Say a prayer...

It wasn't the foul odor that woke me, although that stench marched right up my nose as I stared into his white lifeless eyes. It was rather the sound of him dragging his deteriorating body across my floor that startled me out of my peaceful slumber. What was even more astonishing was how fast he moved despite his legs rotting away and well...that he had also been dead for almost 6 years.

I froze. I blinked twice to clear my vision. I tried my best to scream for help but I remembered I was alone, so I had no choice but to swallow my fear. I felt the beads of perspiration dripping down my face and the color drain out. Suddenly it was 20 degrees colder in my room and chills ran up my spine. It was some sort of hell that nightmares were made of. I was stuck and it felt like there was no way out.

Suddenly everything felt as if it had stopped. The air was still and my body was stiff. I felt my grip get tighter on my comforter. I moved. He moved. I stopped. He stopped. He was enjoying this twisted game. As the vile unholy grin grew wider on his white pasty face, I could see his yellow stained teeth caused from his nearly 30 years of smoking.

His decaying tar dyed fingers were reaching out for me. I sat there in pure terror as I realized I had only one option for any chance of survival. I decided to say a prayer, throw my blanket over him, run like hell, and never look back. It would have worked too if he didn't reach up before the blanket had a chance to engulf him. He grabbed a hold of my ankle and I felt his arctic cold hand wrap around my skin like a leech on my flesh. His grip was so tight I thought my bones would snap in half and my skin would tear if I tried to pull away. The images of what he was going to do to me if I didn't find a way to set myself free went racing through my mind. I flailed my legs, screamed bloody murder, and fought with every ounce of energy I had left in me. I pulled the sheets, grabbed onto the foot of my nightstand, and felt the sweat from my palms allow everything to slip away from me.

I looked over to see if maybe this had all just been a bad dream. But he made sure to look back at me and with one more yank to my leg he made sure I knew he had won. Finally I stopped. I laid there with no fight left in me. It was over. He was going to drag me to any depths of hell he pleased to, but back into the walls is where he desired to go first and he was taking me with him.

I was going to start praying for the penance of my soul but there was no use. I guess this is what I deserve for not setting him free when I heard his screams and pleading coming from inside the walls. Must have been a shock to this innocent old man, having his life cut short and being buried alive in his own home. I can only imagine the pain and betrayal he must have felt. I can still hear the scratching coming from inside the drywall after he woke and realized what had happened.

I had this all coming I suppose. Too bad I had not a single ounce of remorse for the damage and hurt I had caused.

How could I? He threatened to turn me in to the police when he unlocked the cellar door and found the bodies piled up. He now knew who I was. My own grandfather or not, I was left with no choice.