“Where is it?” Maggie’s panicked breath blew onto Velma’s neck. “I don’t hear it anymore.” She was gasping, hysterical. Sweat and tears rolled down her round face, framed by glasses that seemed to showcase her tanned face and perfect brown eyes.

Velma moved to look under the janitor’s dark closet door, where they had hidden from the creature hurriedly. There were no footsteps, nothing penetrated through the thick wooden door. Everything had fallen as quiet as an abandoned graveyard. The two girls kept their lungs still, listening for any sign of the thing that had chased them down the high school hallway only minutes before.

“Maggie,” Velma’s squeaky voice called from across the closet. She swallowed the lump in her throat, sweating in the stuffy closet, the chemicals were nearly strong enough to make her vomit the school lunch she’d picked at. “We have to get out while it’s gone. We can’t get caught here.”

Something clicked, the closet door swung open. A strong, putrid smell grabbed the girls. Frightened, they brought a hand to their noses, shielding themselves from the smell. Something thumped and scuttled down the hallway, keeping up the motion.

Thump.

Slide.

Thump.

Slide.

Thump—

Maggie looked out of the door slowly, her eyes barely passed the frame before she jerked back, and turned to Velma more pale than a sheet. Her eyes went glassy grey, “It’s Mr. Homer, our math teacher,” she swallowed the rising bile in her throat and tried to talk, but it was useless.

Velma moved to peer from the doorframe, spotting Mr. Homer’s dead, crumpled body on the floor. A figure unwrapped itself from the body too fast for Velma to see. Before she could jerk back, a pitch-black shadow darted forward grabbing her by the throat, and yanking her violently towards it. She screamed as the talons ran through her body, shredding her insides like a blender after a smoothie.

“Run, Maggie, run!” She gurgled and screamed, kicking in the monster’s grasp, her body spasmed. Maggie didn’t reply. Her heart had beat itself to death out of horror, her perfect eyes were rolled back inside her head, her mouth gaped open wide as a vacant house door as she slumped against the mop bucket.