The Unknown

• Jack Slade, Grade 8, Investigator College
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'Write As Rain 2014' competition

I am running. I had just looked over my hunched shoulder. He is there. Why am I looking for him when in reality he is looking for me? He was hunting me down; stalking me for days. I see a light on the horizon. Is it a house? A person? Or is it my imagination? I have heard stories that he can confuse you while you are being hunted down. Who is hunting me down you say? It is Him. The Unknown. He is a demon summoned on earth to do one thing. Torture the good and bless the wicked.
I am getting closer towards the light. Even though I think that I am running towards it, it feels like it is coming at me. I quickly look behind me to see him gaining. His dark black hood is curled around his face, so you can barely recognise him. I look back towards the light but it is gone. I am in a dead end of trees. This is it. Am I going to die? Am I going to survive? What will be my fate? He is coming closer. He is about to collect my soul. I can see now that life isn’t what it seems. You think you are good enough. You think you have been good until death comes around the corner and you lose it all.
Instantaneously a bright light comes from behind him. I see a silhouette of a human with wings and in white robes. Without warning, a strong flash of light appears and then the demon is gone.
I am left there, all alone in a dark forest with the crackling of the wood and the hoot of the owls. I stand up and walk through the trees towards a cabin. I open the door and see a phone. I quickly ring triple zero and nothing happens. I dial again and still nothing happens, then I see the telephone line. It is cut precisely in half like someone didn’t want me to use it. I walk back outside and keep walking and then suddenly the cabin blows up.
I feel the heat of the explosion on my face as I watch the debris go flying. I then have the feeling that someone is watching me. I look at the ground and see my shadow and somebody else’s. I look behind and see him. The demon. The Unknown.