Shadow Town

Chapter 7

Diary Entry #4

July 18th

11:23 PM

My house

    Dearest Diary, good news! I'm completely insane! Apparently i imagined the whole thing up, which i'm okay with. I don't think my brain could handle any of that if it was real. My parents just about killed me when i came home, they thought i ran away with some guy. News flash, mom and dad, no boy would ever come within 10 feet of me. I told them everything that happened and the first thing that came to their mind was drugs, they thought i was on a bad trip. They searched everything, my room, my knapsack, my pockets, but they found nothing of concern except a pack of Marlboros. So now they're convinced i'm a complete psycho and are taking me in to see a psychologist tomorrow. I'm honestly somehow okay with all this, really i'm okay. I'm not completely satisfied with the fact that there's something wrong with my brain, though. My dad said i could be a schizophrenic, and that thought really scares me. My brain could come up with all that shit, the town, Dakota, the subhumans. One part of me is scared, but the other part is really relieved that it's not real.

Astor out.

Astor got up from her desk and walked over to her dead fish, Bobo, on her dresser. She scooped the decomposing fish out of the fish bowl and tossed it in the trash. She turned off the music on her iPod, stopping it in the middle of "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane" by QOTSA. She jumped in her bed, and slowly shut her brain off, somehow comforted by the fact that she was insane, or so she thought.

⤖⤖⤖

They came in the shadow of night, and they took back what was rightfully theirs. It grew even more in power and was greatly pleased with itself. It's thirst was quenched and it's hunger was fed, the hunt was finished and now it was time to dispose.

⤖⤖⤖

Next thing she knew, she woke up screaming. She was in so much agony she could barely open her eyes to see what was happening. She squinted and what she saw before her terrified her beyond words. Grinning faces surrounded her and pure evil radiated from their menacing glares. She counted five in total, five subhumans. They had bloodied tools in their hands, spindly and twisted, she'd never seen such sinister contraptions. They each had one purpose: to inflict immense pain their victims in the slowest way possible.

They noticed she was awake, but they didn't say anything. They looked at each other then walked away, leaving her to stew in conscious pain.

She looked around dizzily, slowly blinking. The blurry shapes around her came into focus and she noticed she was in a courtyard. Surrounding her were piles of human bones. Some still had rotting flesh hanging off the bones. There were scattered trees which were black and spiky, with lonely chains strung on them. The sky was blood red, and everything around her reflected red. The dirt ground looked like it was soaked in blood but she couldn't tell if it was from the sky or if it really was blood.

Despite her pain she tried moving slowly. But she was bound helpless, again. She was chained to a tree's branch, but the branch was too thick for her to break even if she wasn't hurt. Everything she saw started fading to black and she felt very tired.

⤖⤖⤖

She was awoken by someone's annoying voice and slapping hands.

"Astor?" A man's voice sharply whispered,"Astor, please wake up!"

Then a hand smacked her in the face and she groaned. Her eyes slowly opened, like when a child's eyes slowly flutter close from fatigue.

"Oh! Sorry, I don't want to hurt you more than you already are" the man whispered apologetically. His voice sounded far away even though he was right there.