Killer

On our last night of the trip, my parents and I went to dinner at the only restaurant near the cabins.  I was grateful that we would be leaving soon.  Our cabin, #C3, gave me the creeps.  My mom didn’t understand why though and neither did I.  This was our first time out in the wilderness and, hopefully, would be our last.
         “Maggie,” my mom repeated.
         “What?” I asked, yanked out of my thoughts.
         “I asked if you wanted the fish or something else,” my mom replied patiently.
         “I’m not really hungry,” I lied, not trusting the food here.  If it tasted as bad as it smelled then I would rather not eat.  “I’ll just have some soda and maybe a small salad.”
         My mom nodded and dad ordered our food.
         I leaned back in my chair and waited.  For some reason, I felt like I was being watched.  Looking around, I saw that the restaurant was empty of people except for us. Something flashed by in the corner of my eye, but when I turned, there was nothing.
         Goosebumps spread across my arms and I felt myself shiver.  Thank God I’ll be leaving tomorrow, I thought.  As I was about to voice my worries to my mom, our food came and I became busy picking apart my salad.



         I woke up that night sweating.  I’d had a horrible nightmare where I was running away from something with no escape.  I slid my feet from out of the covers and swung them over the side of the bed, putting my head in my hands.  Running my fingers through my hair, which was damp with sweat, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  Should I go get some water? I thought.  But I slept upstairs in the cramped sleeping area while my parents were downstairs with the bathroom and kitchen.  The last thing I wanted was to get yelled at for waking them up.
         Swinging my feet back onto the bed, I snuggled under the warm blankets.  A few minutes later however, I heard something.  I got up once again and tiptoed over to the widow, peering out.  I didn’t see anything but felt cold tingles creep down my spine and I shuddered.
         Something was wrong.
         I froze and listened, my heart beating rapidly.  Voices drifted up to me from the thin window that made my skin crawl.
         “We’re coming, we’re coming,
           We’re by your car.
           We’re coming, we’re coming,
           We’re not very far.”
         I saw three shapes appear on the ground…near my parent’s car.  They were hunched over so I couldn’t see their faces but they looked like old women.  They each held something in their hand, hidden from me.  I backed away from the window slowly and crept into bed.  The voices came again.
         “Listen, listen
          You will hear more.
          Listen, listen
          Do you hear the door?”
         From downstairs, I heard a creak as the cabin door opened.  A moment later, it clicked shut again and the floorboards creaked as the singing ladies came closer, their song keeping time with the creaking of the wooden floor.  I trembled in fear, feeling my mind freeze up with terror and panic.
         “Did you know, did you know
          Your parents are already gone?
          Did you know, did you know
          You won’t be alive at dawn?”
         I was starting to freak out and my heart was pounding so hard I’m surprised they couldn’t hear it.  I pulled my blanket over my head and shut my eyes.  But I could still hear the old ladies as they made their way up the stairs, one screeching floorboard at a time.  What did they mean my parents were already gone?
         “Darkness, darkness,
          You know you can’t hide.
          Darkness, darkness,
          A lot of people have died.”
         The creaking stopped and it was silent a moment.  I peeked over the covers.
         The doorway to where I slept was blocked by the three old ladies.  They were hideous in person, with deathly-white skin that seemed to hang on them and gnarled hands and bare feet.  Light glanced off something silver in each of their hands and my scream caught in my throat.  Something dripped down from one of the silver objects.  I was terrified.  My heart pounded with dread and suspense.  Desperate tears started to fall down my face as they came ever so closer, whispering the next verse of their song.
         “Fear us, fear us,
          No time to run.
          Fear us, fear us
          We’re almost done.”
         They now surrounded my bed and I couldn’t see anything except them.  One of the silver objects was above my arm and something sticky and red dripped down.  I screamed in terror.
         “See us, see us,
We’re done with this song.
          See us, see us,
          You don’t have very long.”
         They closed in on me.  I knew what would happen next but I was too frozen in shock to move.  I should be fighting or at least trying to escape, I thought dimly.
         I let out another scream, which was cut off abruptly.
         There was silence in the woods as the ladies sang one last time.
         “You see, you see,
          We didn’t lie.
          You see, you see,
          We told you that you would die.”