No Parking

Parking lots are an important part of most people's everyday life, they provide a special spot for your vehicle, they can form a sense of nostalgia, and the feeling of danger.

“*gasp* Where am I?! Who am I?! Hold on Jon, calm down. It was just a nightmare. I'm in my cozy bed… or I'm in a cozy parking lot.” As I got up to check my surroundings I realized I was really  sore from sleeping in the concrete of the parking lot. Honestly I should be freaking out about waking up in a random parking lot that seems very deserted, but instead I'm thinking about how I'm sore. Man this is weird. After getting myself together I decided to look around so I could maybe find somebody for help, but there wasn’t a single soul in this parking lot that seemed to go on forever. I kept on looking for somebody, for any sort of hope of help, but at last there was no hope. I would just have to find my own way out of this dreadful place and hope there are no scary things to look out for.

As I was starting to calm down and I started to feel that being here that bad, I saw something, in the corner of my eye, it looked like a tall black stick man. I tried to calm myself down by telling myself that I was paranoid and was just imagining things, but it kept appearing and getting more visible each time, after a while I started to get used to it but it was still unsettling. It soon stopped appearing but I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched and followed, I would even think I was hearing footsteps at times. Just to make things worse I started to get hungry which made me realize that I had no food on me.

I eventually  decided to look back to see if there was anything following me. I saw it, the tall black stick man thing, but now I could see that it had long claws on its hands and feet, and a creepy long smile, just a pale white smile staring at me. When I started to back away from it, it started to walk, and it kept on getting faster and closer. I panicked and decided to turn and run, but I could also hear it start to run, I could tell it was running faster than me, I could feel it lurking right over me. No matter how fast or far I ran it was right next to me, so close I could see part of it, but then I also realized that it was emitting a buzzing sound just an ever so slightly buzzing sound. I saw a very very tall building in the distance as I was still trying to lose the creature, after I saw the building I heard a growl from the creature and saw its claw swipe right beside me. 

The more I ran and dodged the attacks from the creature I would grow more and more hungry and I knew if I didn’t die from the creature, or don’t find a way out, I would end up dying from hunger. I tried to slow down the creature by running through the bushes between each light pole, which did work pretty well but I still couldn’t lose it. While running through the bush I saw some berries that I might be able to eat. When I had the chance, I grabbed a handful of berries and shoved them down my throat, by their taste it seemed like they were black berries. I felt them hit my stomach and it relieved my hunger, but soon the hunger came back so every time I ran through a bush I would grab some to eat. Hopefully they will help me from dying of starvation.

I finally arrived at the building, which seemed like an enclosed staircase, it had a greenish metal door with a small glass window, it had a light up sign with a symbol of stairs, and it went seemingly infinitely upwards. Another good thing is that I seemed to have lost the creature. When I tried to push open the door to the staircase it wouldn’t move, it was locked. I kept on pushing trying to open it, I even tried to pull, but there was no movement. I started to walk away but then I heard the growl from the creature from right behind me. I tried to run, I hoped I could be faster than Usain bolt, but the creature slashed my leg. It felt like it was barely hanging on, but I could see it was still attached sturdily. I was still able to jog, so I did, I jogged to the door because it was my only hope. I felt the creature's hand slash the back of my shirt as I pushed on the door and it actually opened, it felt like a miracle, like god himself saved me.

When I fell in I saw the dimly lit stairs spiral up and down, I had a choice to make, a possibly vital choice. I decided to go up, I started walking very slowly, but eventually I ended up crawling from the pain of the gashed wound on my leg. After what felt like days and it probably was. I found a nice wooden door. I forced myself to stand, and edge my way to the door. When I made it I swiftly opened the wooden door that reminded me of my bedroom door. I was blinded by a bright light and fell unconscious.

When I awoke I was in some sort of grocery store parking lot, one that wasn’t infinite, and one that was poorly kept up with. The grocery store seemed abandoned, it had no name on top, and all the doors and windows were boarded up. I was so glad to be in the real world, but I couldn’t help but feel something off, like I didn’t actually escape from that nightmarish parking lot.