The Dark and Stormy

by Cassidy Ott
(California)

The Dark and Stormy

It was a dark and stormy night. The paintings on the walls jiggled, tapping ever so slightly on the wall. The hard rain sounded like a fast rap on the door. I walked down the white stairs into darkness. Unaware of my surroundings, I sauntered across the room.
Leaves from the tallest eucalyptus trees floated by soundless, but the wind was not so quiet.
“ Come here, " it seemed to say to me. Dolefully , I obeyed.
As a strode through the dark room, I felt lost. It was like the two ways into the room had disappeared in the darkness. I felt my way throughout the room even though I didn’t know what I was looking for.
“ Come here," I heard again. I followed the sound to the edge of the wall.
“What was over here?" I thought. I leaned against it trying to hear something through it.
“CREAK" the noise came from the stairs. I turned my head quickly, attempting to grasp the flat brown wall. As I looked up, I could seem to make out a figure. It was long. There seemed to be six long stick like things sprouting out. Two dots near the round headlight part glowed orange in the darkness of the room.
I took a quick glance out the window and noticed the moon and noticed that it reached its peak. When I turned around, moonlight filled the room. I once again glanced at the stairs. There was nothing to be seen.
I slammed myself against the wall , and started breathing heavily.
OMG!!!!! What was that thing? I thought, regretting listening to the wind. What if it wasn’t the wind? What is it- what was that...that thing? What ever it was I decided that I did not want to find out. I walked toward what I thought was the exit. I tottered down the hallway. In the moonlight, the pictures gleamed a mysterious glow that made them seem see through. This didn’t seem right. Why was something scary happening now? It wasn’t even Halloween. It was way past that. It was actually the complete opposite of Halloween. It was April 29th, 2015. It wasn’t Halloween, so it could have been a … a…
A what? I didn’t even know. I didn’t know what the heck that thing was. What was happening!
I continued to briskly jog down the hallway, lightly tapping each picture as I passed by. I took some small, loud breaths. I saw the end of the hallway and nimbly ran toward it. Yet, I didn’t seem to get any closer.
UGH!!! This was exactly like those movies where it just gets farther and farther away. Oh my, this was crazy. Just another fairy tale- except this isn’t fake this was real. What was I going to do. They all end up fine in the movies, but this was no movie, there was no way of knowing what would happen next.
My head was spinning. All of a sudden I fell to the ground. Something had hit me. I looked up but saw nothing except the ceiling. I blacked out.