The stars smiled upon us, as if they knew we’d soon join them. We stayed close together on the damp grass, both our wounds seeping with blood. “The stars are lovely tonight,” Sara said hoarsely. I smiled, unaware of the presence just above my head. Ana seemed to take notice, and nudged my side. We were both too exhausted to scream, or appear scared. It seems he’s come back for more. The guy held his gun at Sara’s head and threatened me. “Tell me where the necklace is.” The guy wanted my mom’s diamond necklace worth millions, yet I couldn’t give it up. It wasn’t about the money. If I gave up her necklace, I’d be giving up my integrity with it. I could come up with another lie, but that wouldn’t turn out good. “Don’t do it. She wouldn’t have wanted this.”
Sara looked over at me, seeming more frightened than she has all night. The necklace was given to our mom by our dad, and she wore it every day since his passing. Once we found out we were being followed and watched, we made her hide it.  “You can stop this now. Just tell me and nobody gets hurt again” We both knew we were bleeding out and our time would end soon. I didn’t want to drag this out, but if he didn’t pull the trigger soon, I had no choice. We stayed silent to convey our disobedience. We were going to die tonight, and I’ve already accepted that. I look over to see Sara drifting in and out of consciousness. It seems she’s lost at least 4 pints of blood, and soon she would be gone for good. There was no hope, our phones were dead and we were in the middle of nowhere. Not even a single road nearby. He knew what he was doing, which didn’t surprise me. I figure our bodies won’t be found for days, maybe weeks. And he’ll probably flee the country. He hadn’t been caught for murdering our dad years ago, so I doubt he’ll be caught this time. I wanted him to get justice, but I knew he wouldn’t. I’ve lost all hope months ago, there’s no point in being hopeful now. “Tell me, or I’ll start shooting.” “We’re already bleeding out, shooting us would be much appreciated. And I’m not speaking, so give up.” He rubs his head out of frustration. It seems I’ve put him at a loss for words. He lowers his gun, but keeps the safety off, just in case. I’ve been thinking of a way I could grab the gun. I needed him to lower it, which I’ve already done. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell you where it is.” He looks up with hope, “Tell me then.” “I want you to stop Sara’s bleeding first.” He hesitates before walking over and kneeling down by Sara. He lets out a frustrated sigh and rolls his eyes. As he leans over and puts his jacket on her stomach, I grab the gun from his other hand and aim it at him. I don’t want him to do this to someone else, not again. I bet he gets off to this sick torture. “You think that scares me? I’m in the mafia for fucks sake!” He’s trying to hide his fear, but I can tell, deep down, he wants to flee. If I shoot him, which I have no reason not to, then he leaves with nothing, not even a life. His boss won’t be too happy to hear that. Out of the corner of my eye I see Sara grab his knife from his pocket. He walks away from both of us, not bothering to attack. He knows we will be dead soon, but so will he. I focus on his neck, if I shoot a precious artery, he’ll be out faster than us. Without hesitation, I aim the gun and shoot. Again and again, and I keep shooting until he falls on the ground and I’m sure he’s dead. Sara looks at me and we both smile at each other until we drift asleep, never to wake up again.

The dark shadow loomed over her still body. She couldn’t make out if it was moving closer to her or not. Either way, that thing made her want to run away and never look back. Except she couldn’t. It was impossible for her to move, her body decided to have a mind of its own. The bed she laid in was suddenly a prison rather than a place to relax. The windows in her room seemed barricaded, as if there’s no escape. She felt trapped. She wanted to scream, but nothing would come out and that made her want to scream even more. Suddenly, several other shadows surrounded the first and they all began to transform into creatures. Their mouths were hung open, revealing rows of sharp teeth. She couldn’t close her eyes, no matter how badly she wanted to. The creatures walked towards her and began holding out their hands. Their sharp claws were inches away from her face, black goop was dripping down their hands. She felt the slimy tar hit her face, leaving a sticky residue behind. Her eyes shifted nervously around the room, looking for anything else that may be approaching her. Her head couldn’t move, which made it harder to look. She felt her hands being pinned down by another creature. It’s claws dug into her wrists before cold blood fell onto the bedsheet. At first, she would freeze up and be taunted by these creatures. But little by little they started physically hurting her. They used to only stay towards the back wall, now they were comfortable right in front of her bed. Every night she hopes it doesn’t get worse. And every night she’s faced with something worse than before. Sometimes the creatures will bring friends. One night, they showed up with another creature that appeared to be a human-sized insect. It had countless legs running down it’s millipede-shaped body. At the top of its body there were crab legs that extended past the other legs. It blinked at her several times before slithering onto her bed and biting her. She woke up the next morning with a red mark on her arm. And the doctors still say it’s all in her head. She began to count down in her head from 100. That usually calmed her down, but it was hard to stay calm while being tortured by otherworldly creatures. There was something pushing down on her feet, and she felt those long sharp claws make its way into her ankles. Blood began pooling underneath her legs. She didn’t know she could bleed this much. One of the creatures came up towards her head and made a hissing sound. It’s teeth were the only thing she could focus on, unsure of where they were about to be. Maybe it’s her neck this time. She’d be better off gone, anyways. No more dealing with ‘sleep paralysis’, as they like to call it. And on top of that she wouldn’t have to deal with people accusing her of lying. She closed her eyes, or at least pretended to, and surrendered herself. She couldn’t wait for this to be over. She saw the creature by her head lean in closer. It’s huffing breath was louder than before, and she could sense that something was about to happen. Finally, she would be free of this. Just when she thought it was all about to be over, the creatures disintegrated into the air. Her eyes closed involuntarily and everything turned to darkness. In what felt like seconds, she opened her eyes and was greeted by the bright sun shining through her window. They couldn’t let her get away that easily.