Ok, this is my first submission here. Now, don't get mad because I know there may be some grammitical and possible spelling errors, but I wrote it for school and I only had a week to finish it. Otherwise, enjoy!


If I hadn’t ran away when I did, this never would have happened. But, I had to, and here I am now. Problem is, I don’t know where ‘here’ is. I have been in this 2,100 square foot hell for three months, and I want out. The only problem is, someone or something is watching me.
It wasn’t the first time I ran away. No, the first time I ran away, it was more of a test run. I didn’t even make it to the interstate. When the cops brought me home, my parents yelled at me, a lot. The other kids at school heard about it and made fun of me, a lot more than usual. A few weeks later, my parents came up to me and said that they’d be more than happy to give me up for adoption if I wasn’t so old. I guess it was their idea of a joke. Before you start thinking I’m just a whiny 14 year old, imagine how you would feel if you had no friends, if everyone at school made fun of you, including teachers and imagine if you couldn’t stand to look at yourself in the mirror, if you didn’t know who you were looking at in the mirror. Then, make up your mind about me.
On the day before I left, I took my text books out of my back pack and put all my money in it, some clothes and three books. The day I ran away, I did everything I always do. I combed my hair, ate breakfast, watched the news, put my jacket on and got on my bus. Since I never talk to anybody on the bus, nobody noticed when I didn’t say anything today. But I heard some people talk about me when I started crying. I stopped after a few minutes. When we got to school, I got off the bus and walked to the side of the building, hoping no one would see me. When I was sure no one was around, I bolted. I ran and ran thru the city until my legs pumped battery acid and then I ran some more. The whole time I was running, a voice in my head urged me to keep going.
After running for what seemed like forever, I came out on a solitary road and stopped to catch my breath. When I bent over to put my hands on my knees, the voice in my head said ‘Come on, you have to keep going. Come on!’ I felt the ethereal hand of the voice tugging on my arm to keep me going. I took one more glance back at the city that had once been my home, and started walking.
I walked until I heard a vehicle behind me. I turned around and stuck out my thumb in the conventional fashion, hoping that the driver would slow down and let me in. As it got closer, I started thinking; this could be a bad idea. I mean, once I got in his Jeep, or what used to be a Jeep, he could try to hurt me, even kill me. ‘Its okay’ the voice said, ‘nothing’s going to happen.’ The voice almost sounded desperate to reassure me. The driver saw me and slowed to a stop a few feet in front of me. I walked toward the shell of what used to be a Jeep, and saw that, not only had it been a Jeep, but it was an amalgam of different vehicles. I wondered what kind of person drives a vehicle like this. When I opened up the door, I found out.
“Oy, need a lift?” he asked, in some sort of accent I couldn’t place.
On his head he wore one of them WW1 leather Aviator caps with the goggles on his head. He also had on a lilac T-shirt that had ‘Yes, I am crazy’ written ‘cross the front, and his pants were torn denim.
“Y-yes…” I said in a squeaky voice. “Yes”
“Hop in then.” Said the driver.
As I got in, I saw pieces of scrap metal and glass in the back. Pipes, bottles, chains, etc.
“Do you recycle?” I asked.
“Something like that. I go ‘round to scrap yards and such, looking for bits of metal and glass and I make things out of ‘em.” He answered, with a hint pride in his voice.
I shut the door and put the seatbelt on as he started driving down the road. When he asked me where I was going I told him that anywhere past the bridge would be fine.
We didn’t talk for some time. Sometimes, I would glance at him out of the corner of my eye and he seemed to have to the air of a man who was trying to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius in his head while watching his house burn down. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and felt my right foot hit something underneath the seat. I bent down to see what it was.
“What are you doing?” the driver asked.
I felt something rough against my fingers and I grabbed it. I pulled out a grotesque mask. It looked so ugly and yet so wonderous. Its composition was leather over metal and part of the leather seemed intentionally ripped and/or worn away to show the metal cheekbones and part of the forehead. I lost myself staring into its sunken cheeks and hollow eyes.
“So beautiful.” I said under my breath.
“Hey, ya found my mask!” The driver exclaimed.
“Where did you get this?” I asked in amazement.
“I made it. I have no idea why…” His voice trailed off. “Uh……He…” He struggled to find a way to explain the mask. He furrowed his brow and bit his bottom lip as he thought.
“Bandersnatch.” He said after awhile. “That’s his name.”
“……It’s a good name.” I told him.
“I think so to.”
After our stilted conversation about the mask, we came to the bridge. It is a covered bridge that goes over a shallow river and exits in a mixed forest. The forest is popular with hikers and campers. I, however, thought it would be a perfect place to run away to.
