Autumn2023

As the years went by the zombies spread across the globe. The human population was taken like a deadly virus spreading. Many people of the human civilisation hid. Those that thought they could escape, didn’t even pass the border. This was the time the humans became extinct. This was the time the zombies became the hunters, and the humans became the hunted. By 2010 ten years after the apocalypse the human population had only a hundred people around the globe. Millions of people had lost their lives and were now blood-hungry, brain eating zombies.

The bright blue sky was out as Bob and Jimbo played fetch with their adorable dog, Furball the Second. They walked on the lush green grass of Bob, Jimbo, and their older brother Scott’s backyard. Scott, bossy as he was, had ordered Bob and Jimbo to hang up Halloween decorations on the front porch but they had given up the job as it was extremely boring.  They had ignored Scott’s orders and played fetch instead while Scott was getting candy from the local shopping centre in preparation for Halloween later that evening. Scott was the self-appointed leader of his younger brothers, Bob and Jimbo, as their parents had mysteriously disappeared six years ago, the day Bob was born. Scott wore a brown leather jacket, trousers and blue and black sneakers. However, Bob and Jimbo both wore extremely bright orange t-shirts along with some glow-in-the-dark light-up shoes.

“Tonight, is going to be the best night ever!” said Jimbo.

“I know, right? Halloween is always the best night of the year,” said Bob. “I can’t wait to go trick-or-treating tonight.”
“I agree; it’s always the best time of the year,” replied Jimbo. However, little did they know that it wouldn’t quite be the best night of the year….

The next morning, after their fun, entertaining night of trick-or-treating, the trio of boys, Bob, Scott and Jimbo, rushed outside to the front yard so they could play fetch again with their dog, Furball the Second. However, things took a turn for the worse.

Furball the Second was usually at the front yipping about in the front yard, chasing other dogs and cats as they walked past. However, Furball the Second wasn’t in the front yard. He wasn’t even in his kennel sleeping. His lovely, fragrant, delightful smell wasn’t filling the yard. Instead, it was replaced with the smell of steak far off in the distance: their dog’s favourite smell. The only thing inside the kennel was a piece of paper that read: “Your precious pooch is gone. I’ll tell you where he is, because I know you’re torn. He’s hanging over a pit of lava by just a piece of rope. The only thing in the next three hours, is just a glimmer of hope. He’s passing in the next three hours, in my haunted house. Also, I have your parents if you really want to know. – The Witch.”

“Oh no!” said the trio in unison. They really loved their wonderful dog and now it was stolen by. …

The Witch! The Witch was the enemy of the town that Bob, Scott and Jimbo lived in. That was because The Witch had stolen many people, toys and animals from their homes and left a little note. She lived on the other side of town in her gargantuan, spooky and mysterious haunted house. They needed to get their dog and their parents back from that house so they could be a happy family like they once were six years ago. They started running to the haunted house. However, it was on the other side of the town that they lived in. Suddenly, as soon as they started running, it started thunder storming as loud as a jet engine. They were going to be soaked. Like The Witch had said, only a glimmer of hope could save their family, their dog and their future.

By the time the trio had reached the haunted house two hours later, they were as cold as Antarctica and as wet as the ocean. They had reached the front door of the haunted house. Scott tried to push the door open, but it refused to budge. In frustration, he threw a stone at the door and walked away. Suddenly, the door moaned and groaned as it slowly creaked open. The trio rushed inside, and they were met with an unilluminated set of stairs leading downwards. Even though it was pitch-black, Bob and Jimbo came to the rescue as they both wore extremely bright t-shirts and glow-in-the-dark light-up shoes. The trio rushed down the stairs and they came to a set of double doors. However, they had a lock on them. Scott came to the rescue this time as he took a paper clip that was on his hair to unlock the doors. He pushed the door open and he saw….

…A dark and spooky room which had The Witch sitting on a chair with a massive key in her hand, a cauldron filled with bubbling, hot, steaming lava and their beloved dog hanging from a rope over the cauldron with two mice nibbling at the rope.

