I looked down and there was a solid silver chain with a beautiful black stone hanging off it. In the center of the stone was a brilliant yellow star that caught the sunlight just perfectly, so it seemed to twinkle and dance. I looked back up at the woman in amazement, but she had vanished. My gaze swung around the street and over by the river that separated the school from the farmlands. Although, there was no sign as to where she had come from or where she went. The wall that had been keeping me upright suddenly disappeared and I fell on my butt with a hard thud. Looking behind me I realized there had never been a wall there and assumed that it had been my own mind that had prevented me from moving further back. A glint from the silver chain caught my eye and I picked it up gingerly as if it were a hot rock about to burn me. After all, it was rather warm as if it were heated from the inside out. I turned the stone this way and that, staring at the beauty of it in awe. The yellow star
"Can you do that for me, sweetheart? I want to go try and find your mom.""No!" she suddenly screamed and wrapped her little arms around my neck. She squeezed so tightly that it almost cut off the airways and if she had been a little stronger, it probably would have. "Melissa, I need to go help your mother if I can. Please, let me do this," I begged. "She's a monster," she whispered into my neck. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close unsure of what to say back. There were no words I could find to reassure a little girl that her mother was not a monster if she had been acting anything like the people across the field. I held her for a moment longer until she sniffled then rubbed her forehead on my shirt. I silently begged her not to wipe her nose off on me as little kids were apt to do and then I set her away from me. A rustling from the bushes drew our attention to it. "Please, let that be a dog," I whispered to the sky. Melissa buried her head in the crook of my neck
An unearthly bellow from the other side of the field stopped my victory dance short and was a harsh reminder that I needed to get out of here. I raced back to the truck and was about to jump in when I heard a scream from inside the school. My heart dropped to my stomach as I thought of all those kids in there. I looked in the back seat and saw that Marcus and Melissa were huddled together right next to Johnathan's car seat. Johnathan was looking paler by the second, but I took heart in the fact that his chest was still rising. I stared at Marcus for a moment trying to decide what I wanted to do and what the right thing to do was. I think he must have read my mind because he looked down at Melissa then shook his head desperately, begging me not to go. I spied my cell phone on the seat and an idea came to mind. I ripped open the truck door and tried to ignore the sounds coming from behind me. I hopped in and grabbed the phone hoping that this call to 911 would go a lot better than my la
I lingered for a moment before stepping out. hoping it wouldn't be the last time, I would be able to tell him that. I locked the door to the truck and shut the door firmly so I knew it was closed completely, worrying that if it wasn't they wouldn't be safe.Walking up to the house, the ominous silence that radiated from it had my gut winding tighter and tighter. My hands shook so hard I dropped the keys while trying to unlock the door. I finally got it unlocked and I slowly opened it, grimacing at the creepy horror house squeak it made that echoed disturbingly in the silence. I left it wide open so that I could make a quick escape if I needed to. I stepped inside quietly and began searching for some sign that my husband was okay. I heard a noise coming from the back room and I stopped in my tracks. My heart pounded in my ears as I waited, frozen to the spot. A high-pitched mewling whine from the back room killed that hope as it began to bloom. Tears welled up in my eyes as I recognize
"Are you feeling better now?" I asked once again still having a hard time believing that this wasn't some trick. Acting very much older than his five years, he rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom, I'm fine."As further proof, he began to wiggle out of my grip, but I grabbed his arm before he could get too far away from me. "No, baby, we need to get back to the truck," I said standing up and pulling him back to the cab. "But I wanna go get my toy!" he whined. "I know, baby, but daddy's really sick right now and he's not being very nice," I tried to explain to him. "I promise I'll be very quiet!" he said hopefully as he gave me his best puppy dog face. "I know you would. But we can't, we have to leave. Maybe we have a toy in the truck for you to play with." "Mom, is Johnathan okay?" Marcus asked anxiously peeking his head out the truck door. "Yes," I reassured him. "That was some cold, huh?"I nodded my head in agreement then checked on Melissa as she hid in the corner watching everythin
"What do you mean?" I asked frantically throwing it into park. "We could help him."I went to grab the handle when she stopped me with a hand on my arm. "Kids, close your eyes and do not open them until I tell you too," was her reply."What are you doing?" I snapped at her frustrated with her lack of empathy. "Watch," she demanded. My eyes were glued to the scene as it unfolded in front of me. In less than a second, the woman had the man pinned down on the street and her mouth opened wide. She was going to bite him, and I really didn't want to watch as this boy got turned. Yet, no matter how much I told my eyes to look away, to close, they refused. Instead of biting him, she began sucking a strange thick fog out of him. The man fought hard and desperately, but she was too strong. Then he went limp and began to have a seizure like Johnny had. In a matter of seconds, he went from being in the peak of health to being emaciated. The change happened so suddenly that I had to blink severa
The knife was not very big, hardly over four inches, but it was big enough that a steady stream of blood poured down my leg and pooling on the ground. A scuffle of feet gave away the owner of the knife as he scooted out from under a car and raced towards the building. Unfortunately, this caught the creature's attention and before I could do anything, it was leaping off the nearest car and tackling the man, taking him down in no time flat. It proceeded to pin him down and do whatever it was they did. When my leg gave out, I hit the concrete hard and jarred the wound in my leg, causing even more damage. I whimpered and grasped the handle desperately. Even with the knowledge that I shouldn't touch it, I couldn't stop myself; I wanted it out now. Gingerly I laid back against the nearest car and straightened my legs out in front of me. Grasping the handle even more firmly, I took a few bracing breaths and bit my lip to stifle the cry of agony that would burst out once I began. In one swi
"Stop!" came the loudest voice I had ever heard. The whole room paused and looked back at a frail-looking woman walking slowly towards us with a tiny cane. I recognized this woman from one of the stores in town. She was always sitting on the bench talking to the pigeons she would feed, treating them like children themselves. The few times I had stopped and talked to her she had always been genuinely nice. The best time had been when I had asked her if she needed some food or something, she had chortled and pointed to the bread bag next to her. "If I need to eat, I'm sure the birds will share," she had informed me still chuckling. We had all considered this woman crazy, but it never stopped me from smiling and nodding a greeting to her whenever I had seen her. Now, I had never been so happy to see the crazy bird lady in my life. She continued to walk slowly until she stopped in front of me and started examining me closely."You sick, girl?" she finally asked in a gruff voice. "No, s