The laptop screen had a glow and that was the only light in the small apartment. Leo Finch was a guy who was twenty eight years old. He spent most of his time looking at laptop screens and listening to music. Leo Finch liked to keep his life simple. During the day he worked on computer code. At night he watched old movies. His favorite place to be was his apartment, Room 4B which was on the floor of a building, on Cedar Grove street. The street was really quiet. Had a lot of trees. Tonight Leo Finch was going to watch a movie called The Thing, which was made by John Carpenter. He was at the part the blood test scene and he had a big bowl of popcorn with a lot of butter on it. The bowl was sitting on his stomach. He really liked the blood test scene and the extra butter, on his popcorn. The blood test scene was the part and he was happy to be watching it with his popcorn.
The first scream from the street did not register with him. It was like the loud shrieking he was hearing from his computer screen. The second scream was really loud. It made him hit the spacebar on his keyboard. Everything was quiet then except for the sound of his heart beating very fast. Then he heard a lot of people screaming at the time it was like a chorus of screams from the street below the screams, from the street below were really frightening.
It was a scary sound. People and animals were screaming. They were not screaming because they were surprised they were screaming because they were really scared. There were banging noises as people ran into big trash cans and cars. A man was yelling in a voice he was saying "No, no no God please" but then he stopped making noise because of another sound. The sound of something hitting something really hard it was a thick and nasty sound that Leo did not want to think about.
Leo got out of his bed fast and he knocked over the popcorn spilling it all over the floor. Then he slowly made his way to the window. He used one shaky finger to pull back the blind, which was made of pretty cheap vinyl.
Cedar Grove was really crazy. They were going in every direction like they were totally scared. Mr. Henderson, from 2A, the guy who always walks his corgi was pushing a woman out of his way to get to his car. The woman fell down. Was trying to get up on her hands and knees. Her face was a mess, all teary.
Then Leo saw why this was happening to him. Leo realized the reason for this situation. It was very clear, to Leo.
The thing stood under the streetlight at the end of the block. The streetlight was flickering on and off. This thing was really tall I mean it was nine feet tall maybe a little bit more. It was shaped like a man. It did not look like a man at all. The skin of this thing was not like our skin. It was purple and black like a bruise that's a week old. This thing was also really shiny and wet looking under the light. The thing had no hair, on its head. The head of the thing was pretty blunt. Shaped like a dome. It had eyes that were set back in its head and they glowed with a weird light that was kind of amber colored but it looked sickly. The mouth of the thing was a gash that was wide open and it did not have any lips.
It did not move like an animal it moved in a scary and deliberate way. It reached down and grabbed a man who was running. Leo knew this man he was the delivery guy, from the Thai restaurant.. It picked him up as easily as a kid picks up a toy.
The man was really struggling he was. Punching at the huge arm of the monster. The monster pulled the man up to its face it was like it was looking at a tiny bug that it found interesting. Then the monster bit the man.
It did not tear. It clamped down. The monsters jaw opened wide much wider, than any humans jaw and it closed over the mans shoulder and the top part of his chest. The sound of the mans collarbone and ribs breaking was extremely loud and clear. It was loud enough to be heard from Leos window. The mans scream turned into a gurgling sound. The monster shook its head to the side one time. Then something ripped apart. A dark splash of blood and tissue hit the windshield of a car that was parked on the street. The monster took another bite this time it bit lower into the mans stomach. A long piece of intestine was hanging out. It was shiny, from the streetlight. It looked really gross. The intestine was wiggling around for a second before it got sucked into a mouth. It was like when you slurp up a piece of spaghetti. The intestine just got pulled into that mouth fast.
Leos hand went to his mouth. He felt sick to his stomach. The acid in his throat burned him. He could not look away from what was happening. Mrs. Gable, the librarian tripped on the curb. The monster let go of the delivery guy, who was badly hurt and took two steps towards Mrs. Gable. It stepped on her leg. It broke. The sound of her leg breaking was like a small stick snapping. It was part of a much louder and more terrible sound. The monster was making a lot of noise. Leo saw the delivery guy, on the ground all broken and hurt. He saw Mrs. Gable too. The monster standing over her. She did not even scream. Her eyes just went wide and empty. Then a massive hand closed around her head.. With a casual twist it silenced the girl forever. The girls eyes were wide with fear before that happened. The hand was so massive. It just closed around her head and that was it, for the girl.