“Oh, you’re here. That took long!” The Witch said as she stood up and used the key to snap the rope in half, causing the mice and their beloved dog to fall into the boiling lava.

“Noooooooooo!” The trio screamed in unison as they cried and wept on the marble floor.

Suddenly, a massive dog emerged from the lava and snatched the key from The Witch’s hand and used it to chop off her own head. Then, the dog used the key to open a door at the side of the room.

“Woah, I forgot that our dog was accidentally infected, so he was immune to lava for all his lifetime. I wasn’t paying attention when the lady was talking about Furball the Second’s powers,” said Bob as he, Scott and Jimbo walked through the doorway.

When they entered, they were shocked and bewildered at to what they saw. It was The Witch, ten times bigger, laughing as the trio were trapped in a jail cell as the door closed behind them. They could also see their parents trapped opposite over a gargantuan volcano……

John woke up… he didn’t recognise his surroundings at all. He was lying on a bed of leaves and twigs sheltered by pine trees; it was icy cold and the eerie silence was dire. The only noise John could hear was the swishing of tree leaves in the cold afternoon breeze.  It was getting late and with no place to go he just jogged and shouted “HELP!” But there was no reply, so he kept on jogging and yelling.  Suddenly a voice high up in a tree called out to him, “Shhh, you’ll wake the monster up.”
The person jumped down and to John’s surprise it was his old childhood friend Liam. “Liam!?” John said in surprise.
“Yep, it’s me, now quickly climb up this tree, be silent and most importantly do not move; it can sense your movements.”
“What can?” John questioned…
“Just climb up,” Liam said.
John did as he was told and when they got up to the top, they heard a loud screech that gave John a spine-chilling shiver. The sun sank beneath the dark storm clouds as night was upon them.

John didn’t move; the air had the stench of blood and John got a glimpse of two red dots flashing along the forest floor. “WHAT IS THAT!” John screamed!
“I told you to be quiet; it’s gonna kill us!”
Suddenly a white claw grasped the end of the branch, snapping it and the two fell to the ground with a loud thud, but luckily landed on a pile of blood-red snow.  John looked up in fear and the monster was glaring down at them… “RUN!” …. They both screamed.  Liam and John bolted; they ran faster than they had ever run before. It was chasing them.  They could feel the foreboding primal fear lurking behind them.  As they were nearing the edge of the forest Liam noticed a broken bus.  “Quickly, to that bus!”
They bolted to the bus and yelled, “Where do we get in?  The handles are broken!” They could see the monster’s eyes drifting quickly after them. “Break one of the windows and hide underneath a chair, quick!” John used his elbow and smashed the glass. “I broke it, now quickly jump through,” John said.  They both jumped through and hid underneath a set of chairs.  Everything was silent except for the faint drip, drip, drip… John was bleeding; he had hit the glass window with all of his force shattering it but leaving him bleeding, injured and exposed to the horror that hunted them.

Silence. It was perplexing. Suddenly another sound… drip, drip, drip… It had started to rain, they could see the rain rushing down the windows blowing in the frost-bound wind. The rain was hitting the rusted roof of the bus then sliding off.  There were footsteps.  Their hearts stopped and they tried to be as silent as possible.  The footsteps were getting louder.  Then, bang!!  The monster had stabbed its claws through the soft rusted metal of the bus.  John noticed a medical kit only a couple of metres away and he shuffled over and picked it up.  It contained a flare gun, three flares and bandages.  He shuffled back to the seat Liam was at.  “Look what I found,” John whispered, but Liam didn’t reply.  The monster then jumped through the window they had smashed earlier and was slowly walking to where Liam and John were hiding.  It was checking every seat it passed.  John decided to load the flare gun.  It was only a couple of seats away now and Liam and John were shaking in terror.  They could only now get a glimpse of what the monster looked like.  It was as white as snow; its eyes were blood-red and its claws were as dark as the night sky.  It stood up on its hind legs like a human, but it felt so wrong; this was no human.

