Menacing Scream

Luke Johnston

Year 11

The screaming was deafening.

I was looking around this dense, thick forest, keenly searching for a safe secluded area, to escape this traumatic sound. I was drowning in this scream, as if it was a thick noise barrier pressuring my ear drums to failure. I had found this small cave, moist and peppered with moss and other slippery surfaces, and temporarily the scream had grown quieter. I gathered my thoughts and tried to decide what thing had been letting out this awful yell. At first, I thought it was a bobcat with its raspy high pitch voice but figured it must have been a lady in somewhat distress. The screaming had an aspect of fear from something else, something that could yell louder than any other animal on this planet. I decided at that moment to search for this dreadful yelp. Now I think about it, it was not the best idea... There I was looking for the tone of ultimate destruction after I had just fled from it.

This forest was very hard to navigate through. Everywhere you looked it seemed as though you were experiencing infinite déjà vu. Every tree, every stick looked the same, although I pushed on observing this woodland. The scream had only been going non-stop consistently with no hesitation to seize. It seemed supernatural in a way, as if whatever was letting this yelp out would have lungs of steel and a breath that could last a million lifetimes. The scream was definitely increasing in pitch, like it knew I was searching for the source. I reached this secluded area, yet the scream became more unbearable, it just kept growing louder and louder.

I reached a circle of trees with dense bush. I could not peek through but was desperate. My journey hadn’t come this far with this much damage to my eardrums for nothing. I desperately started hacking at this thick bush with miserable force. Suddenly, light shone upon my eyes, creating a blinding effect. I felt dizzy with agony. Despairing illumination burned my eyes, but I kept scratching and punching this bush till I got to the other side. It felt like the green and brown never ended, leaf after leaf, twig after twig, until I started striking nothing. The scream remained unbearable, and the luminescence continued tormenting my shrivelled skin.

I opened my eyes to get a glance at whatever was ahead. The scream stopped, and it was like a light has been flicked off. I slowly opened my eyes with great fear to see a woman, lying down sobbing. I walked over to her crunching leaves with my shoes. I helped her up and asked why there was bright lights and terrible screams. She whispered, “They’re coming for you.” Standing there in confusion I keenly asked “Who?” She replied with a chuckle.

I started contemplating what this could mean, wondering if she was the one who planned this. I couldn’t think of an alternative. The woman was obviously in distress, I tried helping her up, she started screaming again, this time louder and higher pitched, my ears once again in fell into agony. The light shone once again, I grew a menacing headache, bawling on the ground hoping this ordeal would stop and wishing this whole scenario was only a dream...

I must have slept as later I woke up, headache still there, just as painful. But I was not outside. Instead, windows barred me in like I was in a jail cell, a door was made with heavy metal, and the walls were covered with fingernail scratches. The door slowly opened, creaking like an old house in the middle of the night.

A man holding a large needle crept through and quietly said “Have another bad dream again, sir?” Confused I replied, “What dream? What even is this place?” He walked over sharply and forced the needle into my arm and creepily smirked, “Another bad dream, so it was...” I just fell down to the ground and started crying.

The deafening screaming erupted again in my ears. Looking up, I saw this dense, thick forest...