Not everyone enjoys horror so I leave you here with a small warning, this short intro involves a car accident and some unsettling descriptions! Don’t read before bed! Let me know if I’ve done well at setting the mood and building the suspense. Also by all means ask me any questions as this is my first time writing anything in the horror genre!
I slowly open my eyes with my head pounding and my ears ringing. My body is screaming out in agony from more than a dozen spots and the taste of my own blood fills my mouth. Through my blurred vision, the view beyond my dashboard slowly came into view. The tangled sheets of metal, the tiny shards of glass, all hiding within the darkness of some poor farmer’s wheat field. The smell of fuel alarms me, but not nearly as much as the flames licking through the mangled hood of my car. I was fortunate that I was conscious, fortunate that I was alive, but could feel the world closing in around me.
My mind made the effort to undo my seatbelt, but my right arm rebelled and simply sat there motionless. Panic set in as I noticed a large piece of metal sticking out just above my collarbone and an worrying lack of pain. I stared at it as if to scream, but silence filled my lungs. I realised I could still turn my head, but that wasn’t of too much use to me. Every inch in either direction caused excruciating amounts of pain through my neck and shoulders. There I sat, helpless and in agony. Tears rolled down my cheeks and mixed with blood as they slid together to my lips.
How had this happened? I couldn’t remember.
Did I fall asleep? No… that couldn’t be it.
Avoid some animal? No… not an animal.
My eyes wandered from the field before me and to my rearview mirror. There sitting in the backseat was a dark figure, his necktie perfectly formed and shirt and blazer appeared to be freshly ironed. I stared at his face for a moment. The darkness of the night cloaked him in secrecy yet he seemed oddly familiar.
“Are… are you okay?” I stared into the mirror awaiting his reaction, but nothing. My eyes glanced down to his chest, where no seatbelt kept him in place. My heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. “Who, who are you?”
His silence made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Sir, please… if you’ve got…” My ribs felt as though they were on fire as I took a deep breath. “…a phone, please, call for help…”
Then I saw it, my phone just sitting obediently in the cup holder as if the car had never been in an accident at all. I cringed as my left arm moved toward it, sending pain from one shoulder to the other. I turned the phone over and stared at the reception. No bars. Of course not.
The man from the backseat reached out and grabbed my wrist tightly, causing my hand to drop the phone. Ignoring the pain in shock, I turned to protest and felt my heart stop. The man’s face was pale, dangling a broken jaw and the deep pits where his eyes should have been seemed infinitely dark. I watched in horror as he made some horrific gurgling sounds and his neck moved unnaturally. I froze and the world seemed frozen with me. He reached out and clawed at the back of my head with his other hand, while I stared blankly into the pits of his eyes. A sign covered in vines caught my eye in the bright red hue of my brake lights just before pain overtook me and I screamed as flesh tore from bone.
“Welcome to Tranquil Tops.”