Sandi… that is my name, this is the story of the most bizarre day of my life. It started just as the New Year ball dropped on a particularly warm winter night. I was standing in Times Square with my best friend celebrating the New Year. Molly was my sister, though not related by blood we always looked out for each other. Right now she was standing next to me screaming her head off chanting “three!!! two!!! one!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” I swear my eardrums nearly exploded. Then I got pushed by some idiot and fell forward the impact jarring my wrist with the effort of keeping my body from landing the slushy ground. I got up slowly and rubbed my wrist, trying to ignore the dull ache emanating from it. I called out to Molly to see if she was all right. No answer came. I looked around a twinge of panic sweeping through me. A second ago she was right here. I thought to myself. There has to be some logical explanation for this. I walked to the parking lot where my car was.

I spotted it right near the entrance to the parking lot and jogged to it. I opened the door to my metallic blue Volkswagen Beetle. I squinted in the darkness in search of any sign of Molly. Nothing, the car was just as we had left it. My heart sank to somewhere under my stomach as the last shred of hope I’d been clinging to disappeared. I found myself wishing for my mom knowing she would know what to do. I shook my head to get rid of the feeling of helplessness settling over me. Tried to think of where else she could have gone, while I tried to shake off the growing uneasiness settling on my shoulders.

Then I got the brilliant idea to call Will. He is my second best friend that was probably at home studying for the next day’s exams in school. I whipped out my blackberry and dialed Will’s number from memory. “You have to help me” I said in the receiver when I heard Wills familiar groggy voice asking where the fire was. “Molly is gone and I can’t find her anywhere!! Help me find her!! Will I’m scared she might be hurt.” I have to admit it felt good to vent my feelings. I heard drawers slam as Will rushed to get dressed. “Where are you?” he asked. I told him my location and hung up.

Within ten minutes his beat-up red Ford truck swerved into the lot. As soon as it stopped Will jumped out. I walked around to talk to him. “I think we should go back to the square and look for her there.” I said in a voice that could have been a little more controlled. Will just nodded once, and got back in the car. We drove back to the station and I told him about when I lost track of her. I was shocked as we entered the square. The aura when I left it was quite the opposite of it now. The celebrating cheers had turned to screams of terror, the chilling sound traveled through my body making me tremble in fear. What could have made these people panic like this? That’s when I caught a glimpse of the most gruesome thing on earth.

It had a human-like form but the eyes were a solid black that whirled around like a chameleon. Where skin was supposed to be, there was a puke-green muck that resembled the melted wax on a candle. Its arms resembled human arms except that the hands had three long fingers with lethally long talons on the tip of each. They were meant to rip flesh like it was butter. It ran like an Olympic sprinter on sturdy legs with a deadly speed meant for killing. I was wondering why it seemed to be twitching but then I realized it was dodging the bullets the police were aiming at it.

I heard a high-pitched scream like those from the movies and realized it was mine. The monster had just jumped up on our truck. I screamed at Will to drive but he was already doing that. The monster seemed to be hanging on though. It had made a hole in the roof and I could smell the rancid stench of its breath. It’s was a mixture of burned flesh and fresh blood. The blood I assumed had once belonged to the people it had killed tonight. The smell was so foul I found it impossible to keep myself from hurling so I opened the window and threw up.

The monster was trying to enlarge the hole in the roof. I shrieked as it tore chunk after chunk of metal off the roof. Soon the hole was big enough for the creature to get into the car. Will was sweating bullets and trying to swerve around all the people in the road running blindly. I started crying knowing death was inevitable. There was a soft thud as the monster landed on the soft back seat. My dread was renewed with the creature at such a close proximity. The car stopped and I had no clue why. I tried to breathe and tell myself this wasn’t happening… it was all too unreal. That’s when I felt a hot labored breath on my shoulder, a shudder raked my body. By now I was paralyzed with fear. Therefore, I was unable to defend myself even when I felt the monsters razor blade teeth on my neck. Involuntarily I uttered a small, pathetic whimper. Everything was going fuzzy as I was losing awareness and soon I drifted into a soft fog. Then blackness surrounded me. Thankfully, Will woke up at that second. He had been knocked out by a chunk of the roof’s metal that had hit his head. He yelled and kicked at the monster’s bald head with all his might. After about three hard kicks it slumped to the floor of the car unconscious.

Will grabbed me wrist and felt for a pulse he sighed in relief when he realized I was still alive. He gathered me in his strong arms and carried me to the closest ambulance. I regained enough conscience to see that he was standing next to me with a worried expression. The throb in my head was unbearable and I wished to go back into the darkness. I felt a sharp pinch in my wrist as they injected some morphine, but I didn’t even have the energy to wince. Numbness spread through my veins finaly reaching my head and extinguishing the pain.

I must have fainted again because when I woke up I was in the hospital with a bandage on my neck and Will sleeping in the chair next to me. I looked at his exhausted face so tranquil in sleep that I didn’t want to disturb him. He stirred and his hand fell out of his lap just within reach. I took it in mine. He woke with a start, when he saw me awake he smiled and asked “ how did you sleep?” I thought I detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice and replied “Just like any normal person would who got their blood sucked by a monster. How about you?” He laughed. It felt good to hear him laugh and I found myself giggling. That made him laugh even harder and soon we were both laughing with tears in our eyes. I laughed because I was happy to be alive and grateful as hell to have a friend like Will.

The next day at school was filled with excited chatter that revolved mostly around me and Will. Ridiculous rumors floated around and of course I did my best to correct them but some were quite flattering. My favorite one was where I had single handedly tackled and killed the monster, saving us all. As I walked to homeroom Will caught up with me and we walked to homeroom together. That day Molly was absent. She never came back.