The Coffin

I was up visiting some relatives in Bassett, Nebraska. My family and I were staying there for a family reunion with some of our relatives. It was a house on a ranch just off of a really small town.

The reunion was fun and all, but my little brother accidentally dropped my phone in the pool. I was upset, but I had my summer homework with me so I think that was the universe (God) telling me to do it.

My family, plus the relatives we were staying with, went out for a bite to eat at the bar. They offered for me to join them, which I totally would have, if not for my mom reminding everyone of my summer homework. So they left me by myself to finish my summer reading. My mom kept making cruel jokes about me actually doing things now that I didn't have my phone.

I waved goodbye as they hopped in the car and headed off towards town. It was getting chilly out so I went inside. I climbed the stairs to the second floor (where the room I was staying in was). The whole house was relatively small, meaning everything was pretty narrow. All that was upstairs was a bathroom, a towel closet, and two bedrooms (both decently small). The bedroom doors were only a couple steps across the hallway from each other.

I went to the room on the right and picked up my book sitting next to the alarm clock that read 5:44. I got out my highlighters and whatnot to start annotating it.

I read for awhile before I glanced at the clock to check the time. It was 6:10 and it felt like an eternity had passed. I got up and went to the kitchen to get some water, before heading black up to my room to continue reading.

Only a few moments after I sat down, there was a large crash that caused he entire house to shake faintly. I jumped up from the bed and poked my head outside my room. There didn't seem to be anything wrong. I walked back into my room, picking up my book again. I assumed it might have been something that I knocked off balance when I had gotten water. Oh well, next person's problem.

As I read, I couldn't help but glance up every now and then to see if the noise would happen again.

It wasn't until the clock read 6:35 (25 minuets later) that another loud thud was heard, louder than the first time and shook the house a bit more violently. I threw my book down on the bed and this time went all the way into the hallway.

I looked around, until my eyes fell to the bottom of the stairs. There stood a dark misty figure.

It was shrouded in some sort of black mist, making it hard to be able to see a defined shape. From it, came a cold breeze and the awful smell of burnt hair. I stood and stared at it, petrified to even move. Finally, I pulled myself out of whatever trance I was in and ran back to my room, slamming the door.

I held my breath as I leaned against the door as I closed my eyes, trying to convince myself it was just a dream. A really bad dream.

My hopes were soon cut short when another loud thud shook the house once more. I slowly opened my door and peered downstairs. Whatever it was had moved up one step. When it moved, it had knocked over the lamp on the bed stand and it had shattered. I ran back into my room to try to find something to convince myself that it was a dream, but I stepped on the broken bit of lamp and felt pain shoot up my leg.

I picked the pice of glass out of my foot as a small bit of blood dropped out of me foot. This wasn't a dream. I lunged for my phone, only to remember that it was broken when I picked it up. The only other phone in the house was down stairs...

I looked desperately around for an escape route, but the only window upstairs was too small to fit out of, and was a story up. So I started looking around for the next best thing, something to defend myself with. I looked at the alarm clock which showed the time 6:50. If I can hold it off until at least 7:30, my family should be home by then and could call the police or something.

I quickly grabbed a pillow off of the bed and ran into the hallway. The misty figure moved up another step, making another loud thud. I couldn't tell if it was jumping, as it looked like a black storm near the bottom of the stairs that had drifted up.

It was now on the fourth step. The fourth step out of 12.

I threw the pillow at the misty figure to see what would happen. The pillow came close the the figure before it exploded, leaving the remains of the pillow falling softly on the steps in front of it.

I ran back into my room for something harder. I picked up a bunch of books off of the shelf. As I grabbed the last book the alarm clocked beeped, indicating that it was 7:00. Soon after another thud, louder than before, shook the room. I ran out into the hallway and started to throw books at it, each of which burned before making contact with the figure.

I started to panic and grabbed my summer homework. I threw it down the stairs, but it too, burned with the others. The mist continuously wrapped faster around the figure, almost like a tornado.

I ran back into my room, but nothing was left except for the alarm clock. So I ran into the other bedroom, hoping to find something that would get it. I found more books that I threw at it, even though I knew it wouldn't work. I found some towels in the closet to grow at it.

Another loud thump, but it was only 7:05 according to the alarm clock. It was speeding up. And on the 6th step, half way up.

The towels were doing nothing to slow it down. I had to find something, anything!

"I'm going to see my family again!" I shouted to myself as I tore apart the bedrooms, looking for anything. "I'm going to see the sunrise tomorrow!"

That's when I saw it. The Holy Bible sitting under the bed stand of the second room. My entire life good has come out of that book for me. It was supposed to be my shield. I grabbed the book as another thud shook the room once more.

I stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the book I held. This WILL work, I told myself. I kissed the cover of the book before I released it, sending it through the air.

It got closer, and closer to the mist. Time slowed down as I watched it fly towards the figure. But right before it made contact, it broke apart and the burnt pages slowly fell down like embers. My heart sank at the sight and the figure jumped two steps leaving it on the 10th step.

I could finally see it through the mist, the figure. It wasn't a figure at all, but a giant black coffin with the initials S.L.F. Engraved on the front, my initials. A shiver ran up my spine as I stumbled into the bathroom. I wept and cried out for help, even though I knew no one could hear me. I carried the alarm clock with me into the bathroom where it told me it was 7:25 I was so close, but they weren't going to make it in time.

I cried out to God to save me. I cried out for my family and never getting the chance to say goodbye or tell them that I love them one last time.

I heard it coming, I heard that God forsaken coffin come towards me down the narrow hallway. It was rocking side to side, inching towards me.

I reached up to the medicine cabinet to find something, anything! I saw the coffin in the door way, slowly rocking side to side towards me. I was throwing bottles of Advil and Claritin at it. Then I threw a bottle of NyQuil at it in a last attempt.

Suddenly, the bottle made contact with the coffin. It went strait through it. Leaving a hole that started to burn through it like acid.

Because NyQuil makes the coffin quit.