Hahaa, it's a random story as I'm quite clueless to what I should call it, I think once I carry on with a bit more, a name will probably come to me that seems appropriate.

Well, this is the first chapter. Apologies for the length; it was much longer, but I broke it up into 2 chapters)
Any opinions, constructive criticisms and whatnot are greatly appreciated!


Chapter One - A Waking Nightmare


The rained lashed furiously down onto the darkened, empty streets of the town. The sound it made was overwhelming; water crashed down from the sky, onto the concrete streets, the metal roofs of parked cars, the closed windows of the silent and locked buildings. It was a bitterly cold night, the glow of a concealed moon faintly hung behind the thick blanket of cloud; its attempts to shine through seemed somewhat futile.

The constant and endless beating sound of rain was disturbed by a figure running frantically down the deserted rain-soaked road. It was a young boy, somewhere within his early teens. His eyes were wide with fear, and his breathing was quick and heavy. He was running as fast as his legs could carry him. The clothes he wore were drenched with the torrent of rain, making them heavier than usual, his T-Shirt sticking to him as if it were glued onto him. Making a sharp and what seemed to be a spontaneous turn, the boy headed towards a side street, quickly glancing back towards where he had previously come from, and then picked up his pace, vanishing into the pitch black of the alleyway.

Almost as soon as the sound of the boy’s heavy footsteps faded into the monotonous beat of the rain, another sound emerged from it. It was similar to the sound of the boy’s irregular footsteps, but far heavier, and much faster. Out of the shadows, and cover of the rain, another figure appeared that could only be described as a large beast, a monster, burst out onto the deserted street. Its eyes seemed to burn with an otherworldly energy, as if it were possessed. Momentarily pausing its pursuit, the beast stood on its hind legs, and seemed to sniff the air delicately, as if it were searching for something, to catch the scent of what it was looking for. Whilst stood on its rear legs, the beast stood at around 8 feet tall. The entire of its body covered in a thick layer of fur, which hid its large, muscular build. It looked like it contained immense strength, far beyond anything a human could achieve. Its four limbs seemed to somehow resemble that of a human, but what could be considered hands and feet for the beast, possessed large, razor-sharp, claw-like appendages.  The creatures head and facial features resembled that of a wild dog or wolf, although far more aggressive. Its infernal eyes filled with the overpowering desire to hunt; the desire to kill. After briefly scanning the area, the creature’s eyes seemed to light up with twisted pleasure. It had caught the scent that it was searching for. The monster turned its attention to the darkness of the alleyway, its sense fixated on the scent it had detected. Fear; the beast was pursuing the boy that had gone into the alleyway only moments before. It could smell the sheer terror that he was in, and could sense how badly the boy wanted to get away from his pursuer, this fiendish predator. The boy feared for his life, and rightly so, as this hellish creature was taking delight in watching the poor human’s feeble and pathetic attempts to escape; to survive. It’d enjoyed the chase, the feeling of the hunt, and the smell of complete fear that the boy had for it, but now the monster that it was time to end the chase, and claim its prey. Leaping over a parked car effortlessly, the beast bounded into the darkness of the alley.

The boy was now quite a distance away from the main street, but now he found himself lost in the darkness. The rain was still falling violently, and with not even the dim street lights to guide him, his fear began to grow. Despite living in this town all his life, he was lost in what seemed to be an intricate web of side streets and alleyways, his rush to escape mixed with fear for his life had caused him to lose all sense of direction. Although he could no longer hear the monsters heavy steps behind him, he never slowed from his sprint-like pace. He took a sharp left turn, now just making guess at the way out. Whilst running aimlessly around the maze of streets, the boy began to think to himself;

“Why did I sneak out at night?�

“Why didn’t I listen?�

“This is all my fault...�

Tears began to from in the corners of his eyes, he should of listened to the warnings - of his teachers, of his father, of the police, of everyone. Everyone knew that there was a crazed person; a lunatic roaming around at night. Overnight, people just seemed to vanish. The strange thing about it was that there were never any traces or clues as to where and how they vanished, they literally just...disappeared. It wasn’t even known whether the victims were still alive or not. Despite being a rather isolated town; miles from anything else which could be considered ‘civilisation’, Bargham was becoming infamous on the news for these disappearances. No-one, not even the local police knew what exactly was going on; in fact, one of the missing people was an officer from the town. People and the media seemed to claim it was the work of a dangerous ‘psychopath’ with the ability to cover their tracks, leaving no traces whatsoever. The boy; Joel, now knew that was far from the truth, the truth was far worse than any crazed human; the creature he was running from was like something only his worst nightmares could conjure up. If only it was just that; a nightmare he thought to himself, but he knew it wasn’t. His situation was very real. Five people had already gone missing in the past month, when the disappearances began – Joel didn’t want to become another statistic. Thoughts raced through his mind once again:

“What was that creature?"