The monster was getting very close now, just two more chairs…It was about to look under the chair where John and Liam were hiding.  Blood was pulsing, blood was dripping, time was standing still.  The monster bent over.  John pointed the flare, the monster bent over and stared them right in the eyes.  He fired; the monster swallowed it; it stood up and screeched: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!  It was a sound they had never heard before, like nothing from this world; pain, anger, alien.  Liam got up and shoved the monster onto the back wall of the bus and John reloaded and shot again right at its face.  It screamed again and smashed through the rusted metal of the bus.  The monster ran back to the pine forest, leaving a trail of blood behind it.  Liam said, “Let’s follow it back to its lair.”
There was discord between them; John disagreed: “No, we should make a run for it!”
“Ok, how about I follow it back to kill it and you run away,” Liam suggested.
“Fine,” John replied.
They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.  The sun was starting to rise, and it was still raining.  After John walked for about ten minutes, he could hear another faint scream of the monster: Eeeeeeeee…. This must have meant that Liam had killed it.
John still had one more flare.  This was his last chance, so he reloaded and fired; it lit up the early morning sky.  John decided to lie down and watch the sun rise while he could hear the sounds of helicopters and cars.  He was saved.  He shut his eyes and fell asleep.

Centuries
Of
Regalia
On
Nation-wide display
Acknowledging
Tradition
In
Our
New world.

The mansion stood like a proud father against the backdrop of the ravaging storm. In contrast, the creatures inside were sinister and devious. Smirk giggled at the thought of tricking the number one detective in the world and even as his writing continued, his plan seemed to be falling into place like a puzzle piece. First, the detective would wander into what seemed like a luxury hotel, and then out of nowhere would come Smirk. Smirk’s spider-like arms inched slowly into his disguise. This plan was going to work. “I will now be known as Mr Chan,” exclaimed Smirk.

The detective wasn’t the type to turn down this sort of operation, and at the sight of the hotel named The Last Resort he knew he hadn’t made a mistake. The way the light bounced over the golden walls and marble floors felt like he had arrived at a mirage. Even the water from the fountain was dancing around in a welcoming manner. Detective John Watt slowly grasped the door handles and pulled. His classy brown shoes tip-tapped across the tidy tiles towards the owner of the hotel who was known as Mr Chan. The two shook hands firmly, when the detective noticed something unusual about his leg. Mr Chan turned away and began rushing the Detective to his room. Detective John Watt was led to his room by what seemed like a dimmed employee. As luxurious and shiny as the hotel seemed, he couldn’t help but be a little suspicious. The employee’s grey skin almost made him look slightly dead inside. After the employee limped to his room, the door creaked and slammed slowly behind him. Detective John Watts sat down slowly and tilted his head in confusion. Who wanted him to be here? What was wrong with the employees? And where did the owner head off to?

Detective John Watt was ready to rest after a long day but something was very, very wrong. His mind was filled to the brim with confusion and he needed to rethink what had happened. He opened his dusty, musty suitcase and took what he needed for a nice shower. As the detective approached the shower, he noticed something off. There were scratches all down the walls, mould growing on the mirror and plants coming out of places plants shouldn’t be in. The tap dripped unnaturally like a car indicator. In contrast to the hotel, the bathroom looked like it had been the scene of two tigers fighting.

The wind howled through the night as detective John Watt sat there and wondered. This wasn’t correct: the way the owner of the hotel acted, how the employees limped, the state of the bathroom in comparison to the rest of the hotel. He couldn’t put his finger on it. Suddenly detective John Watt had a lightbulb moment. As creepy as the rest of the hotel now seemed, he had no choice but to sail into the unknown depths of Mr Chan’s office.

Detective John Watt approached slowly through the thick darkness of the hotel as he fought through cobwebs, critters and even a bat. He wondered if he would leave the hotel alive. The floorboards creaked and bent as if they could either fling him straight through the ceiling or drop him into a never-ending void. Anything could jump at him. The detective grasped the door handle and took a deep breath. As he began to confront Mr Chan, Smirk’s smile grew into a smirk becoming a broader smirk. Mr Chan leapt out of his chair and revealed his disguise, as bits and pieces of Mr Chan’s disguise flew everywhere into the dark corners of his office.

