@Hey_Its_Snowy_And_Im_Generally_Confused
Rinay sat on the steps of the threshold in front of his house, tapping his feet in time with the rain out of boredom. It was another cloudy Saturday with nothing to do. His father was cooking dinner in the house and was sure to be done soon, but in the meantime Rinay just decided to sit and wait.
The shrill scream of a tea kettle rang out throughout the house and pervaded the screen door. Rinay’s feet stopped tapping. He turned his head over his shoulder and called, “Dad? Is dinner ready yet?”
He received no response.
Finally sick staring out into dim, measly rain, Rinay huffed out a frustrated sigh and stomped into the house, slamming the door behind him.
No sooner than he took a step into the foyer did he stop dead in his tracks. All the lights in the house were off. There were no signs of anyone in the kitchen or food cooking, although Rinay swore he could smell chicken. He warily proceeded through the dark hallway, his heart beating so fast it nearly hurt. The dark shapes of furniture could be made out in the dark, but nothing else. All the sudden, a small creak from the upstairs hallway travelled down to Rinay’s ears and chilled him to the bone.
Rinay shut his eyes and grimaced. He didn’t want to go up those stairs. Yet, he insistently told himself that it was just his dad. Of course it was just his dad, who else could be in the house? After all, Rinay had been sitting by the only outer door of the house for the past hour. His heartbeat slowed and he had finally calmed himself down. Taking a deep breath, Rinay gripped the staircase railing and headed up to where he heard the creak.
Upstairs, it was even harder to see. Only the dimmest of light shone through a window at the end of the hallway, slick with rainwater. Rinay’s feet padded softly against the carpeted floor. He peered into the darkness, hoping to spot his dad, but nothing.
“Dad?” Rinay hesitantly spoke. “Where are you, and what’s up with the lights…?”
Still no answer.
There was another noise, though. From right above Rinay’s head. He slowly looked up and was met with the drawstring for the attic a mere inch from his nose. He’d never been a fan of attics, so to speak. They generally freaked him out, and he really had intentions of going to them. Of course, he never really had any reason to go in his own, because all that was up there was a bunch of junk, most of it formerly his mother’s items. A creak identical to the one before, then silence. Rinay was about to turn away, when from the attic came fast, loud scratching and and a booming thump. Rinay scrambled away in panic and ran. He was barely ten steps away when he tripped and fell, right into his dad.
“Whoa there buddy, you okay?” Rinay’s dad asked in a worried tone. “I tried to find you an’ tell you, the power’s gone out. Somethin’ about the rain, I think. Lightning, maybe.”
He lifted Rinay up onto his feet and steadied him. “Sorry to scare you like that, I was just checkin’ the fuse box, seein’ if they’d been blown.”
Rinay stood on shaky legs, staring at the attic. “In there.” He raised his hand and pointed toward the drawstring. “There’s something in there. Something in the attic.” The noises had stopped, but there was still an uneasy feeling in Rinay’s gut.
His dad gave him a strange look then shrugged. “You mean like rodents?” he asked while getting a stepladder out from a nearby closet. “‘Cuz we had an exterminator out here just the other month, remember?” He climbed on and reached up to pull the drawstring down, leading to an old creaky wooden staircase dropping down. Parts of it were rotted or stained, and it didn’t look particularly safe.
Rinay stood back from the attic, the feeling in his gut growing stronger, filling him with dread.
He started to say Dad, wait! but held his tongue. He should know better than to think it was more than a mouse.
His dad continued up the staircase until about half his body was fully in the attic.
Rinay could feel his heartbeat quicken, his breath caught in his throat. His legs grew even shakier and he nearly collapsed on the spot.
After looking around for a few seconds, Rinay’s dad barked out a laugh. He peered down back at his son. A grin spread across his face. “Bud, there ain’t nothin’ up here! Just dust an-“
His body was ripped into the attic and gone in an instant. The stairs retracted and slammed behind him. Screams of agony blended with scratching and banging. The sound was deafening.
Rinay stood there, frozen in horror as the sounds flooded through the hall. Then, at once, there was a noise sickeningly similar to fabric being torn, then silence.
A thud. The staircase fell down. It hung on to the attic floor by a hinge. Still unable to move, Rinay watched as his father’s bloody arm fell to the floor. He could hear a low growl start to rise. Suddenly, Rinay could move. He knew he had to get out of there, quick.
As fast as his weak legs could carry him, he raced down the stairs and towards the door. Something was running behind him, right on his tail. Rinay’s hands grew sweaty, his face felt hot and he could feel tears rising up behind his eyes. He thought about collapsing then and there, letting whatever killed his father do the same to him.
