It's a little rough, bear with me.
She laid in bed face down. Ignoring the noises and lights from outside, the girl tried to force herself to sleep. Midnight crept closer and closer, its darkness enveloping the little town. The young woman tossed and turned, threw the blanket off and on, but to no avail. Finally, she sat up and exhaled dramatically. Deciding she would be unable to fall asleep, she decided to take a quick walk around the house.
Now, to the typical person this may sound odd. Someone walking around a pitch-black house in the middle of the night, exhaust-ridden and a little dazed; but this was a nightly routine for her. The three other occupants of the house, her parents and older sister, slept upstairs with closed doors in order to keep the sounds of her stomping feet at bay.
She checked outside the shades and made sure all the windows and doors were locked. After making sure the house was satisfyingly secure, she tiptoed back to her room and shut the door. Off came the slippers and there she went jumping into bed. But she did not lay down. Instead she sat straight up, listening and waiting. That's when she heard it.
For the past year of her life, she had heard the same raucous over and over. A knock on a far window, then on another, and another. Until finally it would arrive at her own. A soft...pit pit patter patter. Then it would circle the house again. Pit pit patter patter. And on and on it would go until soft rays of sunshine would begin to hit her lavender comforter. Only then would the girl be able to sleep.
Her parents could find no solution. They took her in for psychiatric help, thinking maybe the stress of adolescents was taking it's toll on the then pre-teen girl. Doctor after doctor had different diagnoses and different treatment. Medication didn't work, the girl would still sit awake at night, telling the parents and sister of the pit pit patter patter only her ears could hear. Then therapy came along, but the girl would go in again and again, exclaiming she just wanted to sleep. That the pit pit patter patter was real.
Finally, at a loss for options, the family decided to uproot and move away. 40 miles and a new mortgage later, the family was in a different house. The first couple years after the move, the girl slept soundly, the pit pit patter patter far behind her, in both time and distance. Then one night, while relaxing for sleep, she heard the all to familiar noise. When she told her parents they banished her downstairs, telling her that she was now old enough to deal with her childish fears.
It was a year since the noise had returned. The girl would try to reason with herself, thinking it was all in her head. Some nights she would race to keep up with the noise, only to find when she reached the window the noise was coming from, there was no one looking back at her but her own reflection. She'd touch the glass, astounded at how she could be so crazy, and so sane at the same time.
So the night before this one, she had tried something new. She didn't get out of bed and she didn't sit straight up as she usually would. Instead, she laid very still, eyes closed. Acting as if she was asleep, but with a wide-awake mind. She knew she couldn't be crazy, that whoever she heard must have been following her during childhood, and returned this last year to continue his stalking plans. Tonight there was only one difference in the house. She had left her curtains slightly opened.
At a little past midnight, the pit pit patter patter began. She listened carefully, counting each window as it was passed. One...two...before she knew it she was at window fourteen. Slightly opening an eye, she waited for the stalker to confront her window, count fifteen. With a mixture of anticipation, anger, and fear, she stared and stared at that sliver of glass exposure. And that's when she saw her tormentor. Little did she know, they had seen her watching.
Tonight, she sat up in bed, alert and afraid to sleep. Fear swallowed her whole as a cold sweat developed upon her brow. She cowered under the covers, double checking to make sure her door was locked and the curtains securely shut. That's when an unfamiliar sound filled the air.
Click. click. Click.
A shudder fell over her. She recognizes the click noise all to well. The front door being unlocked, opened, and then shut. Closing her eyes, she began to reason with herself. What she lost last night would have no concept of how to unlock a door, would it? Could her sister barely be getting in? Had her parents snuck out for a late date night?
She reached for her cell and dialed her sister's number. Crossing her fingers that she could possibly still be awake, she heard the girl answer. Before the sister could start to yell about how late it was or how soundly she was sleeping, the girl whispered into her ear...to run to their parents room and lock the door behind her. Then call 911. The sister hung up, deducting that the girl was having one of her childish fantasies again.
clunk. clunk. clunk. clunk.
Heavy footsteps upon the stairs. She called her sister again, and before the other girl could speak, she begged her again to rush to the parents room.
