September Short Story Collection

24 hours

September 5, 2019

(Song inspiration for this short - Tag, you're it by Melanie Martinez)

A lot could change in 24 hours. A lot.

I sat on the ground with my head in my hands. My head ached, my body hurt, and I had no more tears left to cry.

How had this happened? I asked myself.

I thought back to yesterday. It had been a completely normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except that it was Friday the thirteenth. And a full moon.

I had been walking home when I had my first encounter.

It was dusk, sunlight still hung in the sky but the lights in the parking lot had turned on. I was almost home. A car pulled up beside me and slowed down. The window rolled down to reveal a man who couldn't be much older than me.

"Hey there." He said, driving beside me.

I ignored him, turning to go a different way so I didn't have to walk next to this creep.

"You know it's rude to walk away from someone when they're talking to you!"

I heard his care shift into park and the door open. I turned to see him getting out of his old beater of a car.

My heart started to beat faster and I grabbed hold of the pepper spray on my keychain, unlocking it.

"Don't you want to know what I want." His voice was closer now.

"Just leave me alone, jackass," I called out, not wanting to show any fear in my voice.

"Now that's no way to talk to me." He says running up to me and grabbing my arm.

I sprung into action, screaming and spraying him in the face with the pepper spray. He screamed out in pain and collapsed to the ground and I took off.

"You're gonna pay little bitch!"

I kept running until I was out of breath. I looked around and saw that I wasn't too far from my house. I turned to look behind me but the man wasn't following me.

When I spun back around there was another man standing in front of me. I yelped and poised my pepper spray, ready to spray.

"Woah, are you okay?" He asks, hands up in defense.

"Yeah, sorry. This creep was following me back there. I'm just a little jumpy."

"Well, I know you don't know me but if you'd like I'll walk you home so that no one else bothers you. It's pretty dark out now."

I looked up and noticed that little bit of sunlight that had painted the sky was now gone. Only the light of the full moon lit the world now.

"Ummm, no. I'm fine, thank you though. My house is really close."

"No problem."

I started walking once again. I took deep breaths trying to calm myself down. I kept hold of my pepper spray just in case.

In no time I could see my house just down the street.

But I never got to it because someone hit me in the back of the head and everything went black.

I awoke in the middle of a forest. I looked around, confused and trying to figure out my surroundings.

I could hear voices but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

I looked up and saw the moon above me.

I stood carefully, checking to make sure I was okay. Other than a pounding head it seemed like I was okay,

Going against my better judgment I called out.

"Hello?"

The voices went silent.

I started walking, not sure where I was going.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I jumped, spinning around to see the guy I had pepper-sprayed.

"What's going on?"

"She's ours, Matt."

I jumped once again, spinning around to find the other guy I had run into standing on the other side of me. Both of them had others behind them. I was surrounded.

"But I found her first."

"That doesn't count. I actually got her, you didn't. "

The man called Matt who I pepper sprayed actually growled making me stumble backward.

"Your growling doesn't scare me, dog. I'm older and stronger than you. The sacrifice is ours."

Everything that they were saying just confused me more. Sacrifice? What in the world were they talking about?

"You bloodsuckers don't deserve the sacrifice. We do."

"Please, just let me go." I felt tears in my eyes. I didn't understand what exactly was going on, but I did know one thing: they wanted to kill me.

The nicer man appeared in front of me making me jump away from him.

"Don't be afraid child." He placed a hand on my check, wiping my tears from my face. "Your sacrifice is for the good of the world. It won't be in vain."

"Please, I don't want to die."

"Let me suggestion something we will both enjoy, Lewis." Matt said.

"And what is that?"

"A chase."

"Oh yes, we haven't had one of those in a very long time."

I was still begging and blubbering, I'm not sure either of them could really understand me, but they weren't listening to me anyways.

"Okay, first to catch her gets to sacrifice her." Lewis said.

"Deal." Matt says.

Lewis turned his attention back to me. "I want you to run, little girl. Run like hell."

And I did. All night. But they had picked the wrong girl to mess with.

Now, sitting on the forest ground, covered in blood and surrounded by bodies I looked up at the moon.

Word count: 910

I would like to sometime expand on this short. It's inspired sort of from a Melanie Martinez song and I've had this idea pretty much since I heard the song. So, maybe someday I will write some more about the peril that this character faces.