The Man

It was the end of the day and John was on his usual walk home with his best friend Winnie when she suggested that they should take a short cut down auburn avenue.  

“Heck no, that's the last place I want to be right now, I heard really bad things about that place, like how 3 kids disappeared while playing out there” John tells Winnie.  

“Don't worry” Winnie replies “we’re going to be fine, and plus it's ten times faster.

John wanted to reply but he knew as soon as Winnie made up her mind about something there was no more arguing.

The first few steps were the worst. As a kid John was always afraid of the dark and even though it was mid day the avenue was extremely dark and menacing. 

“Are you sure about this?” John asked Winnie, sounding frightened.

“You don't have to do this if you're too chicken,” Winnie taunted.

Instead of responding John kept walking. Out of nowhere John heard a strange sound coming from one of the flickering lights. He shuddered and started to walk faster to catch up with Winnie.

“Did you hear that?” John asked.

“Did I hear what?” Winnie asked in reply.

“Nevermind” John said thinking that his mind was playing tricks on him.

As they were walking side by side John heard the same sound and he realized that they were footsteps but not his or Winnie’s. He turns around and as soon as he does the world seems to be so silent that you could hear a feather drop.

“Winnie, can we go back?” John begs.

“No, we're almost there”. Winnie replies

“Ugh,” John groans.

In the corner of John's eye he sees what looks like a seven foot man with long and extended arms reaching out for them. 

“Run,” John screamed.

John was never the fastest in his class but the way he ran from this man was nearly as fast as Usain Bolt running the 100 meter race in the olympics.

When they found an abandoned store they ducked into it and they creeped to the back to try and escape. They stayed quiet for a solid minute before they heard the creaking of the door.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” the man said in a bitter voice.

John whimpered and looked to his side to find that Winnie was trying to creep out of the already ajar opening in the back door motioning to John to follow. John crouched and crawled as fast as he could to get out of the store. As he was creeping through the door his foot hit a drawer with a glass bottle which fell with a loud crash.

“Run,” Winnie screamed, sprinting as fast as she could to get out of the store. John got up as fast as he could and he dashed out of the store to catch up with Winnie. When John was far enough away from the store he turned around to see that the man he had seen earlier was watching them standing motionless with his arms at his side. 

“John” Winnie called out from a distance. “Where are we?” she asked in confusion.

“What the heck” John exclaimed, frightened. He realized that there were no more other buildings around nor were there any street lights but the one that shined over the man who was no longer there. John did a one eighty turn before seeing that the man was looming over him with his hands still at his sides. John looked up until his eyes met the man's face. It looked as if it was made of rubber and his eyes were milky white. His teeth were sharp and blood red as if he had been drinking blood for his entire life. John was trying to walk but his legs felt as if they were made of thin cables and he tried to scream but his voice came out as a tiny whimper. As John was struggling to do something the man opened his mouth which when it was fully open it looked like it could eat a cow whole without chewing. John was about to close his eyes in defeat when he saw Winnie behind the man with a big tree branch and swung it at the man. As soon as the branch struck the man the wood splintered into thousands of little pieces. John shook his head at the sight of the man falling

“What are you doing?” Winnie called out, running back to the store. “run, this is our only chance of getting back home”

John ran as fast as he could without turning back to get into the store and lock it behind himself so that the man would have a hard time getting back in. 

“You know how when we left through the back of the store we ended up in that place of satan.” Winnie asked, doing her best to sound intelligent. “Maybe if we leave here through the front we can get back to auburn avenue and find our way home from there.”

“You're right,” John said. “Right now it's our best shot, so let's do it. As they were making their way to the front door they heard the deep sound of banging on the door.

“By the sounds of it we better hurry up,” John said to Winnie. Their walk turned into a light jog until they heard the creaking of the door opening. That same jog soon turned into a sprint. When they reached the door John used all of his might to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. 

“It’s locked” John screamed out

“Don't worry” Winnie called out coming into view with a sledge hammer getting ready to swing at the window. As soon as she swung, all the glass that had once occupied the door frame had crashed to the floor. John dashed out of the store and Winnie followed. John turned back to see if the man was still chasing them but to his surprise the man was unable to exit the store. But that did not matter to him. John kept a steady pace which later turned into a jog, and then into a walk. When John and Winnie finally reached their neighborhood they hunched over to catch their breath. And out of nowhere Winnie started to laugh.

“ Next time let's take our usual route home, ok,” Winnie said to John.

“Sure thing,” John replied. John checked the time. Oh no we got to get home it's nine o clock. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. And all John could think was “what a day.”