| abstract
| - I'm here to tell you about what happened a week ago. I took a camping trip with my dad and grandma to visit my sister, who lives four states away from us. We were in a travel trailer, and it was very small but it worked. The first couple of days were great, but on the fourth day it all began. I was at a camping site called KOA Campgrounds and it was just restrooms, campgrounds, gravel, and other trailers so there wasn't much to see. Unfortunately, there were very few other trailers at all and all the other campers were far older than me. Later in the day my dad went to Walmart, so I decided it was a good time for a shower. Everything was normal for a few minutes, your typical uneventful shower, when I heard a soft scratching sound. I passed it off as just some animal, but it just got louder and louder and louder. By this point I was getting pretty worried. But I finished off my shower and got dressed, then took a deep breath and busted open the metal shower door. Nothing! Nothing greeted me but the empty washroom, until I checked the outside of the door. I was taken aback as I saw the large, deep claw marks left by the unknown creature. With a tentative, cautious glance about the room to make sure it had left, I grabbed my things and began making my way back to the trailer. I was just starting to calm down a little, when I suddenly heard a bloodcurdling scream. I'd never sprinted so fast in my life, and thankfully I was soon back at the trailer. I locked the door, put away my stuff and waited silently up against the door until my dad came back. The rest of the day was terribly boring, but I really didn't mind. The next day, my dad and I went into town to collect some essentials. It was 9:00pm when we finally got back, and as you can imagine it was very dark out in the forested campsite area. I ambled boredly after my father, gawking at the scenery until a movement caught my eye. I peered into the darkness, and I managed to see what looked like some sort of animal. All I could make out in this light was that it was tall and thin, and I must say it didn't exactly seem friendly. Instead of screaming all I could do was freeze, and gasp. Suddenly, it darted into the forest cover and completely disappeared. I turned to my dad, pointing to where it had just been, but he was already stepping into the trailer. He hadn't seen the thing, or even noticed me stopping. I dashed after him and got inside as fast as I could. "Whatever's the matter, dear?" my grandmother asked. Instead of telling her what I had seen, I lied and told her a bat had flown at me. So she and dad shrugged it off and went back to what they were doing. We killed about half an hour with games and crosswords, until my dad and I decided we both needed to have a shower. I took the other stall this time, while my dad took the one I had used the previous night. As he stepped in, he did a double take at the scratches, but he thought I didn't know anything about it so he didn't ask. When I got to using the soap, I somehow managed to get the suds in both my eyes. I groaned and closed my eyes, trying to rinse it out under the water flow. Before I could get it all out, I heard a loud thump which made me jump in surprise. The soap was still burning my eyes too much for me to open them, and then I heard another thump. I was finally able to open one eye, but I saw nothing. Then a third thump, strong enough to shake the shed-like washroom. I finished off my shower quickly, got dressed and went outside to have a look around. Again, there was nothing, so I waited for my dad to finish and we went back to the trailer. The next morning we moved on to another campsite, close enough to my sister's house for us to finally go and see her. So, off we toddled to her house, spent a few hours talking then decided to go out to eat. Later on she came back with us to the campsite, leaving after a little while. I spent the rest of the day in the trailer, as there really weren't any outside entertainments. Today I was feeling pretty confident, as we were around thirty miles away from where we had stayed last night. Surely that creature was long gone, no creepy noises or monster sightings for me from here on out. It must have only been my imagination. Some curious raccoon with overgrown claws must have scratched the shower door, and the figure in the woods was nothing more than a beam of moonlight. After a while I needed the restroom. Then as I was leaving it, I heard a sudden, high-pitched squeal behind me. I spun around and there stood the beast. Just as I expected. Tall, with sickly-pale skin and red glowing eyes, and a mouth of razor-sharp teeth grinning at me. It simply stood there, smiling at me, while I was too terrified and shocked to move. Then after what seemed like an age, it took a single step towards me, and that was all the prompting I needed. I turned on my heel and scampered straight in the opposite direction, only just managing to make my shaking hands open the trailer door. "It- a monster! The thing from the other campsite, he's out there!" I panted frantically. My father and grandma looked at me as though I had gone mad, but they agreed to come down with me to the restroom in case it was still there. Typical, just typical. It had gone. Obviously, in the absence of any evidence to back up my ramblings, neither of them believed me. And of course, once we got back there was no way I was going outside again. I kept checking out the window to see if it had decided to come back, but there was nothing out of the ordinary at all. It was late afternoon, and soon I was too tired and bored to be scared. I fell into a much-needed sleep, but the same awful squeal soon woke me. I couldn't believe my eyes. There, in my own tiny trailer, not ten feet from me, was that hellish creature. I could neither move nor speak, and for the longest time neither did he. Eventually he took a few teetering steps towards me, and all I could do was lie there with my jaw practically on the floor. He extended a spindly, white arm and touched me on the forehead with a long claw. At this point my fear overwhelmed me, my vision went blurry and I fainted. When I woke up, I thoroughly searched the trailer from top to bottom, but there was no sign that the monster had ever been there. Soon enough, my grandma and dad returned, but I didn't bother telling them what had happened. Pointless, when I knew there was