The Cabin

I could hear his footsteps, making their way upstairs. I took a deep breath, and backed away from the door. Thud, thud, thud. His strong hands pounded on my door. Help me. Please. I kept thinking as I slid down to the floor, behind my bed.
"Michelle, I know you're in there. Open the door before I break it down. Michelle...open the door...I'm coming in.."
I sat there staring at the door, tears streaming down my face as I saw him come through the door. Yes, through. The door was locked. He didn't open it, he broke through it. His face changed when he saw where I was. Changed into an evil expression. He walked towards me, and streched out his hand to grab my hair...I screamed when I saw the blood on his hands, on his face. He murdered. I knew it. He smiled when he saw that I had seen.. He laughed, when I closed my eyes and screamed my lungs out...
"Michelle, what's wrong? Michelle? Speak to me! Mitchy? It's okay. Don't scream. Everything is fine. Michelle." I opened my eyes to my anxious mother. Huh? I was confused. I looked around me. I wasn't in my room. I was in the dining room. My father, who was sitting at his usual place at the head of the table, was looking at me worriedly. My brother, Carlos, was staring at me, with his mouth hanging wide open, while my twin sister, Makayla was giving me an are-you-crazy look. Even my baby brother, Ashton, was frozen. He looked cute with his eyes bugging out.
I took a deep breath and asked,
"Uhh, was I screaming out loud? I'm sorry. I think I had a daydream. That's all. No worries."
"Princess, are you sure you're okay?" Ofcourse, daddy was concerned.
"You had a bad daydream? You okay, sis?" Laylie asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine daddy. Don't worry. You too, mom. Don't worry okay? I'm fine. Much better than fine. Come on, Laylie. Upstairs. Oh, by the way, you might wanna close your mouth now, Carl." I grabbed Makayla by the hand and took her upstairs to our bedroom. I shut the door as soon as I got in and turned around to face my very concerned sister.
I sighed and sat down on my bed. "Laylie, I saw that man again. I keep hearing his footsteps at night too. What to I do? What is wrong with me, Laylie? Ugh, I'm even dreaming about this freak."
She told me to calm down and wait until she came back from the bathroom. When she left, I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes...
I had been having these dreams ever since we came here.
We were on vacation. This spot is very special. We rented a little cabin with huge rooms, near a Scottish lake. We were sort of in the woods, but there was a village nearby. Two miles atleast. So we felt safe. There was another cabin a few feet away. A family of seven were staying there. We got to know the family. They're very sweet. Mr and Mrs.Anderson had five kids. They had three girls and two boys. Nicole and Christopher were fourteen, like me and Laylie. Ashley is thirteen. Jennifer and Calvin were seven like Carl.
Anyways we had great fun, but in the night I'm always hearing sounds. It's really freaking me out. I would wake Laylie up, and we would stay up until I had to give in and go to sleep. It seemed that only I can hear these sounds. Laylie never hears them. Which makes it much much more terrifying for me.
My thoughts were interrupted at the sound of my cellphone ringing. Not quite sure I was actually concentrating; I sat up and answered it reflexively. I asked who was calling, but no one answered. It looked like no one was on the line. Just as I was about to end the call, I got an answer.
"Michelle...Mitchy...Are you scared Michelle? Are you scared of me? Well, I'm glad...I'm always watching you..Don't forget Mitchy...I'm watching you..." He gave a throaty laugh and the line went dead. I sat there unable to move, hardly able to breathe. I didn't even know when my cellphone slipped out from my hand. I sat there until Laylie came into the room after changing into her PJs. I felt her cold hands grip my shoulders and shake me hard.
"Mitchy, Mitchy? What's wrong?"
I gulped, and took a deep breath and explained.
"He called, Laylie. He said he's watching me. Makayla, he called me. Oh, my. What do I do, Laylie?" I whispered.
"Let’s tell mom. She can help right? I mean, she is our mom" Her voice rose up an octave, and I knew that she was scared now.
"No! Are you insane? She might have me locked up in a padded cell. If you tell her, she is gonna do something like that. You know that. But it's okay. Because I'm fine now." Of course I wasn't fine, but I really didn't want Laylie to think I've finally lost my sanity.
I picked out my favourite book, and read until it was time to sleep. I turned in the dark, trying to sleep. Half an hour passed, but I still couldn't sleep. I twisted and turned around. That's when I heard it. Footsteps, coming up the stairs.
I sat up and turned on my light. I got up and ran around my bed, to Laylie's. I shook her awake and asked her my most frequent question. Could she hear it? She nodded in response, while trembling. We got up and ran towards the door and leaned hard on it, in case it was him, and he might open it. But then, we heard voices. Three voices. We could recognize our parents' voices, but there was someone with them.
This late? I thought.
We opened the door and peeked out to see mom and dad walking and gesturing towards the rooms. They stopped as soon as they saw us. There was a well-built man with them. He had a familiar face but I didn't know him. Mom explained to us that this man had got in lost in the woods, and that he was going to be our guest for the night, because it was raining.
Maybe his car broke down a few miles back and he had been wandering all night, I thought. That was unfortunate.
They led him to the guest bedroom a few feet away. They said goodnight and told us to sleep, then headed off to sleep themselves. We shut the door behind us and locked it.
