The watching

It was not too dissimilar to any normal day. I awoke to the overwhelming sound of my Mothers voice echoing up the empty stairwell, "Come on James, we need to go!" The sound of her voice bellowed around the inside of my skull, I felt incredibly strange, almost as if someone was watching me. I had felt this strange stare all night, a sharp, deep, piercing glare, creeping towards me as I slept soundly, only briefly aware of it's everlasting presence. I dragged my drained carcass towards her voice, my heavy eyes accompanied by my heavy footsteps, I began my seemingly never ending journey down the stairs. I climbed into the car and rested my tired head on the condensed, icy car window. Creek. The ancient car door slowly swung open and my Mother slumped into the driver seat. I was soon in a deep-trance like sleep- in the back of the car.

I was awoken by the sheer silence that enveloped around the car, with no idea how long I had slept, drowsiness setting in and the strong stench of alcohol in the air I peered through the car window and began to analyse my surroundings. I could not form any idea of my whereabouts, but it was nowhere familiar. I slowly stepped my left foot out of the car door which already stood ajar and began to dart my eyes around my peripheral vision. I then began to spin on my heels taking in a further detail of the area. It was so cold. The hair on the back of my neck stood erect, due to a combination of cold air and an eery, uncomfortable environment. Although the hairs stood like the hackles of a dogs fur, I wasn't as scared as perhaps I should have been. A thick grey fog carpeted the area in which I stood, the floor appeared to be that of an old abandoned car park. "Wait, this isn't a car park!" I thought aloud, contemplating the facts, balancing them into my consideration. "Hello?" I shouted, "Is anyone there?" No response. There was a crisp rustling sound in the bushes nearby. The cemetery was situated next to a forest which seemed as dark as space itself, there seemed to exist no light beyond the tree line. There was a fresh smell of chopped wood and damp leaves, on my left stood the actual graveyard. Each headstone was carefully crafted, paying expert attention to detail. Some of the beautiful stones were softly cracked and beginning to crumble. A very light fog hovered about the bottoms of the stones, engulfing the base. The ground was barely visible, even just at my feet where my old shoes peaked through the mist. The fear struck me with heavy impact, it took the form of a pounding heart. Speeding around my body: a mixture of adrenaline and fear, seeping through my veins. With this heavy heartbeat my pulse began to raise drastically. With my palms heavily sweating and my forehead beginning to dampen I called out timidly, "Who's there?" The rustling began again, only at a much more accelerated pace and at a higher degree of decibels.

Suddenly, all was silent. The wind which was roaring violently had whistled to an instant halt, with that came the dead silence of the trees which had been swaying due to the fierce gale. The fog cleared instantaneously, giving me a very clear view of what lay behind the colossal trees. I could see as clear as day a very large man. My kidnapper-my assailant. He was standing in the tree line staring straight into my eyes as I returned the look. His eyes were fixated onto me, they were almost black in colour and sat deep inside of his head. They gave a glare so piercing I could feel myself almost imploding under the pressure exerted from it. It was the same glare that I had felt the previous night, or was it the previous night? How long had I been gone? I opened my mouth to speak but the words refused to form: they themselves were terrified of his lurking presence. Horror-struck, I tried to turn and run but I could not, my feet would not allow it. I was frozen outside of the space time continuum, halted in another dimension with nothing but a huge man dressed in black baring down on me. As normal time set in once again the man bolted, hard and fast. As his long stride brought him towards me a rusty wrench emerged from inside of his long black sleeve. I was still frozen, unable to move a single muscle. My heart seemed not to beat even though now it was racing faster than ever before.

That was my final recollection of the forest and graveyard, what came next was much, much worse.

