Quiet Mountain, by Joshua Balleza

This morning I had to make an early run to Kroger to pick up some onions. As I drove down the road, I noticed there were absolutely no other cars to be seen. Although this place is nick-named “Quiet Mountain” because it is usually quiet, this was unusual.

Ahead of me was a rather creepy wall of fog. Since Kroger was only a mile up the road, I decided to just drive through the fog. I slowed down as I entered the fog because I could barely see ten feet in front of me. I was nervously looking around for anyone or anything. I felt like I was in some kind of scary movie where some large monster would jump out on my windshield.  My driving had slowed to a crawl, so it seemed to take forever just to drive one mile to Kroger. 

The silence was deafening, so I turned on the radio, hoping for some soft-and-easy listening music. Instead, I heard a loud ear-piercing, screeching static. I tried to change the radio station, but the ear-piercing sound would not go away.

As I tried to turn off the radio, I barely noticed a figure standing in front of the car. I hit the brakes, but it was too late. I hit the person and he disappeared from view. I put the car in park and immediately got out of the car to check on the person, hoping that he/she was okay. But when I got around to the front of the car, there wasn’t a person in front of the car. Instead, there was some slimy, faceless figure without eyes or a mouth crawling toward me. It reached out with its front claws, trying to grab at my feet. I screamed and quickly ran back into my car. The radio was still playing a loud, ear-piercing static, but I didn’t care. The only thing I cared about was getting away from here. I immediately drove in reverse and kept driving.

I barely went ten feet before I immediately braked. I got out of the car to make sure what I was seeing was true. There was a gigantic crevice separating the road. I peered down the crevice; it looked bottomless. I turned around and saw not one, but about fifteen of those slimy, faceless figures all coming toward me. Except this time, not only were there more of them, they were all walking with outstretched claws and they were all laughing. I thought about getting into the car, but they were already blocking my way to the car door. 

There was nothing around me, no buildings, no trees, no sidewalks. Just a bottomless crevice in front of my car and slimy, faceless, laughing people all around me. My heart was racing and fear was overtaking me. I needed to run but there was nowhere to run.

I needed a weapon. I looked at the back end of my car and thought maybe I could get something from the trunk. I remembered that I had a crowbar in the trunk, so I quickly ran to the trunk. I fumbled around my pocket for the keys and managed to get the right key for the trunk on my first try. My fears were quickly fading as I thought, now I can fight back. But when I opened the trunk, my hopes were dashed as I saw that nothing but worms and giant spiders filling my trunk.  I turned away, ready to throw up, only to turn into the claws of a slimy, faceless, laughing monster.

I fell to the ground and tried to scream, but my screams could not be heard over the sounds of the ear-piercing static coming from the car. I was soon blanketed by a mountain of slimy, faceless, laughing creatures. I tried to think. Was there anything I could do to escape this? I couldn’t do anything. My situation was hopeless. But then I realized that there was something I could do to escape! I got up and turned the game off.