Hope in the Hearth

by Jacob Raya

  “Babe, remember? I got this movie I wanted us to watch. I thought since it’s not 12:00 yet, which is usually the time we stop doing things, that we could watch it if that’s okay with you?”

  “That’s fine. Nothing better than spending the rest of my evening with you watching a good old romance movie.”

  “Aw, how sweet, babe! I’m going to get snacks and drinks ready like we always do.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll get the speakers ready.”

  “Got it, babe.”

  We got ready the same way we do all the time when we watch a movie at our house. But one thing was missing. I just remembered what I saw at Zak and Michelle’s place in their son’s bedroom, but as I did over there, I wasn’t going to mention anything to Rebecca.

  All I need to happen for the rest of this evening is for her to be worried about what I saw, and she won’t be able to enjoy the movie, let alone not forget what happened in the past 24 hours about the police incident and myself seeing that dead homeless man.

  I just kept telling myself that it was nothing, and the only thing I needed to look forward to was watching a movie with my beautiful fiancé and ignoring everything else.

  If anything else should happen, the police have our backs, and we should be safe from anything. Besides the police, I think I’m able to protect Rebecca and myself.

  Our guard dog could do some damage as well to any intruder, but as Rebecca said, she could bark and run away, being a chicken most of the time. But besides that, we still had to get our stuff ready, which surprisingly takes a reasonable amount of time.

  I remember last time we watched a movie at home we couldn’t watch the film until we got everything ready, which took us over 30 minutes to do so. That doesn’t stop us from enjoying it, though. We’ll enjoy this evening like there is no tomorrow. I mean, there’s nothing that could happen. Nothing at all. I’m simply at peace now.

  4

  An Uninvited Guest

  After what felt like hours of getting ourselves ready, we got the movie, popcorn, and drinks prepared for the film. It was almost like having the movie theater at your house, but without those annoying people kicking your seat, talking, texting, calling, and whatever you’re not supposed to do at a theater.

  She got all the meals ready with the attitude of excitement she has when we have these special times together. I’m also pretty sure that she wanted to get all this crazy stuff out of her head, and I did as well.

  We’re better off just forgetting about it by clinging to each other watching a good romance movie, in which I acted like I loved every time I saw it, but do not. But oh well, she’s my fiancé.

  We're getting married in a few months. We have to learn to bond with each other and be there for each other no matter what the circumstance may be. And most importantly, spend quality time doing activities together. Even though one of us might not like the chosen activity, we have to do them anyway to create happiness. That’s what’s most important in a relationship, at least in my opinion.

  “Do you have all the drinks and snacks ready, honey?”

  “Yes, I do. And I’m assuming you have the movie ready, too?”

  “I’m getting there, give me a few more seconds. I’m just trying to get these surround sound speakers to work.”

  We’d gotten surround sound speakers a few weeks back and hadn't used them. I hadn't even figured out how to set them up until now. It was a routine we had to do before we watched a movie together.

  She would get the snacks and drinks, and I would get the film ready. But I think I forget one last thing…oh yeah, this would be about that time where I would have to take the trash out or do something to clean up after she got the food.

  As soon as I had that thought, she went on and said, “Hey babe, can you take out the garbage, please? It’s overflowing, and it would be very kind of you to take it out right now so that way we can enjoy our movie and not have to worry about it.”

  I didn’t want to sound mean, but from one thing to another, I had to do it and not make excuses.

  “Okay honey, no problem.”

  After I finished setting up the surround sound speakers, I quickly rushed to the garbage can to get ready to take out the trash, that way I could go straight to relaxing for the rest of the evening.

  Our garbage cans were out in the back, and it was sometimes a hassle to go back there because we have a lot of pool supplies. Our shed is also crowded with stuff where there would be very little room to even fit through the tiny doors. But basically we just had a lot of junk that we hadn’t yet thrown away from the past six months.

  I walked on out to the garbage can to do my chore when I felt my skin tremble with a brisk feeling, like I was in a blizzard of some sort.

  It was getting close to summer, so it shouldn’t feel as breezy as it does in the fall or even the winter when it snows. Ignoring the wind, I put the trash in the bin when I heard a loud banging sound coming from behind me.

  It sounded like something had fallen, or multiple things were crashing down in the shed, as it had that typical sound of something heavy hitting against the wooden floor. I didn’t think much of it, but decided to investigate just in case if there was an animal messing around in there destroying all of our stuff. I went back into the house to look for the keys to the shed.

  On my way back out to the backyard, Rebecca stopped me and asked what I was doing with the shed keys.

  “Babe, what do you need the keys to the shed for?”

  “I need to check on something. It sounds that there’s an animal messing around in there.”

  “Well, hurry up so we can watch the movie.”

  Of course I had to tell her that I was going to fix something that sounded like it had fallen in the shed and I didn’t want anything in there damaged. Shockingly, she didn't think much of it and continued with getting the recliners and snacks ready.

  I went back outside and opened up the shed. Oddly enough, a shovel that had been hanging for quite some time had time fallen right beside the lawn mower, which is probably where that loud sound came from.

