| abstract | - I woke up, straight on my feet, in the middle of the night, in my old flat. I looked around only to find everything was pitch black, unable to distinguish my own chamber. An unnerving emotion which rushed trough my body made me feel like I absolutely had to check up on my mother and father, who were sleeping in the balcony, mere metres away. With fear in my heart and a tremble in my hands, I staggered slowly trough the hallway to my parents' little bed. The oversized blue pajamas I slept in night by night were cleaning the floor. I navigated solely through my knowledge of the surroundings, which I've amassed over the years living there. Across the tiny kitchen, I made my way to the wooden door of the balcony. I placed my cold hand on the icy metallic handle and twisted it slowly. I had barely cracked the door halfway open to peek through, before I froze in place, my heart racing and knees weakening. My gaze was locked upon the window. Gripping to its shiny surface, was a terrible, darker than black creature, equipped with big crooked fingers adorned with red talons, a protuberant spine, and a pair of white eyes glowing like lights at the end of a tunnel that laid above a dangling jaw from which erupted long, razor sharp crimson teeth. Its head twitched a few times before it began pounding on the window, screeching like a siren as its powerful hands etched more and more cracks on the barrier with each hit. I put my hands on my face and echoed its scream in despair until I managed to break free from my cowardly stun. Without much thought, I spun on my shins and ran for the front door. As I was rushing through the tiled hallway, I heard an ear piercing shatter behind me, and as the window came crashing down, so did the realisation that the creature had broken through, and was now running full speed after me. I threw the door open with a powerful push and stepped out onto the staircase. In a split second, my feet planted firmly on the ground. The staircase, along with the rest of the apartment block altogether, was gone. I felt a new wave of fear and adrenaline take me over. There was nothing down there but for remnants of what was once a nice, peaceful conglomerate of happy little people living in their happy little flats. In blind fear and panic, I jumped. I just jumped, away from the huffing creature which was stomping closer and closer. As I fell, I saw it standing in the door frame, roaring down at me with a dreadful expression etched on its contorted, skeletal face. A flash, a thud and a crack later, I found myself lying on my back in a puddle of blood and hurt, on a busy market street. I painfully rose up, leaning on my elbows to look around at the faceless humanoids rushing past me as if I were not there. Among the orange-yellow surroundings, which were diffuse enough for me to not be able to distinguish anything but the stampede going on among basic shapes, I saw a black dot. As it grew bigger every second, I became aware that it was indeed the creature I had seen earlier, charging for me like a bull full of wrath. I wasted no more time to get back up on my feet and run in the opposite direction. I just ran, with no direction or guideline. I ran until my legs cried in pain and my whole body revolted against my adrenaline driven attempt to escape, I ran as swift as I could, shoving humanoids left and right, avoiding carriages and jumping over gaps, though no matter how quick I pushed my body forward, the ground shook harder and the wheezes became louder behind my back. In my blind dash, I failed to avoid a small stall and crashed right into it. As it dissipated, sheets of white paper, clean and scribbled, shrouded my sweaty body in their chaotic dance, creating a rather large cloud around the crash zone. I saw this as my opportunity to escape, thus I sped up my pace as much as I could without ripping my aching muscles apart, taking turns left and right, in hopes that maybe I could leave the beast behind. It wasn't long until I had realised my hopes were for naught. I heard its dreadful stomps and pants closing in on me no matter how far I ran into the endless bustling street. Stomp, run. Thud, jump. Huff, duck. Growl, fall. I was lying face down on the floor now, my freshly broken nose dripping crimson on the yellow cobbled stone. I felt a massive clawed foot press on my back, a surge of pain rushed trough my entire body as the talons curved into the flesh of my spine, tearing it apart. In response, I tried trashing around but my pitiful attempt to escape was met with a powerful, huge hand which gripped my head tightly. I screamed as its claws came closer to my tender skin. I screamed harder as they penetrated it and now began digging into my skull, while at the same time pulling it back. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I felt my flesh give in to the immense force and rip away, string by string. I was quiet as I saw my limp, disconnected body lie down on the stained crimson stone.
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