Black Silhouette

• Keira Wright, Grade 7, Catholic Ladies College
• Short Story
• 2013

Excellence Award in the 'Dream Big 2013' competition

The wind whipped around the corner, moaning and warning me that he was coming. I ran down the shadowy alleyway screaming in terror as I felt the force of his wind lashing at the skin on my back. Black tendrils of smoke began to form a black silhouette of a figure in front of my eyes.
“There’s no more running from here.” He rolled the words around in his mouth and then spat them out in his foreign accent.
“I-I…” I broke off as a force gripped my neck, him creating the hallucination of nails digging into my flesh.
“Please listen! I can repay you!” I tried to gasp in air as the grip tightened around my neck.
“One. More. Chance.” He spat through his accent. The force pulled down from my neck and I inhaled frantically, the air not coming back. I held my throat as it burned for air and collapsed on the ground onto my knees.
Falling... The black swallowed me whole as my eyes rolled back into my head...
I gasped as I awoke, lying face down on my pillow. It must have been stopping me from breathing while I was asleep. I slumped into my bed and wiped a droplet from my sweat glazed face. The dream had seemed so vivid … The feeling that had gripped my body had created an illusion of such terror that no dream could create. As these thoughts crossed my mind, a faint swishing noise came from my window. I looked out, noticing the mist pouring through the small crack, that the window was opened too. I felt something grab me from behind, the echo of my piercing scream the last evidence of my remains.