Saved

• Angelina Livingstone, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2012

I lunged through the kitchen window and landed on the concrete path with my hands and knees, my soft skin grazed and beads of blood now swam down my legs. I scrambled onto my feet before sprinting into the night. My breathing became heavy as I ran a few miles, my body now coated in sweat. I raced down the empty streets where people peacefully slept while I was chased by the man with red eyes.
I reached an old shop before bursting through the door and tripping over a rug. My body slammed onto the cold tiles and I felt my limbs go numb. My breathing slowed as I shakily used my weak arms to push my torso up and bring my legs from underneath me into a squatting position. I pushed my head back so my hair was out of my eyes. My sight soon adjusted to the light in the dark eerie room. My breathing stopped but my heartbeat quickened and thumped violently against my chest. I felt a lump grow in my throat and my body shake with fear. He was fast. Already standing before me like a predator stalking its prey.
His scythe glistened in the moonlight that leaked through the cracked windows. He rotated his head back and around his neck so it cracked loudly several times, I winced and gulped but didn’t dare move. He stepped forward so his sickly white skin was in sight, I saw his face clearly. Black knotted hair sticking out of his head like straw, his red eyes burnt into my green ones. Sweat traced down his jaw-line and down his chin, dripping onto his ragged shirt now shredded from when I attempted to cut through his chest with a kitchen knife. His skin barely grazed as it stretched across his large buff torso. His cracked lips parted and lifted into a small grin, his black sharpened teeth showed and he traced his lips with his red tongue. I didn’t know who he was, all I knew was he was dangerous and wasn’t planning on letting me live much longer. I felt light headed and dizzy from the lack of oxygen reaching my brain. I let out a heavy breath that he reacted to like I had triggered an attack; he lunged his body towards me and snarled, his hands outstretched and I saw his ghastly hands with fingers tipped with long yellow nails pointed and as sharp as knives. I saw a black figure run from the corner of my eye, and in a heart-beat the man with red eyes was thrown into the wall. He collapsed and I saw blood trickle down his face from where his head had smashed into the brick wall.
My saviour stepped towards me and I saw dirty blonde hair plastered to his scalp from the rain that now poured down outside. His eyes were blue and skin was tanned. I felt my body tip sidewards as he rushed towards me before cradling me in his strong arms. My eye lids began to drop as my vision flooded with darkness.