The detective had seen absolute monstrosity. It was black, furry, spider-like, a large semicircular head with massive pieces of corpse taken out and, most importantly, a glowing white SMILE. Detective John Watt ran as this unexplained piece of body rocketed after him like a massive lion chasing a timid deer. Sweat drizzled slowly down the detective’s face as he dashed towards the doors. He sprinted to the entry doors and burst outside. Then the detective turned around and SMILED. The military. It was all…….OVER.

“Sigh,” Lucy was, in short, bored. Every day, for every week, all she did was sit behind her desk at the Post Office, sorting letters day by day, week by week. Then the boss came in and said, “Lucy, how would you feel about delivering a package on Eventide Island?” Lucy sprang to her feet; anything was better than this.
“But I have to warn you,” said the boss, “legend, has it, the Dark Woods on Eventide Island hold a green mosquito. One bite from the green mosquito is all it needs to carry over its disease.”
“What disease?” asked Lucy.
“This horrible disease makes you throw up until the only thing you can hurl is your own blood. In the end, you die of blood loss. No cure has ever been found.”
Lucy swallowed hard taking in this gruesome image. She said firmly, “I have been waiting for years and this must be my opportunity.”
“If you’re sure,” said the man.

After packing, her boss came up to her and said, “Give this to a nice lady on the far side of town. I’ll give the details to a leather worker.”
A few hours later the plane hit the runway of Eventide Island and Lucy got her first view of it. It was a lovely, lush island with lots of greenery. When she reached the village, she was shocked to discover the type of lifestyle the townsfolk were used to. There were bug zappers everywhere, fly screens around houses, and a big, blinding light bulb facing the heavens. “The boss must have been telling the truth then,” she said to herself.
Looking around, she managed to locate the leather worker’s house; it was a small cottage fit for one with a fly screen that covered the house. On the fly screen, there were lots of bug zappers hanging, waiting for the next victim. There was another object hanging from the fly screen; this was a large wooden plank with the words “Leather Worker” engraved on the side. She went inside and found the leather worker. “Where should I take this parcel?” Lucy said. “My boss said that you would be able to tell me.”
The man sighed and got to his feet. “If you’re up to the challenge,” the man said, but before he could finish, Lucy cut in, “Just you wait. I’ll get there. I’ll show you.”
The man smiled, “You’re a feisty one, ay. Ok, all you need to do is go north, through the Dark Forest, and you’ll find an old shack. It’s as simple as that.”
Lucy thought for a second. “Isn’t that where the green mosquito is?”
The man chuckled, “Ha-ha, you’re not as daft as you look. Lucky for you I have prepared some protective gear that mosquitos can’t get through!”

Twelve pm that night, the leather worker waved goodbye as Lucy set off on her journey through the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest was called the Dark Forest for a reason. All she could see were the goggles on her head and the path below her feet; the rest was pitch black. She heard noises right next to her – maybe it was the wind, maybe it wasn’t. There it was again; it was a high-pitched buzzing. Lucy’s heart stopped and that noise was dangerously close. Then she saw it; in the corner of her eye, there was a green mosquito. “Aaaaaahhhhhh!”

She grabbed her headgear and threw it on the floor, taking the green mosquito with it. But now, she faced a problem. Her head was now completely exposed to the open world. The mask was starting to make a concerning noise. It was buzzing and shaking like crazy. Lucy stood there for a second, hardly breathing, until her senses came back to her. Angry noises started flaring behind her. It was a swarm of green dots; it was the green mosquitos.

She started to cramp up. Her heart was on fire and the stitch in her chest felt like a bleeding organ. She didn’t know how, but she was still alive. She saw through her bloodshot eyes that the trees were thinning out. She was in a clearing with a small wooden hut in the middle. She slammed her body against the door, it was locked. “LET ME IN!” she screamed, but no reply came back. She looked back at the tidal wave of bloodthirsty insects, waiting for her demise. Her final screams of agony echoed across the forest, as she hit the floor, motionless.

