Warning Signs

13-year-old Hannah’s heart stopped when she saw the sign nailed to a post inside the barn. She ran away from home hoping to avoid danger, not walk straight to it. The sign read, “Hello trespasser and traveler. If you are reading this then it is too late.”

Hannah looked around half wondering if this was an odd prank. She already felt apprehensive about entering this barn in the middle of the woods. She had hoped to find somewhere to rest her sore feet, but now had to worry about this. The night was falling quickly, and she wondered what she had gotten herself into.

“Too Late for what?” she asked herself. She decided it was best to leave instead of trying to find out. Backpack in hand, she turned around to exit the old barn, but there it was… another sign nailed to a post.

“DO NOT DARE LEAVE AT NIGHT. THE GASPS WILL GET YOU!” the sign read. It was ominous, but Hannah almost laughed. She’s never heard of a “gasp,” and was almost sure it was made up. In her 13 years, Hannah has come to realize that the scariest things in the world aren’t random creatures. It’s people. Mean, angry people that don’t mind hurting those smaller and unable to defend themselves. There was no way a gasp, or whatever, that was outside the barn will ever be as frightening as her home life.

“The real monsters in the world were the drunken, smoke-breathed ‘friends’ mama would bring home,” she thought to herself. She walked past the sign toward the front of the barn. Even though it was getting dark she didn’t want to stay in a place with such foreboding warnings.

“I bet there is another less spooky place close by,” she tried to reassure herself.

Two steps past the barn door she felt a gentle autumn breeze passing her pitch-black hair. She looked around and all seemed fine. “Funny prank,” She thought to herself. She slowly made more steps not realizing she was hesitating with each step. The words from the signs still consumed her.

“Oh no, the gasp will get you. Ha. Good one,” She laughed to herself. Just then…

In the distance something rattled on the ground in the leaves. Hannah’s eyes darted toward it. Something under the leaves was speeding toward her leaving a line of displaced leaves. Soon, four other lines of displaced leaves started shooting toward her. Something, or a group of somethings, was racing toward her.

All time seemed to slow for Hannah. She could hear her heart beating louder and louder. Her legs locked and she stood motionless. “Move, move… MOVE!” were words in her mind that eventually escaped in a loud shout that woke her from her frozen glance. She turned quickly and ran back toward the barn. No matter how hard she tried, she did not feel quick enough.

Snickers, growls and hisses surrounded her quickly as the leaves burst from all directions. Just as she made it to the door, a small grey claw reached from beyond the leaves and clawed her ankle. She fell to the floor in a startling pain. She closed her eyes in fear. Just then a scream unlike anything she had ever heard swooshed by.

Hannah opened her eyes just in time to see a brown and white blur seize something near her. With power and grace, it flew away into darkness. “What was happening?” she wondered. Something had clawed at her but something else attacked it and brought it away.

Another set of leaves rustled as another growling creature hungrily came toward her. Again, the white blur came from the dark and dove to grab the creature in the leaves. Hannah’s eyes could focus now and began to see more clearly what was happening. The white blur was an owl. It screamed a hawk-like war cry as its talons grabbed a rat-like creature in the leaves. The owl flapped its wings and went back into the dark. The rat-like creature seemed to be carrying a small, knife-like object. “Rat’s don’t carry objects,” she reasoned. The owl screeched its mighty sound again in the dark. No more leaves rustled for now.

Hannah pulled herself back into the barn. She needed to tend to her wound. She pulled a flashlight out of her backpack. She shined it all around the barn to see if any other creatures may be nearby. The gaze of the light shined upon the sign warning of the gasp. With a sigh, Hannah realized it was going to be a dark, scary night.