“Why is this happening?�

“How can I get out of here?�

He couldn’t hold in the tears any longer, as they began to stream down his face as he dashed from one side-street to another. He was completely lost within the darkness, within the never-ending torrent of rain, within the bitter cold of the night; trapped with the nightmare that was hunting him down. His decisions to turn down a street were now just random guesses, but seemed to present yet another dark street with nothing that looked like a way out. Joel felt that all hope was lost. Making a sharp left down yet another alleyway, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

A glimmer of hope could be seen in the distance, through the torrent of unrelenting rain. Joel saw a house that he recognised – he had found the exit to the labyrinth he had been lost in for what seemed like an eternity. Even at such a perilous time, the buy couldn’t help but recall what seemed like silly memories. On his way to and from school, he always passed that house; it was only a few minutes away from his own home – his own warm and safe home. Joel had always thought that house was a bit odd, and stood out like a sore thumb. Whereas most houses were painted usual colours, this one was a strange pale blue colour. Christmas was when this house became odd however. Most household in Bargham would decorate their homes with a few fairy lights, and other Christmas decorations, which made things look rather bright and festive on long winter nights. This house always went one step further; the trees in the garden, the drainpipes, the window frames, the front door, the garage, and even the flowerbeds were all smothered in these sparkling fairy lights. To top it all off, a giant, inflatable plastic snowman stood as a strange centrepiece in the middle of their garden, but the owners never put it away once Christmas was over and done with. Instead, it would just stand there all year round with it’s ridiculous hat, and goofy smile. Joel couldn’t see the snowman tonight; he thought that maybe the owners had finally taken it down, what with all the commotion that has been going on recently. Goofy snowman or not, he knew that it was the same house, which meant that he wasn’t far away from home. Joel smiled; he’d finally found light at the end of the tunnel, a wake up call to this ghastly nightmare. He began to move once again, heading for the eccentric house, as from that street, he could easily make his way back home. He wondered why he agreed to sneak out so late at night; some ‘higher authority’ had issued a curfew for the entire town, a ‘lockdown.’ Inhabitants of the town were told to tightly lock and shut all windows and doors and stay indoors between the hours of 10pm and 6am. For Joel and his friends, life had become rather artificial, and so they agreed to sneak out and ‘investigate’ whilst no-one else was around. Since Bargham was a fair stretch from any major towns and cities, and roads to and from it had been blocked off for the public, they wouldn’t have to worry about being spotted by any vehicles. Since the police officer went missing, even the local police have had to stay indoors at night, and abide by this curfew that had been put in place by another authority. Apparently the town was to place control of the situation to this unknown ‘higher authority’ but no-one living in Bargham has any clue to what this unknown authority is. The only thing Joel and his friends had to worry about was sneaking past their parents, which was easy. He then realised, his friends? What about his friends? They too had also agreed to sneak out; they were all going to meet up at a spot, but then that creature appeared before Joel could get there. The young boy wondered about his friends, hoping that they were safe. Maybe the monster had found one of them instead? He began to worry for the safety of his friends, but fear and worry for his own life prevented him from turning back, so he carried on towards his goal.

In an instant, the concerns Joel had for his friends vanished, he felt sick inside; he felt weightless, and then fell heavily onto the ground, into a large puddle. Joel felt winded from his fall, and it took him a moment to realise what had happened. Something fell from above him, possibly from one of the tall buildings that surrounded either side of the narrow alleyway. It must of fallen inches away from him, whatever it was must of been very heavy, as it was the sheer force of its landing which knocked Joel clean off of his feet, and falling backwards onto the floor. His T-shirt and jeans were already soaked through with rain and his trainers were beyond repair, so falling into a puddle didn’t really matter much to him. Gasping to catch his breath back, he looked up towards where he had fallen. His feelings turned from confusion and fatigue to pure horror and fear. He felt now that his entire world had collapsed; his life had fallen apart. The nightmare had returned, extinguishing the small flame of hope that he had found and clung onto.

Stood only a few feet away from him was the same creature that he had been running from, its demonic eyes staring menacingly into his very core.  A wicked smile crept onto the beasts face, causing Joel to tremble and whimper; his eyes once again wide with fear. The beast could see how terrified this pathetic human was, and the fear that the frail looking creature had for it, and it thrived on it. Its cruel smile widened, revealing a vast multitude of yellowed, razor-sharp and powerful looking fangs. It was time for the predator to claim its prey, the spoils of its hunt.

With a thunderous snarl the beast leapt towards its prize. Joel could do nothing but watch as the malevolent monster bounded towards him, his body petrified with absolute fear. The beast landed on top of Joel, its clawed hands pinning his arms to the concrete floor of the rain-drenched alleyway. Joel thought his arms would break with the power the beast had; there wasn’t any chance of escaping this. Fear had now become despair, as the young boy looked up towards his end. He knew this was going to be his last few moments alive. Looking up at the evil creature, he was fixated on its inhuman eyes stared back at him, piercing his soul; all of his hopes and dreams. He couldn’t look away from them; they burned with an overwhelming rage, with pure hatred, corrupt with madness. The monster growled, seeming pleased with its prize, and then clamped its powerful fangs into Joel’s right shoulder. Joel tried to yell out as he felt ineffable pain, his bones snapping and crunching under the power of the beast’s vice-like jaws, but no sound escaped from his mouth. He could not cry out for help, or even cry out in pain; he was alone in his nightmare incarnate. He felt warmth gushing from his shoulder, and flowing across his arm. It was blood; his blood - leaving the gaping wound and dyeing the rain-soaked street red. He felt the sharp cold of the rain falling down onto him, falling onto his wound like sharpened ice cold daggers. The cold of the rain and the warmth of his blood mixed with one another, creating a reddened mixture that he lay in. The monster raised it head from Joel’s shoulder, its face and snout were now stained a deep red. It seemed very pleased with itself, and the wound it had caused. Its blood stained fangs glimmered faintly in the dim light of the alleyway. The beast licked its mouth and snout, seeming to enjoy the taste of its victim. It then turned back towards Joel, its eyes filled with monstrous and twisted desires; a lust for more. It was now going to devour its prey. Joel was about to become missing person number six. Closing his eyes and giving up all hope, he waited for the demonic beast to strike, and end his living nightmare.



And thats it all! Thanks for taking the time out to read it!