“Evils in the world can be defeated but some don’t fade with time; they grow stronger.”

Christopher Stone PI had been tracking a series of missing people. There had been seven so far. All of them had been last seen near the old, abandoned toy factory. It had fallen into disrepair and hadn’t been opened in years. Christopher Stone knew one thing – the people were in there somewhere. Rain fell from the heavens like tears. The place seemed different; it was as if it was watching him, telling him to turn back, but he couldn’t. Christopher Stone was no stranger to danger. He had solved cases with kidnapped victims, murders and everything in between. How was this place any different?

Strangely as he walked towards the factory, he noticed that the door was unlocked. Strange for a place that hadn’t been opened in years. He pushed open the door; it had so much rust on it, it seemed that it would crumble any second, but still it held strong. He tiptoed inside cautiously. Something seemed off about the place; bad things had happened there a long time ago. “Come on, Christopher. You can do this,” he nervously whispered to himself. The light outside seemed to dim as he saw the door closing. This time it sounded as though it locked. Christopher began to hear a scuttling noise in the rafters, and he couldn’t shake the feeling as if something was watching him, like a spider watching a fly about to fall into its web.

And that’s when Christopher began to hear the footsteps. He heard one in the distance. Must be an echo he thought to himself. But the footsteps seemed to be getting closer and closer. He stopped. For a split second he heard a footstep, and it sounded like it was right behind him. He turned around swiftly, and that’s when he saw it, the face, but not a face, a mask, painted white, with two slits where the eyes should be. It was so dark behind the slits, if you looked deep enough, you could almost see your own death. That’s when It spoke. “Hello, new friend.” The sound was horrible, and it was as if when the creature spoke, something was slithering over him.

“Who are you?” Christopher yelled.
“I am many things,” the cold voice answered. It sounded almost child-like, very nearly human. “But you can call me Smile.”
“Are you the reason people are going missing here?” Christopher interrogated.
“That’s why you’re here, for the friends that went missing….but they’ve been gone, they’ve been gone for a long time, and you might follow suit. However, I might let you leave on one condition. I have been alone for a while now and I want to see if you can play my games. If you win, I will let you live and leave, but if you don’t, bwahahaha,” the beast cackled. Christopher could imagine what would happen if he failed.

Christopher put out his hand, “I accept your terms.”
“Very good” exclaimed Smile. “Now for the game – I used to have many, but now I only have one, my favourite. I have hidden ten masks around the complex and if you can find them all, I will let you go. However, you have been warned, you only have an hour. I’ll be watching you through the security room, doesn’t that sound nice?” Smile asked rhetorically.
“Only an hour to find all those masks? That’s insane” Christopher yelled.
Smile seemed to get angry, “Well it might be insane, but then again, so am I.” Smile acknowledged. “Off to it.”

Then something truly bizarre happened. Smiles’ arm seemed to stretch like it was a rubber band. Then he threw it up into the ceiling, like it was a grappling hook, and he slipped away into the darkness. A voice spoke over the PA system, “Your one hour starts in 3…2…1…run.” It blared like thunder. Christopher began to sprint as fast as he could, as if he was the wind.

Christopher ran and ran until he reached a strange library. “Must be the company records,” he murmured to himself. All the books were in perfect shape, except for one, which had been ripped horribly. Then he saw something peeking out if it, something round and white: a mask! He reached over and grabbed it. He turned it over and realised something – it had text on the back which said, “I wasn’t always this way, insane and depraved.” It made no sense to Christopher. Then he realised there were stairs leading to the boiler room, he ran down them as swift as the wind.

The dripping was the only sound, aside from his cold footsteps. Christopher saw something, a mask floating at the bottom of the water tank like a dead fish. He picked it up and turned it over. It said, “I used to be like all the other characters this place made.” Then he saw an empty elevator shaft and he peered down it, nothing. He looked up and saw a mask directly above him. He picked it up and turned it over, “The CEO came up with me, the perfect companion for children.”

