9111 Sharp Road by Eric R. Johnston Read Free Book Online

place, I never put any stock whatsoever in any of this ghost and monster business. Dad made sure of that. He would n ever let either me or Lori, even as young children, entertain t he thought of the supernatural, which was something that a part of me now found somewhat amusing—as amusing as I could now find anything, anyway. Dad abhorred the idea of ghosts and monsters . The irony was unavoidable, as he was now a ghost helping me against a horde of monster s .
    Turning away from the window, I looked at Lori and nearly screamed. One of the bat-like creatures was staring in the east window, just above the bed , and looking at her like she was a delicious mea l. The creature flicked its tongue as if it couldn’t wait to get a taste of her.
    She stirred. The red light shining in her face was waking her. “Lori,” I whispered. “Lori, don’t open your eyes. Turn toward me.”
    In her sleep-confused state, she did the exact opposite of what I told her and opened her eyes and turned toward the window . She let out the loudest scream I had ever heard as she saw the chiroptera looking in at her. It responded with a deafening screech.
    “Help me!” Lori screamed in an absolute panic. She pushed herself away from the window, off the bed, and onto the floor.
    I rushed to her and covered her with my body. She shook with fear. “We need to get out of her e ,” I said as calmly as possible. I grabbed her under the arms and tried to lift her, but she couldn’t stand. Her legs just would not cooperate. “Come on, Lori, we need to go.”
    “No, no, I can’t,” she said.
    “What do you mean ‘no, I can’t’?”
    She didn’ t answer. Instead, she put her face in her hands and cried.
    Meanwhile, the creature continued staring in at us with i ts thin, serpent-like tongue was flicking all about, actually licking the window now. The places where it touched immediately turned to ice. The effect was chilling.
    I didn’t know if I could pick Lori up until I tried. “Lori, help me a little, could you?” Instead, she kicked and punched me in a panic. She look ed directly over my shoulder at the window. Less than a second later, the window exploded, showering us both with glass. “Lori! We need to go now!” Her entire body was Jell-O.
    The creature screeched as it entered the bedroom. I managed to get Lori to the door but had to let her down so I could open the door. As the chiroptera climbed onto the window’s ledge , my hopes of escaping my bedroom alive quickly faded.
    “Stay back,” I said. Its only response was a screech that probably meant it wasn’t going to listen to anything I had to say.
    It leapt in through the broken window and landed on the bed. I could see its full form for the first time. It stood about seven feet tall with long, lanky arms and thin, but clearly define d legs. I ts entire body was very thin, yet its muscles look like they were chiseled in stone.
    There was no way I was going to be able to pull the door open, which unfortunately had to be pulled rather than pushed, so I put myself between the creature and Lori. “Get out of here, now!”
    Instead of obeying, it stepped off of the bed and toward us, its long tongue whipping every which way.
    Then it raised a clawed hand and bellowed that horrifying screech as it slammed that hand into my face. The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me was those bright red eyes.
     
    I awoke in the hallway in front of the door to nowhere, surrounded by an incredible blue light . I reached out for the door handle , and e lectricity ran through my arm as I grasped the knob . Then I was thrown aside like a doll.
    I landed just outside Lori’s room. I could see the stink pipe was glowing red.
    “Stay out of there,” a voice I recognized as my father’s said. I looked toward the voice, which happened to be the door to nowhere. Dad was standing there in that old fashioned suit.
    “Dad, they have Lo ri,” I said . My voi ce sounded like a distant echo, like