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Lavender Way



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93 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 302
Reviews: 93
Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:09 am
Nightlyowl says...



It was nearly two forty-five in the morning when Paige walked home. Her mind was buzzing in a cloudy stupor, most likely from the alcohol her friend had given her, and she wanted nothing more than the collapse into the comfort of her bed. Her house wasn’t that far from the party, so she decided to take the less direct route to her house.
Lavender Way was an old road, with pot holes marring the dusty back surface, which branched right off of Main Street. It was like stepping into the Twilight Zone, one minute she was surrounded by cars and shops and the next she was alone on an empty street with the faint humming of cars keeping her company. Other than the occasional car horn, the night was still and silent, like the world was holding its breath. It was an odd feeling that never usually happened while walking home, no matter the time of day.

Old brick house looked at her from one side of the road; on the other were the looming silhouettes of the woods that dotted the whole area. When the sun shown high above the dwellings, the houses looked homey and old and made her feel like she had traveled back in time. But now with the moon a hazy beckon in the sky, they looked somehow distorted and savage; the dark windows like eyes watching her from the street, its bushes and flowers swaying limply in a stale humid breeze. Heavy clouds leisurely crossed the sliver of moon casting the already pale world into duller shades of gray and black.

She wanted to inch closer to the wooded side but the trees looked like boney arms trying to reach clawed fingers out to snag in her hair. Fog rolled in from the tree line, making the streetlights struggle to cast their dim lights onto the pavement. What little light made it to the ground, glowed a fading gold in the glassy surfaces of the puddles which filled craters in the asphalt. Chewing on her lower lip, she began her long walk back to her house. Never before had Lavender Way seemed so long.

It was harder to breathe in the thick humid air. Whenever she gulped down a mouth full, her lungs felt heavy like they were on fire and her nose burned with the smell of sulfur and charred wood. The smell of death and fear hung like the fog in the air… her fear her death. All of a sudden her glassy stupor was shattered and she was suddenly more sober than she ever had been before. Adrenaline coursed through her veins putting her on edge. The stale warm air surrounding her, made her feel as though someone was breathing down her neck, hovering at her heels. Her clothes felt moist and heavy against her skin, trapping her and suffocating her further. With nervous fingers, she twisted long brown hair into a ponytail but that only made the back of her neck prickle. Someone was behind her.

Casting paranoid glances over her shoulder, she studied the thick shadows which crept across the pavement, slinking closer and closer. As far as she could see, there was nothing out of place, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Lavender way was surrounded by woods on one whole side; usually she would scourer the trees with her friends, listening to the birds and the other forest dwelling creatures. Now though, she couldn’t stand how predatory the trees looked. The moon was a hazy mass silhouetting the leafless trees. She couldn’t hear the owl that lived in the depths of the woods, or the crickets that plagued the underbrush. The spaces between the trees looked like an army of shadows waiting to attack, glaring at her from the darkness, reaching clawed hands out to snag her hair. With stiff limbs, she hurried over to the other end of the road splashing through the muddy puddles in the street. You only have to walk down the block… you’re almost there… but glancing at the houses, they still seemed distorted and unnatural. The flowers along the bottoms of the brick buildings looked lifeless unwelcoming, haunted and disfigured.

She felt safer now that she was away from the daunting forest and distorted houses. She made her shoulders slump and her back relax, but the thoughts of the desolate houses and the feeling of being hunted was still there, whispering in the back of her mind, urging her to run. Once again, she looked over her shoulder walking down the center of the road, streetlights struggling to push through the fog. At the far end of the street, the lamplight flickered. She put it off as a simple technical difficulty, and then the one across from it began to flicker simultaneously with the first. It’s just some freak accident… nothing more… she reasoned, but still she was transfixed by the glittering street lights blinking dimly in the darkness.

