STORY: The Moment I Knew I Was Going To Die

"GIDEON!"

"GIDEON!"

My aunt's shrill voice rang into the basement that was presently my room. I grumbled and dropped the game controller and stamped up the stairs to answer her.

"MA"

"Go to the backyard and put off the generator"

I didn't bother to answer as I turned and grumbled out of the house, muttering under my breath. The backyard was pitch dark and as I moved closer to the building where we house our generator, I began to regret not taking a torch.

The generator we used was a lister. A kind of generator that has two big iron wheels which is turned really fast and kick started to put on the generator. I couldn't see as I went closer to the spinning iron wheels, praying it doesn't hit and crush my hand. I found the switch to turn it off and I pulled it.

Two thing happened at once, the generator wheels increased in speed instead of slowing down and one of the wheels came loose, bounding towards my face at high speed. I managed to dodge out of the way on time, but not before the hot iron wheel landed on my big toe. I screamed at the level of pain that assaulted my senses and passed out.

"Huff huff"

"Huff Huff"

I ran at full speed down the road.

I could feel it , it was gaining on me. I kept running with all I had, my lungs heaving with each breath I took. My mind was going wild and I could feel the panic overwhelming my will as I kept running.

I was in a cave, at least that's what it felt like. A musty smell permeated the air as I whizzed past on fleet feet. My injured toe tried to hold me up, but every stamp of my feet sent excruciating pain down my nerve endings.

It was almost upon me. I could feel it's presence right behind me, the grunting of its breath audible in the semi silent cave. In that moment, I knew I was going to die.

It is true what they say, that at the moment of death, one begins to experience flashback of memorable events in one's life. The flashback came in bursts, filling up my mind and distracting me, making me catch my injured toe on a stone.

I screamed, my voice shrill and loud as waves and waves of pain blasted through me. I lay on the floor, waiting go die. Waiting for it to get me. Waiting for it to eat me. I waited for a while, but I didn't hear anything.

I pulled myself up and shuffled forward a bit, my toes still hurting. And then I heard it, movement behind me. I stopped. It stopped. I moved forward again, it moved too, it's presence directly behind me. I shuffled forward quickly. It shuffled forward too.

And that's when the first year rolled down my cheeks. I was going to die, and this thing, this beast wanted to toy with me before killing me. I let the tears cascade down my cheek for a full minute, before forcing myself to stop. Crying would not solve anything. I would not give this beast the satisfaction of breaking me before killing me. If I was going to die, I would die fighting. I looked up into the dark recesses of the cave and I saw what looked like a light in the distance breaking in from above into the cave. I made up my mind to get there and at least see the face of my hunter in the light before I died.

I braced myself and set my injured toe right, slowly and almost imperceptibly. I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer to any god that was listening and then I took off.

There is no limit to the wonders adrenaline can do to your body, as I ran even faster than I was running before. I must have surprised it because I heard a grunt of surprise before it took of after me, buying me about three seconds. Then it charged after me, not bordering to be stealthy, destroying and discarding rocks and obstacles in its path.

I kept running. Almost there, almost....

It came after me, getting close, getting close...

I burst into the hallow the light cast and stood in the middle of the light, quickly looking back to see what my attacker looked like before I died. Nothing moved, then slowly, a figure came into the light.

It was a rat.

It opened it's mouth and a new wave of pain assaulted my injured toe. I groaned and jerked awake to find a rat on my bed, feasting on my toes. Someone had carried me from where I had passed out in the generator building and brought me to my bed. I kicked it off and rolled over, trying to shake the nightmare from my mind. It was over, thank God. But one thing was sure, I was not going back to sleep that night.