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The Shashwat : Chapter One
Ghostly Short Story
By: Ashley Levac

Chapter One

There had been a number of deaths linked to the Shashwat. Few had seen him, and none lived to ever tell the horrific tale of an attack. He was said to live in the forest that ran along the only road that led from the town of Waterdale to the city. The road stretched for 4 kilometres, and it was surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of woods. The walk from Waterdale to the city during the daytime was a pleasant walk. But at night, the road turned into a death trap to all who dared to walk it.

Lizzy had just moved to Waterdale earlier that week. She kept to herself most of the time so she never talked to any of the town's people, which meant she had never heard the stories about the Shashwat.

It was 1 A.M. on a damp June morning, and Lizzy was walking home from work. She had missed the last bus and had no choice but to walk. Fog crept eerily across the road from the rain that fell a few hours before. There was an unpleasant smell in the air. Lizzy was uncomfortable walking home in the dark. You had to be crazy to walk around the streets at that time of night. Anyone who was anyone knew it meant your life. Lizzy clutched a small tube of pepper spray in a death grip. After being attacked in an alley a few years before, she kept it on her at all times.

Normally she would have listened to her music but on a night like this she thought it best to keep her eyes and ears open to everything around her. It was much too dark for her to see anything until her eyes eventually adjusted to the dark and she could make out any vague figures that may appear. She had walked for nearly a half hour when she suddenly heard some rustling in the bushes. She pulled her hand from her pocket and held out the pepper spray at an arms distance and spun around in a circle frantically looking for the location of the noise. But all she could see was darkness. She couldn't see anything beyond the first row of trees. Unable to find the source she continued her walk, still clutching her spray for dear life.

Keeping her eyes ahead of her, scanning back and forth, she quickened her pace. There were raindrops falling from the trees overhead, the sound of which resembled footsteps as it hit the pavement. This sound was followed by the sound as if someone was madly running through the woods. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared horrified as she looked at the fog on the road. It was moving and whirling in a swift motion in one direction towards the forest, as if someone had ran across the road. She stood with eyes wide open hands straight at her side as if she was standing at attention to her national anthem, except she had a look of sheer terror. She took three paces forward, then stopped. She'd heard the same rustling noise. She spun around and noticed that the steam on the road was moving in the same manner as what was behind her. She took two large steps back and bumped into what she thought was a tree. She turned around. Her face went white. Her stomach churned. She was so overwhelmed with fear she felt as if she were about to vomit. Her whole body began to tremble. She was overcome with fear as she dropped her pepper spray on the ground. Her eyes were looking at the ground at a pair of feet. They looked as if they belonged to some man of enormous size. They were skin coloured, with patches of hair. The toenails were abnormally long, but were sharp and curved like claws. The feet appeared to be moist, as if they were perspiring. And red veins could clearly be seen.

She inched her eyes up. She was now looking up at a pair of legs that seemed to stretch forever. They had the same sweaty appearance as the feet. She inched her eyes higher.

She now looked at the lower torso. There were no apparent genitals that distinguished it from male or female. The stomach appeared to be a mix between fatty and muscular, yet you could count each of its ribs. Again, the same sweaty appearance.

The arms were long and somewhat muscular. The hands were man like. The fingers were long and bony with razor sharp claws that must have been 5 inches long.
Now, unknowingly, she stared directly at the creatures face. Her head was almost tilted completely back. The creature must have stood a good four feet taller than Lizzy's five foot six frame.

Lizzy could not compare the creatures face to anything that she had ever seen in a human or an animal, although it slightly resembled both. The face was bony. The cheeks bones could easily be seen. Its lips were thin, almost as though they were non-existent. Though the mouth was only partially open, it still showed a full mouth of razor sharp teeth. Saliva was dripping down through the corners of its mouth to the ground. Its nose was merely two nostrils on the front of its face. It was as if its nose was taken off and just the holes remained. The ears were human like but pointed at the top, sort of elfin. Next Lizzy stared directly into the creature's eyes. The eyes were seemingly bulging from its head. The brown eyes had a glint of surprise and victory.

The creature towered over Lizzy, breathing heavily, its chest heaving as if it had just run a marathon. Lizzy could hear the creature breathe. It was a deep raspy sound.

Lizzy stared into the creature's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Her jaw slowly opened to let out a scream, but before she had the chance to, the creature knocked her unconscious.

Ashley Levac

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