Her breath caught in her throat as the next two joined the others. Yet she was stuck in place, like a beast trapped in the light of a car. She felt like the ground had just fallen away from her and she was falling into endless darkness, her head spinning as her heart raced. The next two lights, flickering like the others, slowly came closer to her. Somehow she managed to tear herself away as the lights continued closer. This was no freak accident. As she ran, the flickering spread faster, following her. She knew without a doubt, that if she was caught in the shadows her life would be over. This thought plagued her mind as she ran, stumbling as she went; two lines of blinking lights following her.

As she neared the end of the street, her mind tripped over its self as she struggled to remember which way was home, which way was safety. She could hear her footfalls thudding against the pavement, the sound drifting softly to her ears. The even beats were drowned out by the sound of someone running after her. Her heart raced in her ears, as her mind screamed at her to run faster. She wasn’t going to make it.

What little light was there was fading, keeping her blind, the fog growing thicker and the clouds seemed to be taking far too long to cross the moon. No one was on the streets; no one could have helped her if she screamed. Looking around, she realized this with panic in her heart that was the first time, she saw just how alone she was, how isolated. If she died, no one would be there to save her. The realization of her immediate danger finally took over her body, slowing it down in panic. Then all the streets lights went out and she was plunged into darkness. In the split second before the shadows caught her, she saw something in the puddle’s glassy reflection. A human face stared back at her, a human face with a toothy grin cutting from under one ear to the other, a grin too wide to be real. In the split second, she saw white eyes gleaming, the pupils not even pin pricks in the depthless white eyes. She wanted to scream but unnatural face knotted it in her throat.

A cold chill shot down her spin as someone grabbed her upper arm. The touch was cold and clammy and burned a bruise into her skin. Sharp nails dug into her flesh as she tore herself free. Then she ran. The only thing warmer than the humid air she ran through was the hot sticky liquid that dripped down her goose bumped arm.

She flung herself to the right and behind a parked car, tears running coldly down her flushed cheeks. Her makeup was dripping down her pale ghastly face making her look as hunted as the houses on Lavender Way. Gasping, Paige looked behind her, cautiously, but the road was empty and the streetlights were all glowing steadily as if they had never been flickering. The fog and the abundant shadows had crawled back into the forest, and the clouds finally parted over the moon. Nothing seemed out of place. Had I imagined the whole thing? A sharp pain numbed her arm and made her gasp. Long deep lacerations encircled her upper arm, trailing down to her elbow. That was not her imagination. With her other hand she lightly laid them over the bruises made by an unknown hand, and her heart skipped a beat. When she pulled her hand away it was sticky with drying blood.

Whimpering, she got up and ran farther away from Lavender Way, closer to home, her salvation. The father she got, the safer she felt, nearly half a block away she sighed, letting out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Soon her house was in new and she nearly jumped with joy. Paige drew in deep breaths as she pressed her sweaty forehead to the cool wood of her front door. Relief washed over her as her porch light basked her in its comforting glow. Standing like this she was able to believe that it had all been her imagination, a nightmare she would soon be free of.

Moths flittered about the porch light slamming themselves into the glowing fixture. Slowly fog creeped down her road, making cars look like worn out sketches against the white paper. Silent fingers reached out toward her, crawling up the front steps as moths fell to the ground dead. From the corner of her eyes she saw the light flicker. Once, twice, three times before it went out. And there in the stain glass window she could see a grinning face, a wide grin cutting from one ear to the other. It moved as the light went out and she could see its white eyes still reflected in the glass, showing her her fate. She screamed as the shadow fingers reached for her.

She screamed and threw her door open, slamming it behind her. She locked it as soon as it was closed and sunk to the floor wrapping her arms around her knees. This isn’t real, this can’t be real… She whimpered as tears rolled down her cheeks. Slowly she made it to the front window and looked out, but once again the street was clear. She sighed and made sure all the windows were locked all the doors bolted. Craving warmth and comfort, she turned on as many lights as she could then hurried upstairs to her room. Once inside, the familiar walls put her at ease, the sound of her parents’ soft breathing in the other room soothed her.

