“Take a leap of faith…”
“Trust in those even if you’ve never met them.”
Daniel Chefer felt his drool all over his chin and woke up with a startle. Realising he has unknowingly fell asleep in front of his laptop; he wiped the sticky saliva off his face and table. “How did I even drowse off here?” He thought to himself, scratching his head. The strange about was, Daniel could not recall anything that occurred moments before he fell asleep, it was as if that last bit of memory was stolen from him.
Daniel was a 16 year old bookworm; a boy with tidy brown hair and hazel eyes, and a handkerchief in his pocket just in case. He was not much of a socialist, always the awkward one in a crowd, not that he ever tried socialising, anyway. He checked he clock on his table and looked out at his window, it was ten to six and the neighbourhood was bright red from the sunset. He dismissed the idea of remembering what had happened before and returned back to his laptop, scrolling through the pages to see what he has been reading. Apparently, a particular news article captivated his attention, and its heading was like a warning siren inside Daniel’s mind:
PSYCHOPATHIC BRAIN SPECIALIST OUT MURDERING TEENAGERS AFTER THE FAILURE OF HIS MAJOR PROJECT.
He shivered at the very thought of it. What feared him most was that this psycho has been to his neighbourhood, as the reporter stated, for the past three days, and who knows how many other youths he killed. Just then, Daniel thought he heard a thud from behind, as if something fell upon his marble floor from above; he thought he must have been hearing things, a little paranoid, perhaps, but something in his mind kept telling him to look back, to turn back in time to react upon whatever that was lurking at the corner. Daniel’s heart suddenly pounded crazily, his adrenaline pumping for no apparent reason. It was strange feeling, Daniel thought, a surge of hype and agility rushed in his veins, invoking him to do things his physical attributes prohibits. And with a deep breath, he turned around in time to duck as a blur of darkness sailed inches over his hair and shattered the window pane behind him.
In front of him stood the strangest creature he has ever seen. In a monster film, when the victim witnesses something horrifying, he would scream out something like “What in the world is that?!” to indicate to the audience of the presence of the monster. In reality, however, there was no need for Daniel to say such things; fear was choking him instead, dispersing any need to scream.
The creature was in a humanoid form, it resembled a lot like a full grown man, except it was dark, literally dark in colour. Its skin was jet black with silver linings all over the body, forming some alien patterns over its featureless face. The creature was flat footed, with razor sharp talons and a hunched body. Though it has no eyes, Daniel knew it was staring with hunger.
And it was most certainly staring at him.
Daniel slowly rose from his ducking position, not knowing what to do next; his eyes were focused to the creature, which was in a crouching position. Daniel immediately knew that the creature was going to pounce at him, but when? What will he do then? Should he attempt to miraculously dodge it again or should he fight back? And with what will he use? He was a bit too late to make a decision; the creature made a noise, the kind of sound when a person chokes on his phlegm and leaped a high pounce, barely touching the ceiling and was coming down upon Daniel. And the only natural thing Daniel could react to such a situation was to cross his hands over his face in hopes that it would shield him from the attack.
There was a slight tingling feeling on his palms when he heard a short buzz, he saw the creature coming down upon him in slow motion and recoiled back when its talons were only inches from his head, as if it hit an invisible wall or some sort. Daniel could not believe what has just happened. He was alive, for heaven’s sake! Something prevented the creature from killing him, he did not know what but he does not care, his main priority now was to get out of his bedroom, and get out fast.
There was a problem, however, his door was located at the far end of his half-wrecked room, and the only thing standing in his way was the creature itself, which lay sprawled and angered. He needed to get pass the creature, but how? The creature got up soon enough, not giving Daniel a chance to leave. It growled again and approached him slowly, flexing its talons as it did. Daniel gulped; he had no space to back away, his laptop and desk stood as an obstacle behind him. He had no other choice; he was going to have to fight this creature, after all.
Daniel moved his hand back to the desk and absently searched for something he could use to defend for himself, apparently his range of threatening weapons consisted of a pencil and a hardcover book. He kept eye-contact with the creature, which has only a few feet away to get to him. Any moment now, the creature would swing its talons and rip him into ribbons.
It was then when Daniel made a wrong decision. He snatched the book and threw it squarely into the creature’s face, in hopes of startling it, which did quite the opposite, actually. The strike only angered the creature; it shook its head vigorously and swung its arm at him. He knew it would be too late for him to dodge it however, he only watched as the talons came closer and closer to his face, waiting for the pain to throb his veins. Just then, the same tingling feeling was felt on his left hand again, as if urging him to push forward. As Daniel stretched his hand outward, he felt an invisible force going against him; he gave it a quick and firm push as he felt a whoosh from behind his ears. He opened his eyes at the perfect moment to witness the dark creature, once again, thrown back to the very end of the room, this time smashing into a shelf, causing a heap of heavy books to pile upon it.
The creature lay motionless under the books. He did not take a moment to breath. This was his only chance; he has to get out of here, and fast. Daniel bolted out of his door and stumbled carelessly down the staircase, shouting “Mom, Dad, help me!” He tripped pathetically over the last step and fell to his knees; looking up to see his parents sitting over at the family couch, watching something on the television and laughed about.
“Dad, there’s something up in my bedroom that tried to kill me!” his voice cracked, what he blurted sounded somewhat like a kid at the age of five would tell his parents of the monsters underneath his bed. He waited for a response, but neither his father nor his mother looked back at him, they only continued to the television program they so much anticipated.
From the above, Daniel could hear the creature rattled in frustration, followed by a violent bang of the wall. He knew that it would descend any moment. “Guys, I’m serious! There’s some black thing that’s coming down to kill me! We have to get out of here, now!”
There was no response from his parents.
Daniel stood waiting for a reaction. Nothing. He found himself in a rather awkward situation, blabbering what seems beyond the norm and ridiculous to his parents, who paid no attention to his pleads, when in truth, there is something that is out to hunt him down. And it won’t take long before the black humanoid to descend down the staircase. He vigorously shook his father, and as expected, he returned no response to his only son. It was as if he never existed, and they never knew of his presence. He turned back to see a shadow coming down upon the stairway, slowly yet very deadly. Should he just run? And leave his parents here to die for? Daniel swore under his breath, he gave the aged couple on the couch one last desperate look, which laughed at something humorous on the television, turned away and ran for the door.
