Cold. Cold.

The sky turns a sickening blood red and mauve as I race inside. The birds stop singing. The wind stops blowing life. I watch the thermometer fall to zero, fall past zero. My breath makes little pale spirits, dancing in front of me, fading as the sun is swallowed by the clouds. Almost like the demons have finally risen and overthrown the God of life.

Movement upstairs. I start, dragged back to the hellish reality from my reverie. I snatch a candle and light it. Relief floods through me. The imaginary monsters melt away into the shadows, frightened by the light.

"Mum?" I call, my voice thin and high, barely audible. The candle's flickering light throws the sofa into sharp relief, but its shadow lurks menacingly behind it. I gulp.

Up above, something creaks again.

I creep across the carpet, shoes squeaking loudly in the semi-darkness. My breath comes in quick, painful pants and my heart pumps thunderously. Shadows hover around, hiding just out of sight whenever I turn around. I can never catch a glimpse of them, except out of the corner of my eye.

"Mum?" I repeat, the fear prominent now. Darkness pours into the spaces that my light leaves as I step onto the bottom of the staircase. The silence is suffocating me. I begin to ascend, each step making the wood beneath me groan and my heart to miss a beat. I dare not call again - my heart has lodged in my throat. I can barely breathe.

Halfway up. Each step is cautious and careful. I look up anxiously. There is a part where the ceiling suddenly rises up, and in those deep, unpredictable corners I can swear a shadow monster crouches there. My neck tingles as the beast stares at me, almost as though it is deciding whether or not to spring.

Almost there. My heart squeezes in, a cold fist gripping the pumping muscle. The candle is like a constant comfort, reassuring me, rooting me to sanity.

My left foot reaches the top step. Where was everyone? Mum? I can't shout for her, for, deep down, I know that any slight sound I make will cause all the nightmarish creatures to materialise. My parents' room is at the end of the corridor. I know that they are in there, with my brother. I can feel it.

All the doors along the corridor are shut, unimaginable horrors promised inside. My lifesaving ball of light throws the creatures aside, but they creep back again once the light passes. Their silent snarls send shivers all around my body.

My hand hovers above the doorknob. Heat and cold radiate simultaneously from the door. Shadows push their fingers around the edges of the doors, hissing at me.

I can't turn around. The monsters of darkness are right behind me, their freezing breath feeling like knives pushing into my neck. Open, I will myself, open.

The tension is unbearable. I shut my eyes, clamp my hand on the doorknob, twist it and push it away with all my might. I instantly feel the creatures spring away.

"Mum!" I cry, love and relief and reassurance all in one word. Knowledge of safety, security and happiness fill my heart and I open my eyes, beaming.

Hell is unleashed.

***

Blood red chamber. Dark pools of blood collect at the base of the walls from where they drip from the ceiling, as though the room itself is injured. The walls, no longer cadmium yellow and jolly, is cracked and streaked with thick, scarlet goo.

In the centre of the room lies a female figure. Her usually soft brown curls are matted and bloodied, her face turned away from me, her body collapsed and bent at sickening angles.

I stand rooted to the spot, staring in petrified horror at the corpse of my mother. She twitches and makes growling noises. A small shape emerges from her other side, teeth clamped around her neck and tearing left and right viciously.

It is a small, blood-encrusted creature. Its facial features show more clearly as the light from my candle shines onto it. Its snout is elongated, its teeth curves cruelly. It has the size of a small dog but the cold, ruthless eyes of a wolf. It has not taken any notice of me yet, as it rips and chews at the body. Blood droplets shower everywhere.

A pile of something to the left, near the corner. I take one cautious step as I raise my candle. All the time, blood surges around my head. This is not real, I say to myself fearfully. The light creeps slowly across the pool of black.

Something glints. The light shakes - my hand is trembling uncontrollably. I screw up my eyes and squint, dreading what I will see.

It is a ring. Not just any ring. Dad's wedding ring, wound around his finger of his left hand, lying in a pool of blood. I move the light to the right, seeking for his face, looking for his laughing blue eyes, hunting for his calm, reassuring smile.

There is none. His hand is cut off. I painfully force down a scream as I see, beneath his hand, is his leg, wrapped in his favourite whitewashed jeans, the material now torn and soaked. I can see his other arm. His other leg. His torso.

No head.

Swallowing a whimper, my eyes are disbelieving and agonisingly dry. I look up as something dark, hairy and round swung above.

