The Hill

by Unknown

I was sitting on my couch, remote in hand, flipping channels at 2:57 a.m. Only thing on was Mad About You, which is a good show. I went to bed at four in the morning, just as Conan O'Brian started his monologue.

I flipped my radio to 87.7 FM, which simply is NBC on the radio, and I fell asleep to Andy Richter and Conan's desk ride.

I arose to the sounds of thumping from my little sister and pounding by my bed.

Jesse, my little sister, is a nine-year-old primadonna. She can't be nice about anything and has to get everything she wants.

My dad is a little shorter than I am; he is an avid golfer. He is an unlicensed mechanic and parts service manager.

My mom, a manager at the local restaurant, earning more money than we have ever had. She is a really cool person.

I walked upstairs and made myself some breakfast. I flipped the computer on and sat down, ate, signed onto the net, checked my e-mail, and signed off. Getting no mail, there was no point in staying on.

I put the computer in sleep mode and pushed my feet into an old pair of sandals, waddled outside, and checked the real mail.

Coupons, ads, fliers and bills like always; I tossed the pile of mail onto the table and I pressed power, then play on my stereo.

Three Doors Down sang of a super-hero and his weakness. I turned the music down to a whisper level, looked at my phone for the omniscient flash of the red LEO light. The light meant I had new messages, but no new messages. I took the receiver off the telephone and placed it on my ear, listening for the dull tone meaning the line is working, and I dialed my voice mail. It greeted me and told me I had no messages.

After realizing my four friends didn't want to get ahold of me, I just went into my,

"I've got nothing to do, nowhere to go and no one to see" state.

I sat myself in front of the sleeping computer and woke the S.O.B. up. I immediately signed onto the Internet with false hopes; I checked my mail once more, none. I typed in a random car site and ordered a brochure on the specific car I want. That was a hobby of mine. I am going to get information on every car and every year from now on until I get disinterested, which I don't foresee happening.

It was a Saturday and I should be out doing teenager things. The day was long. I ended up getting ahold of Paul, my best friend, and he came over to stay the night. We have a little spot in the woods where we make little fires and try to scare each other. The place was about a quarter mile from Albertsons, so we didn't go hungry. We don't exactly pay for everything though.

We went out that night and started a fire, sat down with our backs against the rock wall covering one side on the little campsite. I started talking about how I was out here one night alone and I heard a rustling and a low growl behind me. I expressed to him that I didn't stick around. He pointed out that I was full of it, and he was right. I was just trying to freak him out.

We were talking about our latest girls that were on out minds, and what was the best way to get them to go out with us. Well, it was mostly about me because Paul had gotten his.

I liked a girl I met at the mall, her name was Adriana. Paul was telling me the way he would get her, when I interrupted and told him the rest. Even though I think she may like me, but she's got a boyfriend and I don't have chance with her.

Our conversation went on like this for an hour. We were talking about school when a noise interrupted us. It was a loud crack, not a twig breaking, like someone or something broke a tree in half really quickly. We both were frozen with fear. We sat there for fifteen minutes just frozen, but we heard nothing. We finally decided to get up and leave. We got down the hill and filled a water bucket to go back and put the fire out.

I was a chicken and admitted that so Paul volunteered. He went up the hill with his flashlight darting all directions. I could see him until he got to the top where it curved into a cluster of thick trees. I looked up and saw a steam cloud from Paul pouring the water onto the fire.

A second later, I heard a low but distinct roar.

I started up the hill as fast as I could.

I was blinded by a brilliant white light from the campsite. I stopped, the light faded, and I darted into the site.

I looked around with my flashlight. Panic struck me; I couldn't find Paul. I yelled his name repetitively. After the fourth time I heard a small whimper, or at least what I thought was a whimper. I looked and there I saw Paul, holding his knees and rocking back and forth. I ran to him and looked at him. There appeared to be nothing physically wrong with him. He looked the same as he had before he went up the hill.

