literature

Why We Stopped Playing Shark in the Dark

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Literature Text

This one is actually based on a game that my cousins, younger sister, and I came up with as kids. though the situation itself is fictional, we do not play the game any more.

Why We Stopped Playing Shark in the Dark
My cousins and I were those types of kids who liked to get into all sorts of trouble. And me being the oldest…I didn’t want to seem like a tattle-tell whenever I thought something we were doing was wrong. I was never one to break the rules, but I was also not fond of being left out. My cousins Billy, Melanie, Benjamin, and my younger sister Jade always loved doing things after dark when the grown-us were asleep. We often did things like tell ghost stories until the crack of dawn, sneaking out of the house at night to look up at the moon, and even seeing who could stay up the entire night during a marathon of scary movies. I wasn’t going to lie…I was a big scaredy-cat. I didn’t like the dark, I didn’t like things that went bump in the night, and most especially, I didn’t like breaking the rules. Even at a young age I knew our parents only made so many rules to keep us from getting into trouble.
    That eventually saved our lives late one night when my cousins and I came up with a special game. Kids being kids, we waited until all the adults were fast asleep in their beds get started. We put our heads together and came up with the perfect name for the game. “Shark in the Dark.” The rules were simple: whoever was it would look for everyone in else in the dark as they hid. No sounds were to be made, nor were we allowed to hide in places that were either high up or sealed off. We also couldn’t start a new game until EVERYONE was found. The second oldest after me, Billy, was the leader in tonight’s game since I was too scared to be it. I came up with the game, but I would never be as brave as my other cousins. We selected who would be it by placing all of our right feet at a center, rhyming things like “Eenie Meenie Minie Moe.” I dreaded every second of it until Billy’s finger stopped at my foot at random. Melanie, Benjamin, and my sister offered to take my place seeing the expression on my face, but I was determined to be brave this time. A smaller pair of hands overlapped my eyes as Billy guided me to the dark living room while everyone started to hide. “No don’t peek and count to twenty!” Billy called out, her voice growing distant while I stood there shaking down to my knees. I could practically hear my teeth chattering given how scared I was. “O-One…t-two…three…!” I counted on until I reached twenty, hearing giggles from somewhere in one of the rooms.
    A deep sense of vertigo overcame me as I felt my way through the darkness, tripping over a few things here and there. I made sure not to make anything fall to avoid waking any of the adults. If we got in trouble, I’d get most of the blame since I was the oldest. I swallowed down my fear, making my way through each room of the house as if it were a giant maze. I never notice before, but the house looked very scary and still after dark. There was no light to guide my way…no presence of sound to curb my paranoia. When I combed through most of the rooms of the house, I heard one of the doors leading to the backyard suddenly close. I flinched, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest. We had a big yard…there was nowhere I was going to find any of them in complete darkness!” “H-Hey! I thought we weren’t supposed to go outside!” I whispered, though I was pretty sure I raised my voice a bit. A figure much taller than me slowly moved into the light. Thinking it was Benjamin, I called out to him. He didn’t answer. And come to think of it, Benjamin didn’t tower over me. We were nearly at eye-level at best. “Ben? Ming? Why are you just standing there?” I asked, still receiving no reply. Benjamin hated that nickname I gave him, and would have gotten angry or something.
    I felt my feet plant themselves into the floor as if my body was warning me of danger. Whoever this male figure before me was, he definitely wasn’t any of my cousins up their own tricks. The man suddenly took a few paces towards me as I took a few back. I wasn’t about to find out what he wanted. I felt my heart leap into my throat as I rushed into the long, pitch-black hallway hoping my cousins were at least hidden from sight. The adults had locked their rooms, leaving us kids at the mercy of this unknown stranger. No matter how fast and silently I ran, the man continued to trail after me as I dared not to look back or stop. I didn’t care if I was called a tattle tell or if I got in trouble…I wasn’t going to let this person terrorize us! Banging as loudly as I could on my aunt and uncle’s door, I called out, “Help! Help! There’s a stranger in the house!” I could hear a deep male voice grunt, presumably my uncle getting out of bed to answer the door.
    As soon as the door opened I burst into tears, begging my still drowsy uncle to call the police. My aunt grew upset at the state I was in, thinking that my cousins and younger sister had made me watch scary movies on my own again. When they saw that I was adamant about calling the police, a call was made and soon a patrol car pulled up in the drive way. My cousins were puzzled by what happened, for they had all been hiding safely in each of the rooms in the house. A thorough search of both inside and outside of the house was done, but the police found no signs of said intruder on the property. All they noticed was that both the back gate and door leading to the yard hard been tampered with, the lock hanging off its hinges. My aunt assured me everything would be okay, but one of the officers questioning my uncle stepped forward to say, “You’re lucky this girl woke you up before it was too late. The man she described is wanted for the abduction, rape, and murder of several missing children. He was last seen several blocks over in the next neighborhood.” My aunt held her mouth in shock while my cousins gathered around me in a circle. They didn’t mock or tease me this time. They were all genuinely concerned. That man could have done terrible things to us…and I could have been the first victim.
    Several weeks later, police officers found the man attempting to lure children into his black van. He has since been in prison and is awaiting trial for the murders. Billy, Benjamin, Melanie, Jade, and I have stopped playing Shark in the Dark since that incident. We were lucky this time.
© 2015 - 2024 Lolitagirl671
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MalevolentPetals's avatar
Well that is lovely.
The scariest thing about this is that it could actually happen.