Creep Book 1, Charlie-Charlie

CHAPTER 7

Chapter 7

I flung the laptop to the edge of the couch, breathing deeply. As I sat there trying to wrap my head around what I just saw I felt this sudden uneasy feeling, as if I was not alone, as if someone was watching me. I lifted my gaze, noticing a small dark shadow fixed in the corner.

I had to pinch myself several times just to make sure that I was not dreaming or maybe I was just delusional. I could see the light from the corridor flicker through the drawn blinds. I was frozen, other than my eyes I could not get up; I was not able to move at all, I was paralyzed from the neck down. Forced down, held against my will by my fear.

I had experienced sleep paralysis a lot as a child and if I was asleep I would have accepted that, yet I knew I was awake. The shadow still stood its ground. The more I watched it however, the more it seemed to lose its threatening appearance; an object that just appeared menacing, but was completely harmless.

When life had returned to my extremities and I was able to move, I found that it indeed was a harmless object. Coopers large black coat hung over the coat rack in the corner.
“Oh my God,” I giggled, “You nearly gave me a heart attack you stupid freaking coat.” My legs still felt a little off-center when I snatched up the laptop to take to Cooper. He needed to see what I had found.

The corridor outside was well lit as was the rest of the hall. I stopped instantly after closing the office door behind me; catching sight of a shadow darting from one corner of the ceiling to the next.

“I didn't think too much of it at the time, not after what happened before. Shrugging it off as overexertion, but barely a minute or so after I was again confronted by the unclear image of a small boy standing at the end of the hallway.
“No, get a grip Samantha. It's not real, it's your eyes, your eyes are playing tricks on you.” I tried convincing myself.

Suddenly my chest started hurting, as if someone was squeezing my lungs, my heart actually ached. No matter how much I tried convincing myself it was not real the uncomfortable feeling just grew. With each flicker of the corridor light the little boy came closer; one second his jerking body was at the end of the hall, the next he was closer, jerking even more.

My hand reached for the office doorknob; jiggling and wiggling without any success.
“Come on, come on please.” I begged as the urgency grew. There was nowhere for me to go; he was blocking my path to Cooper and the office door refused to open. I slowly began to back away; deeper and deeper into the partially constructed pediatric wing.

There was absolutely no light; loose bricks, debris and bags of cement lay around making my escape even more treacherous. I bobbed and weaved between scaffolding and ladders; barely keeping my balance. I had no idea where I was going; all I knew is that he was coming.

I fought my way past sheets of hanging plastic and open wire; losing my way somewhere in the fray. Feeling as if my breath was being sucked out of me, to the point that it hurt to breathe. I ended up collapsing behind a stack of boxes, hoping I was safe, but knowing that I was not.

I felt the same coldness from before; moving up the inside of my pants leg, it took a while until finally I realized all too late what it was. By then it had already started dragging me across the floor with a viselike grip. I could however, not see any hand or claw holding onto me.

I let out a high pitched scream, “NO, NO, NOOO,” fighting with everything I had left inside me. My fingernails being ripped, from the nail beds as I tried to anchor myself long enough for help to arrive.
“NO, NO,” I screamed, “NOOO, COOPER PLEASE,”

“SAM, SAMMY IT'S ME IT'S COOPER.” Hearing his voice shook me. I was not sure if it was a trick or not, but when I opened my eyes I found myself still on the couch in Cooper's arms. I snapped, no longer able to hold back the river of tears. I sobbed loudly holding on to him for dear life and not caring who was watching.

“It's okay, you're safe. I'm here,” He soothed as hospital staff stood around gawking.
“It's okay everyone, all of you can go back to your business. Shuuu Sammy it was just a bad dream.”
“No, n-no, it ... h-he, w-was ... I-I wasn't.” Here take a sip of this. My God you're really shaking.” He pulled me closer covering me with the blanket until the tremors stopped and I felt a little bit better.

“You really know how to scare the crap out of me you know?” I shifted, pulling my legs up to my chest. I felt stiff my like my body had taken a severe beating and by what I could remember it did.
“Hey, I'm just kidding.” He said patting my leg, before I recoiled in pain.
“Sam? What's wrong?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” I slowly lifted the pants leg revealing a long scratch stretching from the outside of my upper thigh, to the end of my ankle.
“It wasn't a dream Cooper, I don't know what exactly it was, but it wasn't a dream.” Cooper said nothing only pulled me back against his chest.