  I organized the rest of the shed while I was at it and went back inside, ready to relax. I didn't want to eat anything with my supposedly filthy hands. That’s what I always felt like after taking out the trash, so I went to do the usual and wash my hands.

  I always forget how good my bathroom smells, but this time it smelled like something was burning. I felt stupid after that when I just remembered that Rebecca had lit a candle in there before she got the snacks.

  We both got ready to watch the movie and started up the surround sound speakers. It was a romantic movie, so it wasn’t going to be that loud, but still probably loud enough to be heard from the bedrooms even with the doors closed.

  We enjoyed it a lot. Well, she did, but I felt like I was starting to fall asleep in the middle of the movie. Eventually, Rebecca had to take a bathroom break, and while she was doing that, I cleaned up all the leftovers and did the dishes just so she didn’t have to worry about them.

  I walked into the guest bathroom, as she was in the master bathroom, when I heard faint scratching noises coming from outside the house. Of course I was a bit uneasy, but yelled out to Rebecca to see if she had heard the same thing.

  “Rebecca!”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you hear that, honey?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Umm, nothing, never mind. I’m just going to go to the bathroom too, and I’ll meet you out there!”

  “Okay, don’t take too long!”

  I walked to the guest bedroom and found that our dog, Ellie, was scratching on the side of the wall.

  “What are you scratching at, huh? What’s out there? Is there something out there?”

  She was scratching right below the window, as if there was somebody by the window or standing right in front of the window just staring right at me. I led her back out to the living room, and shortly after, she started barking.

  “Wh
at is she barking at, Matt?”

  “I don't know, but I saw her scratching at the wall in the guest bedroom a couple of seconds ago!”

  “Oh, maybe it’s just another animal or a small bird or something. Dogs can sense other animals, you know.”

  “But they could also sense intruders!”

  “Babe, I’m pretty sure it’s nothing. Let’s enjoy the rest of the movie.”

  “Um, okay. Yeah, sure. I’ll be right out!”

  “Hurry up! I’ve been waiting for minutes now!”

  “I want to forget about all this for now, okay? Can we do that?”

  “Yes, we can. We’ll enjoy the rest of the movie.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

  I brought Ellie back into the living room while we finished watching the rest of the movie, and poor Rebecca always cries at romantic flicks. I for one cannot weep at romance movies.

  Maybe I don’t have the right taste for films or hold that type of emotion that Rebecca has. They also seem a little too dull to cry at. We cleaned up, and shockingly, it was getting super late. It was almost time to put Ellie to bed, which is around 11:00 at night.

  Rebecca took her out to go to the restroom before she went to bed while I cleaned up the rest of the trash and turned off most of the lights. Rebecca and Ellie came back inside while I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth. It was just our typical before bed routine that most people do.

  Just brush your teeth, take your dog out to potty one last time, perhaps look at the TV once more before you shut it off.

  Before I got ready for bed, there was a story on the news about a man that had an experience he wanted to share with the world but also wanted to forget as soon as he witnessed it.

  “A young man named Sergio Romero said that an intruder snuck into his backyard. He knows this from what he heard. The account goes as follows: he was fast asleep a couple of nights ago. We all wake up to random sounds from time to time, but Sergio insisted this was a sound like nothing he had heard before in his lifetime.”

  The reporter continued with the story, but from the look on her face, it seemed she was a bit terrified while talking about it.

  “He said he woke up to the sound of a weird scratching noise at his window. Thinking it was merely just a tree branch or the wind, he tried to go back to sleep.

  As time went by, the sound continued, and Sergio couldn’t go back to sleep. He stayed up for about half an hour trying to ignore the noise, but decided to investigate what the source was. He looked through his bedroom window to his backyard and noticed that his motion sensor light was on. He gazed across his whole deck but saw nothing. Then, he heard a sudden pound on one of his garbage cans. He said it sounded like someone that weighed at least 250 or more pounds jumped with full force onto the garbage can.

  He looked outside once more and saw a black-looking figure slowly walking by his bushes. He couldn’t make out what it was or if it was just his mind playing tricks on him because he was tired. He looked one last time and saw the figure turn around, and he saw white, glowing dots or eyes staring right at him.

  He said it felt that the creature was looking into him or that he thought a similar presence was stalking him while he slept. He said he remembers seeing glowing white dots in his bedroom at night, but thought it was just reflections from his window and the outside street light from next door.

  After that, Sergio said that all he saw of the creature was just its black form with its pale white eyes but nothing more. It was too quick for him even to catch another glimpse of the beast.”

  At this point, I thought that this whole story must have been made up and exaggerated. That is, until they started to show the photos from the man’s security cameras.

  “Sergio has sent us some photos that were caught on his security camera from the past few nights. As you can see, it looks like a black-looking creature or silhouette gazing through his window at what seems to be between the hours of 1:00 to 3:00 in the morning. Other footage shows the creature staring around his backyard, and also, to our horror, what looks like a dead animal carcass by Sergio’s bedroom window. Sergio took some final photos of it this morning when he woke up.