“Let me out here.” I asked of the driver. He pulled over. “Goodbye.”
“Yeah…Be seein’ ya.” He said. As I got out, I could feel him staring at me. I felt his gray eyes burning into my back. When I shut the door, he drove off, almost running me over.
“Dude’s nuts.” I said to myself.
I walked deeper and deeper into the forest, sometimes stopping to listen at the sounds around. I must’ve gone a mile before I heard the voice again.
‘You’ll be safe here.’ It said.
“How do you know?” I asked out loud. The voice didn’t answer. “Whatever…”
I stepped onto a rock outcropping that overlooked a river and decided that it would make the perfect spot to camp out. There was only one problem, how was I going to get down. I looked around, to my right, sharp rocks jutted out of the ground like the great maw or claw of some long-forgotten, primordial creature trying to dig its way out of its ancient tomb . To my left, the hill was steep and pockmarked with roots, vines and other foliage. Both looked like they wanted to hurt me.
“Hmm…which way…” I muttered. All of a sudden, I felt something yank on my left arm, causing me to stumble down the hill. I was halfway down the hill when something latched onto my foot. I fell down the hill and landed on my back. As I stared up thru the thick canopy, I swear I heard laughing.
“Ow, ow, ow…”
I felt lucky that I had my backpack on. It took awhile, but I managed to sit up and brush the leaves out of my hair. I looked around at my temporary home, and, even though I was wearing a jacket, I suddenly felt very cold. I remember wishing I’d brought a lighter to start a fire with. I rubbed my arms and chest to try and warm up, but it didn’t work. The last thing I remember falling asleep, was the feeling of something watching me.
When I woke up, I found myself in this room, sitting in a corner.
“Huh? Where am I?” I asked out loud. I stood up, feeling very light-headed as I did, and walked toward the door. It’s a standard door, 7ft tall by 4ft wide and green in color. The only difference? No handle to be found. And no way to open it. Believe me, I tried every thing. Pushing it, trying to slide it, I even tried to break it down, first with my shoulder and then with a chair I found.
Anyway, after I failed to break the door down, I tried to find out where I was. And, aside from the fact that I’m trapped here, it’s a nice place. It has a full size bed, a bookshelf full of books, a dresser full of clothes that fit me, and even a small alcove where I can change, take a shower and use the bathroom.
After walking around for awhile, I found a notebook and a pencil. I opened it up, and for lack of something else to do, started using it as a journal. A strange thing happens, whenever I fill one up, I find another in it’s place in the morning. I also find enough food and water for me in the morning.
It seems whoever is keeping me here wants to keep me alive.
Every day, when I wake up, I head toward the door to try and open it. As you can probably tell, I haven’t had any success. Sometimes, the door feels frozen and sometimes it feels like it’s organic, like a living thing. And sometimes I hear voices and sounds coming from behind the wall. Voices saying different things, some are angry, some are kind. Really, it all feels like a bad dream I can’t wake up from.
Strange stuff happens here too. Like when I wake up, in what I guess is the middle of the night, I see the shadows move. And I swear I saw one one time with red eyes looking at me. Another time, I saw a noose hanging from the ceiling swaying back and froth. And one time I heard a banging noise from outside the room, like someone beating on a piece of metal with a hammer. Did the driver of the shelled Jeep kidnap me? I don’t know. All I know is, I HAVE to get out of here. I don’t want to kill myself, but…
I saw a light emanating from under the door and something walk past it one time. I’m guessing it was the person who put me here. You’d think that being here by myself with all the things that’s going on, that I’d have gone insane by now. But, I haven’t. I guess writing in the notebooks is what’s keeping me sane.

After being here for three months, I heard the voice again. ‘Why do you try to leave? You’re safe here.’ It said.
“If I’m so safe, why do I feel scared?!” I cried out.
I looked around the room to find a way to get rid of the door. I walked up to the lamp that was on the dresser, took the light bulb out, placed it on the ground and stomped on it. When I picked up the light bulb, I saw that the filament wasn’t broken and put I back in the lamp (when the glass in a light bulb is broken, oxygen reacts with the filament and causes it to set on fire when the lamp its in turns on). I grabbed a notebook and held it next to the lamp so as it would catch fire, it did and I put it just under the door. The door caught fire and I waited a while. ‘W-what are you doing?’ the voice asked.
“Getting the hell out of here.”
I grabbed the chair and used it to break down the door as the rest of the room caught fire. I dove over the flaming wreckage and came out into a long hallway. I ran as fast as I could to the end, opened the door and stepped out into a bright, warm light…