It doesn’t take a genius to know death is approaching. But for a teenager, that shouldn’t be a thought to occur to them. No, I don’t have cancer, I’m not dying of a disease. But at this point I wish I were. Anything is better than watching the cafeteria cook getting his guts shredded. I don’t even remember why I came into the kitchen in the first place. But now I’m hiding in a metal cabinet trying not to breathe while that….thing eats him.
I know there’s more than one, and I have no clue where they came from. I just need to get out of here-alive preferably. My classmates are probably dead. How long until I’m with them?
While I’m hidden away, I dare to look where the cook was killed. The thing standing over him was roughly ten feet tall, had an oval shaped head, and a body that looked like a praying mantis-but black. It’s arms curved and when i looked close enough I saw they weren’t just arms, they were razor blades. Curved like a mantis’s arms, but made of metal that would take no effort to slice open skin. It’s spine was also black, but human looking, I could see each vertebrae as it moved. My eyes dared to look at its head, which was also like a praying mantis. Am I about to be killed by a giant cannibalistic bug? God what a fucking way to die. Interesting obituary though. “Jane Sanders died a brutal death by being chopped into pieces by a praying mantis.” Boy that would be a headliner.
God what the hell am I thinking? I don’t want to die! I need to get out of here. If that thing would just leave already. Is it going to eat him? Because it keeps staring at the body and not doing anything. But just when I think I’m in the clear, my leg slips and gravity soo greatfully let’s some pots and pans clatter to the floor. The things head shoots up and it’s eyes aim at me. They’re white and it has no mouth, just giant bug shaped eyes white as no. It doesn’t make noise either. But I don’t hesitate and after a beat of silence I shove out of the metal door and sprint for the exit five feet away from me. My breathing is rapid, I’m already dead. So much for graduating high school.
I slam against the swinging door and sprint down the hallway to the office, blood cakes my shoes as I hop over dead students and leave shoe prints in their wake. I turn into the main office and slam the door behind me. It probably knows where I am by now. I didn’t bother to be quiet. Why does it matter if I’m going to die anyway?
“Jane, how good of you to join us.” I know that voice, I turn around and see my school police officer sitting at her desk along with the school secretary who has no blood in her face, she’s a white as a piece of paper.
“What? What the hell? How are you not dead?” I pant.
“It hasn’t found us. The thing attacks movement. Congrats on making it to safety. Sit, I need to show you something.” Officer Kate motions to the seat beside her. I stand there for a second and then sit. She pulls out some pictures and lets them in front of me.
“Oh I don’t need to see-“
“Yes you do, if you want to understand that monster. Look at these please.” She taps a finger on the photos.
I exhale and look at the pictures, kids with there necks sliced open lay on the ground. Their mouths are wide open. And their eyes….look exactly like the monsters. White, no pupils and bulging out of their skulls like golf balls.
“What is there to understand? They’re mauled to death.”
“But it doesn’t eat them.” She replies.
“Is that supposed to justify the things actions?”
“No, but you’re still here, and it’s not.” Just then there’s a bang on the door. Multiple kids screaming and trying to get in.
“Well now it’s here.”
I remembered she said it was attracted to movement.
“Go hide in a classroom and stop moving!” The officer yells.
“Why aren’t you helping them?” I gawk, “What is wrong with you?”
“Some of us want to survive, Jane.”
“But it’s your job to help other people. Why-“
“I can’t protect anyone from that monster. You and I both know that. But we also know the thing is attracted to movement. Sound, hasn’t been proven yet.”
Yet? Yet?! Is this a game? Are they performing tests on this thing while it kills innocent children and teachers??
“Also that’s not the only one.”
“What do you mean?” My voice shakes. You’ve got to be kidding me there’s more?
“There’s one that is invisible and attacks from behind. It crushes your spinal cord and skull and drinks brain and spinal fluid.” The officer explains and lays another photo down. The victims look like cracked eggs. Their limbs facing in directions they shouldn’t be.
“Is it here?” I whisper.
“We don’t know. It was in the south hallway and we’ve kept that door shut, it’s not like a ghost or anything supernatural.”
That’s one word for it. But I speak too soon. The officer starts to speak but she’s cut off when her face starts turning blue, she grabs her throat.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. No no no. This can’t be happening.
The secretary starts choking as well. I stand and stare baffled. Scared. Terrified that I’m next.
But my airway never shuts off. I don’t have difficulty breathing. My life isn’t stolen.
“It’s good to see you Jane.” A disoriented voice says from behind me. But it echoed. I couldn’t track it.
“Who are you, what do you want from me?”
“No need to worry, you’ve done everything according to plan. Thank you for your assistance.” At this point the voice is right against my ear and I feel a sharp pain in the back of my skull. My eyes start to water and my bones crack. The pain is so extreme I can’t even feel it. I can’t scream, I can’t escape. But I know which monster it was. I knew writing down what I experience with sleep paralysis was going to back fire. Because no matter how I write it or draw, they always escape the pages.