  Scarily enough, the photos reveal the same animal carcass as shown in the security camera footage, as it couldn’t have been faked. “

  The reporter continued. “We had to blur it out due to how graphic the photo is, and looking closer at the photo, there are scratch marks on Sergio’s bedroom window and blood stains as well, which are most likely from the animal carcass, but we may never be certain. Sergio said that he shared the footage with professionals and they concluded that it could just be an escaped wild animal, such as a bear.

  Which they believe is most likely the case, due to the scratch marks and animal carcass. Sergio insisted it wasn’t a bear and said that he was going to move out of his house immediately and move back to where his parents live in a well-lit city area.”

  I can’t believe any of that. I don’t think I can. How can all that be real? It could just be the man wanting attention and getting precisely that. But from the photos and videos they showed, it seemed that it would be tough to try and pull this off as a hoax or some prank.

  It could just be a bear like the professionals said. But who am I to judge? I don’t know. I was just simply tired. I shut off the TV and headed to the bedroom. I told Rebecca about the news story, and she insisted it could have most likely been a hoax as I thought.

  “Honey! There was this news story I saw where a guy in Oregon said he had footage of a black-looking creature stalking him at night. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it does seem pretty terrifying and bizarre.”

  “Babe, don’t worry about that!”

  “I’m not! Who says I am?”

  “No one, don’t worry about it. It was probably just a lonely man looking for some attention. Let’s try to get some rest tonight.”

  “But also there were blood stains and scratches on his bedroom window. As well as a dead animal!”

  “Like I said babe, it was probably just a wild animal or a made-up story with pictures they worked too hard on to make them look real!”

  “I don’t know if it’s real or not, I just found it very interesting, as I never heard of a news story like that before.”

  “I know, but let’s get some rest tonight, okay?

  “Yeah, I guess. I would very much like that! Might as well! I’m tired as hell!”

  We got the bed ready, and Ellie went right onto her bed, which was right beside our bed. Rebecca usually stayed up for another hour checking her emails and social media sites for any job opportunities or other exciting stuff she does on there.

  I tried to close my eyes and go to sleep, but it doesn't happen so quickly for me. I take a pill that helps me go to sleep faster and stay asleep, but I felt that it wasn’t enough. I got up while she was still on her computer and went to the kitchen to take a second sleeping pill to see if that would do the trick. Just a little sip and there it goes, and within an hour I should start to feel sleepy and tired.

  I was looking at a postcard that was on our refrigerator, but it seemed there was something a bit extra. I thought I was going crazy, because I looked carefully and thought I saw two pairs of white-looking dots on the picture.

  I checked all around to see if any lights were causing that, but the only view that was on was the microwave light. And I’m sure that light wouldn’t be able to generate two white-looking dots like that. I even looked behind me, but there was nothing there. Just darkness and a little shadow from the lamp and TV, which came from the light of the microwave.

  I was a bit uneasy, but thought that it was because I was fatigued and that I had had a long day, and a good night’s rest was all I needed. In the back of my mind, I also thought that it could have been the night lights we have in our hallway.

  I looked back at the postcard, and those two white dots were gone. I was thinking it could have been my brain playing tricks on me when
Rebecca called me.

  “Matt, you coming to bed?”

  “Yes, I’ll be there! Just taking an extra pill to help me sleep through the night!”

  “Oh, the first one didn’t help?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Well, I guess a second one wouldn't hurt. I’m done with my computer, so you don’t have to worry about me keeping you up!”

  “Yeah, okay, thanks for that!” I drank the last of my water and went back to the bedroom. I got into bed, and we said our goodnights to each other. “Goodnight, babe.”

  “Goodnight, honey. Sleep well.”

  “You need it more than me.”

  “Ha ha, very funny. We both could use a good night’s rest.”

  She turned off the lamp on her side of the bed, and we began to drift away slowly. That’s what I like to call it, but something didn't feel right. I still thought that I wasn’t tired, but then again, the pill does take an hour to settle into my system and make me tired.

  I just stayed up for a little while, checking the clock periodically, hoping that I would fall asleep soon. I wondered if that homeless guy was murdered or if it was something more sinister in nature.

  I was just lying there twirling my thumbs underneath my bed sheet while thinking the same thing for minutes at a time, just staring at the top of my ceiling.

  I closed my eyes and thought I must have been stuck in a dream. I heard familiar scratching noises just like the ones that Ellie was doing. The only thing is, she was sleeping when I last checked.

  I peeked over the side of the bed to see if she still was, and she was fast asleep. Then I heard it again. Just a scratch, almost like something was scratching against wood. Then I started to listen to it against the window. At that point, I got a little scared, and rose up out of bed faster than Ellie could when she hears a noise like that.

  Ellie heard me moving around, and soon enough, listened to the scratching noises at the window. She started to bark, as if there was an intruder outside our bedroom. I turned on the lamp on my side of the bed and got up very slowly. I reached into my drawer for a key I kept in a little old box in which the key from that box opened the safe underneath our bed.