I haven’t written in a while, and this post is not really by me. The first draft, as I call it, of the short story below was written by my son (who’s 10) last night; and completed this morning. According to him, it’s based on a story he came up with sometime ago during a campaign trip. At the time, he called the story A Black Dog, but he didn’t love that title. The new title is, in the words of the author himself, «more ominous». Like he always says, he loves his big words. 🙂 Let’s hope we have an Allan Poe or a Stephen King in the making.

The interesting thing is that he doesn’t watch any horror movies. If I’m watching a horror movie and he has to go to my bathroom he will call from outside the door to tell me to «click pause» until he runs to the bathroom and closes the door.

What you will read below is an unedited version of what he wrote. Not for the faint of heart though. (seriously) I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

DEATH ISN’T CUTE…

A story by Marko Laureano          12+ Recommended 

There was once a little girl living in a little town called Midnight Falls. Her name was Alex. Everything had been normal for years. Until the incident. And this is where our story begins…

It was a dark and stormy night… Yet Alex was sleeping cozily in her bed. But then, she started to hear noises. The noises were coming from the other side of Alex’s door. Banging, Scratching, all kinds of creepy stuff. The noises slowly got louder and louder, and every time they did all Alex did was curl up in her bedsheets tighter and tighter until finally Alex couldn’t take it anymore. She had to see what was on the other side. So, she opened her door. Yet there was nothing there…

Alex didn’t see anything at first. But then, she heard the pattering of small feet heading down the stairs to the first floor. So, Alex went down to the first floor and inspected it all thoroughly. Yet there wasn’t a trace that anything had been down there. Finally, Alex decided she was probably just hearing things and started walking back to the staircase to go back to sleep and get some rest. But then she saw it. At the top of the stairs was a giant black creature that looked almost like a dog. But MUCH more terrifying. It stood at what seemed to be at least a few feet tall and snarled at her as she saw its dagger-like teeth and pale white eyes with no pupils. But instead of jumping at Alex and gobbling her up like fleshy chowder, the dog retreated to somewhere back upstairs. And with curiosity getting the best of her, she followed it…

Alex had to find out where the “dog” was going and why it was here. So she searched the entire upstairs floor as well. And once again, she found nothing. Alex was just about to finally go back to bed and get some sleep, when she remembered one last place that the dog could have been hiding. UNDER. THE. BED. Alex was terrified to look under the BED, but somewhere deep down inside of her, she found the strength and courage to take just a peek. But little did Alex know, she was making a grave mistake. And before her full face even made it under the beds edge, she saw a flash of white, which she thought was most likely to be the creature’s super sharp teeth. So what did she do? She RAN. FAST. Well, at least she tried to. Unfortunately, the dog made quick haste of Alex’s death, immediately slashing at her neck, the rest too graphic to describe. Alex didn’t even have enough time to react in any way, not allowing her to scream or warn anybody in the house that she was being attacked by a vicious giant dog…

The next morning, Alex’s parents awoke to find the dog chewing on Alex’s bloody remains. The town soon became similar to a ghost town due to how many people the dog had managed to kill. And anyone who dared to visit, or even stay the night, would be guaranteed a slow, painful death. So if you are ever passing by the small town of Midnight Falls, and you hear the dog’s ghostly howl… RUN

THE END                                                           

Special Thanks To: Hector Laureano, Isabella and Magda Velez