"He's coming, he's coming. He's coming for you"
The sister heard the urgency in the girl's voice and decided to appease her fears for a night. She hung up the phone. The girl listened for the thumping of running steps on the floor above her own, but they never came. All she heard was the clunk...clunk..clunk. Of someone going up the stairs, and down the stairs, over and over again.
Finally the noises ended. The girl heard the front door open, close, and lock from the outside. Shaking from fear, she rose from her bed and stumbled to the door. Only now did she notice her sweat stained sheets and her newly bitten down finger nails. Nerves had gotten the best of her, and she thought maybe this all really could be in her head.
She looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:00 A.M. A safe enough time she supposed, so she wrapped herself in a robe and emerged from her room. She was met by the house just as she had left it. The curtains firmly over the windows and the front door locked. She walked quietly up the stairs to her parents room. After opening the door and seeing for herself that they were safely sleeping in bed, she continued to her sister's room.
'Maybe I am just crazy,' she thought to herself.
The door to her sister's room was open. Odd, considering she always slept with it closed. The girl looked inside and saw her sister stuff under the covers. Just to reassure herself, she walked to the edge of the bed and poked her foot. But there was no foot. She then proceeded to poke her leg, then stomach. But all of these body parts were missing. She ripped the blankets off, and realized someone had replaced her sister with pillows.
The girl began to hyperventilate, the room spinning and her mind crashing slowly. She ran to her parents room, throwing the door open and ripping their covers off as well. Pillows replaced where their warm bodies should've been.
She collapsed to the floor, unable to comprehend what was going on. She heard the noise...pit pit, patter patter. She looked at the clock , hoping for a time that would indicate sunshine. But all she read was: 2:21 A.M. Her jaw dropped. Had she not read her clock correctly? Maybe she was dreaming, maybe her parent's clock was wrong, maybe this was her family playing a mean trick on her. Whatever was happening, she wanted no part of it.
Clunk.Clunk.Clunk.
She flew across the room and slammed the door shut, locking it with the old key her parents kept on the bedside table. She heard the foot steps creep closer and closer. The girl shrank up against the wall and closed her eyes, for once wishing that perhaps she was insane. Maybe this was all part of her mind and it would go away. Her parents would yell at her for waking them up and being ridiculous. She'd be forced to return to her isolated downstairs bedroom, and she'd wait for sunlight so she could finally sleep.
The foot steps arrived outside the door, and the knob slowly turned. The key unlocked the door from the inside, so the unwelcome guest could continue to open it. Although she knew she'd regret it, she had to open her eyes. She had to see what was coming for her.
When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing. The door was still locked, the covers on her parents' bed were still thrown back, and she was still curled up against the wall. She frowned at her ignorance and looked around the room for a hint of something different. She found nothing. With that, she slowly crawled to the closet and shut the door behind her. Even if she was going crazy, it made her feel better at least.
She leaned back against her parent's clothes, and suddenly there was someone wrapping their arms around her. She screamed and flung herself forward through the doors, lunging towards the bedroom door so she could try to escape. The hands gripped for her feet and ankles, dragging her back towards the closet. She clawed at the hardwood floors, crying in both agony and fear. The hands clawed their way up her calves and thighs, gripping her sides and flipping her over.
She stared into the emptiness. Into every fear she'd ever known of the night. She scratched into the creatures body and face, screaming for help and mercy. It smelled at her neck and chest, shuddering with the scent of her flowing through it's nasty veins.
"What are you?! What do you want?!" she yelled at it, squirming to get out of its grip and continuing to kick and claw at the beast.
"We're the things of thrown out souls!"
With that, the monstrosity of human creation towered above her, with its' dark, dirty fur glistening in the moonlight and blood fresh upon its calloused human hands. And never knowing what the creature was or what his words meant, she was ripped to shreds and strewn across the house. The creature rolled in her blood like a vicious dog, keeping its fur shiny and its senses ready.
And in a psychiatric ward 20 miles away, there was a schizophrenic screaming in his room, waking the other patients and causing havoc.
"The monster! He's gotten her! My monster has gotten her!"
The doctors dismiss it as another episode and continue on. Cause all of "these" types of patients create beings that aren't real. Little do they know, the crazies of the world hold the keys to all the things under our beds, hidden in the dark, and pit pit pattering outside our windows. The girl and her family were just too sane enough to see the creature that had come for them.
