My Short Horror Story

I recently wrote this short horror story for my Comp II college class.
The assignment was to watch a movie that tried to instill real fear in me.

The only movie I had watched like that was "It's Alive!" (1974) which is about a killer mutant baby.
I thought it was pretty cheesy and wished the baby was even deadlier.

The following is my version of a kid from Hell.

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Right Now...

I suppose it would seem weird to anyone walking by. All they’d have to do is look up and see me hanging from this damn balcony. Why am I hanging from a balcony ten stories up? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Right now I’m trying to hold on for dear life and survive this night. Please God let me survive...

A recent acquaintance, Chris, called me earlier tonight and asked if I could babysit his 8 month old daughter. He and his girlfriend Allison wanted me to come over and watch her for a couple of hours while they went to see a movie. I really didn’t want to but they offered me fifty bucks so I said yes. I’d met them only a few months ago and we seemed to hit it off. Their daughter Vanessa was a well-behaved and happy baby who hardly ever cried and seemed to like me. I had nothing better to do so I agreed to watch her.

So I’m sitting there on the couch in their apartment five minutes after they’d left and Vanessa is on the living room floor playing with her big stuffed rabbit. The apartment was huge and I surmised that their rent had to be at least $1000+ per month. It had three bedrooms, a huge kitchen and a nice dining room. There was a large sliding glass door in the living room that led out onto a huge balcony. The balcony was surrounded by a sturdy wrought iron railing. It looked pretty cool and I made a mental note to go out there before this babysitting gig was over to check out the view.

I got up and decided to check the place out. The first room was the master bedroom. I opened the door, flipped on the light and walked inside to have a look. It was opulent. The bed was a king size and there was a large oak bureau next to it. Expensive paintings adorned the walls. A sex swing hung from the ceiling in one corner of the room.
I went back to the door and looked out into the living room. Vanessa had switched from the rabbit to a rubber snake. That struck me as odd. What kind of parent would let an eight month old baby girl play with a rubber snake, let alone buy her one? Oh well. It was none of my business. Neither was snooping around in Chris and Allison’s bedroom, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to steal anything, but I was curious. I opened one of the bureau drawers and rifled through the folded shirts. Underneath them was a silver colored revolver. It looked like a Magnum only smaller. I picked it up, felt the weight, and flipped it to the side. The cylinder snapped out. It was loaded. I plucked a single round from it and held it up to look at it. I remember thinking that this bullet could stop a charging bull! The bullet went back into the cylinder and I snapped it closed. I put the gun back, straightened up anything that had been disturbed, and went to the other door across the hall.

This door was slightly ajar and creaked when pushed open. The light overhead revealed the room of a young girl. This was Vanessa’s room. In it was a crib, a dresser, and an enormous toy box full of toys. I shut the light off and closed the door. I wasn’t about to go snooping through that room. Further down at the end of the hall was what I assumed was the third bedroom. I tried the knob and discovered that it was locked. That was strange. Why would they lock this door when all of the others were open?

I walked back into the living room and sat down with Vanessa. She had discarded the snake and was playing with a different toy now. I made dumb baby talk and she grinned and giggled. As I got up to walk away, she started crying. Picking her up and trying to console her did not achieve the intended results. She was wailing like a banshee! Maybe she was hungry. I laid her down on some blankets on the living room floor and went to the refrigerator to find the bottles Allison had already prepared for me. I found one and gave it to Vanessa. She snatched it up and immediately began to drink from it. She glared at me while she was drinking the milk. It creeped me out. I can’t remember ever having seen a baby actually glare at me, but there was no doubt about it, she was looking at me like she was royally p**sed off.
I put “The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland” on the TV for her.
Chris and Allison told me that that was a quick way to cheer her up. Her glare changed to a smile when she looked at the television. She was totally engrossed in it.

With Vanessa pacified for the moment, I grabbed a big police-style flashlight from the top of the refrigerator and went back down the hall to the third bedroom. I got on my knees and shined the light under the crack of the door. Nothing much could be made out except for the fact that it looked like the floor was covered in something wet. No matter which angle I looked, nothing could really be seen. I also felt heat coming from under the door. Not too hot, but definitely hotter than the rest of the place was. It had to be at least 90-100 degrees in that room. What the hell was in there?

I was still on my hands and knees looking under the door when I heard a terrifying inhuman shriek behind me. It startled the hell out of me and I whipped around to see what had made it. It was Vanessa. Only it wasn’t Vanessa. She was about 20 feet away from me and her head was twice the size it originally was. Her eyes were glowing deep red. Her skin had taken on a pale and lifeless appearance and her fingernails were now claws. Her ears were pointed and reminded me of Mr. Spock. I laughed a little at that.

Vanessa’s mouth stretched open wider than any mouth should and exposed a set of hideous razor sharp teeth. She hissed at me. Before I could yell “What the f**k!?” her tongue shot out and wrapped itself around my left ankle. Oh God! She was pulling me toward her! The tongue burned through my jeans and socks and began to sear my ankle. It burned like fire! She was surprisingly strong and when I burned my hands grabbing the tongue to remove it, she gave a hard yank and I was pulled even closer. “Holy s**t it burns! It f**king burns!!” I thought. I still had the lit flashlight in my hand and hurled it with all my might at her. It made flashes on the walls as it flew end over end. It struck her square on the forehead and knocked her backward. The tongue loosened and I threw it off, further burning my hands in the process. I got up on my feet, still feeling the burn in my left ankle. My fingers had already begun to blister.

