Rip. Snap. Crack. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZtQkxKSAz 維尼

These are the words to describe my friend being eaten by whatever’s in the dark, whatever is in the shadows that I refuse to investigate. All I can do is run, run, run until I’m in the clear.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWUugiKhYf 維尼

Except I’m never in the clear.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7UcuNxnDv 維尼

Snap. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡNa9jEsrHsi 維尼

It sounds like my friend’s tibia breaking in two, but it’s a dead branch this time. I turn to my right, toward the sound, and see something moving under the light of the moon. The best I can describe it is that it’s big. I know that’s childish––unliterary-like––but if you were ten yards away from this monstrosity, “big” would be the only word you can think of, too.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVMnBE7ZoW 維尼

There you go: monstrosity.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhcLdf8xTy 維尼

The rain makes the leaves on the ground slick. The distance I’m putting between myself and the house behind me seems to get smaller instead of greater. But the house isn’t the only thing I’m running from anymore. It’s the house and the big something to my right. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdOyJUYyRq 維尼

It snarls and I see foam dripping from its chin. Hair clings on random sections of its grey skin and other parts are raw, as if flesh never grew over those areas of its body.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCCYNl3lRv 維尼

How did I get here? I’m wondering the same thing myself while trying to get away from this house that seems to be pulling me back in.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzb956lUtE 維尼

There was a pamphlet at my work. It was the last one of its kind, advertising a quiet getaway in a rustic house isolated in the woods. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18DYmQPkAn 維尼

Isolated. Quiet. Rustic. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zjKygiioZ 維尼

Those are the words the pamphlet used, and I thought I would be stupid not to rent it out for the weekend. Bring a friend and a couple six packs, it was a win-win situation.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6Y8rIwLkr 維尼

Until the basement started breathing fire and the second floor swarmed with legions and headless children. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwyoY0OvGD 維尼

It went from win-win to lose-lose in one night. In two hours, actually.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SFkHBdVSu 維尼

I give up trying to outrun whatever is now bounding toward me and dart back into the house. Smoke permeates throughout the air, but at least the fire is out in the basement. I hear my friend screaming in the living room. Whatever is munching him isn’t done yet. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1uKcu4HZG 維尼

Before me are the stairs, and at the top of them is a woman. She’s in a wedding dress––a dirty, old wedding dress.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoR0voooZG 維尼

“Byron, you’ve come back,” she says to me in a deep, baritone voice. She extends her arms out to me and I take a step back.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaYK0gX8Ol 維尼

I cough on the smoke. “I–I’m not Byron.” I tell her, “You got the wrong guy.”8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkzeQJPz4V 維尼

Her eyes flash red, I kid you not, and she descends the stairs without touching one step with her feet. “Come to me, Byron.” She smiles, then I realize that’s all she can do is smile, because she doesn’t have lips. One eye hangs from its socket by the red fibers I can’t remember the name of. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfUX6Mcdmq 維尼

I take a step back, and what I feel on the back of my neck is more than just my hair standing on end. I turn to see the monstrosity looming over me, tongue lolling out of the side of its mouth, eyes green, pupils a vertical slit.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZTFocM1Ld 維尼

“Byron,” the bride says. She doesn’t have hair. She doesn’t have breasts. The dress hangs on her boney shoulders, her arms still outstretched. “I’m yours.”8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHjF0hUivT 維尼

In the room next to us my friend is screaming my name. “Shut up!” whatever is eating him growls. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPtnPNkEjT 維尼

The monstrosity behind me growls, and a string of its saliva falls directly into the back of my collar, the thick, gummy fluid trailing down my spine. I shriek, bypassing the bride and into the kitchen.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcTSxMFKkG 維尼

A knife. A pan. A spoon. I’ll take anything that I can swing in front me like a child.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3auDEQK5Y 維尼

“Byron!”8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡv59nFgUNeX 維尼

A bolt of lightning splits the house in two, the flash of white blinding me.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxiOnR22bu 維尼

Before I know it, the bride has me in her arms. I’m staring into the face of someone’s great-great-great grandmother, and she’s trying to kiss me without lips. The one eye in her socket closes while the other bounces against my cheek. I squirm but her skeleton arms hold me tight. Before I know it, her teeth are mashing my lips.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtc6UFNJw1 維尼

My friend continues to scream, and I think: It sure is taking a long time to eat him.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzeL6PJX4a 維尼

Suddenly the bride’s arms let me go. More accurately, the monstrosity rips them from their sockets and beats her with them. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKNs7k3MGY 維尼

Is it protecting me? I wonder, then decide that I don’t care the monster’s intent. It’s time for me to go.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWJqCImXsr 維尼

I jump over the chasm that the lightning strike opened up and spring out the front door one more time. The rain doesn’t let up, and yet somehow the iridescent moon is still present, beckoning the horrors of this night to come out.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡulnQnsKLc3 維尼

My heart leaps back toward the house, toward my friend, but there’s nothing I can do for him now. At least he’s stopped screaming. If I can’t be a hero, then I can be a survivor.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpUzRRCfGa 維尼

Whack. Slap. Bang.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbXRj0vRsZ 維尼

These are the words to describe the monstrosity beating the already dead bride. She’s screaming, “BRYON! BYYYYROOOON!” 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4bvM74Ari 維尼

That experience alone discourages me from ever tying the knot. I mean, any second her arms might detach and be used as weapons against her––or against me. I don’t want to marry someone expendable. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFYuLrSNeQ 維尼

This isn’t the mentality to have right now. I need to escape.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoggWcUQUK 維尼

I get in my car and start it. Thankfully the dead-car-cliché isn’t fulfilled. The tires struggle to find traction on the muddy road, but the screaming and roaring behind me abates as I leave the front gates. Automatically they swing shut behind my car. I don’t remember them being automatic––then again, I don’t remember poltergeists ever chasing anyone with a baseball bat, yet it happened. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUMXvEy4zA 維尼

I am everyone’s humble, petrified witness.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9amSxK14G 維尼

Ten minutes down the road, as my fear slowly dissipates into denial, something shifts in the backseat. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZPcZCmlgl 維尼

I don’t want to look in the rearview mirror, but I have to.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡepBVNn9nG3 維尼

Yellow teeth gleam at me in the mirror; blue lips pull back and a crooked nose flares. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlchRnQSt0 維尼

“No one leaves my house until I’m done with him,” the colorful mouth says. Spit flies onto my shoulder and I look over and see specks of blood. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQiDsSroho 維尼

Something tells me this is Byron. 8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKK3LZ6hzK 維尼

Now I feel guilty for kissing his wife.8964 copyright protection468ＰＥＮＡＮＡk42MpYpqJo 維尼

34.239.147.7