12 MINUTES IN HELL

"The thief cometh not but to kill, steal and destroy but I've come that you may have life and have it in abundance." There's someone chasing me, scratch that. There are people chasing me. I can't see their faces cause it's dark, really dark. The kind of dark that comes with fear, fear of the unknown. The kind of dark that makes you as a child to crawl into your parents bed scared of the monsters underneath your bed. I'm so scared, but I keep running. I don't know why they're chasing me or what they want from me but I don't think I want to find that out. I keep running but my legs are failing me. I've never really been an athletic person, no wonder my P.E teacher hated me back then in high school. I should have taken P.E classes more seriously. I ran as fast as I could. My breath coming in faint, shallow gasps. My legs trembled beneath me, threatening to give out at any moment, but I didn't dare stop. Their footsteps pounded behind me, growing closer. My body betrayed me. I stumbled over a branch and hit the ground, the air knocked out of my lungs. For a second everything went still. Then they were there. Encircling me. Their faces were swallowed in darkness, shifting, unnatural - nothing human in them. My heart pounded as they began to speak, their voices low and layered, forming words I couldn't understand. The sound felt..... ancient like it didn't belong in this world. I tried to move, but it was too late. Cold hands seized my ankles. And then I was dragged - my head scrapping against the ground, every inch of me screaming as they pulled me deeper into whatever nightmare I had fallen into.