Rinay faltered for just a second, but it was one second too long. It was very close behind him now. He looked around in a panic, unsure of where to run, when he saw the glint on the door handle. Faster than he’d ever run in his life, Rinay sprung to the door. He’d escape, he’d go to the police and tell them what happened, and they’d find his dad, missing an arm but still alive. All he had to do was open the door.
His hopes were shattered when the door wouldn’t open. The knob wouldn’t turn. Rinay tried and tried, but he couldn’t do it. His fingers slipped from the knob and pounded on the door instead. He screamed for help, hoping desperately that someone could hear him. An undeniable feeling of dread rose up. Rinay stopped hitting the door. He turned around and sank to the floor. In less than an instant, it tore into him. Blood splattered on the pristine white walls. Rinay’s scream rang out unheard. No one could hear him. Outside, the rain continued to fall.
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Boredom ran throughout his body. He gazed out on to the hills in front of their house. The rain pitter pattered on the window and trickled down. He traced the raindrops with his pointer finger and pretended all the raindrops were in a race. “What time is it?” Rinay called to his father, who was in the kitchen making dinner. “It’s 4:30! Tony won’t be here for another half hour!” His father shouted back. A painful sigh escaped his lungs. He had been waiting for what felt like an hour to him, but in reality that hour had only been fifteen minutes. After waiting another minute, he decided he might as well find something to pass the time, so he went to his room. When he stepped into the hallway, he noticed that the lights were off. Rinay stared into the empty dark abyss of the hallway before realizing that he could hear his heart beating. He took one dreadful step into the darkness before bolting for the light switch at the end of the hall. Since he couldn’t see anything, he ended up crashing into the wall instead of stopping before the light switch. He felt a terrible headache on the rise, but before that could take focus he scanned the wall with his hand looking for the light switch. Finally, his hand met his saving grace and flicked the light on. His father appeared at the other end of the hallway and made Rinay jump with how quickly his looming body had appeared. “What happened? What was that loud noise?” His father asked, glancing warily around. “I accidentally ran into the wall.” Rinay said as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. His father chuckled and said,”Alright, well don’t run into any more walls.” Before turning and disappearing around the wall. Rinay looked towards his room, which was directly in front of the dreaded attic. He always hated the attic. It chilled him to the very core. He could swear that he heard scratching and thumping coming from up there every night. After setting his sights on the attic, he decided he was going to figure out once and for all what was up there. He dragged an old wooden chair from out of his room and placed it
carefully beneath the drawstring to open the attic. He stepped cautiously on the chair and rotated his head up. Before he had the chance to grab the drawstring, his father reappeared and asked,”What are you doing?” Rinay nearly fell off the chair in shock. “I’m trying to head up to the attic, because there’s something up there.” He said. His father narrowed his eyes at him and said,”There’s no way there’s anything up there. Here let me look.” His father started heading towards him and at the thought of his father checking up there instead of him, he felt a selfish relief. He hopped off the chair and stepped back, offering his father to use it, but he was so tall that he didn’t even need the chair and pushed it out of the way. His huge hands clamped down on the drawstring and pulled. A set of stairs unfolded from the ceiling and landed on the ground. His father began to ascend the stairs and Rinay watched in fascination as his father bravely climbed the steps into the unknown. Suddenly, the scratching started and they both looked at each other in horror. Lighting boomed outside and the power went out and they were plunged into the sea of darkness. Just as suddenly as they had gone out, the lights came back on. What was in the small dark square leading up to the attic above his father’s head absolutely petrified him. A pair of gleaming ruby eyes gleamed back with a menacing thin smile. His father was turned around towards him, so he did not face this monstrosity. Rinay yelled,”Run!” But it was too late. The creature’s mouth opened at an absurdly large angle and in that mouth swam and endless ocean of razor sharp teeth. It clamped down on his father’s skull and dragged him into the attic. All he could hear were his father’s muffled screams as he was torn away from him. Then a loud crunch and silence. His forehead had become sweaty, his skin had become as pale as paper, and he was trembling throughout his whole body. He wanted to go up there to find the monster that stole his father from him, but he also wanted freedom from this house. He weighed both of his options and came to the conclusion that going up those stairs was a suicide mission. He spun around and dashed out of the hallway into the living room. He heard the creature
descending the stairs to send him to his death. He reached the door knob to the front door and felt a sliver of triumph as his fingers closed around it. This all was shattered as he turned the knob and pulled, but the door wouldn’t budge. His heart sank to his stomach, his mouth dropped open, and tears began to swim in his eyes. He turned around and was instantly devoured by a never ending maw of darkness. Blood painted the white colored wall. The rain continued on outside.
(Ignore the odd name choice, my friend came up with it and he really likes it)
