Midnight Tales From The Depths of an Odd Mind

"Vampires Will Never Hurt You" Well...

     The clock flashed 3:03 a.m, but Ryan still wasn't done with tomorrow morning's assignment. He was exhausted, but this work was worth 30% of his final grade and he could not afford to lose that. He stared blankly at the screen, begging for some sort of inspiration. His hands laid unmoving on the keyboard. Ryan finally pulled his hands back, throwing his head back, and allowing his eyes to fall shut for a moment. There was no way he could manage to get this through; he was only 100 words in on a 2000 words essay. He was screwed, and he had known that since the moment he had started that essay. There was not much he could do at that point, maybe he could make up some sort of excuse about his computer malfunctioning while he tried to print it or something like that.

     When Ryan opened his eyes again, his screen was out. It was just static. He gasped and launched forward, praying he had not lost all - well his precious 100 words - of his work. Ryan's fingers typed furiously, trying to turn back on his computer. He finally gave up, as the computer kept showcasing the same gray-ish dot pattern. Ryan buried his hands into his hair. He couldn't believe it. He had been trying to get that piece through for most of the night. He was on the verge of tears, but he looked up. The screen was no longer just static. Now it was red, and Ryan could barely look at it. It was too damn bright to be just his computer playing tricks. The screen turned black, and then it returned to his home screen. His work was nowhere to be found, but Ryan was relieved his computer still worked. 

     Out of the blue, the video player started running. Ryan was dumbfounded. He looked at his screen in confusion. He didn't even know his computer could do that. On the screen, a video started playing.   A man sat in front of his camera - or more likely, his computer's camera - his face was pale, as if he had just seen a ghost. His breathing was ragged and beads of sweat were slowly forming on his forehead. A figure appeared next to him. It was large, standing at probably six feet, and it was not human. It was sort of shaped like a thick bowling pin, its "skin" seemed to be that of one of those clowns that usually sat untouched in the arcade game, the ones you are supposed to knock down with those heavy wood balls. However, this creature was not exactly as friendly looking - as friendly looking as a clown can be. On the spot the drawn-on mouth was meant to be, a huge gash seemed to be giving way to two thick elephant-like tusks. It tightly clung to an axe with something that resembled deformed arms. The man on the screen grew more horrified with every second, unaware of the impending doom behind him. The monster did not move. Instead, it carefully watched as the man slowly panicked. 

     On his chest, Ryan felt how a pressure slowly started to build up. He could barely breathe and his body felt as if it was slowly going limp against his desk chair. He wanted to scream. To warn the man of what awaited him. But he couldn't. Their screens weren't connected and he could not scream that loud. The man's eyes started to widen and his mouth went agape. Slowly, the creature drew the axe back, readying itself to strike. The man was still looking at his screen. Ryan felt a strange force pull him under. He couldn't breathe or talk or move, but most importantly, he couldn't scream. Ryan wanted to scream and cry, but panic had overtaken him. His pulse and breathing quickened. For a second, Ryan stared behind the man. 

     There was a clock. It seemed to sit still, and Ryan wondered why. But, as soon as the clock stroke 3:33, the monster swung. The man's head rolled off with a quiet thud. The beast lurched forward. Opening its jaws wide and taking in whole the man's severed neck. It sucked and sucked, until the man's limp body was left bone dry. The screen flashed red again, now it had something Ryan didn't manage to read. Little black hieroglyphics were the closest description he could come up with. Then, his computer shut down.

     Ryan's breath seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere deep in his throat. The room started to shrink, as the panic started to slowly set in. An ice cold pick went through his back, and buried itself somewhere deep on Ryan's heart. The reflection on his screen was a sick joke. His face was pale and his eyes were wide. His mouth was agape and fear sat clear on his features. Behind him, a massive bulk stood. For a second, Ryan thought -- no he hoped -- it was just a sick some messed up game of his imagination. He prayed to all angels that his reflection was just an optical illusion, a product of sleep deprivation. But it was most certainly not

   Behind Ryan, one of the bowling creatures stood quietly. Its oddly deformed arms held onto a machete; it glimmered under the faint light of Ryan's clock. It didn't move, it was absolutely still. Ryan tried to scream, to call for help, but no words managed to come out of his mouth. The young boy started shaking. Off his lips fell a silent prayer, a soft beg for all to be just a dream. Yet, words never had the power to change reality.

     The creature swung. Its tiny and messed up arms created an arch through the air, with great force.  In a single clean cut, the beast severed Ryan's head at the very base of his neck. The boy's head fell with a heavy, crunching thud. It rolled a bit on the ground its eyes wide open and mouth agape; the same look of sheer horror Ryan had before his death. Before any blood drop had touched the floor, the creature had already wrapped its destructive mouth around Ryan's neck, sucking whatever life had been left inside.

     The computer screen flashed again red. This time it stayed. In a bold, dark font, thousands of names were written hauntingly. At the very bottom, one last name stood out from the rest: Ryan Black.