Peek-a-boo Beach

• Jennifer Hilton, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

They had been coming home from a party, her and her 3 friends. They had decided to take a short cut across the beach. Then there was a cackling, a taunting laugh. They had just ignored it at first, until they heard the splashing in the water. They started to walk faster, their hearts pounding, their breathing becoming short, raspy and panicked. They ran off the beach and onto the road, Jessica risked a look back and saw only a single figure, a man standing under the street light cackling, the light illuminating his horrifying grin, he started to walk slowly towards them repeating the same thing, over and over again “Peek-a-boo I’m going to get you”. The girls ran into and alley way and ducked into a side door. They shut the door behind them and stood still. The room was dark except for a sliver of moonlight slipping through the air vent and the only sound was the girl’s panicked breathing, there was no cackling. After about a minute Jessica risked a look through the key hole, “PEEK-A-BOO I FOUND YOU” he screamed as his eye appeared on the other side of the door. Jessica screamed, fell back and hit her head. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was hearing her friends scream.
Jessica woke up with a start. She had hoped that falling asleep would make her forget the horrifying events that had taken place the night before, but it hadn’t. Everything was still fresh in her mind; the screams, the echoing footsteps, that taunting voice and the feeling that someone was watching them. She just could not stop remembering. Something that kept running around in her mind was “How did I get home?” Jessica sat up, “Hello, Poppet”, Jessica screamed, he was sitting on the end of her bed.