from my face. Her eyes were black and dead just like her soul, and she stared blankly at me, smiling in a frozen expression. She was wearing a night gown and there was thick, dark blood dripping from a gaping hole in her throat. But the worst part of it was that she was young. Like, really young. She was, from the looks of it, around four or five years old. I felt bad for her. But she had such a look of content on her face, smiling into space. The door behind her was open wide; just like somebody had walked into the room...

I could hear the TV playing behind me. It felt like a heart-warming Christmas movie compared to what I was experiencing now. I was too horrified to scream. I just sat there; eyes wide open in terror, chest heaving up and down while trying to remember how to breathe. The little girl was dead. She probably hadn't even gotten to her first day of kindergarten. She had her whole life ahead of her. I wondered who did this to her.

Then, I did scream, because the most horrifying thing happened. It was worse than any movie or any book. Anything you can think of. It was worse. I was staring at the girl's figure, hanging up-side down when it happened.

The little girl smiled.

Where her teeth should have been, was dark, empty hole. Her black eyes glinted with... hunger?

Oh, shit, I thought.

I shrieked. I shrieked like a baby. But, I really didn't care because I was sure I was going to die at the moment. I screamed my lungs out until I couldn't make any more noise or I would completely break down.

And then it stopped as soon as it had begun. The little girl disappeared into the darkness and the door closed with a soft click.