A Creepy Encounter

A Creepy Encounter
By Melanie Revers

As Jackie walked down the street, she thought she heard someone walking behind her. She turned around, but saw nothing. Strange, she thought. As Jackie turned the corner, she noticed a magazine stand. She stopped to browse until she found one she was interested in. After paying the vender $4.00, she turned around and unzipped her book bag, placing the magazine inside it. Then she continued on her way. About 4 blocks away from the stand, Jackie heard a strange noise behind her. She realized she hadn't seen anybody around for at least 3 blocks.

Jackie whipped around and saw no one. She turned about and started walking faster. All around her she heard loud crackling and wheezing noises. She didn't know what to do. A few paces further, she felt a cold hand on her shoulder. The hand's fingernails dug into her flesh. She screamed loudly, and turned her head to look at the being behind her. All she saw were two glowing eyes looking staring back at her. Whatever it was pushed her face down into the ground. Breathing heavily, it crawled on top of Jackie, its pointy- fingered hands digging into her shoulders. The foul odor of the being's breath caused Jackie to turn her head away. It's just a bad dream, she tried to reassure herself. I have just fallen asleep on a bench somewhere, she pressed. Yet there it was, still kneeling above her, restraining her. She was unable to move.
Then something happened she hadn't expected. As a semi-truck passed by, the being quickly released her and whisked away. The driver of the semi stopped his truck, got out, and ran to Jackie. She was stunned at her luck. The being surely would've harmed her if it hadn't been for this man!
"Are you alright, miss?", he asked.
"Yes, I am not sure what happened. I was just walking home from a meeting at school and suddenly this thing had me pinned to the ground!" Jackie responded.
"Yeah, there are some weird things out here. You new around here, missy?"
"This is my first full week here. We moved to this place from Utah on Wednesday of last week, but I never noticed anything unusual until tonight."
"Wow, usually people freak out their first night or two here and move as soon as possible!"
"Really?"
"Yeah," the man said, helping Jackie into his truck after getting her to her feet.
The man closed Jackie's door, walked over to his side of the truck, and got inside. After closing his own door, he buckled his seat belt and requested Jackie do the same. After she buckled it, the man stuck the keys into the ignition, giving her a quick glance. He started the engine. Then they were on their way.
"Where you heading, kid?" he inquired.
"Home, and my name is Jackie. What's yours?"
"Just call me Sam. So what do you reckon that creature was that attacked you?"
"No clue, really. Looked like something demonic. It had red glowing eyes, like something out of a horror flick. Cold hands with pointy claw-like fingernails, too!"
"We've been gettin reports of people sighting weird stuff out here lately. Always in this end of town, too. Where do you live, Jackie?"
"The corner of 7th and Main."
"Dang, kid, you're going to be up for a rough night. A lot of those sightings come from 7th and 8th street. A woman and her two kids just moved out of that house you're in, I heard. They complained of wheezing noises and the sounds of feet scuffling across the attic floor. Real creepy, ain't it?"
"That it is."
Sam pulled up at Jackie's house. When Jackie got out of the truck, her mother rushed out of the large house to embrace her. When the girl looked over in her rescuer's direction, however, he had already pulled away from her home and drove off. This place keeps getting weirder and weirder, she told herself. Her mom practically dragged her up the stairs and into the house. When they got inside, her mom asked the question she wasn't nearly ready to answer, but knew was coming.
"What in the hell happened to you? Where have you been! You are nearly 30 minutes late!"
"Something weird happened, but it's alright now Mom. This man Sam helped me get home."
"Did he touch you? What is that bloody gash near your shoulder?"
"No Mom, he didn't touch me. Something jumped out of no where and grabbed me. If it wasn't for Sam, whatever it was probably would've killed me."
Jackie's mom inspected the young girl's shoulder. She went into the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet, and came back with some antiseptic and gauze. After bandaging her daughter's wound, she sent her to bed. As soon as her daughter was asleep, she took an Aspirin and went to bed herself, but not without a call to police about her belief this man "Sam" had possibly injured her child.
Jackie wasn't asleep, however. She heard every word through her floor vent upstairs. Though she was angered her mother did not trust her new friend, she did not interfere. Instead, she wondered what that thing was that had attacked her. A mutant human, a monster, an alien? She couldn't be quite sure. It seemed almost like a incubus the way it crawled on top of her and pinned her to the sidewalk. The creatur didn't seem big enough to be a incubus, though. It seemed rather tall and skinny, with a bit of muscle power to it. It moved very fast, like a vampire. Vampires have glowing red eyes, don't they? But so do most demons. Jackie would fall asleep this way, wondering what exactly the creature was, and if she would ever have a second encounter with it again.