Hi there. Were you looking for me or did you stumble onto my book on your own?
Either way, let me introduce myself.
I am Ashley Winchester, I am 16-year-old, and I love to travel. What else? you will know the rest about me soon enough.
Before you keep reading, let me ask you a question.
Do you believe in Monsters? Or in the things that go bump in the night? ...maybe this book will force you to think!
As for me? I never believed in monsters, until I came face to face...with one.
To be honest, I love reading good horror stories, but I would never want to be in one. But now that I am involved, and seeing that you are still reading, I assume you want to get involved too…well…you have been warned.
Without further ado, here's what happened.
This story in particular started with a feeling.
A really scary feeling.
I knew it was a nightmare the second it started. I also knew I was trapped in it. I found myself running from someone…something but no matter where I looked each direction was identical. I tripped once, scrapping my knee but felt no pain. The sky overhead thundered, grey clouds loomed overhead, casting deadly shadows. I swallowed hard, as I continued to run but I knew it was to no avail. Even if I ran fast enough for my lungs to burst, I was not going anywhere. My legs seemed to move slower than ever as I fought my way through the forest. I turned to see what it was that I was running from, raw fear gripping me. I stumbled and crashed onto the hard earth. It was then that he finally found me. I screamed as I met his eyes, dark and haunting. He tilted his head a little and sneered, as he took a step towards me.
It was then that I knew…this moment was going to be the death of me.
Fear paralyzed me. Never in a million years had I imagined my death to walk towards me like this, nor did I ever think I would die out here, in the middle of the woods, all alone. I held my breath as I saw him kneel in front of me, I opened my mouth to plead as he brought his hand to my throat at lightning speed. The last thing I remember was looking into his dark eyes, which radiated malice as, with an iron grip, he squeezed the life out of me…
My eyes flew open as I sat upright, one hand at my throat, gasping for air. For a few moments I just sat still, feeling my heart hammer in my chest as I looked around me, trying to reassure myself that I was in my comfortable and cosy room, sitting on my soft bed. It didn't work. I was still too terrified to move.
This was unusual, I never had nightmares. Was this a sign of something? My great Aunt Helene used to say that Nightmares existed to warn us when something sinister was on the way. Was something coming?
I glanced at my bedside clock. It was 8;15 am Saturday. Throughout the week I was so looking forward to the weekend and now that it was here, I was not going to ruin it by a nightmare, I thought, falling back on my pillow as I drew the blankets around me, trying to go back to sleep.
'It's a nightmare, it's only a dream, no one wants to kill me' I chanted as I took a few deep breaths to calm down, but instead I sat up straight again as a sharp pungent smell filled my nostrils. The smell of something burning. I took another deep breath. Something was definitely burning.
"Jason! Did you burn something?" I called out, but when no one replied I threw back the covers and got out of the bed, tentatively walking out my room and making my way to his. I lived in a three-bedroom apartment with my family, which my grandparents had bought in the early days of their marriage.
I entered my brother's room without bothering to knock. He sat at his desk with his headphones on, balancing his x-box controller and his i-pod on his thighs as he hastily texted on his phone. I looked around the room to see if something was burning but when I saw no tell-tale signs of smoke, I approached him from behind and knocked the headphones off his head.
"HEY!" he exclaimed turning and then looking at my angry expression, meekly added "and a good morning to you too."
"What the hell are you doing, Jason?" I asked. He frowned as if not comprehending what I had just asked and then gestured at his headphones, i-pod, and x-box controller as if what he was doing was the most obvious thing in the world.
"It's not even 8:30 yet!"
"What does time have to do with gaming?" he asked.
I pursed my lips and forcing a smile said, "that's not what I meant, what I meant was, why did I wake up this early to the smell of burning?"
"I didn't burn anything." He said smugly and then added "you know mom! she likes to work on Saturdays too! I was up early so I figured maybe I'll make my own breakfast, so I thought…", he trailed off, realization dawning on him.