She immediately recovered and began to crawl toward me at an alarming speed...much faster than any human baby is capable of. When she got near me I gave her the best football kick I could! She took it right in the face, flew backward and hit the living room wall hard. A crack appeared where her head had struck it. Again she recovered, whipped her head towards me, bared her teeth and hissed. I yelled, “You like that you little b***h!? f**k you!” and picked up the flashlight and threw it at her again. This time she dodged it, leaped sideways to the wall and clung to it like a spider. “Holy s**t!” I exclaimed.

She leaped from the wall to the ceiling and scuttled along it toward me. Her tongue shot out again and I dove into the kitchen to avoid it. It slapped against the carpet where I had been standing and left a smoking black mark. The only thing on my mind at that point was getting my hands on the biggest and sharpest knife in the place.
I saw the wood block that held a set of expensive knives and went for it. As I was trying to grab one from it I suddenly felt claws and teeth dig into my back. “AHHHH!!” I screamed. We fell forward and I was unable to get a knife. Oh God! She’s digging into my back! The pain was excruciating! “AHHH!!” I flipped over onto my back, threw my weight down and smashed her underneath me. Vanessa let out an inhuman shriek each time I did it. “Get off me!!!” I yelled and slammed her down one more time. The claws retracted from my back.

I got up, grabbed a large dirty glass beer mug from the countertop and hurled it at her. She was already on all fours and caught it in mid-air with her tongue like a frog and ate it. She f**king ate it! Crunched it in her mouth like it was candy! She hissed again and gave me a look that said, “Come on! What else have you got!?” I grabbed what I thought was the butcher knife but it turned out to be the bread knife. She flung her tongue at me again and it wrapped around the blade. She snatched it out of my hand and flung it against the far wall.

“What the f**k are you!!?” I yelled. Vanessa let out another shriek and leapt towards me.
I don’t know how, but I managed to grab the butcher knife from the wood block just as she landed on me. Her claws dug into my chest and her tongue was repeatedly whipping out like lightning, burning my face each time it touched it. “AHHH!!” I screamed and stabbed the butcher knife as hard as I could into her left side. It went all the way in to the hilt. She let out a screech and fell to the floor.
Bleeding and panting, I kicked her across the linoleum floor of the kitchen which left a trail of blood.
She writhed and flung herself about in agony. She pulled the butcher knife out with her tongue and stopped moving. Blood gushed from the wound. She was still alive. I could tell because I could see her chest rising up and down, taking in and exhaling breaths. She let out a horrible moan and appeared to die. Her eyes stopped glowing and faded out.

“I got you, you little b***h! I got you!” I said laughing as I approached her lifeless body. No sooner had those words come out of my mouth when her eyes came back to life and she jumped onto me again! This time she was on my face.
Her claws dug into my flesh and her teeth tore into my scalp. “FUUUUUCK!!!” I screamed and punched at her with both hands, desperately trying to get her off of my head. I fell over backwards and landed on my back. We were back in the living room now and the first thing I managed to grab was her big stuffed rabbit. I repeatedly smacked her in the side of the head with it and she lashed out her tongue and decapitated it. Horrified, I dropped the body, found the rubber snake and wrapped it around her neck with my hand three times...
I pulled it as tight as I could and Vanessa screeched violently. Her claws retracted again and I had her firmly around the neck now. I ripped her loose, got to my feet again and swung her like a lasso with the rubber snake. I hurled her through the glass sliding door and out onto the balcony. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces.

I took a moment to catch my breath. This little demon had almost killed me. I have to make sure she’s dead.
I stepped out onto the balcony. It was dark outside and the wind whistled. We were ten stories up and a fall from this balcony meant certain death. If that little demon was out here, I meant to make sure she had a horrible fall. I went back and picked up the butcher knife. Then I cautiously stepped back out onto the balcony again.

There were no signs of life. Even though the view was magnificent, the matter of a demonic killer baby was what was on my mind. I looked over each side of the wrought iron railings and Vanessa was nowhere to be found. I looked over the edge down to the ground and there was no sign of her. Where the hell did she go?

At that moment the familiar tongue lashes out at me from above. She was on the side of the building above me!
I try to dodge it but it smacks me in the side of the head. The force of the impact burns my scalp and knocks me backwards and overtop the railing. I luckily managed to grab onto one of the rungs.
Oh God! Right now I’m trying to hold on for dear life and survive this night. I suppose it would seem weird to anyone walking by. All they’d have to do is look up and see me hanging from this damn balcony. Please God let me survive...

I somehow find the strength to pull myself up and back onto the balcony. I lay there panting and thanking God I’m still alive. Thunder rumbles overhead.
Wait a minute! Where is Vanessa? She’s gotta be around here somewhere!

I scramble to my feet and stumble back inside.
Elmo in Grouchland is still playing on the TV.
Vanessa is nowhere to be found. I pick up the butcher knife again and prepare to look for her.
Something strikes me in the back of the head and I lose consciousness...

When I come to, I immediately remember what I’d recently been through and bolt upright. I’m in a dark room and it’s hot. Really hot. It has to be at least 90-100 degrees in here. I step onto the floor and feel wetness. ”What the hell is this??” I ask out loud.
I slip and fall and realize that my hands are bound behind my back.
The light flips on and Chris and Allison are back from the movie. Only it isn’t Chris and Allison.
Their heads are twice the size of a normal human’s and their eyes are glowing red. Their mouths stretch further than any person’s should, revealing sharp teeth and those searing tongues.
Vanessa is clinging to the wall like a spider again and hissing at me.

NOOOOO!!!!