Ruby 6

The darkness seemed alive. Forgoing the natural laws, the blackness of night seemed to stretch out its claws….to snatch…to entangle…to trip up the stumbling little boy as he ran frantically in a mad panic from the creature which was pursuing him. Andrew Jones was running for his life.

Back in his room, he had been watching TV. He had just wanted to watch some cartoons until Mommy calmed down. Maybe she would have even saved him a piece of pizza if he was good. But then it had all changed. The Pillsbury Doughboy had popped up on his TV and had told him to run.

“Follow the creek!” the little white man had said, “Go now…and don’t look back.”

Andrew had jumped out of his bedroom window in the back of the trailer. Scrambling down to Troublesome, he had started running along the edge. He had to get away. He didn’t really know what he was running from, but he knew that it was bad.

“Andrew!” a voice called out behind him.

Not obeying the orders of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Andrew stopped and spun around. He saw his Mommy quite a bit behind him, standing beside the creek. She looked mad. He gulped.

“Andrew!” his Mommy called again, “Get your behind back here right now! Just where do you think you’re going?”

And he was going to go back. He didn’t want to upset Mommy. That only brought the belt…or the back of her hand. He took a step toward her.

“No Andrew!” a voice called from across the creek, “Don’t listen! That isn’t your Mommy.”

Andrew looked across the creek. There, on the other side was the Pillsbury Doughboy. He was dancing around, just like he did on those TV commercials.

“Look again!” the Doughboy called.

Andrew looked back at his Mommy. But then he wished that he hadn’t. His Mommy had a huge hole in her stomach. Her guts were falling out of the hole and dragging on the ground beside of her. There was blood running out of her mouth and down the front of her dress. One of her eyes had rolled up in her head, but the other one was staring at him with stony coldness. She was holding a belt.

“Get your little butt over here right now,” the Mommy creature croaked, “Come here and get your punishment. It won’t be too bad if you come right now.”

But now, Andrew could see that this thing wasn’t really his Mommy. A whimper escaped his little lips. He could feel the warmth in his pants as he wet himself. He started to tremble.

“Andrew!” the Doughboy was calling to him again, “Swim across the river. The creature can’t cross running water.”

Andrew looked down at the creek. Troublesome was running fast. The muddy waters looked greedy…hungry for little boy flesh. He looked back up at the Mommy creature. It was running toward him. Andrew saw that it had grown long black claws on the end of its hands.

“Don’t move Andrew!” the Mommy creature growled, “I’m almost there!”

“Andrew!” the Doughboy called, “Move it! If you don’t come now…it will be too late!”

Without thinking about the water…the cold….the danger…Andrew plunged into the creek. He was able to half swim…half walk across the muddy river. Behind him he could hear a shriek of pain and rage. He didn’t turn back.

When he was across the creek, he stood there trembling with fear and cold. He look behind him, half expecting the Mommy creature to be there…grinning and dripping with blood. But it was gone.

“Now Andrew,” came the voice of the Doughboy from all around him, “Run!”

Letting out a scream, Andrew started to run toward a house that he saw in the distance. He kept screaming.