"Holy shit!" he cursed "The Toaster!" he exclaimed, hastily running out the room.
"What have you done, brother?" I asked as I reached the kitchen.
Our kitchen looked like the aftermath of a tornado! Empty plates littered the counter, the floor was covered with spilled milk, there were broken eggshells on the table and the smell of burning was coming from the toaster which was still on. Jason stood at the door, peering inside. I frowned and pushing him aside I hurried in, almost slipping on the spilled milk, as I turned the toaster off and opened a couple of windows to let the smell out.
"You ruined the kitchen!" I exclaimed at him. "Couldn't you just have ordered a takeout?" I asked.
"I thought about it, but it was so early! and the only place nearby is McDonalds and the McBreakfast from McDonalds makes me McSick" he protested.
"But…look at the mess Jason!" I snapped.
"I might have been working with one hand, while playing a racing game with the other…" he began,
"You ruined the kitchen!" I said again.
"Hey you always say 'keep your eyes on the road!' that's what I did!" he justified.
I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the mittens to open the toaster, coughing as more smoke bellowed out. The smell was suffocating. Jason on the other hand looked as if he smelt a rare perfume.
"What were you making anyway?" I asked as pulled out what appeared to be a black brick, stuck on the inside of the toaster.
"Scrambled eggs and grilled cheese sandwich" he said proudly.
I slammed the burnt black mess on the table as I said, "well then, Button-head, next time at least take off the plastic!"
He took a step back awkwardly "Damn it, guess I was too focused on winning. Anyway, clearly mom won't be pleased with this state of the kitchen so uh, I'll leave you to it. I am sure you are highly capable of bringing the kitchen back in shape in no time" he said with a warm smile and turned to leave.
I grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him back "no! your mess, you clean it! I have other plans for the morning, so you better grab a broom and get to work. Clean this up before she comes, get it?" I said sternly and walked out of the kitchen. He followed me out to the living room "What kind of a sister are you? I thought that's what older sisters are for! To clean the mess their brothers got themselves into" he said indignantly.
I laughed "No, pin-head. You know what sisters are for?" I asked taking out his x-box controller from my pocket which I had grabbed just before leaving his room "they are for blackmailing and bossing around their little brothers…so now you better clean up the mess or watch me screw up your high scores!" I said and walked out the room, ignoring his protests as I headed back to mine.
Our apartment was on the 4th floor, overlooking the state park. I had the west bedroom which faced the park's entrance. That room had been mine since I was born. It had wooden floor, light blue walls, purple lace curtains around the window. My antique study table with my not so antique state of the art laptop was perched in the corner right next to my large mahogany bookshelf, which I was immensely proud of!
I thought my room described me to an extent; quiet and passive at first but comfortable and warm when you spent time with it.
I looked around the room briefly, wondering if it'll be a good idea to go back to bed. But with memory of the nightmare fresh in my mind and smell of the burnt toast fresh in my nostrils, I doubted I could sleep peacefully again. So, I headed for a shower instead. The hot water from the shower always made my mind calm, however this time it did absolutely nothing to reduce my feelings of impending doom. I scrubbed my skin angrily with a pink Loofah, trying to wash off the memory of the nightmare. By the time I had dried my hair and decided what to wear, I was feeling a little better, though the dream still clung to the back of my mind like cellophane. Getting dressed I stood in front of the mirror staring into my big brown eyes, the same colour as my long wavy hair. "It was only a dream, get over it" I muttered to myself just as my phone rang and I dived for it.
"Stacy?" I said as soon as I picked up.
"Ashley! Before you react let me just say, I know I promised to meet you today, but Matthew just invited me over saying that his parents are going out of town…"
I groaned "Stacy! I thought we were going to spend the whole day together"
"I know, I know but please, I mean its Mathew! I have had a crush on that guy ever since the womb" she said excitedly, and I frowned. Stacy was my best friend since kindergarten, she had a habit of over exaggerating anything and everything.
