In the cold morning air, the clouds shed a grey pall of clouds over the parking lot. As the students came rolling in, cars filling their respective spots and pedestrians scampering across the sidewalks, an unsettling chill seemed to linger.

One student, without a reserved parking space, swerved their car into a corner spot unsuspectingly. They knew that it was wrong and that their plate would be reported, but they could never know the petrifying fate that awaited them.

Reaching for the seatbelt buckle, their head pivoted over their shoulder in preparation to grab their belongings and exit the vehicle. That was, until they heard an unsettling scraping from their window.

Their head swiveled towards the source of the sound, only to be met face to face with a terrifying sight. A hooded figurethat was lurching down to meet their level, eyes bloodshot and wild with anger, its pupils black as coal and face stretched and distorted with an unreadable expression.

Strands of hair splayed over its face, sticking to the sides of its jaw with sweat. The hands placed on the window were still as the student stared back in horror. Eye contact was held for a few moments, the student quivering in fear of the unsightly creature. Then a smile crept across its face, and its nails began to scratch violently at the glass once again.

“My spot… you’ve taken it….”

The voice emanating from its rotted mouth was warbled like it was choking on its own saliva. The terrified student let out a high-pitched shriek
that echoed across the school, and yet no one seemed to hear.

Four students went missing throughout the week, their cars along with them. Each had a license plate reported for parking in the wrong space. None have ever been found.