The night was quiet, that much she could remember.
Quiet… Cold…Creepy…Lonely…
Yet, for Keller, that wasn’t anything new, after living in the country for so long, she got used to the stilled night air and the inaudible creatures that roamed through the moonlit streets. Just like always, Keller pulled on her nightgown, the soft whirring of the air conditioning clicking off and leaving her in complete silence. At least for a little while…
Click click click click.
Looking up, she stopped moving, listening quietly for the sound, wondering if it was just her imagination. Her mama always said, “Too much time in the muted world and you will start hearing things you don’t want to hear.” Still, she listened, but no clicking could be heard.
Tap tap tap tap tap.
Sitting up, she turned on the bedroom light, she knew she heard something, a tapping this time. She couldn’t fully pinpoint the area in which the sound was emanating from, but she knew it was there. As softly as possible, Keller pushed the blankets off of her legs and turned to sit on the edge of the bed, listening quietly.
Scratch scratch scratch.
Feeling her heart pick up in fear, Keller’s head turned towards the window, her eyes widening when she realized that it was coming from there. Just a branch. The thought calmed her enough to where she stood up and walked over, pulling back the curtain and peering through the glass. Yet.. there was nothing.
No face… No tree… Not even the usual shadow of a night owl. There was nothing at all. That was more unnerving then thinking something was there. Still, she stepped back, moving away from the window.
What seemed like a shot rang out around her, the impact causing Keller to fly backwards, landing on her back on the cold, unforgiving floor. In her shock, she had to blink several times to be able to look up and see what had happened.
The glass was broke, that was the first thing she saw when she pushed herself up. The glass shards were scattered all over her bedroom, so something must have broken in the window. Fear shot through her and she looked around, at first not seeing anything.
A movement…. A shadow… That was all she saw. Wait.. shadows weren’t supposed to move. Her eyes focused on the shadow… the darkness that moved across her floor. But that was impossible. Right?
The shadow centered around a small area, huddling together and quickly spinning around, slowly growing and shaping into a large mass. A scream pierced Keller’s throat but nothing came out, she was too scared to move, or even make a sound.
The mass stopped suddenly, a deep rumble emanating from the center of it. Somehow, it seemed to turn and look at her, though it had no face, much less eyes. Slowly it started to crawl forward, slithering across the floor. That simple movement made Keller snap out of her trance and instantly scramble away. The mass had other plans though.
In one swift movement, the shadow pounced, landing effortlessly on Keller and within seconds, consumed her body and soul. Only a light scream was spoken before the innocent girl’s body became nothing but an imprint on the floor.
The shadow grew, gurgling almost satisfied, before disappearing as quickly as it came, though the window that it found the easiest to attack. Gullible humans, always curious, and it was always their last investigation.