Anthology for weekendwritein

Stairs

A sense of trouble washed over me as I entered this random forest valley. I froze and stared at the trees across a small clearing knowing there was something off about them. Bears and cougars were common in these parts but I hadn't seen a sign from them all day.

Slowly I crouched down and peeled my eyes away from the trees to scan the rest of my surroundings. The large creek I had been hiking along went through the clearing and disappeared into the woods again heading up into the mountains. Everything looked normal but something was wrong about this valley and I couldn't put a finger on it.

It took a few moments of looking everything over to realize it didn't sound normal. I hadn't seen or heard any birds or animals rustling around. Everything was dead quiet in this valley.

A branch snapped somewhere behind me and I whirled around to see whatever danger was there. With my heart pounding I located the source of the noise. A man wearing a hat and trench coat stood on the other side of the creek some fifty yards away.

I let out a sigh of relief that it wasn't a predator of any large size. As I caught my breath and tried calming my heart down I watched the man stand there silently looking at me.

"Hello!" I yelled towards the stranger and listened to it echo along the valley walls.

When the echo faded silence filled the valley again. I watched him stand there looking at me wondering what this guy's problem was. I blinked and suddenly the man was standing in front of me only and inch between us.

He had no face.

"Holy Shit!" I screamed as I jumped backwards tripping and stumbling trying to get distance between us. I tripped over a log and hit the ground hard feeling pain shoot up from my ankle. "I hope it isn't broken," I thought.

Looking up I the saw man staring at me from where I once stood. Where the man's face should be I could only see a smooth ebony surface.

I crawled backwards in a panic to put distance between us until my hand touched something solid and rounded. I glanced back to see my hand resting on a concrete set of stairs that lead nowhere.

I've heard horror stories about stairs in the woods and people disappearing but this was the first set I had ever come across. Panic turned to terror as I looked back at the man just in time to watch his whole image dissolve into a smaller hideous human-like creature with ebony skin, long scrawny arms and legs, and talons instead of fingers.

The creature let out a blood curdling scream with a jaw that opened unnaturally wide just before launching itself at me, talons leading the way.