I peeled his eyelid open (he was tightly closing them at the time), and I almost screamed.

His eyeball was blood red. The iris was normal, but the ball itself was red. I realized that blood was streaming down from his eyes.

He was crying tears of blood.

I threw him over my shoulders and ran as fast as I could with a 145-pound guy on my back. I kept running until I got back to my house where I dropped him as gently as possible onto my couch.

He opened his eyes and I gave him a towel to wipe the blood off.

Slowly the red faded, he came back to me. From the time I saw him up there and the whole time on the way home he almost looked and felt dead or in a coma.

He looked up at me and asked what happened.

I almost laughed; I asked him what had happened, almost sarcastically. I explained what I had heard and saw.

He then asked a question that scared me; he asked why he couldn't open his eyes. Knowing he had his eyes open, I asked him why he had asked that.

He said again he couldn't open his eyes.

I told him that his eyes were already open and then told what I knew of the story from beginning to end, including the part about his red eyes. As I told him this, his eyes widened and closed and opened. I realized that he hadn't blinked since he opened his eyes.

He got up and walked directly into a wall, so I told him to sit down. I then asked him if I should call an ambulance and he immediately told me no.

I brought him his favorite thing, food, but he said he wasn't hungry. Then I knew it was serious and grabbed the phone and dialed the 9 and 1, then I turned to tell him what I was doing.

As I turned back to dial the next number, from behind me I heard a scratchy, monstrous voice say,

"Put that phone down,"

I turned to see that Paul was speaking,

"or I will kill you!"

I froze in immediate fear; I looked into his eyes as they flooded with red and the iris formed into a catlike shape. He stood up to reveal he had grown at least 2 feet. His hair was dead black and covering his head. His fingernails had grown to claws, and his teeth grew into rows of pointed canines. His face warped and small pointed horns shot from the corners of his chin.

I screamed in terror, turned, and ran. I heard his footsteps behind me, they sounded huge and I heard clanging with every step. I didn't look back to find out what was clanging, I just ran. I didn't pay any attention to where I was going.

I realized where I was and stopped. I realized that I had somehow been lead to the hill where the campsite remained. I turned on my heel so fast I turned twice. I looked up at the creature, formerly my best friend,

"Now you're in my world." It said.

"HELP!" I yelled to the Albertson's crew, who were working late.

"They can't help you now." It claimed in that devilish voice.

"Who are you?" I asked in a panic stricken tone.

"I am every creak in a lonely room. I am every thing you see out of the corner of your eye. I am the thing under your bed. I am the evil of all evils. I AM......" it trailed off.

I turned and sprinted up the hill. I got about a hundred feet away from the creature and yelled,

"GOD HELP ME!"

"What makes you think he'll help you now!"

Frightened by the closeness of the voice, I turned. I saw the creature ten feet away. I saw an illuminated white glow from behind me and watched as the monster's eyes widened.

I turned to see a huge white figure resembling an angel. It pushed me aside and drew a long brilliant sword. The monster charged the angel and grabbed it by the shoulders. The monster howled in pain and I heard a sizzling sound and smelled a horrible smell.

The angel lifted the creature with some hidden force. I saw a red glow float downward towards the ground and heard the screams of men, women, and children. It must have been all the people the creature had killed in its time.

As it was banished to hell, Paul was turning back into Paul.

The angel dropped Paul and slowly faded back to wherever it came from, and Paul awoke just to see a glimpse of the angel.

He said only one thing,

"I hungry."

After that, I knew he was back to normal. We went home, ate, and went to bed.

Paul went to sleep right away, but I didn't. I was about to fade into sleep when I heard the voice once more,

"You can never stop me!"

As he said the last word, it faded, and as it faded I heard my cat call me from outside my room with a high loud

'meow'.

I never went back to the hill again and have not heard the voice since.

Since then my cat has grown and hasn't acted itself.

Well, no worries..........