Always wear comfortable shoes when driving at night
Mike Lawton on October 31, 2009 in Stories No Comments »Just posted another story on Ficly; I wanted to write something suitably spooky for Halloween. I wrote about 90% of it around 2am this morning (couldn’t sleep), and finished the rest this afternoon. You can read it here.
Unfortunately my original draft was over the character limit for Ficly (1024), so I had to cut it down quite a bit. Here’s the story in it’s “unabridged” form:
Always wear comfortable shoes when driving at night
Run.
Keep running. Run faster.
Don’t stop. For anything.
Run.
RUN!
…
Turn right. Down that alley.
NO!!
BACK TO THE STREET!
Right. Go. Stay in the streetlights.
Why are all the houses dark? Why isn’t anybody home?
Where is everybody?
…
I don’t know where I am. I don’t recognize anything, no buildings or street names.
I don’t know where I left my truck. I don’t know what I hit. Hard enough to crush the steel bumper and snap off a wheel.
I know there wasn’t anything there when I got out to look.
…
I don’t know what’s chasing me.
…
Can’t scream anymore. Hard enough to breathe.
Tried calling for help. No answer.
Tried pounding on doors. No answer. Not a light or sound from any of these houses.
Haven’t seen a single other car drive by, or person out for a walk, or even a stray cat or squirrel.
Just row after row of the same three models of some developer’s idea of suburban paradise.
…
Have to keep running.
I can hear them. Chasing me. No idea how many.
Can’t see them, but I can hear them.
They’re getting closer.
Keep running.
…
Left. Wait. Haven’t I already been down there?
Every street here looks the same.
There has to be a way out. A way back to the main road. With other cars, other people.
Just keep running. Left. Go. GO!
…
Is that a light? Is that a light on in that house?? It is!
HEY! HEY!! HELP!!
THERE’S SOMETHING CHASING ME!
PLEASE! HELP!
…
…
The light’s out.
…
I can’t hear anything. They’re gone?
No.
They’re here. They’re h
I’M SORRY I’M SORRY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I DIDN’T SEE YOU I’M SORRY IT WAS AN ACCID
Let me know what you think!
