Dengaron P.E. (Personal edition)

Screams Echo

A scream is what started this story, but not just any scream: the scream of a small child's mother. As the child awakened, he brushed his golden blond hair which runs almost down to his shoulders, causing some to mistake him as a girl at his school. He jerked forwards into an upright position when he heard his father make a noise that only animals could make, a cross shout scream that sounded like it was running from something, but what?

He attempted to turn on the lamp on his nightstand, but still being half asleep, his hands accidentally shove off a glass of water, spilling it all over the floor. As the boy, now hiding under his bed covers, attempted to reach the light again, a loud creaking noise is heard, startling him and causing him to retreat back to the safety of his covers. But he was smart enough to know a thin sheet of manufactured thread would not protect him if someone was after him.

The boy, now sweating from being in such fright, once more reached out from the comfort of his bedsheets to flick on the switch to the lamp. All of a sudden, a damp glow filled the room as the lamp blinked to life. He steadily emerged from his sheets and began to slowly map out what he can see of his room. He sees his TV and his own reflection bouncing off it from the dim glow of the lamp showing only him in the room; he could also see his toys scattered all over the floor, creating a spiky blanket only the toughest would walk on. As he tries to make out the rough shape of his closet, a mist began to form within his gaze.

The child backs up within his bed, holding the top of the sheets in a rectangular shape that would make it easy for him to cover himself with if startled. The boy began to feel eerie, as if someone somewhere was watching him.

'Finally," a woman's voice called out. 'I have found a perfect match.'

The boy said nothing. The sound had no relation to his mother or anyone else he knew.

'It's time for us to leave,' the woman stated, sounding frustrated.

The boy threw the sheets from the bed and started to run whilst trying to crawl off the bed, causing him to stumble slightly when he got to his feet. He closed his eyes and ran as fast as he could towards the door, bowing his head and reaching out with his arms so that if someone was there, which he was certain there was, he might knock them over, giving him time to find his parents, but when he found nothing blocking his exit or in the hallway, he opened his eyes. There was nothing there, no one in sight; the child tried to tell himself this was or had been just some nightmare, but something was convincing him otherwise.

Since he was already halfway down the hallway, he decided to spend the night with his parents as he usually did after nightmares. Not being a day over 8, he realised something was wrong when his parents bedroom light was already illuminating the hallway, making it so the boy wouldn't need to turn on the hallway light to find the room. But he knew something was wrong. It must have been three in the morning; they would never be up at this time. He started shaking like he was in below zero degree weather and tried to calm himself by speaking aloud, telling himself everything was fine. He could not speak, and not only that, but he couldn't even move his lips. He assumed he was still in the dream but headed towards the door anyway.

As the door creaked open, what the child could see was nothing out of the ordinary to start with. When the door was only about halfway open, he could see his mother, who looked like she was still within a deep slumber, hopefully having a better dream than he was. When the door almost fully opened, it got caught which caused the boy to stumble backwards slightly, closing the door again. The boy opened the door and peered round the corner to see what had almost caused another outburst of energy to escape with. What the boy saw after brought that energy back, as he saw his father, lying lifeless with his back up against the wall, both eyes gouged out and oozing with a strange purple liquid. Another glance at his mother and he could see she was making the same horrific expression as his father, with the same purple liquid emerging seconds later from her mouth, gouged-out eyes and ears.

The child screamed and tried to turn and run for the front door of the house. As he ran, more black mist appeared from nowhere and every crushing step he took was loud enough to echo throughout the entire house. Again the boy screamed which echoed back at him almost being twice as loud. The boy, now frozen, gazing upon the black mist forming in front of him with his mouth wide open, suddenly calmed down. A branch of the mist broke off in a tight stream straight into his throat. He did not feel the substance entering but closed his eyes as a shock ran through his body; he fell to the ground, knocking himself unconscious as he did.

A purple light illuminated itself close to the boy's face as he began to wake. The light coming from a tennis-ball-sized aura began to get brighter and warmer. The boy felt the orb as it began to burn through his pyjamas, and he began screaming again. Pain flooded through the child's body, causing him to scream louder and the light to get brighter. Suddenly, as the purple light was illuminating the whole house and the two houses either side, the light vanished, but the orb and child were gone.