Real Encounters

*How I Lost My Finger*

When I was 7, my mom asked me to deliver something to a neighbor. It was very dark that night and there were no street lights. I could barely see anything. On the way home, I came to a bend in the road with big bushes on both sides. All of a sudden, I heard a loud rustling behind me. When I looked behind me, I saw a tall, dark figure emerging from the bushes. I started running. I could hear a man’s heavy breathing close behind me. I ran as fast as I could, but he was gaining on me. I dodged to the right and took a shortcut through a hole in a row of tall bushes. I reached the driveway of ny house and heard him crash through the bushes. He was still after me. When I got to the front door, I caught my pinky finger on the screen. I was s terrified, I rushed inside and slammed the door shut. I loced it and screamed for my parents. I didn’t notice my finger was missing until my mom gave me a big hug. My dad ran out with a gun and tried to find the guy, but he was gone. When my dad came back, he found my finger and put it in a bag of ice to take to the hospital, but they couldn’t reattach it. A few months later, in a neighboring town, a boy about my age went missing while walking home late at night. Then another went missing a few months after that. They were never heard from again and I can’t help thinking that if I hadn’t been so quick on my feet, I might have suffered the same fate.