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By Marc Monroy

It was in the midst of the month October of the year two thousand eight. It was Halloween and I was at school. Everyone was wearing costumes. Some were dressed as clowns and some skeleton jesters and etc. I was wearing a costume myself. I dressed up as a soldier. I saw some of my friends. Tania was a Chivas fan, Troy, well didn’t really dress up, neither did Krystal. Once I got home later I went trick or treating. After trick or treating I went to my friend’s house. My friends and I were going to watch a movie. We chose to watch Hannibal Rising. Now I normally don’t watch a movie with cannibalism but this time I decided to check it out. The movie was the freakiest I’ve ever seen. All of his victims were brutally murdered. I won’t bother describing the details. After the movie ended I went home to rest. I made an effort to sleep but I couldn’t. Strange noises came from the outside. The last one startled me. So all night I was being kept awake from all the noises. I didn’t go to sleep until three o’clock in the morning. But when I woke up I wasn’t home anymore; but I didn’t know where I could be. I’m really confused. I asked, “Is anyone there?” Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and it made me jump. “Tania what are you doing here?” I asked. She didn’t answer. Then I saw Troy and Krystal. None of us knew where we were or how we got here. The stench of rotting flesh was in the air and it almost made me gag. We started to explore when I tripped over a dead body and I was startled. The body looked fresh. The fog around was as thick as a blanket the air was cool with a cold and gloomy atmosphere. But I just realized we were in a graveyard. There were tombstones everywhere. But then slowly sliding through the fog was a body and I couldn’t really see the one dragging it and all I saw was a silhouette of a man. Then I had a glimpse of him. It was the one and only Hannibal Lector but it was his younger self.
He set the body down and started to eat it. We had to listen to him while hiding behind gravestones because we don’t want to get caught. The sounds made me sick to my stomach. The blood splashed onto the gravestone he was eating in front of which was the one I was behind. It was too foggy for him to see me, luckily. A few drops of blood landed on my face. Surely you would do the same in my position if you couldn’t stand to see much blood. After a few more minutes he got up and he had blood all around his mouth. Once he walked away we went out of hiding. I saw the body and the intestine were half eaten and blood all around the body and on the gravestone I hid behind. We had to be cautious because in this thick fog he could be anywhere. I was shivering but not just because of the bitter temperature but also the feeling of being hunted by this man. I could see the fear in the eyes of my friends, the feeling that we could all be dead within a short amount of time. He didn’t know we were here yet but the way this man thinks it makes me feel like we’re his prey. The thought of even seeing his face again with the blood of another being on his face gives me chills.
So far we’ve been walking around for about an hour and still nothing but graveyard. Then Tania spotted a door on her far left. She got our attention and headed to the door. She opened the door slowly to be cautious. When she opened it all the way there was no one around. I was glad about that. When we entered there was a big stairway in the middle of the room. There were two paths. Then I noticed one door under the stairway. All of a sudden the lights went out. Tania was backing up when she bumped into something behind her. The lights turned back on and when she turned around some kind of deformed creature stood with shackles on the wrists. It swung its arms and there was a long part of the chain that Tania barely dodged. It walked slow but with immense steps. Everyone ran upstairs. But the creature didn’t follow us. It wasn’t normal that’s for sure.
After a few minutes it was gone. But which way should we go? Troy said the right door and Krystal said the left door. I wasn’t quite sure which one we should go through. Since I had no idea which way to go I let Tania decide. She said we should go through the door to our right. “Alright then it’s decided.” I said. Let’s just hope the door to the right was safer than the one on the right. But right when we entered the door there were webs all over the place. Looks like a spider’s lair I thought but I saw no spider. Then Troy spotted a door to our left and it was covered by the sticky threads of web. I tried opening it but it wouldn’t budge. We had no choice but to find another door. We eventually found one and same as before we opened it cautiously. When we entered the walls were made of rock and there was a path to our left. The cave was very dim and it was hard to see. Tania and Krystal walked ahead and Troy and I walked behind. Tania and Krystal made it through. But when Troy and I barely made to the edge the floor collapsed. We barely hung onto the edge. Tania and Krystal tried to help us up but we slipped and fell into the pit of darkness below.
