A Thriller (my first horror story :D)

A/N: It was a school assignment, but I'm going to post it here anyways coz it's HALLOWEEEEENNNN :) Please give some CC, as it's my first horror story.

  It was one of those dark, eerie nights. Shadows stole over the walls, moving, dancing, playing on the wet deserted streets. The only light came from a single flat in a faraway building, the owner still presumably up and awake. A lone figure detached himself from a dark patch, emerging from a small alley, his stance illuminated by the ghostly glow of moonlight. He had spotted his next victim, and he was pleased - oh, very pleased. He walked briskly to the light in the building, hooded cape swooshing and footsteps echoing in his wake.

  Marta stood next to the bedroom door. She had brushed her teeth, called her partying mom, eaten her medicine and put on her jammies, and was supposed to go to bed now, but today she felt a strange uneasiness - like her sixth sense was telling her something. "It's nothing," she told herself. "it's just the wind." She still felt a nagging edginesss, however, and like the rest of the world, she knew deep in her heart that she should trust her gut instinct. Like the rest of the world, too, she ignored it and listened to her head. So reluctantly, she climbed onto  her bed and - even more reluctantly - switched off the light.

  He prowled outside, waiting for the right moment to come. He finally saw the light on the fourth floor in the building go off, and with much glee, began the trek up the long, winding stairs. There was no hurry; it was vital that nobody should see him. But that was fine - he was patient. He would wait.

  Marta felt...followed. Like someone was watching her, trailing behind her, but everytime she sat up and looked back, all she could see was her own shadow bobbing along the walls. She sighed and resigned herself to staring at the ceiling.

  She tossed and tuned and squirmed and stayed still, but she just could not fall asleep. Right when she was about to get out of bed in annoyance, she saw something move from the dark corners of the room. She paled. A silhouette stood out from the darkness, waiting, watching. Waiting for...what? Watching...who? Widening her eyes, she slowly sat up and saw...not, that was impossible...no, no, it was just her imagination. "Just my imagination," she thought to herslef. "Go to sleep." But she could not shake the image out of her head, for suddenly the shadow morphed into a man.

--

"AAHHHH," Marta wanted to scream, but the shriek got stuck in her throat, coming out instead like a hoarse whisper. She frantically threw her blanket over her head, feeling her heart throb wildly under her rib cage. Her throat constricted. She tried to shrink into the deep depths of her blankets, like a silkworm burrowing under its cocoon for safety.

"You weren't supposed to see me," the figure hissed. His raspy, cold voice sent shivers down her spine. She was terrified beyond words, and it was all she could do not to flail around. She peeked out from under the blanket. The man's face was peering out, like a rising sun over the lump of pillows.

"You know what is to come, don't you?"

  Marta just lay there, very, very still. Her mind was blank and paralyzed; her thoughts were all jumbled up and trumbling, tripping over each other, refusing to be understood. All she felt was fear - great fear - a strangely peaceful fear, as if she didn't really care anymore - pulsing through her blood.

"It's a pity I have to kill you, but I do have a quota everyday, you know. I must reach my quota, or the world will be overpopulated, and everyone knows I have an affinity for young girls like you. And now that you've seen me, I most definitely must kill you or you'll start spreading stories around the world, won't you?"

She could feel his hot breath on her tear-streaked face by now. She tried half-heartedly to fight, tried to kick, tried to put up a valiant fight, but all to no avail. Just as the gleaming scythe was coming down upon her, the man whispered, "Goodnight." And that moment, realization dawned upon Marta: he was the Reaper, the bane of many an innocent girl's life. He was Death.

The gory job done, he walked briskly away, hooded cape swooshing and footsteps echoing in his wake.

~~

Comments + CC much appreciated :)