The Nightmere; Victim 1

The First Sighting

It started one chilly night, when the moon was to be at its fullest.

Seth, a fifteen year old boy, sat on the edge of a feild the woods creeping deep behind him. His parents big red metallic barn a few yards to his right.

He had come out here ever night for the past few months to think, to collect his thoughts. He loved writting stories and had come up with all his best ideas sitting out in this field. The fresh air helped him to relax. And his surroundings helped him set scenery for his books. Just being in the natural aura helped him get lost in his fantasy's and farther from reality, farther from his problems.

He looked up at the twinkling stars shining in the cloudless sky, as a bitter July wind swept through the forest rustling the dead leaves from past years. That's when he heard it. A shrilling screatch so unearthly it was almost more disturbing than it was frightening.

Alarmed he jumped to his feet, his eyes wide with fear and his heart pounding with such force he thought it might burst right through his chest as his head turned in every direction looking for the source of the noise. When suddenly something smashed up against his parents barn causing a loud thud. Seth violently jumped and whirled around. He realized it was the hay-loft door swinging open, hitting the barn, then slamming shut.

Seth didn't know how it would have been opened because he distinctly remembered locking it. Unless someone was up there. But who could it be?....it was around eleven-thirty, maybe even later. His parents would most likely be in bed. And his older brother was out tonight. And there would be no reason for any of them to come out here. They never did. They hadn't had any animals in that barn since Seth was a little boy.

Seth was frightened and wanted to run back to the safety of his home. But he decided against it and timidly began making his way toward the barn. But then stopped short in his tracks when he saw a lantern shinning in the window to the left of the hay-loft door. It looked as if no one were holding it. As though it were floating on thin air.

Then the lantern disappeared in a flash and a moment later returned in the open doorway of the barn. On the ground level. Seth felt a shiver run down his spine.

There, behind the light, stood a black hooded figure who looked to be seven feet tall, towering. The cloak he wore was frayed and the bottom of it dragged on the ground. The bottom half of his face was covered with a grey fabric mask. But because of the shadows created from the hood of its cloak Seth could not see the tip half of its face. Only red glowing eyes full of hostilitly.

The lantern glistened for a few more seconds then, from the strong wind gusts, was blown out. And darkness surrounded Seth once again.