Day 2,733

I tell everyone that I don't really remember much about the night my parents went missing because they'd never believe me if I told them what I actually saw. It's taken me years to find the right words for it and I've lost track of all the nights I've spent paralysed at my keyboard trying to type it all out so here it is for everyone or noone to believe or disbelieve.

We lost the house earlier in the year, a few months after my parents lost their jobs. A relative, I forget which one but they were distant enough that we'd never met in person, let us stay in their caravan up north for free so that we'd stand a better chance of getting on our feet again.

I hated it there.

Always cold, always cramped, no running water and so out of season that nobody else was staying there. I'd get left there all day while my parents went out to look for work or take up trial shifts that never seemed to lead anywhere. By the end of the first month I'd memorised every patch of mold and weird stain in the whole caravan and the nearby washroom.

I hated the washroom most of all.

There was something living in the broken stall opposite the showers and my parents never believed me. I started showering with the flimsy curtain wide open and tried to blink as little as possible so it wouldn't try and sneak up on me again. I'll never forget how its bloated, blistered hands curled round the curtain.

I managed to scream loud enough for my parents to come running and for it to dive back into its cubicle with a startled chuckle. I told my parents I'd seen a huge spider and made enough of a fuss that they decided to accompany me to the washroom until I felt settled again.

During those few days I still made sure to keep an eye out for it, knowing my parents never would.

Of course the one time I decide to skip a shower and my parents go alone would be the time it chose to strike.

I heard my mom screaming first, followed by my dad crying "Oh god, what the hell is that?!" and I tried to get to them before it was too late. I don't know what I would have done, if I could have done anything but I know I would have tried.

When I got there all I found was their clothing stuffed in the toilet the creature had been living in and the creature itself was nowhere to be found. I had to run to the nearest payphone and try explain what had happened. Ended up crying to hard I puked but they sent someone out anyway.

They never saw my parent's clothes in the toilet, they said it was locked and broken. They never found a trace of my parents anywhere around and assumed they'd abandoned me. They never noticed the creature crawling into the trunk of a patrol car. I kept quiet, knowing they'd never believe me and knowing the creature had been doing this for so long it'd never be caught.