The Dark One
Final
Language Arts
Mrs. Weaver


It was a dark, murky, December night; a light snowfall touched the golden streets of Harlem, New York. There was an aroma of left over Christmas dinner that lingered through the burly air and a chilly sensation that ran through my spine. Is someone watching me, I thought to myself? The lights quivered, and a dark shadowy figure appeared posing in the street 50 feet behind me. It was mysterious, towering, and slender, but I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. It didn’t speak or move…it just stood there. It was getting pretty late at this time, around 9:30 p.m. There was a dense fog that was beginning to rise above the chilled snowy road. The lights flickered once again and the figure was gone. I was filled with fear. My heart was pounding and my mind was racing but I couldn’t move. I was frozen in my tracks.

The next morning, as the bright sun was glaring through my window; I rolled over to find my leather coat; torn to shreds, and I was back in my apartment with no idea how I wondered back home. I couldn’t comprehend anything that happened or recall anything after seeing the dark figure the night before. I started looking through my phone to find any information on what had happened last night. I couldn’t find anything to even give me a single clue: no texts, no calls, and no pictures. I called my friend Adam to see if he heard anything about the shadowy figure that had been lurking around town, but the phone just rang and rang, and rang, and rang. No answer. Then I called again and the same thing happened his phone rang and rang some more and no voicemail even picked up to answer his calls.

I walked over to his apartment and a crime scene investigation unit was parked out in front of his building. The apartment was blocked off with a bright yellow crime scene tape. I prayed to myself that Adam was okay and unharmed. I pushed my way through the mob of people only to see a person on a gurney under a white sheet. Could this have been the reason he wasn’t answering his phone? Did someone take his phone? I began to fight with the ambulance personnel to be able to see if it was my friend on that gurney. They told me to stand back but with one quick tug of the white sheet, I pulled it off and there laid Adam. His lifeless body was badly beaten and he had claw marks across his face and chest as if he had been attacked by a grizzly bear. The only clothing he had left on his body had been torn apart and left to hang soaked in blood. I was quickly tackled to the ground and put into the back of a police cruiser until I could get myself under control. I sat there thinking, was this why my coat was torn, was I there with Adam, did I witness the murder of my friend? All of these questions, but no answers.

The police officer opened the door and told me to get out of the car. As I stood up and put my feet solidly on the ground I began to feel dizzy.

“Officer I don’t feel so good.” I started wobbling and started to get light headed.

“What’s wrong, and why are you bleeding?”

“What do you mean? I’m not bleeding!” I looked at him in a confused matter.

“Son you need to sit down!”

“Why?” I asked.

Just then the police officer signaled for back up and the medical personnel. I passed out and found myself in the back of an ambulance. I looked around and saw my friend laying next to me on another gurney.

“Kid, are you okay?”

“What? Where am I going? What’s going on?”

“You’re going to the emergency room. You have lost almost a pint of blood.”

I moaned in agony. I began to doze off.

“Hey! Wake up! Wake up!”

They began to ask me questions.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m not sure. I think its Jake, yeah I’m pretty sure.” I was pretty confident that it was Jake I just wasn’t sure I wasn’t all there.

“Where do you live?”

“Rocky Boulevard, Harlem New York?” I answered back. I couldn’t quite grasp the fact that my friend is lying here next to me dead. I started questioning myself is this really happening? Or is it all just a dream? The paramedic started examining me. They would look at Adam then look at me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Well you guys have the exact same claw marks on your bodies.”

I wondered what kind of thing could do this, a cat? No, the marks are too big to be a cat and cats can’t kill someone. So what is it?
Shortly after I arrived at the hospital. They pushed me down the hallway into a quarantined room so I was away from everyone else. I was in shock. What was going to happen to me? What were they going to do to me? Why did Adam die? What happened to him; what happened to me; am I going to die too? I had so many questions but no answers.
Suddenly the door to my room opened. The police and doctors came in to tell me that whatever attacked and killed Adam, was the same thing that attacked me. They suggested that I stay in the hospital for a day or two until I felt up to going back home and some of my wounds healed. I agreed.
As I laid there trying not to think about everything that happened, I decided to look through my cell phone one more time for some kind of answer. There it was in plain sight. Adam called me. When I had looked through my phone earlier, I was only looking at my calls…Why didn’t I see this sooner, could I have saved Adam’s life. I summoned up the courage and listened to his voicemail message. A cold rush ran through my body and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t Adam, it was a deep painful voice warning me I may have gotten away this time, but my days are numbered. I called for help from anyone in the hospital who could hear me. No one came. I rang my buzzer, but no one came. As I got out of bed and headed towards the hall, my door opened and there it stood, the dark shadowy figure I saw standing in the middle of the road.