John was a young boy, to be precise, he was nine. He had short blonde hair and tiny blue eyes. His round face and chubby cheeks made him really adorable and loveable.
John was being sent to a summer camp to improve all his skills, and develop more. His close mate Dan was going to be there too!! John thought that they were gonna have a pretty jolly time together.
Soon, both John and Dan were attending their first day at camp. If John were to describe the day in one word, then the word would be, ‘boring’. That's because the whole day, they were just going through rules and stuff, no games, no activities, no nothing. Plain boring.
But the plus side was that both John and Dan were getting to sleep in the same tent!! Wasn’t that just epic?! They got to talk all night long!!
Both of them were just talking about Hot wheels and nerf guns, when they heard a horrible, blood curdling scream which pierced the silent moonless night. Both the boys glanced at each other with wide eyes filled with terror!! They started to shake terribly and huddled closer. Fear overwhelmed their senses and their young minds clouded with agitation.
Suddenly, something warm started raining down on them!! Quickly, John took out his flashlight and shined it at the roof. What he saw made him vomit and shake even more terribly.
A layer of thick red blood was oozing down their roof and they both knew that it was real. Both boys were horribly frightened and crying wet tears. Heart hammering and blood stained, both of them quickly made their way out of the tent.
John looked back at their tent and let out a shrill scream!! Gazing at them, was the head of the councilor of the camp. THERE WAS NO BODY!!
The boys could hold it together no longer. They ran straight to the closest building possible. The building was tall and old. Grime hung onto the window’s and and torn rags, which must once have been banners, fluttered from the roof. The strong gusts of wind made the windows bang against the building. The dark moonless night finished the whole effect. Going INSIDE this building, was clearly not a good decision, but both John and Dan were kids. They had no instincts, no sense of direction. They ran into the building and looked for cover. There were no lights but still they moved on holding hands to avoid losing each other in the dark.
When they were deep inside the building, they heard a high creak. Both of them jumped with fright and stopped on their tracks.
Suddenly, there was another sound.. This time, it sounded like something heavy dropping to the floor. Both children had now made their decision. They could not stay here longer. They had to get out!! But they had come too deep into the building, and were hopelessly lost. None of them had memorized the long, and narrow corridors of the building.
Soon, after some exploring, John found a large bathroom. Hey! He called Dan, his voice still shaking. Maybe we can wash the blood over here from our body!! Dan nodded his head and they both headed inside.
The bathroom seemed to be even darker than the rest of the building! It seemed to radiate a sense of warning. Spider webs clung to the walls and ceiling and the only source of light came from the broken window on a cracked wall.
To John’s and Dan’s relief, the taps were working properly. But the problem was that they were really loud and hearing the noise after the eerie silence seemed really odd. But they washed themselves nevertheless and thought nervously of their next move. Soon, Dan got up, held up his pinky finger and shakily disappeared into a bathroom stall.
John nervously sat, waiting for his friend and chewing his nails off. He soon impatiently started tapping his fingers against the dappled tiles of the bathroom floor.
Suddenly, a horrible scream rang out!! The bathroom door opened and Dan rushed out his face white with horror. But that was not all… His body somehow looked crumpled. Blood soaked his shirt and even more of it dripped from his mouth. His hand was bent at an angle that John could never have thought of and his face was all bloody and raw!! There were teeth marks across his right leg and his foot was facing the opposite direction.
Dan tried to race towards John, trying to form words, trying to warn John to run away. Midway, he suddenly stopped, as if held by an invisible force. His face scrunched up with terror and he tried to scream, but no words came out
Suddenly, as quick as lightning, Dan got pulled into the bathroom stall by an invisible hand and the door was slammed shut.
By now, John was shaking uncontrollably, and weeping his eyes out. His brain could not process what had just happened. The only sound that he could hear was his heart pounding against his chest. It seemed too loud and John wrapped his arms around himself trying to muffle the sound. He called out for Dan in a broken voice , but there was no reply. John was scared out of his wits. He wanted his mom. He thought about his family, he thought about warm memories..
He looked at the mirror, at his face which was visibly flushed with terror. WHERE WAS DAN!!! He glanced towards the bathroom stall and made his decision. He was getting out of there, no matter what happened and how lost he was. He took one last glance at the mirror and stopped in his tracks.
A white colored body loomed into view. IT WAS DAN! But John knew that he was already dead.
That is when he saw the other person. It was an old woman wearing bright white robes. Her hair was shaggy and lean and she was walking slowly but purposefully towards him. She was bent on a walking stick, and her skin was all wrinkled up. A putrid stench entered his nose. But the most obvious thing that John noticed was that the woman had no shadow!!
She rasped in a cracked voice.. Son, can you please help me get out of here! I have been stuck here for ages! But John held up a shaking hand and told her to stop midway. He was not falling for it.
The woman smiled. A sinister laugh escaped her lips. Her eyes turned a dark shade of black. It seemed to be a hundred times darker than the moonless night. Blood formed on her lips and her gown.
One moment she was near the door, and the other, she was standing right in front of him, almost touching him. John jumped and whimpered, and begged for his life. With his eyes wide with terror, John noticed that the woman’s stick had turned into a sharp dagger. She grinned evilly, and held it in front of his eyes.
John was too frightened to imagine what she would do to him and he knew that anything would be better than staying with this woman. But he had no other option, so screaming, he leapt out of the broken window and launched himself into the chilly night outside.
Unfortunately, his attempts were futile. An invisible, cold and clammy hand seemed to grip his legs. John fought and thrashed mid-air, wanting to escape and quit his life as quickly as possible. But the hand was too strong. It yanked John back inside the window at breakneck speed. Soon, he was staring at those dark eyes again which seemed to radiate foulness. But now, in her hand was a container, and she spilled its contents over him.
IT WAS OIL!!! John screamed with fear as he realized what she was going to do. But the poor boy could not move a muscle. He could only watch, as the woman smiled coldly, lit a match, and threw it on him. John screamed and thrashed at the unbearable sensation of burning. The woman stood by him, watching him with amused eyes through the whole process.