Project Montauk

The Panic Attack

"It was trying to kill me" she sobbed.

"Hey, calm down Angela. We're gonna find out who this is and get them arrested."

"It has been stalking me, I saw it outside my window last night and-"

She blacked out.

Angela was taken to the hospital and recovered in a couple hours; I drove her to my place (she didn't want to be alone.)

"So you wanna get some food?" I

was worried about her, hadn't been herself for the last few days, always on edge. I understood why she would be, but still. It was like she was hiding something.

"No, I'm not hungry"

"Come on Angie, the police are on it, they'll find out who it was. You can't do this to yourself." I replied.

"They won't find it"

"It?"

"The thing stalking me isn't human."

I skidded to a halt at a red light, my eyes wide open and a mix of horror and confusion clearly visible on my face.

"What?" I asked, aghast.

"It's not human, Kate. I saw it." her hazel eyes shone in the little sunlight entering the car. I saw a tear in her right eye. She was crying.

"Hey stop, don't cry Angie. You can talk to me. You'll get through this. We'll get through it, We're in this together." I tried to calm her down

Fast forward 20 minutes later, we were in a Mcdonald's, we were waiting to order and I managed to get Angie to talk.

"I saw it, had no face." she whispered. A hint of fear in her voice. I could see that she was on the verge of tears again.

"You know what? let's talk when we get in the car." I said, followed by ordering two Big Macs and a pair of drinks.

We got in the car and she asked me to check the back seat, for some reason. Nothing.

"I saw it, Kate. It didn't have a face- just a huge tear where the mouth should've been. It's not human. It's something else."

We sat there after that exchange, in the car at 6:30 PM, it was already dark. Quiet. After what seemed like forever, She said something:

"You think I'm crazy, don't you? That I'm making this shit up?"

"No I don't Angela, I really don't. I believe you." I replied, It was true, too; I was a pretty superstitious person, always believed in the supernatural. In a dimension of unknown horrors which leaked into our world sometimes. I remembered the time children started disappearing from my home town when I was little. I was scared, just like my friend here was at the time. I started the ignition and drove silently, reminiscing about all the children from kindergarten that disappeared. My friends. Gone. Vanished into thin air, the grownups didn't want to talk about it; then one day it just stopped. Just as it had started, No one was charged or arrested. All the children, forgotten. All that remained were the seemingly deranged cries of those that'd survived, cries that told of a monster that could use their fears against them- of a being so horrifyingly twisted that it haunted the children who'd escaped it long after the whole ordeal.

I was one of them.

THE NEXT DAY:

I got up to find that Angela wasn't in bed. (She insisted on sleeping over at my place until she felt safe) Still groggy, I pulled myself out of bed and looked for her. I checked the toilet, no-one. I checked the living room, nada.

She came out ten minutes later, changed into a white 'I heart

you' tee and matching shorts

I was worried about Angie, She'd been trembling in her sleep the night before, breathing unnaturally loud. She had a bit of anxiety to add to the mix, too. I told her I made breakfast for her and got a "Hey thanks" in return. She seemed to have forgotten about yesterday- or was doing a damn good job of making it seem like she had, anyway.

I got a call later in the afternoon from the police saying that they found no signs of a break-in or any fingerprints.

Another dead end.

Angie still refused to go anywhere near her apartment, and I had no problem with her staying with me. After all, she was my best friend. After I was back from work, I saw a lazy Angela on my couch in front of the TV, eating from a bag of Doritos

"Hey." She said through the mouthful of chip.

"Hi" I replied, through my not chip stuffed mouth.

"How was work?"

"Not great, really."

I talked for a little bit, venting about my boss- subsequently calling her a bitch for whatever reason.

"I had a bit of a panic attack."

"WHAT?! Angela you should've called me. I would've skipped work."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you Kate, you're like my overprotective parent. I didn't want to get you fired or something."

"Angela, we're best friends. You know how much I care about your health. I'm not the one who shoved a hundred gummy worms into my mouth and almost choked to death in our freshmen year."

"Those were the good times." she replied. She was smiling.

"Okay so what happened?" I asked, preceded by a long sigh.

"I thought I saw it again."

"Oh God, where?"

"The spare bedroom."

Just then, like something out of a horror movie- the spare bedroom door creaked open...

~~~