Creative Writing

In English we're focusing on creative writing and we got given several prompts to choose from and writing about. One of the option was just free writing, so I went for that. I had this idea in my mind form instantly and started writing about it. The challenging part was that I didn't want there to be a lot of context in the story, making the characters anonymous. Without giving them a gender, name or even a race. So I was alternating between calling that person them, they, the person etc. I didn't really wanna give my piece of writing a title, but in the end I settled for 'More Than A Nightmare'. Here is the piece of writing that I did-

More Than A Nightmare:

The water that had soaked into their dull yellow raincoat had added extra

weight to their movement. With damp hair hanging over their eyes, wet

palms that provided no grip and minor grazes resting on the skin on their

knee, it was evident enough that they weren’t able to keep going for much

longer. Seeming like a dwarf in this supersized world - with little to no

sources of light - proved to suddenly appear as an impossible task. Plain

brown shoes that hung overhead were well over the size of the person that

was hidden under that raincoat. Still, they had no choice but to keep on

the move. Crouching, sliding and sprinting from one hiding place to

another, it was a game of cat and mouse; a game of waiting for the right

moment. A second too early or late could be the very thing that seperates

life and death. 

Throughout their on-going journey, shadows and distant figures were

visible lurking in the deepest corners of this ominous  factory. A gruesome

creature appeared on the floor above our adventurer. With a bulk but razor-sharp

butcher knife in hand, gory slender arms that were triple the length of the

mysterious creature’s body, short stubby legs and an old drape poised across

their damaged face which covered their vision, it was a frightening sight for

the little figure in the raincoat to face. The monster’s loss of vision was made

up with their impeccable sense of hearing. The task of ever so carefully

tip-toeing over the floorboards was all in vain as each time the long armed

beast turned sharply into the direction of the sound of the creaks and groans

of the loose planks, and made a dash after the tired and hungry protagonist.

The person in the raincoat tried to desperately climb the boxes and furniture

as fast as they could, despite it being taller than their head. Throwing a thick

book across the room was enough to stir the creature’s attention away from

them, and distracted them long enough to escape through a dusty and dim vent.

Hunger pangs struck them as they proceeded on their journey with each step

being another step closer to escaping. Another ally that was also held captive in

the factory took pity towards them, chucking a piece of bread through the

narrow gap between a set of bars that physically separated them apart. Expressing

gratitude towards the friendly being, they quickly devoured the small portion of

bread and continued going from vent to vent which led to various rooms.

 They reached an open room and set foot on the carpet, ready to rush to the

otherside, but while doing so, the elevator at the other end of the room opened

and revealed the long armed monster once again. Once both doors of the elevator

were open, the creature headed towards the location the person in the raincoat was

standing frozen in fear. They ran to the nearest room behind them and made a mad

dash to safety. The hideous creature, with its arms outstretched grasping thin air,

was in hot pursuit of the poor person. It was ever so fortunate that the colossal

monster had minuscule legs, giving the person soaked with water in the yellow

raincoat enough space to stay out of the creature’s reach, despite their sizes being

drastically different. Soon they were being backed into a deadend. With just a

flimsy metal cage stopping a steel door from closing completely, they took it as

an opportunity and slid - with the help of their raincoat which was slippery thanks

to the previous rain exposure - under the thin gap between the concrete floor and

the underside of the steel door. 

The other creature’s large size had stopped it from getting through, causing them

to be trapped behind the door. Even so, this didn’t stop them from reaching out

their lengthy arms and patted the inside of the room, trying to find out where the

person was hiding. Jumping from box to box in the small area of space, they

carefully avoided the noodle-like arms frantically feeling the room, and in one

swift motion they landed directly in front of the metal cage. The cage was half

crushed already, with bars sticking out and snapped in half. It was taller than

them and had red rust along every inch of it, it had a strong stench of copper and

a high screeched creaking could be heard from it as well. Wrapping two arms

firmly around the nearest bar, the person pulled away from the cage as hard as

they could. With a forceful crash, the bar broke free from the restraint of the cage

and they fell backwards as well from the powerful movement. The strength of

the cage had visibly changed, the creaking had increased and the door proceeded

an inch closer to the ground. The creature’s arms had straightened in alarm and

directed its way to where the cage was, hoping to find where the person had just

been. In a hurried matter, the person launched themselves up into the air, narrowly

avoiding the grip of the hands grabbing everywhere.

 Once the next perfect moment had presented itself, they cautiously but

determinedly clung onto the next bar and pulled hard. Just as before, the bar had

broken free and only a few bars had remained. Knowing they didn’t have a

moment to waste, they returned back to the front of the cage and pulled on the

next bar. It was a real effort to pull it free, but at last it was done. The moment

the bar had dislodged itself away from the metal cage, the cage was no longer

able to withstand the pressure of the steel door, therefore collapsing. With a

gruesome slash, the beast’s arms were sliced clean from the body and lay lifeless

on the frigid concrete floor. Once the small person was given a moment to assess

the situation, they noticed an exit at the top of the room. On their way to climbing

the box, one of the lifeless arms suddenly grabbed onto their leg, before releasing

their grip. The sudden fright caused them to trip over the other arm, and now more

than ever, they had wanted nothing than to just escape this place.

 After they had carefully opened the cover on the vent and proceeded to climb in,

a chilly draft could be felt coming from the other side of the tunnel. Timidly opening

the other cover at the over of the vent, sunlight flowed straight into their eyes.

Suddenly shielding their eyes and giving themself time to adjust to the new

environment that had surrounded them, they were in awe. A sandy desert island lay

in front of them and a city was visible over the horizon. Without looking back, they

had rushed forward and dived into their next adventure that had awaited them.