by Manny Beck
Escaping the burning building was the easiest part of the terrifying night to come. I thought to myself as I fell from the shallow roof onto the ground.
I instantly felt the dampness on the bottoms of my feet, realizing I was ankle deep in fresh snow piling on the side of the building. I was only wearing house slippers and thin black ankle socks , typical for a young teenage boy like myself. My jeans being the only saving grace from the harsh winds. But it didn’t matter. We had to run away for our lives to safety before the evil man fulfills his curse in murdering us all. Being the last remaining boy of the family , I knew he was going to be ruthless in ending me.
My friend and I made a run for the secret path in the woods that eventually led to the main road. We dashed into the windy darkness, heavy snow crashing into our faces was making the night seemingly dangerous. We decide it best to cross the small pond under the bridge to stay hidden rather than following the road. It’s dark and snowing harshly so I assumed a quick dash to safety was obtainable. Hastily stepping onto the thin ice of the pond , I speed up to follow my friend as we pass under the bridge. I feel an evil chill behind me, just as my friend warns me of how dangerously thin the ice over this deep water is. I slow down a little and try keeping up. Just as I step out from the other side of the bridge I hear a terrifying yell fall from above.
As I begin to glance over my shoulder I see a bony hand attached to a dark figure bounding towards me. I scream in fear as the weight of this attacker brings me crashing to my hands and stomach- face down in the snow and ice. I feel a hand fumbling around my legs and I flip over onto my backside to see the murderous man grimacing as he viciously grabs onto my right ankle. My friend hurries over in panic , holding onto my arms in hope of protection and begging for mercy. Being on his stomach , the evil man is limited in his means of attack. So he tosses his weapon aside and wraps his other hand along my foot as now he becomes enthralled with the adrenaline to kill with his bare hands. I desperately try yanking my foot back at the knee screaming and pleading. His grip becomes increasingly tighter on my ankle which is now soaking wet from being dragged in the snow.
“Let me go!” I scream. My slippers kicking snow into his beard . He begins violently thrashing me about by my leg taunting my life. “You’ll never escape from me child!” He laughs menaiacly . At this point, the slipper has been shaken off my foot from this deadly tugging , my black sock being soaked all the way through basically leaving my bare foot exposed to the wintery fate I was soon about face myself. Just as he was about to reach higher up on my leg to finish his execution...the ice around him started to crack. Immediately the left side of his body plunged into the freezing waters sending more cracks around us. He tries pulling himself out and yanking on my ankle. My friend is in turn is desperately trying to pull me away.
As the evil man fully plunges through the hole , along goes my foot. I scream “Get off me!” And with my free foot I kick myself free- feeling his long nails slide down my bare ankle and lightly grip my wet toes through the violent splashing nearly peeling off the sock. My friend snatches me away just before the hole grows and he is trapped drowning in the middle of the pond. We watch him scream as he claws at the surrounding ice trying to dig himself out but soon his violent struggling slows as his head gets trapped under. We catch our breaths and see his hand slowly flailing above the surface in a last effort until he finally disappears into the watery grave. I notice my shoe still untouched by the ice breakage amongst all the chaos . My ankle feels sprained almost from being crushed by his deadly grip with his massive hands. My friend runs after the slipper and hands it to me. I peel off the drenched sock and notice all the scratch marks around my ankle not knowing if was from being scraped along the ice or from the evil mans vicious nails.
I shove my foot back in and get back up.