Tania and Krystal called for us but there was no response. “Maybe they’re dead.” Tania said sadly. Krystal just sighed. She said that Troy and I might still be alive. Then Tania and Krystal started to move on. Tania and Krystal were making an effort on trying to see through the cave. All of a sudden lights turned on but they were flickering a lot. Right when Tania and Krystal turned the corner Lector was ahead. He was staring right at them. Since the lights were flickering he didn’t see them right away. But he heard them run back around the corner. Then the lights went off for a brief moment. Tania and Krystal were breathing heavily and their hearts were beating faster and faster. Once the lights turned back on Lector’s head was peeking around the corner with a wicked grin. Tania and Krystal were startled and were thinking this could be the end of them. They closed their eyes thinking this was all a dream. Right when he was about to turn his head the lights flickered and once they opened their eyes, he was gone.
They were scared now. He knew the girls were here. Tania and Krystal were in grave danger. The next time he sees them there might not be another second chance to run. The girls exited the cave into a strange room. This room had disturbing paintings. One was a man hanged and the others are too disturbing to describe. Tania caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye. She turned around but nothing. “What was that?” Tania asked. “What was what?” Krystal asked. “Never mind it’s nothing.” Tania replied. “Are you feeling okay?” Krystal asked. “I’m fine.” Tania replied once more. Tania thought there must be something more than Lector in this mansion, but what?
It must have been an hour or two before Troy and I awoke. I woke up to the stench of rotting flesh and I hurled because this time the unpleasant smell was worse than before. Troy was disgusted. Well of course he was wouldn’t you be if you saw someone hurl? “Troy are you alright?” I asked. “Aside from some cuts I’m fine.” He replied. The cave was pitch black where we were. Above lights flickered. I hope Tania and Krystal are okay. If they ended up dead there would be no reason to escape without them. Troy and I started to walk ahead. There was no way we could see through the darkness. We tried our best and I reached in front of me and I found a door knob. I just noticed the light that shined through the bottom of the door. Once I opened the door we were outside. There was a mini waterfall to my left. I looked out beyond the gate and I saw people hanging from branches and there were a few people impaled on the fence. Below me I spotted blood. There was a trail of blood and it looked like someone was dragged. It was fresh blood too. Troy and I decided to follow it.
The girls explored the room but there wasn’t much. They decided to rest for a little bit. After a few minutes the door busted open and Lector ran through. Tania and Krystal had nowhere to run. They ran through the door they came through and once they turned the corner they realized that the floor was gone from before. The backed up and they reached the edge. Lector had them cornered. They were able run past him. Once they reached the room they were just in. Krystal noticed a door to her left and ran through it. Tania closed the door and locked once she made it through.
The trail of blood Troy and I were following let to a small cabin. The trail of blood stopped at the entrance. Once we walked in we saw a lady with a pitch fork in the face. The blood was dry so she was killed a while ago. Once we got into the middle of the room. Something was dripping on Troy’s shoulder. It was blood! It dripped from the ceiling. Lector could be near. We heard footsteps in front of us and we hid against a wall. Once whatever was walking this way passed I noticed it was the creature from before. It passed and exited the way we came in. Once we walked out the next door we were outside of the cabin.
The door leads to a narrow hallway with paintings on the walls. Tania thought it was over for now but she was wrong. Lector’s machete went through the door. The girls started to run again. Then they went through another door and the hallway was wider but suits of armor were leaning against the wall. They looked like they could come to life. This was more than just a mansion. They ran through the hallway of armor and the axes they wielded dropped forward when they passed them. Lector was behind. The last door they passed lead outside. Tania bumped into something that made her fall to the ground. It was the creature from earlier. It turned around and stared down at Tania. She started to back up and bumped into Lector. He still held the bloodied machete. Krystal was nowhere in sight. It wasn’t the best time to disappear out of nowhere and leave Tania alone.
