Raum

By Maxim Kaluzhny

Raum exists...a terrifying creature...lurking through the woods of Willow Creek, awaiting its next victim. Easter was always a joyous time of year for Willow Creek, a celebratory time of year....but...every year...a child would go missing.

 

Only John and David would find out the truth....

 

This is the twisted horror, about a menacing creature..that would devour children every year, only on Easter, and John and David...realise, there is more to the town of Willow Creek, then you can imagine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maxim Kaluzhny
• Release date: May 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223479079

Book preview

Chapters

Prologue: The Legend of Raum

Chapter 1: A Town in Fear

Chapter 2: The First Disappearance

Chapter 3: The Search Begins

Chapter 4: The Rabbit Hole

Chapter 5: Strange Encounters

Chapter 6: The Easter Celebration

Chapter 7: The Second Disappearance

Chapter 8: The Secret Ritual

Chapter 9: A Mother's Desperation

Chapter 10: A Father's Hunt

Chapter 11: Lily's Discovery

Chapter 12: The Third Disappearance

Chapter 13: Into the Woods

Chapter 14: The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

Chapter 15: A Terrible Truth

Chapter 16: The Rabbit King

Chapter 17: The Rabbit Army

Chapter 18: The Rabbit Revolution

Chapter 19: The Fourth Disappearance

Chapter 20: A Dangerous Plan

Chapter 21: The Rabbit's Den

Chapter 22: The Final Showdown

Chapter 23: A Sacrifice Made

Chapter 24: The Aftermath

Chapter 25: The Healing Process

Chapter 26: Lily's Legacy

Epilogue: It never really leaves

Prologue - The Legend of Raum

In the sleepy town of Willow Creek, nestled deep in the heart of the forest, there was a legend that had been passed down from generation to generation. It was a story of a creature, a large demented rabbit with razor-sharp teeth and glowing red eyes, known as Raum.

Of Course this was all legend, and the townfolk of Willow Creek would spread this story and legend to not only scare the children to not venture off anywhere on their own, but also to instil fear into outsiders and give the town some character.

According to the legend, Raum appeared every year at Easter, lurking in the shadows and waiting for unsuspecting children to venture into the woods. When the children were alone and vulnerable, Raum would pounce, snatching them up in its powerful jaws and dragging them back to its lair. Now, Raum was described as a tall lanky version of the Easter Bunny, but incredibly vicious and ugly in appearance. With tall skinny limbs, and huge paws, long fingers with razor sharp claws. Raum would always be slouching, and still stand 8 feet tall, his teeth were crooked and vile, stained in yellow and red, red with blood from its previous victim. And two large ears, one always snapped over, and its fur.....not only stained in old blood appearing as a rustic brown, but also Raum gave off a stench, off rotting meat in a dumpster.

The townspeople lived in fear of Raum, and every year they warned their children not to wander too far from home on Easter. They told stories of the children who had disappeared, never to be seen again, and of the parents who had gone mad with grief.

Despite the warnings, however, there were always those who dared to venture into the forest, drawn by the lure of adventure or the promise of hidden Easter eggs. And every year, Raum claimed more victims, leaving a trail of terror and devastation in its wake.

But some whispered that there was more to the legend than met the eye. They said that Raum was not just a mindless beast, but a creature with a purpose, a message to be delivered to the people of Willow Creek.

And as the years passed, the legend of Raum grew stronger, fueling the town's fears and superstitions. But whether Raum was a harbinger of doom or simply a terrifying creature of the forest, one thing was certain: every Easter, the town of Willow Creek held its breath, waiting for the sound of Raum's approach.

A Town in Fear

The air was heavy with the scent of pine and damp earth as Lily walked through the woods, her basket of Easter eggs swinging at her side. She was a bold and adventurous girl of twelve, with curly brown hair and a fearless spirit. She had grown up in Willow Creek, and she knew every inch of the forest like the back of her hand.

But today, something was different. She felt a sense of unease that she couldn't quite shake, as if she was being watched by some unseen presence. She glanced around nervously, but there was nothing there, just the towering trees and the rustle of leaves in the wind.

Shrugging off her unease, she pushed forward, determined to find the perfect hiding spot for her eggs. As she walked, she noticed that the woods were eerily quiet, with no birdsong or animal sounds to break the silence.

She saw glimpses of something moving around in the distance, and a horrifying chuckling, and then nothing, back to dead silence. She looked around suspiciously, and could no longer see anything in the distance, she kept walking, minding her own business, but still mindful she did see something......