She laid in bed face down. Ignoring the noises and lights from outside, the girl tried to force herself to sleep. Midnight crept closer and closer, its darkness enveloping the little town. The young woman tossed and turned, threw the blanket off and on, but to no avail. Finally, she sat up and exhaled dramatically. Deciding she would be unable to fall asleep, she decided to take a quick walk around the house.
Now, to the typical person this may sound odd. Someone walking around a pitch-black house in the middle of the night, exhaust-ridden and a little dazed; but this was a nightly routine for her. The three other occupants of the house, her parents and older sister, slept upstairs with closed doors in order to keep the sounds of her stomping feet at bay.
She checked outside the shades and made sure all the windows and doors were locked. After making sure the house was satisfyingly secure, she tiptoed back to her room and shut the door. Off came the slippers and there she went jumping into bed. But she did not lay down. Instead she sat straight up, listening and waiting. That's when she heard it.
For the past year of her life, she had heard the same raucous over and over. A knock on a far window, then on another, and another. Until finally it would arrive at her own. A soft...pit pit patter patter. Then it would circle the house again. Pit pit patter patter. And on and on it would go until soft rays of sunshine would begin to hit her lavender comforter. Only then would the girl be able to sleep.
Her parents could find no solution. They took her in for psychiatric help, thinking maybe the stress of adolescents was taking it's toll on the then pre-teen girl. Doctor after doctor had different diagnoses and different treatment. Medication didn't work, the girl would still sit awake at night, telling the parents and sister of the pit pit patter patter only her ears could hear. Then therapy came along, but the girl would go in again and again, exclaiming she just wanted to sleep. That the pit pit patter patter was real.
Finally, at a loss for options, the family decided to uproot and move away. 40 miles and a new mortgage later, the family was in a different house. The first couple years after the move, the girl slept soundly, the pit pit patter patter far behind her, in both time and distance. Then one night, while relaxing for sleep, she heard the all to familiar noise. When she told her parents they banished her downstairs, telling her that she was now old enough to deal with her childish fears.
It was a year since the noise had returned. The girl would try to reason with herself, thinking it was all in her head. Some nights she would race to keep up with the noise, only to find when she reached the window the noise was coming from, there was no one looking back at her but her own reflection. She'd touch the glass, astounded at how she could be so crazy, and so sane at the same time.
So the night before this one, she had tried something new. She didn't get out of bed and she didn't sit straight up as she usually would. Instead, she laid very still, eyes closed. Acting as if she was asleep, but with a wide-awake mind. She knew she couldn't be crazy, that whoever she heard must have been following her during childhood, and returned this last year to continue his stalking plans. Tonight there was only one difference in the house. She had left her curtains slightly opened.
At a little past midnight, the pit pit patter patter began. She listened carefully, counting each window as it was passed. One...two...before she knew it she was at window fourteen. Slightly opening an eye, she waited for the stalker to confront her window, count fifteen. With a mixture of anticipation, anger, and fear, she stared and stared at that sliver of glass exposure. And that's when she saw her tormentor. Little did she know, they had seen her watching.
Tonight, she sat up in bed, alert and afraid to sleep. Fear swallowed her whole as a cold sweat developed upon her brow. She cowered under the covers, double checking to make sure her door was locked and the curtains securely shut. That's when an unfamiliar sound filled the air.
Click. click. Click.
A shudder fell over her. She recognizes the click noise all to well. The front door being unlocked, opened, and then shut. Closing her eyes, she began to reason with herself. What she lost last night would have no concept of how to unlock a door, would it? Could her sister barely be getting in? Had her parents snuck out for a late date night?
She reached for her cell and dialed her sister's number. Crossing her fingers that she could possibly still be awake, she heard the girl answer. Before the sister could start to yell about how late it was or how soundly she was sleeping, the girl whispered into her ear...to run to their parents room and lock the door behind her. Then call 911. The sister hung up, deducting that the girl was having one of her childish fantasies again.
clunk. clunk. clunk. clunk.
Heavy footsteps upon the stairs. She called her sister again, and before the other girl could speak, she begged her again to rush to the parents room.
