The Chase
It was a cold and dreary night in early December. A man by the name of Ted was driving down a dark and deserted road trying to get back to his family for the Christmas holidays.
Ted had lived in New York ever since he had graduated from college. He was now going to his home town of Blueington which was in Pennsylvania. This is where his parents and the rest of his family would be waiting.
Anyone would be delighted to be traveling back to their home town for the holidays to see their family. But Ted, was dreading it and couldn't wait for it to be over. And for good reason too.
Ever since Ted was kid, he had been pursued by a mysterious man, or better, a monster. But it seemed to be a cross between the two. The thing, as he remembered, stood seven feet high and wore a large heavy looking coat that went down to his feet. It also wore a tattered hat and always had a cloth over his face with shades where the eyes would be. He also remembered a choker made of steel spikes that it wore around it's neck.
However, when Ted moved from Pennsylvania to New York, the thing had stopped bothering him. He wasn't sure why though.
Ted now found himself coming within the Pennsylvanian borders.
Please don't come. Please don't come, Ted thought.
Ted drove on feeling nervous. His memories were coming back now. And he was making himself very scared. He drove on while trying to make his uneasiness go away.
"Calm down, calm down, Teddy," Ted said to himself, "It can't still be here. It must have moved on to somebody else. Yes, that's it, the thing moved on to torture somebody else."
At what he just said made him feel sentimental about the other person the thing had moved on to. But he still couldn't help thinking about how it may still be after him. But it couldn't be. Ted had come this way for years and had never seen it. But this time something inside of him was making him feel as if it would come.
Ted could see he was about to pass a dirt road. He also saw a old, piece of junk car at the beginning of it. It had it's head lights on. But why was it just sitting there? As Ted passed it he looked to see if he could catch a glimpse of the driver. The car passed and what he saw made nightmares return. It was the man. The monster. The thing.
Ted nearly screamed. The car pulled out on the road and began to follow him. Ted was breathing heavily and sweat began to pour down his face. Memories were coming back.
"Teddy, be a dear and go fetch the mail for me," Ted's mother asked.
"But Mom, the man is out there. He'll get me," Ted whined.
"Quit talking all this non-sense and go get me the mail!"
"Mom!"
"Teddy!"
Ted got his coat and opened the door peaking out into the snow covered lawn checking to see if he was out here. He didn't see anything so he ran to the mailbox and opened it.
"Hurry, hurry," he whispered to himself.
He shut the cold metal mailbox lid and looked back at the door. The man was standing in front of it with his coat swaying in the wind. Ted dropped the mail.
He stood there frozen scared to move. The man moved foward.
Ted whined as the man crept up to him. He was now six feet in front of Ted.
"AHHHHH!" Ted screamed while running to his neighbor's house and knocking frantically on the door.
"Mrs. Wendy! Mrs. Wendy!"
The door opened and a warm old woman stepped out.
"Teddy, what's the matter? Are you okay?" she kneeled down while putting her arms around him.
"It's the man. The man."
"What man? There's no man," she said while looking out across the neighborhood.
Ted turned around and started crying trying to search him out.
"Oh, there, there. Let me take you back home."
She got back up and held his hand as they came to the walkway to Ted's house. He picked up the mail and they walked to the door. Mrs. Wendy rang the doorbell.
"Mrs. Wendy," Ted's mother said.
"Ted seems to have been frightened by something. I walked him back to calm him," she said.
"Oh, well thank you," she said while bringing Ted into the house.
"Good bye."
Naturally, Ted's mother did not believe him so she dismissed it as foolish child's play.
Ted speeded up, but as he did, the other car did too. Ted started shaking.
"No, no, no, NO, NO!" he said while a tear crept down his face, "Why? Why? Why are you doing this to me? WHY!?"
Ted was laying in his bed waiting for the closet door to creak open as it did every night. Waiting for the man to step out and watch him as he fell asleep.
Ted, now at the age of thirteen still had the monster in the closet story to tell. His mother would tease him badly about this saying that if the other kids found out, they would make fun of him. This was probably true. But the monster was true to.
Ted glanced at his clock and saw it was eleven p.m.. He transfixed his eyes on the closet door and soon enough it crept open. The man stepped out while the door mysteriously shut behind him. He made no movement at all. Just stood there.
"Why?" Ted whispered, "Why are you doing this to me?"
The man said nothing. Ted's fear was gathering as it did every night. And every night, Ted would ask the question and get no reply. Just a plain terrible stare.
He finally broke down and began to softly cry into his pillow. He then eventually cried himself to sleep.
Ted began to go into a state of paranoia. The car behind him sped up and got to the side of him. He looked over and saw the plain blank face of the man. He started to yell and scream.
"WHY!?" he screamed, "WHY!?"
No reply came.
He began to speed up even more now reaching a speed of one hundred and twenty. He saw another dirt road and quickly turned on to it to try and lose him. He sped up even more with the pedal touching the floor of the car. His mind racing for a way to get out of this. A way to escape. But nothing came. His hands were clenched to the steering wheel while his eyes were held steady in front of him.
"Look at my little boy, all grown up and off to college!" Ted's mother exclaimed, "Frank, get a picture before he has to leave!"
"Mom," Ted said annoyed.
Ted's mother came and hugged him while smiling at the camera that his father was holding.
"One..Two..Three," Ted's father said.
A flash went off as a taxi pulled up in front of the house.
"Taxi is here!" Ted said while hurrying to get all his luggage and making sure he had everything.
The three of them ran out the door to the taxi. Ted gave both his parents a hug and got in the taxi. As it drove off he turned around to wave at them. He had expected to see the man but he was not there. Twenty minutes later the taxi passed by the "Welcome to Blueington" sign. Standing next to it was the man. As the passed Ted looked at him with a triumphant glare. He had finally got away from him. Finally, he could hopefully rest...
He sped down the dirt road not seeming to get any farther down it nor from the man chasing him. He was in hot pursuit. But after ten minutes he turned around and the car was gone. He stopped his car in the middle of the dirt road and looked up and down it. No car in sight. He turned the car around while glancing at the corn field next to the road. He then went back down it at eighty miles. He felt relaxed and rode down it gently. But then, as he was about to get to the end of the rode, the car drove out of the corn field causing Ted to turn the car off the rode. This made Ted's car smash into a near by tree. The car caught on fire as the bloody head of Ted flew out and landed nearby the street. The man got out of his car and surveyed the burning scene from the road. He then walked over to the head laying on the ground. He took off his hat, and shades and set them on the ground. He then un-tied the cloth around his face. But when it came off, no face could be seen. Not even a head was there. He picked up Ted's head and placed it gently where his head should have been. He patted it on and then picked up his hat and shades and put them back on. He then turned to the main road and started to walk down it with the gruesome scene behind him...