11:04 pm

The house is silent, empty for my parents who are away for the night at a Halloween party. They were worried about leaving me alone tonight, but the only thing that’s going to get me are little children dressed up as ghouls who want candy. Nothing I can’t handle.

I scroll through my social media accounts, keeping up with the world around me, laughing at the rare funny post. Most of it is mind numbing news with celebrity drama like who broke up with who and the usual insulting article about celebrities not being dressed in a ball gown and looking like a mannequin 24/7. I don’t enjoy reading these articles and I hate having them shoved down my throat but there really is no escaping it.

The screen on my computer flashes before going completely blank. “What the hell?” I ask, even though I know no one is there to answer me. I look around wildly for my charger, just in case it died and I didn’t notice the low battery.

I’m halfway across my dark room when the screen breathes with a hint of life. I stop in my tracks as it starts to flash periodically, before words start popping up every time it flashes. I walk closer, trying to decipher the fast changing words.

DO

YOU

BELIEVE

IN
MONSTERS

It kept repeating those five words, over and over again in a loop, gaining speed each round it makes until it’s just strobe lights of words, illuminating the dark space. The flickering continues for a while before shutting off completely.

I blink a few times, unaware of the trance that it put me in. My body feels like lead with chills running over my skin. As much as I don’t believe in monsters, I’m definitely freaked out. It must have been some stupid virus that someone put on my computer to freak me out, a Halloween joke. Like those joke videos on Youtube. Yeah, that’s what happened. Stupid hackers, they have nothing better to do with their time than mess with people’s lives.

I start to get ready for bed, though I won’t admit it to myself out loud, I’m avoiding my computer. It sits there and stares back at me with black eyes. The more I look at, it the more it freaks me out.

Eventually I close it and put it on my nightstand. I lay in bed, buried beneath blankets, safe from any crazy thing my mind can come up with.

1:37

I wake up to something on my chest. My eyes fly open, looking for whatever’s constricting my breath. An invisible force constricts around my limbs, slowly crushing the air out of my lungs. I start to feel claustrophobic under the layers of blankets, smothering me to death.

The weight lifts up suddenly and I’m scrambling out of my bed. I flex all of my muscles, making sure I have control over everything, while I search the dark room for anything that might have done this. Nothing I can see.

Then my eyes look at the slim space under my bed.

Though there is nothing visible underneath, my breath catches. I’m convinced something is under there, I just can’t see it. I run down the stairs and make my home on the couch. I lay there trying to talk myself out of the scary thoughts flying about my mind.

2:25

I’ve been drifting in out of sleep, scared every time I start to drift off. I stay awake, with a knife in my hand. I know that it’s just entertaining my own imaginations, but holding it near me makes me feel more secure. In the morning I’m going to wake up and have to explain to my mom why I’m clutching a knife. That’s sure to go over well.

The air is quiet and still, everything asleep and ignorant to my fears. A coldness seeps into my bones, freezing me in my place. My heartbeat picks up, beating erratically, wild with the sprites of my thoughts.

Something cold and slimy wraps itself around my ankle. I try to kick but my body only ends up twitching, nothing that could potentially save me and get rid of whatever it is. A growl sounds from underneath the couch, vibrating the cushions. Whatever is holding me, tightens and starts to pull down.

I squirm and kick and fight to the best of my abilities but I get thrown to the ground anyways. I face the couch and the small space under it, a dark abyss.

Something moves and two yellow eyes are looking right at me. A growl sounds again and I know it’s coming from this yellow-eyed beast. My first instinct is to scream, but my jaw is locked shut.

The last thing I see are those luminescent eyes, glaring at me.