Hopeless

Prologue

My heart was pounding and the snow crunched loudly beneath my feet as I ran. My bare feet had gone numb from the cold at this point and the bitter wind rushed past my face. I started panicking as I heard it gaining on me and this encouraged me to pick up my speed and I pushed my legs to their limit and willed them to go faster.

I skidded and fell  into the snow as I rounded the corner and I felt sharp pain travel up my left leg but I refused to let this slow me down and jumped straight back onto my feet ignoring the searing pain in my ankle. My chest was hurting, I was struggling to breathe, and my body was at its limit but I refused to give up hope. I refused to become one of them...well unless they killed me first.  I refused to let this be the end.

I realised I had ran into a street full of empty houses abandoned by their previous owners. This was a perfect chance to escape, a perfect chance for survival. I ran towards the nearest house praying that the previous owners were in too much of a hurry to lock their door on their way out. My prayers were answered I ran into the door with my shoulder not even bothering to use the door handle. I stumbled through the doorway and fell down onto the floor but I scrambled to stand up quickly, turned around and fumbled to close and lock the door using the chain with shaking hands.

I ran up the stairs and into the first room I came across. I sat down on the bed, my breathing  was ragged and heart beat was irratic.I placed my hand on my chest, gulping in air as I tried to catch my breath and keep quiet so "it" wouldn't hear me. I took a minute to look around and take note of my surroundings, it was a child's room. The once bright and colourful room was now dull and depressing.Toys were scattered around the floor and paintings clearly done by a child hung on the wall crookedly. This room was once full of happy and joyful memories. Each house on this block was once filled with happiness but now they are filled with loneliness and despair and just the ghosts of memories. A heavy and dull atmosphere hung in the air.

I had been sitting on the bed for an hour when I decided it was probably safe to go outside. I slowly descended the stairs keeping quiet just incase "It" was still near by. You see these things tend to hunt by sound alone as when they turn, their sight decreases and their hearing ability increases enabling them to hunt using only one of the 5 senses.

I adjusted my jacket and stepped back out into the shadow of the night. I looked up into the sky and realised the snow was coming down heavier than before.... god it was feeezing. I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to keep warm. I continue to walk down the drive, only limping due to the immense pain still present in my left ankle, if "it" came back there would be no hope for me, running is definitely not an option. Just as this thought crossed my mind I heard a low growl emanate from behind me.

I froze in my spot, all logical thoughts leaving my head and I closed my eyes and let out a long slow, shaky breathe. This was it, there was nothing more I could do.

I slowly turned around and opened my eyes and what I was faced with was truly a horrifying sight.  Thin strands of hair hung from its head, sunken and hollow eyes with no sign of life or any trace that this was once a human, a body so thin and frail that every bone was outlined perfectly by a thin sheet of pail yellow skin and the worst of all was the wide sinister smile stretched across its face. Here I was faced by the shell of a human, here I was faced with someone who had lost hope, here I was faced with someone who had lost faith in humanity and in themselves, here I was faced with my unavoidable death.
Here I was faced with The Hopless.