We lay down to sleep, and I grabbed my ipod off my desk and turned it on. I turned the volume low, and pulled the covers over my head. My eyelids drooped and I drifted off to sleep.
Dud, dud, dud.
I sat up with a gasp. The whole room was dark. I searched around for my ipod. I turned it off and got out of bed.
Dud, dud, dud.
That sound. The footsteps. Footsteps... I woke Laylie, and I realized I was trembling as I told her. The guest guy... My dreams...
I froze at the sound of a muffled scream... Ashton's voice rang over mom's blood curdling scream. Crashing..
"Laylie....Laylie." I started crying.
I turned to look at Laylie and saw her terrified expression as well. She was shaking badly as she got up.
"Makayla? Where are you going? Laylie? He will kill you. Laylie... No!!" She shook off my hand as I grabbed her.
"I'll be right back. Wait here. Okay? I'll be back. Don't worry." She whispered into my ear.
"I'll come with you. Let's go together." We walked out of the room and towards Carl's room.
Blood...A stream of blood flowed out from under his door. We pushed it open and saw... Carlos... Dead. He had wounds all over his face.
Laylie and I broke into tears. The smell was making me nauseous. I had a huge lump in my throat. Our hearts thudding, we ran to our parents' room and found daddy on the floor in the hallway..
More blood. I knelt down and touched his face.
Breathe..please breathe, I prayed fervently, feeling his neck and chest for signs of life. But there was none…both of us were sobbing hard now..fright gripping our throats.
Laylie pulled me up and we looked up to the sound that were coming from the room. Crashing. Mom screaming. Ashton crying.
We threw open the door and saw him. Holding a baseball bat. Mom had bruises on her face and blood was coming out of her mouth. Ashton was sitting on the bed. He was crying his lungs out.
He turned around when he saw us. As did the murderer.
"Ahh.. Mitchy. I was saving you for the last. And your sister ofcourse. I hope you liked your gift. Or were you too blind to notice your father.. " He laughed and struck mom with a hard blow.
Laylie grabbed the umbrella which was standing next to her. She was red in the face.
"You!! If you touch her, I swear I'll kill you. Now!!"
He laughed. "Ohh, really? Really, Makayla? You gonna kill me?!?"
"No!!! Laylie!! Sweetheart. Stay away. Run!! Laylie!! Mitchy!! Go!! Ashton! Take-" Mom gestured wildly. Her voice raised in a feeble attempt to warn us, but was cut off.
He swung at her again. He kept hitting her, and that drove me insane.
‘Why are you doing this?’ I screamed as I sprung at him and bit him and pulled his hair.
I kept doing this until he threw me at the wall.
My back hit so hard, it stung in my spine. I groaned in pain as I lay in a heap.
That did it for Laylie too. I saw her run at him and start hitting him with the umbrella.
He threw her off just as easily. He hit mom hard and this time we all heard the crunch of her skull. She fell down, blood sprouting out of her mouth and nose.
He then turned to me and gave my head a hard blow. He smiled at me. I sat there unable to move as he started beating Laylie to death. I cried and screamed at him to stop. He didn't.
Laylie looked at me, then at Ashton. I knew what she was saying. She kept nodding towards Ashton then at the door. She wanted me to leave.
"Andersons." She mouthed at me.
He saw that, and he laughed.
"Oh. Don't think about running to the Andersons. They can't help. They're dead!! I killed them." He laughed again and turned around to Laylie and kept delivering blow after blow. The sickening thuds and the dead body of mom…It was all too much…I trembled hard, curling myself into a ball…making my legs too weak to get up..It was only the sound of my brother’s voice that made me a little stronger.
I turned to Ashton sitting there crying loud as ever. I crawled to the bed and gestured him to come. He crawled to me, and I pulled him close.
I had to try.. I knew it.. Laylie was being beaten to death, and all she asked from me was to get Ashton and myself out of here.
I tried to get up and he saw me.
He left Laylie and ran towards me and Wham! My head spun with the blow.
I pulled Ashton closer, trying to cover him with my body. The pain was too much and my grip on my brother loosened. Just as I thought the light in my head was about to go off, I heard Laylie whimper. That was when the Killer turned his attention to her, giving me the chance to scramble up. Ashton’s powerful grip dragging me out the door, lunging out.
I was sure he didn't see me get out. Ashton had stopped crying. I ran out the front door and towards the other cabin.
Throwing open the door, I stepped in. Every step I took, sent stings through my spine.
I ran inside and Ashton fell to the floor. I pulled a couple of chairs and tables to the door, wedging them under the doorknob, making sure he couldn't open it.
The stench of blood and dead skin were strong inside the cabin.
I grabbed Ashton off the floor and ran up to Nicole's bedroom. I shut the door and pulled the table and chair to the door jamming it.
I put Ashton on the bed and asked him to sleep. He obeyed willingly and lay down.
It was almost dawn. I took a couple of breaths and took a step towards the bed and I fell.
Pain shot through my whole body. I couldn't move a limb. It was hard to see and I could taste blood inside my mouth. I felt like I was on fire, but I tried to breath. My body couldn't take it, my lungs hurt too much.
This was it. I knew. It was over. I'm dying... I didn't want to, but I had no choice. So I just lay there, awaiting death.