"He's coming, he's coming. He's coming for you"
The sister heard the urgency in the girl's voice and decided to appease her fears for a night. She hung up the phone. The girl listened for the thumping of running steps on the floor above her own, but they never came. All she heard was the clunk...clunk..clunk. Of someone going up the stairs, and down the stairs, over and over again.
Finally the noises ended. The girl heard the front door open, close, and lock from the outside. Shaking from fear, she rose from her bed and stumbled to the door. Only now did she notice her sweat stained sheets and her newly bitten down finger nails. Nerves had gotten the best of her, and she thought maybe this all really could be in her head.
She looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:00 A.M. A safe enough time she supposed, so she wrapped herself in a robe and emerged from her room. She was met by the house just as she had left it. The curtains firmly over the windows and the front door locked. She walked quietly up the stairs to her parents room. After opening the door and seeing for herself that they were safely sleeping in bed, she continued to her sister's room.
'Maybe I am just crazy,' she thought to herself.
The door to her sister's room was open. Odd, considering she always slept with it closed. The girl looked inside and saw her sister stuff under the covers. Just to reassure herself, she walked to the edge of the bed and poked her foot. But there was no foot. She then proceeded to poke her leg, then stomach. But all of these body parts were missing. She ripped the blankets off, and realized someone had replaced her sister with pillows.
The girl began to hyperventilate, the room spinning and her mind crashing slowly. She ran to her parents room, throwing the door open and ripping their covers off as well. Pillows replaced where their warm bodies should've been.
She collapsed to the floor, unable to comprehend what was going on. She heard the noise...pit pit, patter patter. She looked at the clock , hoping for a time that would indicate sunshine. But all she read was: 2:21 A.M. Her jaw dropped. Had she not read her clock correctly? Maybe she was dreaming, maybe her parent's clock was wrong, maybe this was her family playing a mean trick on her. Whatever was happening, she wanted no part of it.
Clunk.Clunk.Clunk.
She flew across the room and slammed the door shut, locking it with the old key her parents kept on the bedside table. She heard the foot steps creep closer and closer. The girl shrank up against the wall and closed her eyes, for once wishing that perhaps she was insane. Maybe this was all part of her mind and it would go away. Her parents would yell at her for waking them up and being ridiculous. She'd be forced to return to her isolated downstairs bedroom, and she'd wait for sunlight so she could finally sleep.
The foot steps arrived outside the door, and the knob slowly turned. The key unlocked the door from the inside, so the unwelcome guest could continue to open it. Although she knew she'd regret it, she had to open her eyes. She had to see what was coming for her.
When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing. The door was still locked, the covers on her parents' bed were still thrown back, and she was still curled up against the wall. She frowned at her ignorance and looked around the room for a hint of something different. She found nothing. With that, she slowly crawled to the closet and shut the door behind her. Even if she was going crazy, it made her feel better at least.
She leaned back against her parent's clothes, and suddenly there was someone wrapping their arms around her. She screamed and flung herself forward through the doors, lunging towards the bedroom door so she could try to escape. The hands gripped for her feet and ankles, dragging her back towards the closet. She clawed at the hardwood floors, crying in both agony and fear. The hands clawed their way up her calves and thighs, gripping her sides and flipping her over.
She stared into the emptiness. Into every fear she'd ever known of the night. She scratched into the creatures body and face, screaming for help and mercy. It smelled at her neck and chest, shuddering with the scent of her flowing through it's nasty veins.
"What are you?! What do you want?!" she yelled at it, squirming to get out of its grip and continuing to kick and claw at the beast.
"We're the things of thrown out souls!"
With that, the monstrosity of human creation towered above her, with its' dark, dirty fur glistening in the moonlight and blood fresh upon its calloused human hands. And never knowing what the creature was or what his words meant, she was ripped to shreds and strewn across the house. The creature rolled in her blood like a vicious dog, keeping its fur shiny and its senses ready.
And in a psychiatric ward 20 miles away, there was a schizophrenic screaming in his room, waking the other patients and causing havoc.
"The monster! He's gotten her! My monster has gotten her!"
The doctors dismiss it as another episode and continue on. Cause all of "these" types of patients create beings that aren't real. Little do they know, the crazies of the world hold the keys to all the things under our beds, hidden in the dark, and pit pit pattering outside our windows. The girl and her family were just too sane enough to see the creature that had come for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment