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(Page 4 of 4) One Dark Night by Gregory Harvey
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His mind turned back to the weird dream he had been having. For that was what it was; a dream. An extremely vivid one, of course, but it was just a dream. The pain, however, was still throbbing in the back of Ben's mind however. Perhaps it was more than... no. That's stupid. Without even looking out of his window to check on the statue, Ben closed his eyes.
He fell asleep almost at once.
It was the sunlight seeping in from outside that woke Benjamin up that morning. He rose out of bed with some excitement, although he was unsure why. But, as he looked towards his curtain, Ben's heart plummeted and any notion of excitement for the day was destroyed.
His curtain. It had been slashed into tatters, and much of it was lying in pieces on the floor. William must have done it. He looked towards his TV it was still there... and that was curious. Ben swung his legs out of bed and stood up, his joints performing remarkably better than they had been earlier.
After two steps, Ben could notice that the curtain had not just been torn. There were also red stains, splattered down in strips, on the fabric.
"What the..."
"Benjamin," A voice, that sounded remarkably like his father's, called from behind.
Ben snapped around
The man in black, the one that had shattered into existence over the bloodied remains of the Virgin Mary, was standing on his bed. The man stood in complete darkness, almost as if the sunlight could be swallowed up by the cruel visage.
"I have seen you, Benjamin," the voice, whispery and harsh, yet still like his father's, said. Ben could not even see any lips moving, as the man's face was covered by the black hood, "And you have seen me. But do not be disheartened, my son..."
The man reached into the large coat he was wearing, and withdrew a dagger eight to ten inches long. Blood dripped from its razor edge, the droplets splashing crudely onto Ben's doona. Benjamin's eyes were unnaturally wide, his eyelids almost bursting in terror. The knife seemed to bring the piercing noise, which was a dream... wasn't it?, back to glory. It bounced around in Ben's skull, not yet snapping through it.
"Your time for this knife is not now, Benjamin. Nor will it ever be. In seeing me you have escaped me. In feeling the pain you have avoided my agony. Your life shall go on. Yet in every shadow... I'll be watching you. In every ray of sunshine, I'll be watching you. And in the afterlife, I'll be following you," the man said.
Suddenly his body became less real, almost fading. In a moment the knife had been put away smoothly underneath the jacket, and the figure had stepped into the wall, disappearing from Ben's sight. Stepped into the wall, Ben couldn't believe it. Perhaps he was still asleep, perhaps this was just a dream. Otherwise...
Ben stepped backwards, still too uncomfortable to take his eyes off of where the shape had been, even if the piercing had ceased. As he planted his foot onto the corridor's linoleum, however, Ben slid backwards, losing his balance. Awkwardly, he fell to the floor on the other side of the corridor, his head banging against the brick wall. His vision actually went black for a moment before recovering. When it did...
Kenneth, Ben's best friend, was staring back at him with blood shot eyes. Blood was plastered across his face, and it took Ben a moment to notice where the liquid had come from. Kenneth's throat had been slashed open and the blood was still dripping down onto his shirt. His body was crumpled on the linoleum.
Ben stomached a scream, only to realize that the hallway was full of bodies. Matt, Evan, Andrew... they were all collapsed outside their rooms with their throats slashed and eyes red. Kyle, Steve, Joe...
Right before he fainted, a short, shrill scream erupted from Benjamin's mouth. It was the kind of scream totally unbefitting a seventeen year old guy.
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