My dad's eyes, glassy, empty, lifeless, stare ahead, blood trickling down his forehead, between his eyes, past his chin. His head is sadistically hung by the strands of his fair hair from the chandelier. His mouth is open in a grotesque, silent scream.

Bile threatens to surge from my throat. I swallow, the bitter taste and my sweat adding to my unreal feelings. I lower my candle. I can block out the savage sight, but not the sound of tearing flesh and satisfied grunts of the diabolic creature feasting on Mum.

Another sound. An odd, gurgling groan from the other corner. I dread - no, my heart slams at the thought - seeing what has happened to my brother. Turning my head slowly, I raise my candle once more, hand shaking so much now the flame is barely still burning.

Will stands in the corner, facing my direction. I know better than to expect his survival now. Still I cannot stop the flood of relief for my dear sibling, in one piece.

Tears are running down his face, which is chalky white and spattered with crimson, like some warped idea of rouge on his cheeks. His lips open and close slowly, almost mechanically. No words issue from his mouth except for the new sound of gurgling from his throat.

Tears collect in the corners of my eye. My mouth forms his name, ready to call out in love and relief.

He turns left. My jaws fall in horror. I bite down a scream. A gross version of a ventriloquist, long-nailed fist shoved deep into my brother's back where it has been hollowed, meets my eyes. Thick red hair covers her face - I have a feeling that she is female - as she moves her fingers inside my brother. Will gargles, blood trickling out of his mouth. I can only watch and weep.

The ventriloquist raises her head. The red hair falls back to reveal a twisted, grey face with long, stretched, snake-like eyes. Her nose is very flat, but her mouth is bared in a sadistic grin as she locks eyes with me, toying with my brother as though he is a puppet.

She pulls her hand out of my brother's back with a sickening squelch. I watch him go limp, flung aside like a doll. The figure of the puppeteer moves towards me, teeth bared in that horrible grin. I step back and stumble with a cry, my feet colliding loudly with the door.

The grizzling noise stop. The dog-like creature has noticed me and creeps in my direction, cold eyes fixed on me. The puppeteer, covered in blood, utters my name in a low, delighted hiss.

Fear clings inescapably onto me. I cry out as they came even closer, a sound of raw terror and vulnerability. The two monsters cackle evilly, relishing and drinking in my fear. The woman creature reaches out and runs her long nails down my cheeks. I cannot look away, as her sharp-teethed grin grows even wider. My eyes are fixated in her cold ochre ones with black slits for pupils

I have entirely forgotten about the smaller beast. I am too terrified to move. Seeing the massacre of my family has robbed me of my last strength and now I await my judgement. The beast suddenly springs and I feel a tearing crunch of teeth against bone, followed by a fast rush of thick hot blood. Agony! I scream in pain as the dog-creature clamps its teeth around my wrist, with the hand holding the candle - and tears it right off!

My world spun. Agony like I have never felt before. Blood pulses like punches against my skull. My body goes cold, hot, and then cold again. The candle falls and hits the floor with a dull thud. The flame disappears. I am plunged into darkness - with two nightmares in front of me.

Survival instincts shriek at me to run. I turn and sprint, hoping against hope that the beasts will not get me. Agony! I clutch at my stump of a wrist, crying. My family! My legs pelt - something thick and icy cold wraps around my ankle - I scream - I fall.

The dark creatures of the corridor surround my fallen body. I feel their cold breaths on my skin, their sharp claws running on my flesh. I see nothing, but I can hear the dog creature panting and the puppeteer woman cackling as they, too, approach me.

Searing pain. My mouth rips open in an agonised scream, as the hellish creatures bite into me, ripping and tearing at my flesh, slashing at the skin as my blood rush out. I thrash, but they only attack more ferociously. I feel the puppeteer's nails dig into my chest and claws down. I howl in pain. My entire body is being torn apart. The dog creature digs its head into my abdomen, and drags out my intestines. My screams echo in the corridor. My mind spins round and round. My strength ebb from me, leaving only my opened mouth screeching for help, eyes screwed shut. My left arm is ripped off. My right leg is chewed to a pulp. Creatures leap onto my face, sinking in claws and ripping outwards. My screams fill the house as I am devoured slowly.

Her hand grips my face. My eyes fly open as I am silenced.

A/N: This was actually my descriptive writing assignment during English class, written when I was about 13-14. It's since then been tidied and edited, but the core is more or less the same. What do you think? "Geez, Kat, you were one disturbed child"? Don't forget to vote!