She saw him, he stood there beneath the shadows waiting to rip her apart like a carnivorous predator, He’s here, run, run fast! But for some reason, she felt stuck onto the ground, unable to move and frightened, she fought against herself and forced her feet to move. She finally managed to run, and when she finally succeeded, she ran faster than anyone in her school’s track team. Only when she finally reached the pole, she realized that she stood still in the same place. She half expected her lungs to burst at the realization of her incapability of running away- trapped in inescapable labyrinth of terror. Just as she turned around, she saw him standing there smiling viciously in a dark eerie way, and she screamed but no noise came out. Only as she she still made out a distinct cry, she realized that the yell belonged to someone else. She felt a strange, familiar hand grab her tense shoulder as the unknown person said her name, Clara! they repeated.

“Clara, wake up” her little brother whined as he repeatedly shook her shoulder. She finally awoke, and after rubbing her still sleepy eyes, she saw the scared look on his face; worried to see him frightened, she asked him, “What’s wrong? Did you have that dream again?”


Her frail brother, Joshua responded hesitantly, “ Yeah, except this time the monster caught up to me, and I saw you next to me, you tried to scream but he grabbed me anyways.” Clara wondered how her and her brother persistently visualized the same dream every night for the past year, even though this revealed as the first time of them actually acknowledging someone else there with them.

As Clara and her younger sibling rushed their ways downstairs to share the news with their mother, they noticed something strange. The kitchen showed no signs of the usual noise of coffee brewing and bacon sizzling in the frying pan, as their dad or mom often woke up at nine in the morning on weekends to make an appetizing breakfast and get their day started for family activities. As Clara ran to look inside the kitchen she gasped when she saw that there remained a green slime that clung onto the tiles of the kitchen walls. She looked towards the floor searching for the cause of the bizarre goo, just as she spotted some blood which appeared to contain an unusual glow displaying alien-like characteristics.



She held in a scream as to not frighten her brother any further, and said with a quivering voice, “Joshua go put your coat on, we need to leave.” Joshua quickly reached for his dark gray coat which he received from his Aunt on the previous week for Christmas. As the realization set in and Joshua, quite intelligent for his age, concluded that something happened to their parents. Their mission to find them seemed quite appealing to him as the day reminded him of one of his favorite superhero’s heroic deeds as he or she went on to save the city, one villainous monster after another. He then proceeded in an awkward run towards his sister and clasped her hand for reassurance, and then they both continued to jog outside where his sister’s car waited like a patient mother to take them away from their troubles. As quickly as possible, Clara slid into the driver’s seat as Joshua clasped himself with the seatbelt. She then twisted the rusted key as fast as she deemed capable of. As soon as she heard her old 1993 Silver Honda groan into life she pressed the brake and changed the stubborn gear. They soon drove away in search of their missing parents.

Clara’s and Joshua’s parents always told them unusual stories of monsters and aliens, but they never thought that this horrific dream could come to torment their lives. Now she remembered that her parents often talked in hushed whispers when alone and every time Joshua or Clara walked into the room they would smile unsurely , as if they hid a deep secret. Even one day, when Clara searched for eyeshadow in her mother’s mahogany drawers she saw a note with an address, 14 E. 60th St, New York, 1002. On the top, scribbled in messy handwriting revealed the words, Meet Me Or Danger. Clara found this a bit odd but then thought nothing of it as her Mom often planned events and parties at Central Park. Now as she looked back, Clara realized that her parents might reside there and that this might lead to a doomful death. As Clara finally understood the vast setback in time, she briskly stepped on the gas, and zoomed past the other cars. After a few sharp turns and three near accidents she reached her destination unsure of what the park’s future revealed.
When she arrived there revealed no apparent complication, she almost turned back around to go back home as she felt confused and dazed, but then she heard a sudden high pitched scream that she perceived to last for hours. The shriek came from somewhere in the back of the woods, unsure of what to choice to make, she stood there as if she felt her feet stuck on the ground. She decided that no matter what she faces, the risk held more guilt in losing her family than in losing her life.


“Wait in the car”, Clara told Joshua, she wanted him secure as possible. Then, Clara ran into the dim woods and into the unknown, where her possible demise stood waiting for her with a gruesome grin.