Suddenly, he realised there was a faint trail leading to where he found both of the last masks. He ran along it and found himself in a giant storage area and nestled amongst the crates, he found the fifth mask. As with the others, it said on the back, “But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t make me look good for children.” All of a sudden, a voice came over the PA system, “I see you have discovered the trail, but know this, it gets harder to decipher as you collect the masks, and you only have half an hour left.” He followed a fainter trail mumbling curses about that infernal smile. Then the PA system blurted again, “I heard that!” Christopher Stone observed something rolling around in the vents, it was rounded and white. “The sixth mask,” he said to himself.

He ran towards the vent and snatched it; as with the others the mask had a short story on the back, “The factory workers taunted me for my appearance.” Realising that he had no other choice, Christopher climbed up the vents and pushed out the cover from the other side and found himself in the gift shop, where on top of the desk ominously staring at him was a mask. He picked it up and turned it around, “Eventually they threw me into the fire with all the other rejects.” Christopher, like a lion tracking his prey, picked up the trail again and swiftly followed it and found himself in the maintenance tunnels where nestled amongst the water pipes was yet another twisted mask and on the back it read, “Somehow I survived the fire, waiting for my chance to escape.”

He climbed up a ladder and found he was in the electricity area. This time he couldn’t immediately find a mask, until he noticed an electrical panel was open which he forced his hand inside and felt something smooth. Another mask and it said, “One day somebody accidentally turned off the incinerator.” He noticed the trail one last time with an elevator shaft with a ladder inside it. The trail was leading up, he climbed up and found himself in a luxurious hallway, with an elaborate carpet pattern. At last, he found himself in the CEO’s office and upon the desk was the last mask. This one was different; it was as though it had been written in blood and he was about to grab it when Smile’s voice over the PA system yelled, “Time is up!”

He grabbed the mask and turned it over. The blood red text said, “When I escaped, I led to the downfall of this entire company.” Christopher turned around to run when Smile appeared behind him and yelled, “You’ve cheated, your time was up, now it’s time for you to die!” Smile lunged at him with his sharp claws bared, he chased him down the elevator shaft yelling and screaming until they had made it to the incinerator room. Once again Smile extended his hand and threw it at him. Christopher dodged him narrowly; however, Christopher knew what he had to do – he ran over to the incinerator and turned the heat up to maximum. Flames started to burst all around the room, a massive cloud of flame hit Smile and all the black clothing he’d dressed in began to melt, like tar. Christopher sprinted as fast as he could to the exit, with Smile in hot pursuit! The heat had melted the giant lock off the door. He leapt through as it collapsed on Smile and the whole factory came crashing down.

Epilogue

There are many secrets within the factory,
Some will be revealed, others a mystery.
Many others came here to play my twisted game,
All of them failed, and I brought them pain.
Where you cheated in the game, your time was nigh,
But the tables were turned, and instead I died.
But know this my new little friend,
When dealing with me, death is never the end.
We made many memories, some lows and some highs,
But I want revenge, and soon I will rise.

I still remember it. All of the sounds, the decaying trees, but most of all the abandoned mansion. I guess I should start at the beginning, but not right at the beginning, just where it gets interesting. I had never screamed so loud in my life, not even to this day. Well except for that one time, but that doesn’t matter. “Throw him in on my count –‘one, two, three.’”

As soon as my body hit the old creaky floor, my brother and his friends slammed the door shut. When I think about how they laughed at me being trapped inside, it almost makes me feel bad for them. I sprinted at the door as fast as I could, but it was nothing more than a pathetic attempt at escaping. I slammed the door as hard as I could to the point where I couldn’t feel my hands. The door hadn’t moved an inch. My heart was beating with fear and adrenaline.

Eventually I calmed down even if it was Ever so slightly. I had a look at my surroundings. There were scratch marks on the floor and walls with stairs in the middle of the room that branched off into two directions – one to the left, the other to the right. I sat there unable to move, scared and confused. Where am I? What’s going on? Why did my brother do this to me – was it just for spite? I don’t know.