It wasn't until she reached the clearing by the creek that she saw it: a large, furry creature standing at the creek, 8 feet tall, hunched over and staring into the creek, just heavily breathing. Lily at this point is behind the creature, and the creature is just staring into the water, barely moving, just breathing, every breath heavier than the last. She could clearly make out a tall furry creature, with brown stains all over its fur, a small bunny tail but its soaked in mud, long arms, with its long fingers almost hitting the ground. She notices its large claws, hanging and its fingers slowly moving around. Lily is now frightened.....

At first, she thought it was just a normal rabbit, but as she stepped closer, she notices that the stains look like blood, and she suddenly gets a smell of something incredibly putrid. Lily takes a step back....and tries to be incredibly quiet. But.....a branch snaps under her feet, and she quickly looks up at the creature.....

Lily froze, her heart racing in her chest. She had heard the stories of Raum, the demented Easter rabbit that took children every year, and she knew that this was no ordinary rabbit. She wanted to run, to scream for help, but her body was rooted to the spot.

As the creature slowly turned around, Lily saw that its fur was matted and dirty, and its teeth were razor-sharp. Its eyes fixed on her, and she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. This was Raum, the creature that had haunted her nightmares since she was a little girl. Raum begin to chuckle, as it stared into her soul.

Suddenly, the creature lunged at her, and Lily turned to run. But she was too late. The creature was upon her, its jaws clamping down on her arm with a sickening crunch. She screamed in agony, feeling the hot blood spilling down her arm.

Raum is quick....moving super quickly with cold blooded intent, like a rabid dog, Raum would not let go of her arm, and used its long limbs to wrap around her, as Raum held Lily in its grasp, pulling her body closer to him, and crunching her limb by limb, vertebrae by vertebrae, her spine snapping like a twig......

Raum finally lets her body fall to the floor, lifeless and not moving, Lily has succumbed to the demented twisted Easter Legend of Willow Creek, that only the townsfolk know off, although legend, Raum truly exists.

As Lily’s body lay there, Raum stares at her lifeless body, with a twisted smile on its face, almost like Raum is proud of its latest victim, a poor innocent young girl. Raum slowly leans down, and picks up one of her legs with its long fingers, and pulls her up off the ground, holding her upside down like she is an animal that has just been shot by a proud hunter, it lets her fall to the floor again and starts dragging her off into the woods.

All you can hear from a distance is a quiet forest, birds chirping again, and the sounds of something being dragged and rustling through the forest leaves, all the leaves rustling, and birds flying out of the area as Raum makes its way through the woods.

Lily had been missing for a few hours now and it was getting dark, Lily’s parents started to go around knocking on doors and yelling out for her, and not a sign. They began to make calls around and including calls to the local deputy to get the word out, Lily has not come home.

Lily was a good girl, a good student, and she was well liked by the local town folk and students, she was a sweet girl, whom always respected her elders, respected the rules and spent a majority of her time in the library reading and studying new things, broadening her knowledge. Lily was probably the last person on earth that deserved such a cruel fate, and some would never understand why the creature, would take Lily, why take such an innocent being. Lily did not deserve to die, she did not deserve to be taken by such a cruel creature, to be killed, to be tortured, but this just might be the sick and twisted fate when you come upon Raum.

The news of Lily's disappearance spread like wildfire through the town of Willow Creek, and within hours, a search party had been organised to scour the forest for any sign of her. The search party had failed, and to no avail not a sign or trace of Lily, another child disappeared on Easter, and a lot of the townfolk began to whisper, the superstitious townfolk assumed it was Raum, the legend child killer....where as others just assumed Lily got lost in the woods never to be seen again.

The townspeople were in a state of panic, knowing all too well the legend of Raum and the horrors that it had wrought in the past. Parents hugged their children close, warning them not to stray too far from home on Easter. Easter weekend now turned into horror weekend, with Lily’s disappearance sparking a whole new level of investigation, panic, superstition and craziness amongst the town.

There was always an eerie way about Willow Creek over Easter, Children always disappeared, for as long as the town could remember, but Lily was different, Lily sparked outrage, and raw fear amongst the villagers. Another Easter gone, another child missing, although no one saw the creature, and no one found Lily’s body, so there can only be assumptions made by most of Willow Creek, but nonetheless, Raum existed.....and Raum existed in half of the towns beliefs, and Lily did not just get lost