Paige flipped on her lights and then took out her hamster cuddling it close as she curled up on her bed. It took her nearly an hour for her heart to stop slamming against her ribs. But when it finally slowed she replaced her hamster and collapsed onto her bed. Within seconds she was asleep.

The silence felt like a giant weight just dropped on my shoulders, I couldn’t breathe. Ahead of me, for as far as the eye could see, were birch trees lined up like a forest full of skeletons. Every tree was withered and leafless, with crows perched on every arm-like branch on every hunched over tree. This was no normal forest, manmade and unnatural. All the trees were lined up, evenly spaced, in perfect rows, every tree looking identical to its neighbor. I didn’t want to go into that rotting forest.

I turned to see where I could go instead, to retreat back to where ever it was I came from, but I couldn’t move my feet. Behind me I could hear the roaring waves crashing onto a rocky cliff. I could smell the sea salt and ice; I could feel the stinging cold on my back. All I could do was turn my head. Behind me the ocean was vast and endless, with a thin film of ice. Ice across the ocean… the ocean was frozen.

A shadow fell upon me, a shadow of a hawk, which screeched from above. My heart thudded in my chest and I ran. I was more afraid of that bird than the dead wood, with all the crows leering down at me from their perches. The hawk screeched again as I ran bare footed over the gray rocky soil. The soil had deep jagged lines running through it, like the withered puckered old skin of an elderly man who had spent too many long hours under the hot sun.

The crows launched themselves into the air, clawing at me, tearing their way into my skin. My blood was the only color I could see against all the grays and dusty browns of the ground, sky, and trees. My blood ran like a river onto the cold hard ground, splattering, leaving a trail to follow. The crows joined the hawk and the shadow grew until it covered everything in sight. Swiftly, the shadow got larger as it neared the ground; I could feel each burst of air as the giant bird flapped its wings. I couldn’t let it touch me, I couldn’t; I had to get away. But before I could run faster, before the bird could reach down its clawed feet, everything went black…


She woke up with a start, her room flooded with light. Her dream was fresh in her memory as she went into her conjoined bathroom to freshen up. The smell of the sweet coppery blood still filled her noise and she couldn’t stand it. Her bathroom was small and decorated to her liking, with makeup and candles strewn across the black counter top. Her white wash walls littered with black and white pictures. She turned on the water and splashed her face. When she grabbed her towel she noticed how her red candles melted even though the room was comfortably cool.

Her heart nearly stopped when she heard her hamster wheel creak. Stepping out of her room, she looked at the cage, her hamster lay sleeping in its house, the wheel moving on its own, creaking slowly. She couldn’t breathe, the cool air turned unbearably cold as the lights in her room began to flicker. Paige whimpered as she ran back into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door. Her eyes were clamped shut and she hugged herself. As long as they were closed she wouldn’t be able to see that grinning face with its white glowing eyes. Behind her eyelids she could see that the lights were flickering again, and her eyes snapped open. There in the mirror was that grinning face, those white pupil-less eyes, starring at her, grinning at her. She screamed as the lights went out. "I found you..." It cackled.

Spoiler! :
The dream part is actually my story called "Dead Island" Feel free to just read that if you'd like. And also, this was my first time writing a "Scary Story" I hope it fit the horror catagory.
~Nightlyowl
  





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18 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 1389
Reviews: 18
Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:56 pm
SlightlySenile says...



Great. I loved the way it the suspense flowed throughout the entire thing an wasn't jerky. The detail was brilliant and I loved 'Her mind was buzzing in a cloudy stupor, most likely from the alcohol her friend had given her' as I really think it helped set the scene of a naive girl walking alone and just made it all the more real. Well Done :)
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
Dr. Seuss
  





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Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:06 pm
Whiterose24 says...



I LOVE THIS. literally couldn't stop reading... It was so absorbing in such a beautiful way. I just love everything about it! :) :) Truly mesmerizing. and the horror effect was more than obvious.
LIIIKKEEEE! =)
I hope life isn't a joke, because I don't get it.
  








Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
— Mark Twain