The fog still surrounding the area still prevented Troy and I from seeing. We heard howls under the bright moon. Then we heard a scream. I swear it was Tania. I ran towards the direction of the scream. On the way I tripped over something. It was a shovel. It could come in handy. I made it and it was the creature and Lector. I rushed to hit the creature but it turned and ended up hitting me with the shackles on the arm and felt my arm snap and I cried out in pain. I dropped the shovel and Troy came in and picked it up. Right when Lector was about to strike Tania Troy hit him over the head with his shovel and knocked him out. The creature broke the shovel in half. Tania quickly picked the Lector’s machete and drove it into the creature’s chest killing it. After that moment it started to rain.
It was over, for now. I was just glad Tania was alright. “Tania are you alright?” I asked. “Yeah I’m okay.” She replied struggling to get up. “Do you have any idea where Krystal went off to?” Troy asked. “No” Tania replied. Pain shot up my arm because it was broken. I tore half of my shirt sleeve off and made a sling. Krystal was missing and we were scared out of our wits. Where were we to go now? We better think of something fast though because Lector might wake up soon. Then Troy spotted a door on the side that looked like it lead to the cellar. Tania felt like we were being watched. Then she sensed someone was behind us. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she looked behind her but no one was there.
We didn’t need to worry about Lector as much anymore. More than Lector is in this mansion. The cellar had a very dim light in the middle. It was full of random things like boxes some shelves and etc. I heard something fall. I went to check it out and when I got there it was just a raven that lied motionless on the solid rock hard cement floor. Once I took a closer look it took off. Once I took one step forward the cellar doors closed behind us. I went to try to open the doors but it was no use. There was only one way to go. The door in front of us was our only choice. Once opened the door it lead us back to the beginning. There was the door upstairs or the gate under the stairs. I chose the gate. It was all cement inside. There was a trail of blood that was going into the darkness ahead. Once we went through there was no turning back. Once we started to get further in the path water started to come up ahead. The water was ankle deep at first then knee deep and then it was almost chest deep. It was maybe four inches above the waist. The water in the middle of the room was really deep. At the bottom there were some chairs, desks and computers, how strange. Tania spotted a large shadow at the bottom. Troy and I felt something slink by our ankles.
Five tentacles came out of the water and one grabbed me then Tania. We were dragged under. I saw the octopus and it did not look normal. Troy didn’t know what to do. Tania and I couldn’t hold our breaths for very long. I couldn’t even hold mine for a half of a minute. I tried to get out of its grip but it was too strong. Troy spotted something in the water. It looked like a broken pipe. I couldn’t hold my breath for much longer. Then after a few more seconds which I thought were my last; the last thing I saw was Tania struggling for her life. I woke up hearing the voices of my friends telling me wake. Once I did I saw two of the octopus’s tentacles bleeding severely. There was a shadow below but there was something strange about it. It was very large, seemed to an abnormally sized creature. It was a great white. Blood spilled into the water a minute ago. The shark would be enraged now. The shark lunged at Troy and it nicked him on the shoulder. There had to be a way out of here. But wait there’s a door on the other side.
We headed towards the door. But we had the shark and still the octopus to watch out for. The shark lunged again and I leaned back to try to avoid it but it just knocked me over. Once I got back up I heard an alarm. The area was on lock down. I guess this place was a lab at one time. While the alarm was blaring the water started to rise, but very slowly. “The water is rising we got to hurry to the other side!” I shouted. We started to panic and started to try to hurry to the other side. Pretty soon we’d be under water. A minute later we had to start swimming. The shark kept charging at us now. The second time it charged it almost got Tania. The door wasn’t very far ahead but we were running out of time. We made it to the door. Tania quickly opened the door once we got in the shark lunged and then I closed the door and the shark hit it. Good thing the door was made of steel.
