Matt

Chapter 16- The Frightened

I stared directly at the darkened marble eyes of the wooden turtle John had carved some time ago. I felt the adrenaline begin to flow through my blood stream, kick-starting my fight or flight response. This caused a major increase in my heart rate, making it beat with enough force that I could actually hear it. My mouth became unbearably dry, I could also feel my hands becoming increasingly wet with sweat.

This was fear, pure and simple. The real kind. Not the kind where you're afraid of being rejected by a girl you like or the kind where you dread seeing the results of a test. No, this was the kind where you knew your life was in real danger. In the course of the last year, I'd grown quite familiar with this feeling. More than once, I've managed to escape death. Hell, I just had an experience like that yesterday. This isn't fair. Can't I get a break from danger?

As you likely remember, the turtle had begun to move. I was at a loss for why it was doing this. Perhaps it's possessed by a demon or spirit, like Stella always wanted. No, that can't be it. Something else is going on, I'm sure of it.

It continued to stare me down with an unbelievably creepy smile. I got up from the bed and began to move towards the door. It kept following me with those dark, lifeless eyes. And then that something happened that made my skin crawl. It spoke.

"It...seems...that...you've...got...ten...in...to...some...trou...ble...this...time..."

Its manner of speech was incredibly bizarre, but even more disturbing was that it didn't sound human.

"Wha...what are you?" I asked nervously.

I swallowed hard and, without waiting for a response, slowly continued to back up towards the door. Just as I put my hand on the door knob, it spoke again.

"You're wasting your time. You won't be able to get away."

I ignored what it said and turned the door knob. I was fortunate to be able to leave my room and bolt down the stairs. I immediately ran to the front door and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. No matter how hard I tried to turn the knob, it wouldn't turn. I immediately ran into the kitchen to try the back door. Once again, this proved fruitless, as this door refused to open as well.

"Are you satisfied? You're trapped. There's no way out for you."

The voice came from behind. I slowly turned around to find that the turtle had somehow made its way onto the coffee table in the living room. How did it do that? Surely it didn't walk there. It's almost like it magically teleported itself there.

"What do you want from me?" I asked nervously, somewhat afraid of the answer.

"You said that you never wanted to be here, right? Well, I'm here to see to it that you are gone..." The turtle then closed its eyes and smiled its creepiest smile yet. "...forever..."

I quickly grabbed the turtle with one hand and threw it as hard as I could against a nearby wall. I wasn't sure why I did that. I seriously doubted it would actually work.

I heard the TV next to me suddenly turn on. When I turned to face it, I saw a demonic face amongst the static. It looked directly at me, smiling like some kind of sociopath. I began to back away from the TV, trying to put some distance between me and it.

"I'm here to make sure you die." The demon spoke.

I had no idea how I was going to defend myself. I didn't even know how it intended to kill me. I was all alone. John and Stella were gone right now. That means the only other person in the house is...

"Serena!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping beyond hope that she would hear me.

"I'm afraid that she won't be able to hear you. Not that she'd want to see you right now, anyway. She's quite upset with you."