Shadow-Land - Heather Parsons (bill gates book recommendations TXT) 📗

His eyes were closed but he was still alive. She saw his chest move slowly up and down.

"Father, what can I do? Father please stay with me. I'm scared." Sierra whispered in his face. His eyes flutter and finally open when he felt her breath against his face. But for some reason it looked like he couldn't focus on her or that he couldn't see her at all. "Father I'm right here. Your not alone." She took in a ragged breath to keep the scream in her throat.

"Sierra you have to leave. It's not safe here anymore." His voice came out raspy and dry. His breathing slowed down until she couldn't feel his chest move anymore. Starring at his face, she couldn't believe he was gone. She was now all alone.

"Father don't go....please...you have to stay." She cried, picking up his head and placing it in her lap, cradling it. She wiped away the tears that were on his cheeks.

There was blood all over the room and when she looked up. She caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure crossing the hallway. Screaming as loud as she could and curling up around my father. Even though he was no longer there for her, she still needed him to protect her. Sierra felt the warmth of his embrace even through he could no longer hold her.

After a few minutes of staying in the exact same place, she gently placed his head back on the floor and stood up shaking. Looking around the room once more, she still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Tears fell from her eyes and she blinked several times to clear them and every time she did this more came. Slowly she backed up into the hallway but never did her eyes leave them. Seeing both her parents murdered was her worst nightmare, come true.

She walked backward out the door then all the sudden came to a complete stop. Suddenly her eyes diverted from her parents murdered bodies and now she was looking at something in the living room downstairs. Something that didn't look real but it had to be. It was moving around the same way a snake would. Sierra's breath caught in her throat and she fell to the floor. She sat there while her face turned red, still unable to breathe. Her eyes were unfocused and slowly they too started to shut down. She didn't put up that much of a fight against them. The battle to keep them opened was already lost. Finally darkness covered her eyes and she saw no more.

When she did finally open her eyes she realized that hours had passed. The rooms all around her were getting darker by the moment. Getting on her hands and knees, she crawled to the top of the stairs and peered out. The downstairs looked safe but she wasn't about to take any chances. There was nothing in this world that would make her go down there. Nothing. She squeezed her eyes closed and crawled as fast as she could into her room. Shutting the door behind her and placing her back against it. She didn't care if anyone had heard her. Sierra didn't care about anything anymore.

The phone was vibrating very loudly in the corner where she had left it. Did she want to take the chance and answer it? You bet she did. Getting to her feet, she almost ran to where it was, reached out and grab it. Before even checking to see who it was first, she pushed talk.

"Sierra, what's going on? I've been calling you all day. You weren't at school today or at least I didn't see you there. Please don't be mad at me. You know I didn't mean anything by what I'd said this morning." Travis said in a rush. She could hear his breathing on the phone but with the beating of her own heart being so loud. She couldn't make out what he said. "Sierra. Please talk to me."

She opened her mouth to say something but nothing happened. What could she say that would make a difference anyway? Swallowing hard, she tried to talk again. "Travis....." Was all that came out before a hand reached out and grabbed her. Startled she dropped the phone and started screaming bloody murder.

The claws dug into her skin, sending violent tremors all over her body. She tried turning to see what had a hold of her but couldn't. The creature yanked her backwards out of the room and down the hallway. When they passed her brothers room, fear shot through her. Was she going to die? Was this thing that had a hold of her going to kill her the same as it did her parents?

She heard her father's words again about this house not being safe and that she should leave. And now she felt foolish for not listening to his dying wish. Seeing her life flash before her eyes. She wasn't ready to let go of it yet. Fighting back would be a new experience for her but one that would give her back what she so desperately wanted.

She placed her feet firmly on the floor and twisted around until it's grip was loose enough for her to slip out of. Finally seeing this thing face to face and realizing right then and there that it wasn't human at all. Whatever the thing was scared her even more. She could see what it's true intentions were and that's what frightened her more.

It screeched a high pitch sound and brought it's hand up once again to grab her. Spinning out of it's way, she ran for the stairs. Taking them two or sometimes three at a time to escape. This time she didn't care if it was behind her, she never stopped to see. Her entire escape plan was to get to the front door and run like hell. The rest she would play by ear.

But the front door slammed opened before she had even reached it. Skidding to a stop. Her only exit was now blocked off by the outline of what looked like a man. She didn't stop for long, not caring if it was someone she knew. She was running for her life and didn't have the time to ask questions.

Before she had a chance to hide, the thing that had a hold of her upstairs, had hold of her again. It's claws burning into her skin and soon blackness was covering her eyes. She closed them unintentionally and soon saw nothing.

Two:

Demons

SIERRA'S eyes shot open while she looked around the room she was in. Very thankful she was still inside her house but something about it looked different. It's as if someone had been inside and cleaned up. She pulled herself up from off the ground and started walking around, looking at everything that she remembered being smashed was once again in it's place. The living room looked the same as it did the morning she was to leave for school.

"Mother, Father!" She yelled, running for the stairs. But with each step she took her hope for them being alive and well disappeared. The smell was what was the strongest and that's what hit her first but the sight that she saw from the top of the stairs had her crumbling to the floor. Both of her parents were where they were before and both of them were still dead. All the hope she had was gone.

She crawled to where her father laid and brushed her fingers against his face. The warmth that she felt earlier wasn't there anymore, he was cold and stiff to the touch. But she continued brushing her fingers against his skin anyway. The tears started falling at a rapid speed and she cried out to him.

“Father, I'm sorry. I should have stopped this. You can't leave me. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Father!” She cried. “Please don't leave me.”

“Sierra are you home?” Travis asked from somewhere else in the house. She heard him but didn't respond. Her heart didn't flutter this time hearing his voice. She couldn't even feel her own body as she lay next to her father. Her tears soaked in with his blood as she laid her head on his chest. Praying for this all to just be a nightmare. Something she could wake up from. Something that would be fake. Anything to make what she's seeing right now, not be real.

His warm arms wrapped around her but couldn't focus on that, she didn't want to leave her father's side, at least not yet. Her soft pleads to not move her seemed to go unnoticed. So, when she turned around thinking it was Travis holding her, that's when she saw something entirely different. It wasn't the warm embrace she wanted and so desperately needed but the creature was holding her once again. This creature - she had no name for - was holding on so tight that it literally cut off her air supply.

Sierra started thrashing around, kicking and screaming to get out from his embrace but nothing worked. His claws started digging deeper into her and the pain shot through her like fire. Her stomach was burning from the inside, out and she didn't know what was happening to her. Feeling the blood forming around her wounds only intensified her fear but none spilled out on the floor.

Just when his claws dug in deeper she screamed a loud ear piercing scream and jolting up knocking her sheets right off the bed. Looking around she saw that she was still in her bed and that everything that had happened was in fact a dream. More of a nightmare than a dream but to make sure of it she climbed out of bed and ran to her parents room. Busting open the door, she saw that their room looked exactly like it was supposed to look. Their bed was made and the one thing she was grateful for was there was no blood, anywhere.

Standing in the doorway of the room she stood for a second and thought this could still be a trick of the mind. Pivoting on her toes she ran out and down the stairs to see both of her parents sitting at the table staring at her. When she stopped dead in her tracks and stared back in awe they both stood up.

Sierra ran to her mother's arms first and held on with all her might. “Mother your alive. I love you so much. Please promise me