Blood Trials

PROLOUGE!

       The door stands wide open, a brisk breeze sends a shiver down her spine. Something deep down makes her stomach clench with uneasiness. The night holds a creepy kind of darkness. No stars, no moon, no streetlights. Storm clouds cover the night sky. The only light for miles is a dull house light that's flashing extensively fast.
     The light comes from an old, abandoned house, the only one in sight. A mask of overgrown bushes and English ivy camouflage the small house. There's a black steel fence with sharp end pickets, rusted and barely standing. Broken window shutters flap in the breeze. Peach colored worn brick that fails to compliment the red door and red shutters, stood ahead. Nothing is recognizable.
      A short old lady with a wooden cane stands beside the house. Fright fills her eyes as she quickly observes the surrounding area. The girl takes a step onto the porch. A loud slam hits behind her causing her to flinch. Before she could turn around, the wood of the porch started to crack below her, and she was falling. Panic surges over her. The thought of dying alone and afraid scared her. It hadn't been a fear of hers before this moment, but she couldn't shake the thought now.
   She finally hits a concrete floor after falling for what felt like hours. The concrete is hard and cold. Boards from the porch surround her. A throbbing pain rushes through her shoulder. She didn't die but agony fills her bones. Before her eyes could adjust to the blackness, something long and thick slid across her abdomen.
       She quickly stumbles to her feet causing splinters to wound her. She looks around frantically. Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes cover the ground. They all start slithering toward her, rattling their rattles. Venom is already dripping from their teeth. She tries to scream but nothing escapes past her lips. It's hard for her to breathe.
       Through the shadow, her eyes land on a wooden staircase. It takes all her strength to move. With every quick step toward the staircase, the splinters go farther into her skin. She tries to avoid the snakes at all costs. She reaches the stairs and trips when trying to advance up them. Something pinches the skin of her ankle. A snake bites her. Her worst nightmare has come true. Death by snakes. It was one of the many nightmares she's had in the past but never the one she thought would actually come true.
      She reacts like any other person would, throwing her leg in the air trying to detach the snake. It doesn't work, the snake has a powerful grip. She uses her hands to pry the snake's jaw apart. Her breaths are shallow, a pain invades her chest. She can feel the venom running through her bloodstream.
     She crawls up the steps as hastily as possible on all fours. Reaching the door, she discovers the locked basement door. With a lot of jiggling and panicked banging, the door surprisingly opens, revealing a kitchen that is not hers. She slams the basement door behind her. She leans against the door, shaking with fear.
     She finds the courage to continue crawling through the house to the front door. Before going outside, afraid more snakes will be out there to finish the job already started, she looks out of the window beside the front door.
      The old lady with a wooden cane still stands in front of the house. The lady wears a flowered nightgown down to her ankles with silver wire glasses and house slippers. Big splotches of crimson red cover her dress all over.
      The lady isn't frightened anymore. She holds a more evil expression on her face. The old lady bends down and picks up a rock. A small rock comes toward the window. She hastily covers her face with her arms, dunking so no glass gets in her face. Glass shatters into her hair.
       Looking out of the broken window, the old lady is bear crawling to her as quickly as a human can crawl. She runs, forgetting about the pain in her feet. Snakes block her way to the back door. Her only choice is up the carpeted staircase in the foyer. The first bedroom on the left is locked and so is the door on the right.
      The third door on the right opens, leading to a little kids bathroom. Duck wallpaper line the walls above the cream colored tiles. A giant sink holds things little kids would use like two electric toothbrushes, one purple with Rapunzel from Tangled on it, the other a blue one with Raphael the red ninja turtle.
      She locks the door behind her. The bathtub is huge, guarded by a curtain with more ducks. The bathtub is rusted and has a giant hole in the middle showing the eroded water pipes. Despite the grossness she climbs into the tub and sits with her knees to her chest trying to avoid the hole. She can hear heavy steps pound up the stairs. She tries to steady her rigid breaths. Tears slowly roll down her cheeks. Her blood vessel popped from pinching the soft skin of her wrist.
       "Wake up, it's only a dream!" she mumbles to herself. Her head is pounding and her hand is purple. "Wake up, wake up!" The steps got closer and louder. The banging met the door.
    Her body started shaking uncontrollably. A voice in her head told her to wake up. The old lady broke down the door, snatched the girl out of the bathtub and flung her on the ground. The lady sat on top of her. Their faces were too close for comfort. The girl trembles under the woman's grasp. She moved her head to the side before their noses could touch.
    Suddenly, water splashed in her face and she felt the excruciating pain of drowning. Her head instantly flew up gasping for air. "Wake up, you're having a bad dream." a voice said.