I wish Grandma had never told me that story, when I was no bigger than the height from floor to mattress. I still recall the cool of the sheets against my face as I huddled behind them and tried not to let my eyes wander to the deeper darker corners. Her dry, wispy voice gave life to the creatures of the dark and opened my eyes to those things not usually seen by the typical naked eye. Yet it was not my eyes that stayed open, oh no, it was my ears that would announce their arrival while my eyes were squeezed shut so they could not see that I could see them. For Grandma said as long as they thought their existence was unnoticed, then so was I. If only it had stayed that way...
It was late one night...why is it always at night...that curiosity got the better of me. For years I had heard the shuffling, the low growls, the snorts, the heavy breathing, & all manner of sounds used to describe things that go bump in the night. In my minds eye, they carried horns & had evil red eyes, fangs dripped with poison in half open jaws ready to devour you. The images grew darker & meaner every time. I had enough, I wanted to see, to actually see what was there & not let my imagination run wild.
It started as a peep, eye lids barley cracked. Then it became one, one ocular orb ready to brave the night. Followed by two fully opened and yet no heinous image greeted me. There was nothing there. I sat up & looked around, still no sign of what it was that assaulted my auditory nerves on a nightly bases. I closed my eyes & just as quickly the sounds were back! Then I uttered those fateful words, "why can't I see you?" The sounds stopped & my eyes popped open.
There was the shadow of my jacket thrown over a chair, my backpack on the floor, a nicknack figurine's shape drawn in a darker shade up on the wall, yet no beasties were poised at the end on my bed ready to pounce. It was almost anticlimactic. "Seriously? That's it? Just a bunch of noise?" I let out a sigh & reached over to turn on my light. To this day I still hate that lamp. For the latch would catch & to better envision it I would close my eyes & feel around with thumb & forefinger. That night it was out of reflex, age old habit, & when I did a low, deep chuckle greeted my senses. Hair rose at the nape of my neck & along my arms.
Light flooded the room and my arm could not be recalled fast enough. Light knocked back the darkness Grandma said, took away the hiding places. Yet the hallway just outside my door was still dark. That was where I saw it, a shadow in a shadow. I no longer wanted to confirm with my eyes what my ears heard, I wanted to close Pandora's box. So with a quick kick my door was sent to slam against the door frame. Only it did not click into place. Just as my body reached it so did something else, something very solid and very real. Thankfully a youthful body is quick and I was able to lay a bit of power and weight to my launch from bed to door.
Once more I closed my eyes in reflex, as I fought to keep my body pressed against that white, glossy painted door. Once more I heard the sounds that bring chills to your spine while my body felt the reverberations of what ever was trying to break the door down from the other side. Then, it stopped. The push on the door, the snarls of frustration, and the scratching. I tensed, waited for another onslaught, determined not to let my guard down. However, it did not come.
Instead I heard for the first time the sound that now haunts me. "Click-clack. Click-clack" I slowly raised my eyes & watched as my door knob attempted to turn back and forth. As though some clumsy hand fumbled to turn it on the other side. A hand not of human design. They, or it, did not get in that night. Nor have they anytime since, but I know it's only a matter of time before they succeed. So it is my nightly vigil to sit in my ring of light & wait & watch.
Do yourself a favor, after the sun has set and night has risen, those sounds that you hear...something falling over in another room, a creak down your hallway...don't go investigate it. Pretend you haven't heard it. Do not seek the shapes you see outlined in darkened corners. Walk on by, don't shudder, don't close your eyes. Give them no reason to seek you out, no reason to exist. Just remember they come at night, they always come at night. ~akb.
(1st written as a writing challenge to write something short & suspenseful for HitRecord)
