(Chapter 8) The THING in the darkness

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(Chapter 8) The Thing In The Darkness

1.

Day 41. In the darkness were nothing lye, he found himself. With the desire to see the unseen. The unseen was everywhere. Everywhere there was nothing. He could see nothing but feel everything. The darkness was cold. The only thing that could cut through the darkness was the cold. Sharper than a knife to his skin. He felt it go down his body like a wave of chill bumps following a blade separating the skin. All the way to his feet. His feet were in pain! His eyes opened. Now the unseen coming into focus. Everything in the nothing revealing itself. Looking down at his feet, he wiggled his toes. He was barefoot, outside. His feet falling out of focus as the blurry object in front of him came in. A pickaxe in his hands! He was standing on his front porch in the middle of the night, holding his pickaxe, in his flannel two-piece pajamas, barefoot! He looked around confused. Blinking his eyes. Trying to decipher reality from a dream, a nightmare.

A scream, a scream came from the distance. A woman's scream. Looking up at the full moon, he seen his breath. The wind screaming at him. Threatening him. So many questions... Was that a scream or was that the wind? How did I get down here? Am I awake or am I asleep? He looked back towards the house. A blood curdling scream cut through the night. He turned back around to see footprints directly in front of him, leading out into the nothingness. He could not see five feet in front of him. He knew they had to lead out into the woods. The screaming continued! It sounded like someone's getting murdered he thought. I have got to help them! He looked down at the pickaxe in his hands, gripping it tighter. He looked back up at the nothingness, towards the thing that was so terrifying, it would make you scream.

2.

He felt like he was breathing smoke. Without another thought he took off running towards the screams! Following the footprints into the darkness with only the moonlight to see. Running through the moonlight woods he struggled to see where he was going, to see anything through the snow and darkness, the screams intensified. Despite how cold he is his palms are sweating profusely. His thoughts incoherent... Who is screaming? What is happening to them? Where are they? Where am I? How long have I been out here? How long have I been running?

Now drawing closer, the screams grew louder! He yelled out "Hold on, I'm coming!" His muscles tightened as they pumped what felt like battery acid through his veins. She screamed directly in front of him! The hair on the back of his neck stood up but he could see no one. He continued to look around yelling out, "Where are you?" Suddenly the screaming stopped and all that was left to hear was a wet gurgling sound. "I'm right here..." she whispered. "Where are you?" he yelled.

Frantically walking in circles, he looked down and noticed red snow everywhere. Blood, the snow ran red with blood. Oh my God Tim thought it is everywhere! But it did seem to trail off, so he began to follow it. Desperate now to find her. The red snow slowly began to fade until it was no more. He looked around to see if the track picked back up anywhere but nothing. Looking back from where he had come, he noticed the blood was thick again. The red snow that had faded before now saturated the ground leading to his feet.

3.

As he began to lift his right foot up to examine it, he noticed the blood dripping from his foot to the ground. He turned his foot over to see the raw fleshy holes where his skin was ripped off by the ice. He gritted his teeth and moaned in pain! Coming to the realization that he was the one bleeding, but the screams... now conflicted on whether to keep searching for the woman that he could no longer hear or to return home and tend to his wounds. He realized that he does not know where he is. The footprints had stopped. Not just the red footprints, altogether! The only footprints were the bloody ones leading back deep into the woods where the screams were coming from before. This does not make sense. Did the snow already cover them up?

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