My Never Ending Story
Below is a never ending story. Feel free
to add your own paragraph to the end
|
|
|
This paragraph is by
bhall
|
Fire raged in the fireplace, cracking and popping. Light danced across Jack’s frightened face. He looked at the antique clock on the wall again. Three o’clock in the morning. He was nervous. His previous certainty had abandoned him, now only doubt remained. A rustle outside his window drew his attention. There were only a few more hours left until daylight, but Jack no longer thought that he would make it. He drew his gun closer to his chest, holding it so tightly his fingers began to ache.
Jack sunk to the floor and slowly crawled to the couch. He was closer to the window now. He held his breath and listened. Only silence answered. “Who ware you?” he whispered. Still, there was no answer. The sound of his blood roared though his ears, muffling any other sound. Jack took several long, slow breaths. “Calm down,” He told himself. “Everything is going to be okay.” But even as he spoke, he knew everything would not be okay.
Something slammed into the door. The boom echoed thought out the tiny hunting cabin. Jack screamed as he scrambled across the room with his rifle, aimed it a the violently rattling door and fired. The shot echoed, glass rattled. There was a hole in the door. Everything was quiet except the fire; it crackled and popped. The flames mocked jack; they danced around happily, cheerfully. They knew what was coming. A blast of cold air burst into the cabin though the blast in the door. Terrified, Jack stared at the hole, half expecting to see some blood red eye starting back at him, but all he saw was darkness. It was out there, somewhere and it was playing games with him.
“What do you want you bastard?” Jack shouted. Behind him a window shattered. Glass showered him as the ice cold wind whipped though the opening, the fire flickered once, twice, fighting to survive the wind’s gleeful attack. Jack shivered but didn’t dare lower his rifle.
A shriek in the night, the high pitched screams of the thing...or things tore though the cabin and Jack couldn’t help put cringe against them. The sound sent a shiver down his spine.
|
|
This paragraph is by
Jesserkah
|
He could sense them getting closer to him. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, and each shriek made his teeth rattle. He was trying to think of a hiding place where he would have a little time to regroup before they all just came upon him in the opening of the living room when suddenly all the screeching stopped.
Jack looked around uneasily, not knowing if they had retreated or if they were even closer and sensed him there, quieting themselves to give him a false confidence. Suddenly, he knew his rifle would be no match for them, and the fire infact helped them. This realization came to him when he realized that the shadows cast from the flickering fire in the hearth were moving slowly, inch by inch, closer to him even though the fire still burned as bright as his had been a few minutes ago.
Whatever these things were, they moved in the shadows, no; they were the shadows. That's the only conclusion Jack could possibly draw. No wonder his gun was ineffective. No wonder they never tried to attack him in daylight. There was too much light to dispell them in daylight hours. This cabin, in this night, with the fire casting many perfect instances of shadows along the floor and the wall was destined to become, tonight, Jack's mausoleum.
In any other instant, these shadow creatures would have preferred pitch black so the victim never knew what was coming. But they had been chasing Jack for years, and somehow he always seemed to avoid them. Not tonight. They were glad that it wasn't completely dark, that Jack could see the chadows moving toward him. They loved his look of fear, his mouth hanging slack, eyes wide with shock.
Just as the shadows were about to be upon him, just as they were about to ungulf Jack into their darkness, his alarm went off. Jack flew up, ramrod straight into a seated position on his bed. During this nightmare, he had flung the blankets nearly clear across the room. His nightmares had never progressed this far before. They had never gotten that close to him, and this was the first time that he realized what they were; though that certinaly did not clear anything up in his mind about why these things were after him or even how they existed.
Jack scoffed. "Listen to yourself. How can these things exsist? Get real, Jack. It was a dream, just like every other night that it's happened. Just a dream. Shadows don't attack, they don't come after people, and they definately do not scream like banshies."
Jack had been having nightmares like this for years, ever since his 14th birthday. He didn't understand why, as nothing tramatic had happened then, nor ever. Doctors couldn't explain them, so he eventually stopped going, deciding that he could live with them. They way his heart was hammering in his chest after this latest dream, Jack wasn't so sure he could. Even though he knew it wasn't real, he still felt the terror. He was short of breath, and he thought that if he couldn't get these dreams to stop, they would one day scare him to death. A heart attack was what Jack was worried about, not shadows.
|
|
This paragraph is by
Chris Corbell
|
So Jack decided to see another doctor, one he had heard about through an old wives tale. The only problem, is she was last known to reside in the cold mountain tops on the north side of town. Jack was short on money due to his inability to keep a job, because the nightmares had gotten so bad his tired body couldn't keep up with the demands of his work environment. Jack knew it was at least a thirty minute drive, and a day and a half hike to the ladies last known residence. "Is it worth going, and not even knowing if she was there or even still alive" Jack thought. As he sat pondering these questions, there was a knock at the door, it was in fact his long time friend Mitch. "Hey buddy, figured you couldn't sleep so I brought you some breakfast for the soul" Mitch happily stated. As the two were sitting over the breakfast table, Jack explained his plans to Mitch. "Well, I know this guy that cuts grass, he may need some help for a few days, give him a call" Mitch said.
A few days later, after the dreams kept coming in the same intensity or worse, Jack finally made the call. The guys name was Bradley and by the time the two of them got off of the phone it almost seemed like they had been friends forever. Jack was excited about working with his new found friend, the night before he was scheduled for his first day he couldn't sleep. Not because of the nightmares this time, just the excitement of working and getting to know Bradley. As the two worked together over the course of a few days, Jack confided in Bradley about his plans to see the lady he heard about in the mountain. "Sounds like you need some company, I love hiking, do you know how to read a map" Bradley said. So it was set, two new found friends with an idea, and now even a little money. "This seems like a great idea" Jack said, so he thought.
|
Add to story?
To go back to bhall's homepage... CLICK HERE..
|