"There's blood."
I turned to look at her over my shoulder, to see where she was looking. Annie had always been one to jump to conclusions, and since we had become friends as kids, I had always been the one to assure her that things were okay.
"I'm sure it's not, it's probably just paint or something," I walked over to her, my torch pointed at the floor to see where I was going.
"June, I assure you, that's blood," her voice was quivering and the beam of light from her torch was shaking. I reached out and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, offering her some support as my torch light joined hers, pointing at the wall. Maybe exploring an abandoned house in the middle of the night wasn't the best idea, but Annie's car had broken down about a half mile down the road and this was the first place we had come across.
The splattering of red across the wall was too dull to be paint. Red paint was always bright, it would've stained the cracking white paint of the wall already. This wasn't paint.
And it wasn't dry.
We both watched in horror as it dripped down the wall. As a child, I had loved watching rain on the window of the car when my parents had to go somewhere. I would watch the little droplets, pretending they were racing to the bottom, and make bets with myself as to which ones would win.
I couldn't help but stare as one droplet raced ahead of the other, but stopped when it reached a bump in the paintwork, the second droplet making it to the ground first. I followed it with my torch, watching as it joined a little puddled on the floor, amongst the grass and weeds.
"I think we should go," Annie whispered, her breath coming out in a little white puff and I nodded, the cold making the tips of my ears throb.
"Yeah, let's go back to the car." We both turned around, and Annie grabbed hold of my arm, squeezing it tight in her hand, although the layers of my coat and jumper meant I barely felt it.
We both jumped when a branch snapped to the left, and hurried whispers between us plunged us into darkness as we turned out torches off, holding onto each other as our breaths came out shakily.
A beam of light fell down upon us and we both screamed, the light blinding me and making my vision swim as my hands tensed up around Annie's, the both of us gripping the other's hands as tightly as we could.
"Are you two okay?" the voice was deep and he lowered the light, pointing it at our feet so we could see better. The first thing I saw was his uniform.
"Thank God," Annie sighed, turning her torch back on. "Officer, you have to help us, our car broke down and-and–"
"There's a house back there that has blood on the walls," I pointed, finished Annie's sentence for her.
"I know."
I frowned, glancing at Annie, the relief I had felt before melting away and the fear creeping back in.
"What... what do you mean?" Annie asked and he smiled.
"The problem with your car was that it had run out of fuel, but the battery has also been disconnected due to..." he paused, searching for the right word. "Unfortunate circumstances."
"You disconnected my battery?" Annie asked, her voice barely audible.
"Couldn't risk it," he shrugged, reaching towards his waistband. I gasped, trying to pull Annie back, but she didn't move and I felt something hit the back of my foot. I tripped, falling backwards and pulling her down with me. His laughter chilled me to my bones.
"Didn't running seem too much of an easy option?" He asked and I started to crawl backwards, begging Annie to run, to get up, but she could do nothing but stare up at him in shock.
His torch caused a glint of light to reflect off the knife, and I screamed, trying to back away. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to watch as the knife came down on me, but behind my eyelids I saw the area light up and forced my eyes to open again. Annie's torch was shining up at him, directly into his eyes, and as he tried to escape the beam, I pushed myself to my feet, moving as quickly as I could over to Annie.
"Let's go!" I pulled her to her feet and we both took off running, heading down the road, away from her car. It was useless anyway.
I heard heavy footsteps behind us. His legs were longer than ours, he was faster, stronger. There was no way we were escaping and the tears in my eyes were blinding me as I used my grip on Annie's arm to guide me, hoping she knew where we were going.
Two lights came around the corner in front of us and the footsteps behind us stopped and retreated. Annie led us up to the car, which had pulled up to a stop, and the window rolled down.
"Please help us," she sobbed and the person in the car told us to get in. Annie opened the back door and we collapsed into the car. I fumbled for the handle and slammed the door shut.
"He was chasing us and my car is broken and there was blood and there was a knife and–"
"It's okay, we're going to drive away," the woman said, interrupting Annie's franticly gasped words. The car started moving and quickly built up speed as the lady dialled on her phone. I clutched Annie's arm closer to me, not wanting to let her go.
"Hi, I have two girls in my car who say they were running from a man threatening to stab them," the woman said and I felt a sob rise in my throat.
"I don't want to stop driving, where should I go?" Annie looked over her shoulder through the back window and I buried my head in her coat, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to quiet my sobbing.
"Yes, there's a fire station about five minutes down the road. Can you stay on the line?" I heard an indicator ticking and the car turned a corner.
I only lifted my head and opened my eyes when the car stopped and I looked out of the windows at the red exterior of the fire station. A police car pulled into the car park behind us.
"Yes, they're here. Thank you." The lady opened her door and waved to the police car. A policeman climbed out and started walking over.
"It's okay, you're safe now," the lady turned to say to us as the policeman approached. Her smile turned to a frown, her face crumpling and a gasp leaving her mouth as the policeman grabbed her shoulder to hold her still. He pulled his arm back and she slumped to the ground, leaving behind a bloody knife in his hands.
"Hello again, girls."
Yay, another creepy story.
I like being creepy in these, it brings me great joy.
I hope it brings you as much joy when you read them.
Actually, I take that back. I hope it makes your skin crawl. That's what it's meant to do.
I'm not mean, just honest.
That's all, then.
Bye!
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