Essay/Term paper: Creative writing: the nightmare

Essay, term paper, research paper:  World Literature

Creative Writing: The Nightmare


It all began one day when I was over my friend Susan's house. Her
parents had just left for vacation to Texas, leaving her home by herself. I was
allowed to stay that weekend while her parents were away. Susan and I were
sitting down eating when she got a call from the house where a new family just
moved into. The Smith's had asked her to babysit for them. They said it was
all right if I came too. They wanted us to come over about six that evening.
When we got over there Mrs. Smith introduced her two year old daughter
named Julie to us. Mr. and Mrs. Smith didn't leave right away because they
wanted Julie to get to know us better. Mrs. Smith told Susan and I that Julie
could stay up until 8:00 P.M.. She also told us she had been having problems
with her telephone. There must have been something wrong with the connection
because when it rang there would be no one on the other end. Someone was coming
tomorrow to take a look at it.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith informed us that they would be a little late coming
home because it was their anniversary and they had a long night planned. We
told them to have a nice time and they both grabbed their coats and left.
Julie started crying just as they closed the door. We gave her a bottle
and put her down to watch some TV. Then the phone rang and Susan and I looked
at each other, seeing who was going to answer it.
I answered the phone but no one was there. I said hello again, but
still no answer. All I could hear was someone breathing heavily. It was loud,
gasping, and very frightening. I said hello again and heard a faint, masculine
voice. As I began to tremble, the voice whispered, "I'm coming."
All of a sudden the lights went out. Susan, Julie and I let out a loud
shriek. I ran over to Susan and Julie and hid my head. Susan started laughing
and told me it was probably because of the storm outside. We both looked out
the window when a bolt of lighting struck across the sky. Julie began to cry
and we comforted her and told her it would be all right.
Susan was going to go down into the basement to find the fuse box so she
could turn the lights back on. It was time for Julie to go to bed so I grabbed
a flashlight and we went up stairs. I tucked her in and read her a short story.
All of a sudden I heard a loud screech. I jumped up and ran down into
the basement where Susan was. I hurried down the basement steps where I saw
Susan's still body laying on the floor and her head on top of the fuse box. I
froze with astonishment, when I saw written on the wall with blood "YOUR NEXT."
As fast as I could, without thinking, I ran up the steps frantically. I got up
the steps trembling and locked the basement door behind me. I ran up into
Julie's room to get her so we could leave the house. I looked in her room and
she was gone from her bed. I heard foot steps coming from the basement. I
called Julie's name a few times, but with no answer, I thought he had already
got to her. I picked up the phone to call the police but the line was dead.
I didn't know what to do so I went to the kitchen to get a knife. There
weren't any kitchen utensils since they had recently moved in and weren't
finished unpacking yet. I saw a small pocket knife on the counter, grabbed it
and headed toward the front door. I thought the best thing to do was to get out
of the house as quickly as possible. As I crept past the steps I noticed a low
crying coming from Julie's room. It sounded like Julie so I dashed up to her
room and heard it again. It was coming from her closet. As I opened the door I
saw Julie huddled in the corner of the closet crying. I picked her up and
carefully ran to the front door.
Feeling a little relieved that Julie wasn't hurt, I tried opening the
front door but something was holding me back. Someone from the other end was
holding the door. I looked out the window horrified at what I saw. It was a
tall man with dark hair, and an unshaven, frightful face. He looked as though
he was thirty. I knew he was after me so I raced to the back door knowing he
would follow.
The back door was unlocked so I took Julie and ran into the woods. When
I thought I got far enough away from the house I put Julie down and told her
everything would be fine. Just when I thought he was gone I heard the rustling
of leaves and heavy breathing. I took Julie's hand and was
as frightened as ever. We ran as fast as we could trying not to look behind us.
Julie kept tripping over rocks so I picked her up. When my arms got too tired
to carry her any longer I stopped. I looked back hoping he wasn't there.
When I saw the man coming closer to me I put Julie down and pulled out
my pocket knife. He didn't seem alarmed. He then pulled out a large butcher
knife from behind his back. Then all I could think about was seeing Susan
laying dead in the basement. I stepped backward holding Julie's hand. Julie let
out a huge shriek which startled me, leading me to trip over a rock behind me.
I got up quickly as the man started chasing me again. When I went to turn
around to start running again there was a huge cliff in front of me. I lost my
balance and fell right off the edge. I felt myself falling in the air looking
down at what I might hit. Just then I woke up in my bed with sweat dripping from
my head and realized it was all just a nightmare.