As I woke up this morning, my head was pounding, and my hands were shaking. It felt like a fever was coming up and the day hadn't even started yet. I turned over and took a breath before pushing myself up with my eyes still closed. "Come on.." I mumbled to myself and climbed out of bed to do my morning ritual. At first I stumbled towards the bathroom, to wash my face, brush my teeth and check how bad my hair looked.
So I came there and stared into the mirror, it took me a while to realise that there was this red crust on my face, as if my nose had been bleeding during my slumber hours.
I cleaned it off and saw that there's a cut on my cheek, which stung as soon as I traced my finger over it. I bit my lip and then noticed the blood on my nails. I turned my hands around, more blood.
Did I cut myself in my sleep? I wondered about it before washing my hands to see if there were any more wounds- but only bruises were to be found. Bruises that are at least a few hours old, I could tell by the way they've turned color already.
I frowned and checked the cut on my cheek again. It would need a bandage, maybe even stitching. I walked back to my room, to put on a shirt and pants before heading down the stairs.
But as I reached the stairs, I noticed crimson stains on the wall leading down, some on the stairs too. I gulped and silently moved back, grabbing the first thing that came to mind to serve as weapon. It wasn't anything impressive, just a pole that had been laying in the hallway for months now, for when we had moved here.
I walked down to the stairs again and took a deep breath before leaning forwards. I tried to see if there was anyone downstairs, anyone that could possibly have left the stains on the walls. Slowly, I took a step onto the stairs so it wouldn't make a sound. I couldn't see anyone, only some blood on the floor, and I could hear a rummaging sound coming from the hallway downstairs. I snuck my way down and glanced around, finding no one there. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and let my eyes fall onto the hallway door. I wondered what the sounds could possibly be, was it my dad working on something? Or maybe my little brother, Ethan, playing with his toys. Him being only 3 years old gave him a good excuse to play anywhere and still have fun. Though when I looked down, I saw a trail of blood going to the hall.
Again I took a deep breath, slowly making my way there, clenching onto the pipe in my hands, shifting it into my right as I reached for the door knob.
The sounds now became more obvious. It was a sick crunching sound, as if something was being eaten inside, bone breaking noises. Before I could even open the door I backed away, feeling sick from these sounds.
I wondered what was going on in there, could it be a dog? Or again maybe a family member? Perhaps it was just branches... yes, branches. I was sure of it. For the second time I reached for the door, and pressed the handle down to open it. I slowly pulled it back, leaning to the side to peek through, to see if there was anything. Then suddenly something black and furry stood in front of the opening I made, eyes looking right back at me. I tried to scream, backing away slowly and dropping the pipe in fear. The door opens more as the beast pushes against it to inspect me. It looked terrible, skinnily built, the tail and talons of a bird. A human-like head with the teeth on the outside of its mouth.
I felt the edge of the stairs soon press against my ankle as I kept backing away, the beast following me but only showing curious behavior. I had to make a choice quick: Run for the door? Or try to take the beast down with my bare hands? As the beast came towards me, I ran for the door as fast as I could, feeling the beast's claws scratch my back roughly and letting out a cry of pain
I stumbled forth and quickly rammed the door open, nearly falling into the garden, knowing the beast was right behind me. As I recovered my pose to run, I felt it grab my leg and give a soft growl.
It pulled me back inside and dragged me to the hallway. I cried, screamed, and kicked around, but it ignored me. Once there I saw more blood and... the mangled bodies of my family... my mom and dad... and little Ethan too.
I didn't have time to cry about their loss, I had to get out or I would end up like them. I grabbed a shoe that was laying around and threw it against the beast's face, taking the distraction to run again and throwing a chair over in my path outside to keep the beast far back enough. Once outside I ran down into the street.
"I must inform the police," I gasped to myself, looking back to see if I was followed, but I wasn't.
I went to the police and told them what happened, and of course they went to investigate... about half a day later they returned and said, "There is no beast, but we did find their bodies. All dead."
That's all they said, before some men came in and put me in a straight jacket... Mad they called me. An insane murderer.
They brought me to this padded room, and once the door closed I knew, I'm locked in here forever.
Alone.
Alone.
The insanity of being locked up