Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Darkness Only Hides..

The gravel crunched under his feet as he pounded down the driveway, towards his house.
Cold crisp air stung at his lungs with each gasp he pulled into them.
Now fumbling at the door with his keys, he wrenched it open and as soon as he was inside, slammed it shut, and locked, bolted and chained it. And it was only then,
with only the sound of his breathing for company, did the young man, Liam, Slide to the floor holding his head in his hands.

He sat there for several minutes, getting back his breath,until the silence was broken, or more accurately, it began.
The sounds of the night fell away, crickets stopped chirping and the constant noise of distant traffic sunk to a whisper, then to nothing.
Only then be replaced by the barely audible, slow, crunching of gravel underfoot.
Gravel, the driveway is made of gravel....
Driveway leads to the house...
Towards the door..
Towards Liam.

And instantly he was up and running, his second wind now in effect, around the house, which was filled with the bangs and clatters of windows slamming and blinds stuttering shut.

The house now secure, or as secure as he could make it, Liam sat down in the dining room with the lights on. Panting heavily, from a mix of fear and adrenaline rather then physical exertion, Liam started to laugh at his paranoia. No one was after him. He shouldn't get so worked up over shadows in the corners of his eyes, faces in windows, peering out of the dark... Or figures standing in the middle of the road...

Then he remembered the footsteps. Standing up he cautiously made his way to the front window, and parted the blinds ever so slightly with his fingers, and peered out.. And sighed, nothing was there....Wait.
A sound, or more specifically that ever familiar silence breaking, crunch.

Jumping back from the window Liam spun around, seeking the origin of the footstep.
The back of the house? But nothings there, not even a backdoor.. Why stop there?
Unless...

Eyes wide open, he raced upstairs, only to find himself to late. His bedroom window was open, and covered in condensation, or some of it was. Tears streaming down his face Liam sank to the floor. Far to late he had remembered this window for all to see, imprinted upon it was a mans hand print, except this was double the size of a normal print, and could only belong to one thing..

Halfway through wiping his eyes, shaky hands ever present Liam stopped. He could hear his bedroom door creaking shut. Turning around he finally saw it face to face.
It looked like a man, a 10 foot tall man, stooping to avoid the houses low ceiling, the suited being peered at Liam, with a featureless white face while Liam could only watch, paralyzed with fear and ignorant to the now empty state of his bladder, as a thin black tendril extended from behind its back.

Hypnotized by the tendril, Liam's gaze followed it, all the way to the light switch.
Then with a click the room was plunged into darkness..
And it was then Liam realized, just because you can't see something doesn't mean its not there.
His scream cut out after two seconds.

Three days later, when a missing persons report was issued, Police showed up at Liam's house and found nothing, except for the deep bloody scratch marks torn into the bedroom door, as if something or someone, was trying to get out...

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