This was not a movie. There was no music playing in the background. The steady sound of something chewing it was a wet sound. The gunshots were loud and they happened every now and then but they did not seem to bother the creature all they just seemed to annoy it. The screams were loud, at first but they got weaker and weaker they just kept going and going until they started to fade. The creature just kept coming the sounds of chewing and screaming and gunshots all mixed together.
Leos survival instinct, which had been hidden for a time because he was used to being alone and safe suddenly kicked in. He thought about the door. He needed to lock it. He had to barricade it. Leo stumbled backward from the window his legs felt really weak and shaky. He grabbed the chair from his desk it was the one thing that felt strong and solid, to him. He pushed it under the doorknob to block the door. Then he listened carefully he put his ear up against the wood to hear what was happening.
The screams outside were not as loud now. They were happening often. Now I could hear something a low and wet breathing sound and the loud thud of footsteps. The footsteps were heavy and slow. They were coming from the stairs. The person was not running up the stairs. They were walking. They were taking each step one at a time. The sound of the footsteps was like this: THUMP... THUMP... THUMP. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. The breathing sound was getting louder too. The person with the footsteps was, on the stairs and they were coming up.
Thump. Second floor landing.
Thump.
I heard a thump. It was coming from upstairs. The noise was getting closer and closer, to the floor.
Leos blood turned to ice. He took a step back from the door. Went into the middle of his small room. The room was really tiny. There was no place to hide. The closet was not big enough to hide in. The window was not an option either because it was a way down, to the concrete below three stories down.
The footsteps stopped outside his door. The sound of the footsteps just stopped. There was silence now. The footsteps that were coming from the hallway had stopped outside his door.
Silence. It was a scary silence. The only sound was the noise of someone breathing in. This sound was wet and rough. Leo could smell something now. The smell was coming from under the door. It smelled like blood. It was mixed with something else. This something else smelled bad. It was, like rotten meat and wet dirt. The blood smell and the rotten smell were mixed together. Leo could smell the blood and the rotten thing. It was a bad smell.
The doorknob turned slowly. The lock was not very good. It still worked. However the wood around the lock started to make a lot of noise because it was under much pressure. The wood, around the strike plate actually groaned. The doorknob. The lock held, but the sound of the wood was really loud.
Then I heard a sound. It was not like someone was trying to figure out what was making the noise. The sound was, like something being slowly dragged down the side of the door. It was like when you drag your fingernail on something. This was bigger and harder. The sound was like someone was just checking things out like they owned the place. The sound of the scraping was really slow. It seemed like whoever was making it was just looking at the door like they were saying this is mine.
The scraping stopped. The footsteps were moving away from the door. For a moment Leo felt a hope, in his chest. The thing was leaving Leo alone. The footsteps kept moving from the door. Leo thought that it was really leaving.
The hope died when the wall to his left the one that faced the hallway started to bulge. It was like something was pushing on it from the side. The drywall. It looked like a big spider had made a web on the wall. Then there was a cracking sound and a big fist came through the wall. It was as big as a ham. The fist opened up. The fingers moved around. They were as thick, as sausages. The room was filled with dust. The only light came from his laptop, which was still on. The screen was blue and not moving. The fingers were moving around in this blue light.
The wall just ripped apart like it was made of nothing. Big pieces of drywall and broken wood studs fell to the floor.. Then I saw it, the monster, standing in the big hole it had made taking up the whole hallway. The monster was huge it filled the hallway the monster was all I could see.
The creature had to hunch down to fit under the ceiling. The creatures amber eyes found the man immediately pinning the man in place. The creatures mouth was just a lipless gash. It seemed to curl up at the edges. This was not a smile, from the creature. This was the grimace of a predator that has finally cornered the creatures hiding prey, the man.
The thing took one step into his room. The floorboards made a noise because they were not used to something so heavy on them. The room was filled with a smell like something was rotten. This smell was very strong. It was hard to breathe. The smell of copper was also there which made it even worse. The room felt like it was being squeezed by this smell.
Leo stood frozen in the center of his apartment. The scary things he saw a little while ago were replaced by something even more terrifying. The door was behind the creature. The window was, behind Leo. There was no music playing and no cool thing for Leo to say.
This is a story about a man. He is a person but there is also a monster. The man and the monster have a close and scary connection. They both know that the world they see outside the window is not there anymore. The world, outside his window is really gone forever.
End of Chapter One.