"Ashley please…" she began but I knew there was no point arguing with her about this so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and said,
"Okay fine, you know what? go ahead" I tried to keep to annoyance out of my voice.
"Really? I mean, I can cancel if you…" she began but I knew she was saying it half-heartedly.
"Yeah, its fine, go. We'll meet next time" I said and hung up.
First the nightmare then the ruined kitchen and now this, why were all the things suddenly heading down the hill, I wondered as I grabbed a book from my shelf and hopped onto my bed, reading.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Jason went out to meet his friends and I spent the whole day at home, alone with Netflix and my books. It wasn't complete bad…I did beat Jason's high score when he wasn't home after all.
It was around seven that I heard the front door open and heard my parents enter.
"You didn't have to drive all the way across town to pick me up" mom was saying, "Hey sweetie" dad said looking up as I walked into the living room.
"Mom, did you buy the sausages I told you to get" Jason asked poking his head out the kitchen. That was weird; I was so engrossed in my book I hadn't even heard him enter.
"No Jason, I'll get it tomorrow" she said sitting down on the couch, then she picked up the envelope which was kept on the table and said "uh dear, this arrived in the mail for you" she said handing it to my dad.
He took it from her, his eyes suddenly turning serious.
"What is it, dad?" I asked.
"It's an envelope silly. It's a thing which contains the letter!" Jason interrupted entering the living room. He had as usual packed food in his mouth my invading the fridge, yet again.
"I know what it means, I meant what's inside it" I snapped.
Dad pursed his lips, "I think maybe you should open it, Theresa" he said looking at my mom, "it's about the…it's about what we discussed".
"You want me to open it?" mom asked as Jason hopped up, grabbing the letter from dad.
"Can I open it?" he asked and before either of us could answer he ran to the kitchen and brought a knife and with that began to open the envelope with a dramatic gesture, like the one you see in the old movies.
Finally, he opened it. It would have been an impressive trick of opening the letter with a knife if Jason had not managed to give himself a nasty cut on his palm.
After we finished bandaging his palm, mom read it.
She read the letter for what seemed like the longest minute of my life. Finally, she looked up at my dad "you are sure about this?" she asked
"Yes, I am sure" he answered.
"But…"
"It's for the best" he assured.
She frowned "Can we talk for a minute, alone?" She asked and immediately Jason yapped "It's just us mom! We are alone!"
"Give us a minute" Dad said as they both headed to their bedroom to talk.
As soon as they were out of earshot I turned to Jason "what do you think it is about?"
Jason shrugged "what do you think? They're getting a divorce" he said obviously.
I almost choked. "What!" I snapped. This could not be happening! Jason nodded sympathetically. "What makes you say that?" I demanded.
"Well don't you see it? Dad went all the way across town to pick her up. Then he told her to open the envelope. I think he was just trying to soften the blow"
I shook my head no. my parents were absolutely happy with each other. "Jason! Our parents are perfectly happy together. Why would you even think that? that's just sick" I said.
"Well, it always starts with happy couples, doesn't it? They are happy but then they find their life starting to get boring. Then they decide to split up, find other people. Then one of them moves out, the other one finds it hard to work and raise kids and then that one starts working two jobs to make ends meet. That makes it difficult for them to spend more time with the kids and then the kids get into shoplifting and drugs, and finally the kids are taken away by the child protective services and put into foster homes and that's it, everyone's life is ruined." He said, looking horrified. "If that ever happens to us, Ashley, I want you to be my foster sister" he added solemnly.
All I could do was just stare at him "you seriously need to stop watching daily soap bro" I said, just as mom came out, her face unreadable.
"Let's have dinner first? Your father and I have an announcement, which we would like to make after dinner" she said.
Jason and I glanced at each other as he whispered "okay…either divorce or I'm no longer the youngest in the house…" before following her to the kitchen.
As soon as we finished dinner, dad waited for everyone to settled in, and then he began,
"Okay everyone, I have some news!"