The house is dark save but a flickering candle in your hand and the light glowing from under a door down the hallway. Every step brings you brushing against cobwebs and occasionally feeling the tiny legs of the spider running along your skin. The candle threatens to go out as you flailed about in order to shake the spiders off.
Then you hear a thump. And another thump. A series of them, getting closer and closer. The floorboards squeak and shake as the thumps get louder and louder. Your own footsteps quicken down the hall, hearing the scuttling of mice and rats getting out of the way.
“Hurry.” A small voice filters out from behind the same door blocking most of the only other light source. “Before it catches you.” The voice is sweet, and light like a child’s. “Come to the safe place.”
The candle in your hand goes out because of your running. Eyes only on the little strip of light from under the door. Wings flap right past your ear, high pitched screeching coming from you as the bats called out to each other. Or perhaps to the creature behind you.
Once you get close to the door, you feel a rush of air, warm moist air, behind you. A quick glance over your shoulder revealed… blackness. Then a pulse of light, a blink of red, revealing a gaping maw full of long pointed teeth. Teeth that are whirring around in a circle.
You hit the door. Sweaty hands grab the handle, slipping around the brass knob which wouldn’t turn. “The door is crooked. The trick is to pull up and spin the handle!” The voice calls again.
You pull up, a smidge more light coming out at the bottom of the door, highlighting the dirt and dust coating your shoes. As the whirring reached the climax, you tumble into the room, falling face first into a pile of plump pillows.
The door slams behind you, and the room is quiet. “Welcome. To the safe place.” Peeling your face off a pillow, you look up, and see the source of the voice.
A bulbous head, with a glowing orb hanging in front of its grotesquely asymmetrical face. Pointed teeth poke out from between their lips, crooked and twisted. Arms and legs too long for the small torso, this creature is able to easily reach you, running a long fingernail down the side of your face.
“Safe for me to consume you.” Then the creature laughs, showing off a similar, though smaller, mouth with whirring pointed teeth.
Skylar clapped their hands, ending their proposal. “Scary right? If we can pull that off for the haunted house, we’ll make more than enough money for the road trip.”
Word count: 458