no chance they would believe me anyway. I actually enjoyed the rest of the day, though. We all met up with my sister again, talking and having fun until evening came. I didn't say another word about the creature, who I had now decided to call "The Watcher". Everything was going fine until night fell, and my father and I went to have showers again. Although I went as fast as I could, my dad still finished and left before me. I wasn't too keen to be left on my own, so I didn't bother washing myself properly, got my things and got out of the bathroom quickly. I was hardly halfway back when I heard a loud scuffling of gravel, the same sound it makes when you kick it up. It could have been some other camper walking to the bathroom, but it was still enough to make my blood run cold and send me sprinting back. Again, my grandma was suspicious of how short of breath I was, but I used the bat excuse and she seemed satisfied. We all went to sleep just fine. But from my bed, you could see straight out of the window. I can't imagine how I stayed asleep that long at all, but at around 3:40am I was woken by a tapping noise. It startled me, but I quickly dismissed it as a loose tree branch that had blown into the window. No such luck, I'm afraid. The rhythmic tapping came again, and I dared to open my eyes. Lo and behold, there was my Watcher, slouched down and peering at me with his beady red eyes. I became still as a stone, hoping it didn't know I had seen it. Thankfully, it left after a minute or so, and I breathed a sigh of relief. After changing my position so I couldn't see the window, I eventually got back to a restless sleep. The next day was the last, and I can't pretend I was sad to go. All was well in the morning as we set about packing our bags, until my grandma found claw marks on the outside of our trailer. They were right outside the spot where I had slept, too. Naturally we were concerned, but we didn't have the time to deal with it right then, and either way they weren't as deep as the marks left on the shower doors. We started off early and drove all day, but it was still 9:42pm when we got back home. We unpacked, ate dinner, brushed our teeth and were all off to bed by 11:15pm. But my ordeal wasn't over. I awoke in the night too see him standing there, right in my room. Just staring. Just watching. I was too tired, too scared to do anything useful, and it was all I could do to cry like a baby, not moving. He stepped forward again, and once more touched my forehead with his claw. I just managed to stay conscious this time, until he let out his trademark squeal. Again, I slipped into another fainting spell. My loud, screeching alarm clock jolted me out of my sleep the next morning, and it took me a moment to register what had happened last night. I bolted out of bed, tearing around every room of the house. Thank god, he was nowhere to be found. On any other morning I would have eaten something and mucked around for a while, since I wake up at 7:00am and don't need to leave the house for school until 8:00am. But today I didn't feel like staying in any one place for long. I threw on my clothes, collected my things and went to the garage to get out my bike. I set the door alarm, and no sooner had I done it, I heard that awful squeal. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then slowly looked to my left across the room. There he was, the Watcher. Just looking at me for no good reason, grinning that damn grin. I ran to hit the garage door and looked back. He still stood there, unmoving, until the garage door was fully open. Then he stepped into the hallway, where I couldn't see him. I really didn't mind losing sight of him, so I mounted my bike and headed on out of there as fast as I could. The school day dragged on endlessly, and with forty-five minutes left I'd had enough. I snuck out of class and headed to a local park. It was only small, and at this time of day was empty, but I still felt safe knowing I was in a public place. Silly me, I was yet to learn that nowhere is safe. A modest-sized creek runs by this particular park, and after a few minutes of lying on the grass I heard a splashing sound. In case it was some kid who had fallen in, I made my way over to take a look. A kid! Hah, I should be so lucky. Can you guess who it was? The Watcher, spying on me, up to his stick-like knees in the murky water. Needless to say, I hightailed it back to school until the bell rang for the end of the day. By some miracle, I didn't see him again until nightfall. It was too much. The fear, the suspense, I was sobbing in my bed. There was no way I could sleep, and there wasn't really any point in trying. Soon enough, the piercing squeal announced the Watcher's entrance, and I was up like a shot. I gasped as I noticed fresh blood on his claws and teeth, but I kept my nerve and somehow didn't faint pathetically. His horrible grin suddenly grew wider, and I flew for the door. He didn't like that. A bone-white arm shot out and caught me, his claws digging into me, and threw me onto my bed. I stared, wide-eyed, straight at him as I heard a chuckle escape his mouth. All of a sudden he was on me, slicing, biting, then he mercifully knocked me out by whacking his bony head against mine. This time when I awoke, I saw concrete evidence that none of this was my imagination. All over my arms he had left cuts, gashes and bite marks. He's claimed me as his own. I've had no choice but to give up. I'm not going to try and escape to school. I must sit here and type this, I need to get my story down before the opportunity passes. I couldn't even keep him out of my room. Barricading the door was a useless effort, he's standing across from me as I type this right now. Just staring, just smiling. But he doesn't look so happy now. The more I type, the louder his squealing gets, and his grin is beginning to droop too. He's come closer, his claws are jabbing me a little. They're around my neck, I only have a moment or two now. I had to write this. It's become my death note, a warning to you all. If he ever chooses you, if he ever finds you, look away. Don't acknowledge him, don't scream, don't try to fight him. If you do, you'll end up like me. Cowering at your computer typing out your own story while the Watcher closes in for the kill. He's cutting my neck i cant breaaathhe iii caanr hes kiilinf m
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