Then I heard ‘it’ – that ear-piecing noise which sounded like someone was scratching a chalkboard with their bare hands. Then a terrifying question hit me – what was making that sound? Whatever it was, it was not human. For some reason the first thing I did was hide. Normally I would have been frozen in fear, but I wasn’t and I went for a hiding place. I still don’t know why – there are lot of things I still don’t know about that place despite the time I spent there. On both sides of the room there were four doors lined up and in-between the doors there was stuff like a clock or desks with flowers on them. I darted to one of the desks and hid under it. There was this little door – I didn’t question it and went inside. I closed the door behind me. It was like a little box that I was inside. I heard the noise again and then a scream. I closed my eyes, too scared to open them and I heard a crash like something had broken the wooden floor. Now I was certain I was not alone.

I sat there hearing more noises and other strange sounds. I just sat there with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I just sat there. For ten minutes, then twenty, then thirty. I leant back down ever so slightly and then I fell on my back. I looked behind me, it kept going – I was a tunnel almost like a vent but a house this old shouldn’t have a vent. Even if it did, it should be high up.

I heard another noise and it made me jump. Any place was better than here, I thought. I started to crawl down the tunnel – it was practically made for a child like me as the size width was perfect. I reached the end of the tunnel, but it just went up from there. While I was crawling, I did notice that there were ways to go, but I was too scared to follow my curiosity.

The fact that the tunnel led upwards wasn’t too strange, but what was strange was that there was a ladder there built into the wall. I climbed up it sceptical of what was waiting for me. There was a slide at the top of the ladder – a slide that led down. I was confused, really confused. I didn’t know what to do if I went back; I might run into whatever was making that noise and that was the last thing I wanted to happen. The noises weren’t gone; in fact, they kept getting louder and more disturbing. I sat there still sceptical and scared.

I heard a scream – there was only one scream that sounded like that it sounded more human than the other sounds, so it made me jump a second time. Then came the third one, the fourth like a crowd of people screaming. In pain. Now I went from scared to terrified. Anything was better than listening to those sounds. It was like torture. I jumped down the slide with tears falling down my face. I landed, but first on the dirt floor. I opened my eyes and it was a bunker with a desk in the middle of the room with a carpet under it. I got up, but this place was like paradise compared to out there. There were shelves full of books and under them were cupboards full of food-like beans and chips – anything that wouldn’t expire.

I looked at the desk and there was a map of the whole mansion on it and a letter. It said, “If I am not the one reading this then I am either dead or I have escaped. Either way I am gone. As you have seen there are no windows apart from the ones in the door and wall which will take a bulldozer to break, so we can’t break out through the walls. By the way don’t bother digging; it won’t work. There is a huge wall under the mansion. So basically, this is a huge prison with a big murdering guard dog. Good luck whoever you are – good luck.”

I’m not sure how long it’s been, how long I have been in this place. The only reason I have survived for this long is because of the tunnels and the secret room as well as the map. At the time I had gotten used to the screams and noises, but it still makes me a bit uneasy. But I wasn’t confused and scared anymore, because at the time I had a stupid, yet genuine, plan. To put the plan into simple terms – it was to get the monster to break the doors open by making it ram into it. But it’s easier said than done, because at the time I had never gone face to face with it. The only reason I know that it is a monster is because of the journal entries left behind by the person who was here before me. I still don’t know what happened to him. I climbed out of the safe room up the slide through the tunnel and into the main area. It was time for payback. All those noises that had made me terrified before are coming right back at it. I screamed louder than I ever had before, even louder than when my brother first put me in this hell.

For a few seconds It was silent for the first time in, well for who knows how long; It was silent and then out of nowhere it wasn’t. It. Was. hideous. Its face was so mangled it was almost like I was staring at a tornado. Its body was slim and skinny with claws on both hands. Then its face unwrapped and turned into a mouth. I still remember it all of it. Except for the end…