Barnesville School of Arts & Sciences

THE WALKER The Present that Killed WARNING: PG-13 By Seth Don, Guest Writer By Patrick Rodriguez T C he wind was howling like a desperate wolf looking for food. It slammed itself up against the windows, walls, and door making them rattle so violently that it seemed that they were about to shatter Thunder boomed like a bomb dropped over the house. Rain pounded the windows in constant sheets that made it impossible to see three feet in front of you. This was how it was every Christmas Eve for the last few years. This had turned everyone in the Waternaux bitter and sour because Christmas used to be their favorite holiday. lick. Clock. Click. Clock. The only sound to be heard was the sound of my shoes thumping against the pavement. It was rhythmic, and even beautiful. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't care. What mattered was right then, and how beautiful those shoes sounded against the pavement. My legs hurt just a little, the pain increasing with each step. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. That was a great sound. Great. A sharp pain went straight up through my leg, and I nearly collapsed. But I kept walking, just to hear that sound. Oh how I loved that sound. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. My legs hurt so terribly bad. But my legs were just strings of tissue and bone, they didn't matter. Oh, how none of that mattered. Nothing mattered because my ears were being caressed by the angelic sound of my shoes on that pavement. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. I could walk as far as I wanted, if only to hear that noise, that beautiful noise. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. I embraced the pain, how I loved it, for it was the only reason my shoes made that beautiful noise. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. I took a step, the sidewalk no longer feeling as if it could support my weight, so I made it so. I jumped, as hard as I could against the sidewalk, my shoes making a great noise. Thump. Thump. Thump. Oh just one more! Thump. Crash. The sidewalk fell right open, into an abyss where I could no longer hear those shoes. And I fell. Oh how I fell, with an immensity of space around me, but an enclosed area as well. I would never hit the bottom! It was Christmas Eve and everything was still. All accept little Rosie and her whole family. They were all up bickering as usual. This used to be the only time when they would just get along but not anymore. This bickering lasted until 11 o' clock. Finally their house was quite just like the rest of the neighborhood. With the silence out came the monster that was plotting their demise. It quickly stole across the yard of the Waternaux's house. It slipped through the window with ease and walked up to the Christmas tree and plopped down the thing that it had been carrying right in front of the tree. Click. Clock. Click. Clock. Little Rosie was the first one down and that was at 10:00 in the morning. She took one look at the Christmas tree and screamed, "Santa left a present!" Within 5 seconds everyone else was down and surrounded the tree. The mother was the first of all of them to touch the present. A fraction of a second later three spikes shot out and impaled her in the face. At once blood started to ooze out of her face like pus. Not even five seconds later the spikes released an acid that started to eat away at her face and brain. After that the present's ribbons dissolved and let out a highly toxic gas into the air. The Waternaux family (besides the dead mother) all started to turn blue in the face and gag. The gas touched the single candle that was lit in the corner of the room. The gas ignited with a huge crack. The house was up in flames in minutes. The fire slowly spread to the other houses. In one hour the neighborhood had gone up in flames and everyone who had lived there was dead, DEAD, DEAD! I awoke on the sidewalk, into the cool morning air. I stood up, wondering why I was not in my bed. I was sure I had gone to sleep there last night. I pushed myself up, to find myself in my nightclothes. But strangely enough, I was wearing my dress shoes. I began walking, finding much to my delight, that my shoes made such a beautiful noise; Click. Clock. Click. Clock. Click. 6

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