Another cave, this mansion is just crazy. It was very dim and damp just like from before. Neither of us could take this place much longer. I don’t want to go crazy or anything like that. But right now the most important thing to do was escape. There was a big area in front of us. Once we got to the other side the floor collapsed under Tania and Troy. Spikes were at the bottom. Tania held onto the edge along with Troy. “Tania grab my hand!” I shouted. The hand I told her to grab onto was my right arm which was broken. I yelled in pain but I didn’t want to lose a good friend so I took the risk. Tania started to slip but I used my other hand too and pulled her up. Then I quickly went to help Troy. I grabbed his hand but it was so sweaty and mine was also so it made it a lot harder. I started to slip off the edge myself. “Hold on Troy.” I said. I tried using my other hand but it didn’t work. Troy was slipping more and more. Then it happened. He let go and fell to his death.
One of us was gone but to make his death not from vain we had to make it out of here. Now it was Tania hopefully Krystal and me were still alive. We couldn’t stand here forever mourning Troy we had to get out of here as fast as we could. This mansion was more than a mansion no doubt. Once we made it out of the cave we ended up being outside. The area didn’t look familiar. Then I just realized we were outside the gate. “Tania we have to get inside now!” I shouted a little panicked. If we stayed here for one minute later we wouldn’t survive for very long. But we couldn’t go back so we had to go around. Tania heard something rustling in the bushes behind her. She went to take a look when a deformed dog leaped out and knocked her down. It took her arm in its powerful jaws and started to jerk. She was shouting in pain. I kicked on the side and it went an inch or two away and jumped at me. Then it ended up gnawing on my arm. What I just noticed was the dog was bigger than the normal sized one. The type of dog was a Doberman Pincher. I held its large jaws open and tried to get it off. The strain on my broken arm made hurt so bad my grip on the dog’s jaws weakened. I let go with my right hand and punched it as hard as I could. I cried out in pain because it really hurt my arm. The dog whined and fell, dead.
Once I got up we heard howls not too far from us. The dogs came running in. Tania and I started to run. The dogs caught up fast. Tania tripped and I hurried to help her up. “Come on Tania we have to make it through this.” I said. We continued to run and we passed a gate along the way but it was locked. It took a while but we made to the entrance of the mansion. Once we opened the doors the whole place was filled with darkness. Before we entered lightning and thunder started. I felt fear and more than before. The feeling was a different kind. I felt as if a knife were at my throat. Once I turned it was him. Lector stood outside holding a hatchet. No, why did he have to be here now?
Tania and I were exhausted and we couldn’t run anymore. While we were still catching our breath he charged at us. I pushed Tania out of the way and the hatchet went into my shoulder. It was the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life. The pain was too much. I saw Tania run to the door way and then I started to hurry out. Lector chased after me and I told Tania to run. “Tania go, leave with out me, if I don’t survive at least you will!” She refused. I shouted it again but she still refused. I did my best to reach the door and once I did I ended up collapsing. I just lied on the muddy ground with rain falling upon my face. “Come on Marc we can still make it!” Tania shouted to me. After she said that Lector was right front of her. He raised his hatchet and right when he was about to strike I tripped him and he fell face first in the mud.
I got up and we ran into the woods in front of the mansion. Lector followed. We hid behind a tree and heard Lector say, “You’re really dead now.” The wound on my shoulder was bleeding a lot and I started to feel weak. I sat against the tree. “Tania I can’t go on any longer.” I said breathing heavily. I would eventually faint from blood loss. It was no use, I couldn’t go on any longer and Tania didn’t want to leave me behind so what now? He would eventually find us and maybe even kill us. Tania looked out from the side of the tree. The look on Lector’s face was terrifying. The face of murder is what caused Tania to hide behind the tree once again.
He found us. Lector stood and looked down at us for a moment. Then the hatchet went down and he struck Tania. Her scream pierced my ears and just as he was about to strike again I pushed her over. He missed and then Tania and I got up and started to run again. We found a large tree that would be good for cover. “Tania are you alright?” I whispered. She didn’t answer. We sat against the tree to rest. He found us once again. This time it was impossible to move because we were too weak to move. He was going to finish me off first. He raised his hatchet and right when he was about to strike he paused and fell over. He was dead. “Am I late?” Krystal asked. “No you’re just in time.” We replied. Troy was lost but we will continue to remember him. What Tania and I wondered was what were those people we saw aside from Lector. They might have been ghosts, well maybe not. We may never know.


THE END