Pumpkin Hollow

Chapter 3: Stay Awake

dripping...

Gaining enough courage, I can see the pile more clearly reaching closer. It looks like spilled carcass. But I can't tell because it's too grounded up. I can't bear the smell anymore. Slamming the door shut, gasping and running towards the opposite wall, the dripping becomes louder. I fall to the floor weak with disgust. I have to get out of here.

But I've never left the fourth floor before. How will I escape? Stuck in these infinite thoughts, something starts to move. It sounds like something is moving around at least, only because the dripping has stopped.

Suddenly, the closet door starts to rattle uncontrollably. Instinctively racing for the office, I realized the door trapped me in, my blood immediately running cold the minute I turned the knob. It starts to shake in the same manner. I slowly back away as black ooze begins to spill from underneath the shuddering doors. I feel a small gust of wind pass by me, causing me to turn and see a shadow sprint up the stairs, nothing more than a blur of black.

+Distracted by the dark figure, some of the black ooze hits my bare foot, dissolving into my skin, burning. Yelling out, I notice I can't move my foot anymore, it's completely paralyzed, falling to the ground, more of the black inkish ooze floods its way towards me. I begin to crawl my way towards the stairs to the second floor, when more of the black ink flows down the stairs like a fountain. Panic has taken over, there's nowhere to go, and soon I'll become eaten up by the black. Backing away towards the opposite wall, I watch as the liquid poured from the stairs and underneath the doors. Closing my eyes shut, I waited for the black to consume me.

A minute passes. Five minutes, and still, nothing happens.

Unexpectedly, I come to see the black ooze has disappeared, and all that remains is a jet-black mirror. I can barely make myself out, huddling by the wall on the floor. A sinister chuckle breaks the silence.

"You look even more pathetic than you did as a child." Turning, I come to see a man leaning on the wall not too far from me. He is wearing a long, brown coat and a straw hat that looked as if it ash painted it. Bits of black ash sprinkled in his red hair. His boots dripped with the black ooze staining the wall behind him. He looked like some kind of freaky scarecrow and somehow... familiar. Something told me that he was up to something serious...and evil.

"What," I asked unknowingly.

"You know you'd be far stronger and better off if you would just let it in."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, " His voice grew impatient. "You know you've been fighting it off for years, and even when he's trying to get rid of you, you won't prove that you're worthy!"

" I really don't know what you are talking about. Who's trying to get rid of me? " A pair of angry, gleaming, yellow eyes soon faces their attention on me. His hand grips my collar and in the next second, dangling me off the ground, pinning me to the wall in a snarling rage.

"Father doesn't like questions." He snarled. His mouth looked like it was sewn shut, and cut open so he could talk. Gasping for air, I try to unlock his grip...but he's too strong. Face-to-face, now I know how he looked familiar. It was like staring into a mirror.

"T-this is c-c-crazy..." I manage to spurt out.

"Well, do you have your answer?" He asks again in an irritated manner.

"DO YOU?!" We slip past the opposite wall and he flings me across the room, never leaving his place. Liquid fills my mouth, coughing up red, I weakly turn towards the man terrified.

"What do you want from me?"

He kneels beside me. A sinister grin stitched upon his face.

"Will you or will you not let it in?"