SCHOOL'S OUT

It was getting dark; late October and the afternoon light seemed listless. The last bus had gone.

Brushing away anguished tears, Sarah collected her schoolbags, ready for the long walk home.

After three quarters of a mile, she turned left onto Church Lane, where the street lamps guttered, casting their orange glow. The gravestones on either side stood sentinel as she sprinted past, fearful of shadows. In her haste, she ran headlong into a wiry teenage boy who appeared from nowhere.

"Hey! Where's the fire?" he asked, revealing a dazzling smile and kneeling down to retrieve her schoolbags. "Careful with your schoolwork, Sarah."

He strode through the open gateway, and she quickly followed.

"How'd you know my name?"

"I know everything about you, Sarah. Mommy broke her promise again, didn't she? Forgot about you."

She nodded, feeling unaccountably nervous. His eyes looked strange; they glowed like blood-red rubies in the dusky half-light.

"Well - I never forget my children. They are with me always." He stretched out a bony hand. "Come, they've all been dying to meet you."

His long skeletal fingers enclosed her tiny hand, drawing fresh rivulets of blood; and those once lost, abandoned children, shimmered into view.




200 word contest entry. The Nightmare contest.