I regained consciousness very slowly. I kept waking up and blacking out again. Catching glimpses of my kidnapper, only now he was much more terrifying. He was wearing one of the doctor suits from the Black Plague, with the crow- like black faces and green, deep green, eyes. He was crawling around on his knuckles and the balls of his feet, scraping the long beak of his mask along the floor brushing past my leg like a cat. I thought I was hallucinating. Apparently, I was as the man had vanished without leaving a single trace of his existence. I tried to move but I was strapped to a chair that sat in the corner of the room, my hands and feet securely tied down. I began to look around, the room was empty, there was a door on the opposite wall to the one which I was pressed against and precious little else. Nothing. It was very dimly lit. I could hear breathing, I winced as I turned my pain burdened head: pain due to to the clubbing blow which I had sustained earlier. A thick residue of dry crusty blood plastered my skull. The breathing which I had presumed to be my own had stopped. I glanced to my right and yelped in terror because there he was. His face pressed tightly against my own, still wearing the mask. He was clutching a very large combat knife which had a certain shine to it; he skid his tongue out of the mask and slowly licked the blade from the handle upwards, slicing his tongue causing blood to gush out. I pulled my head as far from him as the straps would allow, I expected to wake up in my bed and jump back into reality, bringing an end to this horrific dream, but as I opened my eyes I realised that this was only the beginning and this was no dream-it was a nightmare. The man repeated the same licking motion only this time down my right cheek, the contact seemed to last an eternity. I could feel the warmth of his blood oozing over my face. "Get off!" I screamed whimpering and crying aloud. He scrambled speedily out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Floods of tears overwhelmed me as I shook the chains attached my hands and feet violently, crying for help. No response. Not a single soul could hear my horror-fulfilled screams. Nobody in the whole world. I was completely alone, helpless in the horror filled room which was flooded with the everlasting sound of my soon-to-be-killers manic laugh. I sat there, pondering quietly. Wondering what tragic fate was to befall me, but I could not picture it. I had given up screaming hours ago, it came to my realisation that no one could hear them so what was the point? A while later he returned. He was wheeling a television stand behind him; he placed it directly in front of me and slipped in a disk. I lifted my heavy head to peer at the screen and by this time the man was gone. I felt really uneasy and unimaginably tired. I tried my very hardest not to watch the footage-pulling out every last ounce of strength which remained, applying it to my will power but I could not peel my anxious eyes from the screen. The video started with him sitting in the very same chair that I was strapped to. He spoke surprisingly softly, "Hello James" I shrieked with terror and let out a loud whimper. How did he know my name? The tears colliding with the dry blood had sparked a river of red streaming down my cheeks, engulfing my skin much like the video had engulfed my emotions-messing with my mind. The video proceeded to show the outside of my house; the camera was focused on my bedroom window. I could see myself settling into bed. Then it jumped ahead "What the f..." I spoke aloud. The camera was focused on a very familiar setting, but my brain could not function, I could not decipher what the camera was aiming at. Then I realised it was my bedroom, it was focused on me, in my bed, sleeping soundly. The camera turned to face the one who was wielding it's power; it was of course the man. I turned my head away in disgust as the man began to chuckle softly-but also in a somewhat deranged manner. That was the piercing glare I had felt upon me.

It was him, perched in the corner of my room recording me as I slept. I felt colder than I ever had before, the coldness overwhelmed me, almost causing the tears on my face to freeze. How did he get me to the cemetery? Where was my Mother? So many questions, so few answers and very little time to wonder. I could hear footsteps directly above my head. My heart was pounding at an unmeasurable rate, I had turned cold as stone, the room in which I had spent the last twelve hours in seemed to grow even darker. I clenched my fists and let out a bellowing cry, one final desperate plea for help. I was truly alone. My head was spinning and the darkness continued to engulf me. The walls bowldered in on me, I could taste the fiery depths of hell eagerly awaiting my inevitable arrival. The devil was laughing manically, waiting for me. The door flung open and the man entered with my Mother in his grasp.

"Welcome home James..."

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Okay so this is my first post on here, I should have some more stuff up fairly soon but in the meantime I hope you have enjoyed this short story.

There may be a sequel to this I haven't decided though as of yet.

If you enjoyed this story, leave your thoughts in the comments, if you do not like it also let me know but please keep criticism constructive.

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-writing is freedom

Thanks,

Liam:-)

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