1. Scar face lair
By Grace
Knock, knock. Knock, knock. Max shivered
under his duvet. The knocking came again,
this time louder. Knock, knock. Knock,
knock. He swore he saw the curtains rustle
and move. Silently, he reached a pale hand
to his light. Flick. The room lit up, a beacon
in the dark. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, he saw a small orb on his window
sill. What was it? Slowly and carefully, he
walked over to the small sphere, its shiny
surface reflecting off the lamplight like a
diamond. He reached a trembling hand to
it, his fingers gently colliding with the
smooth surface.
Thud. Max could feel cold ground under his
aching body. Silence. Silence had inked its
death over everything. He was in a corridor,
but where? Then he saw a small gap in the
wall. Squeezing through the gap, the black
enveloped him. At the end of this
claustrophobic journey, he entered a tiny
hall. It was filled with colourful lights.

2. Hypnotised, Max stared, transfixed. As he
stared at the lights, every single lantern in
the room lit up.
Momentarily distracted, he stumbled
backwards just as a dark shadow emerged
from the shadows. It was a woman. Bearing
a flaming torch, she swiped at Max’s head.
Max ducked and screamed in horror as a
long flame licked out and set his hair alight.
He raced out of the room into the corridor
and up a staircase. Seeing a window and
pelting towards it, he realised he was
trapped. He tried to reach the door but he
was too late. The figure had reached the
door and was edging towards him. It pulled
back the hood that had hid its face so well
and revealed pus filled blisters; chunks of
flesh missing from its nose, and the stench
of rotting meat, filling the already-putrid
air. The scarred faced monster cornered
him by the stained window. There was a
large red mark on it that looked a bit like…
but he didn’t want to think about that.

3. He realised that was what would happen to
him if he didn’t escape now. The monster
was almost upon him but he still had some
time. Searching the gloomy room for a
weapon, he spotted an abandoned curtain
chord on one of the tattered blinds.
Reaching out, he grabbed it and held it in a
defensive line, aiming for the monsters
neck. The monster, confident of victory,
drew close, until Max could feel its breath
on his cheek. Suddenly, he pulled the chord
tight around the neck of the monster, but it
swatted it away like a fly.
“You’re trapped.” rattled the monster.
Max knew that too but he also knew that
there was another way out. To embrace
death as an old friend. Live afterlife in
harmony with the world. Taking his final
breath, he said,
“There’s always a way out.” and plummeted
through the window, a smile on his bleeding
and scarred face…
The knocking had gained another victim.