You hesitated at the fence, your fingers digging into the cold metal as you watched your friends.
"Guys, isn’t this like, illegal or something? We should go back."
Andrew didn’t even look at you. He was already halfway over. "Come on, stop being a baby. You agreed to this."
You sighed and followed the guys over the fence. Maybe they were right. It was just an abandoned building, nothing to be worried about.
"Think we’ll find money or something?" Alan joked as you all made your way into the premises.
"More like a dead body,"
"Or some drug addict taking heroin," You added.
The air inside was stale and metallic. Your shoes crunched over broken glass as you moved from room to room, finding nothing but moldy furniture and peeling wallpaper.
Then you saw something rather off-putting.
You slowed. "Uh, hey, does this blood look… fresh to you guys?"
"Dude, don’t touch it!" Andrew exclaimed and recoiled as you reached out with a finger to check if its wet (spoiler: it is).
Before you could say anything else, Alan screamed from the next room.
"Dude, you sounded like a girl, what's going o- oh my god." Andrew spoke as he and you ran towards the sound and stopped.
A dead woman was laying on the floor, slumped against a wall. Her shirt was soaked in blood and her face had a glasgow smile. And it looked relatively fresh.
"Let's- let's go guys." You swallowed hard, looking around to make sure whoever did that wasn't present. "I wanna leave."
Andrew was already backing away, not even waiting. Alan on the other hand stood frozen, staring at the blood like he's about to pass out.
To keep him from actually doing so, you grabbed his arm and dragged him with you.
"I-I'm gonna throw up." Alan mumbled, clearly not processing the sight of blood well.
"Please don't."
The three of you ran through the corridor, trying to leave as fast as you could. The fence was already in sight, and Alan's car just a few meters away.
Then something sliced through the air.
Andrew dropped to the floor.
You and Alan stopped running to look at him and the knife stuck in his shoulder. He hit the ground hard, groaning.
"Andrew!" Alan shouted.
You knelt beside him, hands shaking. Blood was already spreading through his sleeve.
Without thinking, you helped Andrew get up. Alan helped from the other side, trying to get him to safety as fast as possible.
Behind you, you heard footsteps. Slow at first, but the closer you got to leaving, the faster they approached. Not fast enough though, as you just threw Andrew over the fence like a ragdoll.
As Alan, Andrew and you entered the car, you glanced back.
It was just a few seconds but you could've sworn you saw the person's face. A weirdly pale face with a horrifying glasgow smile.
Then Alan drove away as quickly as possible. Straight to the hospital.
_________________________________
Hours later, you sat in the hospital waiting room with Alan. His parents and your mom sitting with you while Andrews dad was pacing back and forth.
Of course you felt bad, horrified even. But some part of you couldn't shake the feeling that you knew that mutilated face of the person that chased you.
A doctor came out soon after, declaring that Andrew was alive. Needed surgery, but he's alive.(Let's pretend this isn't taking place in America, Andrews parents actually can afford the surgery)
_________________________________
Later that day, two police officers questioned you.
Obviously you told them everything you remembered.
The blood. The woman. The knife. You even mentioned a person, though you didn't elaborate on the looks because you didn't want to seem insane.
You expected some sort of sympathetic reaction. I mean, when you arrived at the hospital, you got questioned already by other officers.
They already checked the area, surely they must've seen the body.
Instead, they exchanged a look.
"So," one officer started, "you broke into private property, claim to have found a body and a stranger attacked you?"
"You're saying that like we're lying." Alan spoke up, noticing how the cops seemed to doubt what they said. "He was real! He threw the knife!"
The second officer sighed. "There were no footprints other than yours. No signs of forced entry. No weapon. And no body."
"But—"
"Listen, we get it, you're young. You took some drugs, did something stupid and don't want your parents to know. We were young once too. Next time just don't waste our time."
"It was real. We didn't take any drugs."
The officers clearly didn’t believe you.
"We’ll be in touch." one of them said, already turning away.
They thought you made it up.
Thought Andrew somehow got stabbed during your own stupidity.
That night you got a lecture from your mother, clearly she didn't believe you either. Though at least she didn't think you took drugs.
In your room, you didn't even bother checking your phone. You just laid on your bed, mind going a million miles per hour.
Jeff the killer.
That's what the face reminded you of. Some moderately spooky story you read as a child.
But what bothered you most was that he didn't even try running after you.
He let you go.
_________________________________
Words: 891
