A Night to Remember
Page 2
went into the living room and looked through the windows. Steve had a worried look on his face. I smiled at him, trying to misdirect his concern.
"Don't worry about it. It's just the wind. You can go back to your movie." He smiled again, it seemed I fooled myself into believing that he believed me, but his eyes didn't move off me for a few seconds after turning his head back toward the television. I closed the curtains again and looked out. The knife laid out there on the porch. I sighed in disbelief that I would have dropped it. The dog was back at the window again starring over to the side where the action was. She whined and I had to close the curtain around her. I went back into the kitchen and looked through the window. One of the trash cans was laying inside the porch. "This is messed up." I quickly dialed her brother, Sam. I wasn't sure if this was a practical joke.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"I'm still working."
"How much longer are you going to be?"
"Probably another four hours. Why?" I shook my head.
"Just wondering how you're doing, that's all. I'll talk to you later. Bye." I hung up and walked back into the living room. Another musical bit from the movie played on. I couldn't help myself, but I went around checking the other doors and windows throughout the house downstairs. All doors and windows were locked. I turned my attention towards the upstairs. I gave myself a big sigh. I plugged in Sam' light that was connected to an extension cord going to the down stairs bathroom. His room was the only one with light, but the other room, filled with extra stuff across the hall, had no light at all. Consequently, the light from his room would have to do. The door to the attic was in the extra room.
I grabbed another knife. I threw open the door that goes to the stairs and stood there with the light from my flashlight slicing into the darkness. I slowly began to walk up the stairs. Sam's room had a blanket for a door, so that didn't help when I saw it move, fluttering back and forth. A cool wind blew down the stairs, causing goose bumps crept up and down my back. I shook them off and crept toward the top of the stairs. I heard the blaring of the television and radio as I saw the one light bulb that lit up his room. I closed the windows and threw open the make shift door, letting it rest on some exercise equipment, allowing the light pour onto the landing. I opened the door to the other room.
I looked around at the clutter, rethinking if I should make my way to the attic. At least the windows were all closed. My light fell on the attic door, which was securely closed with a metal bar. I smiled in relief and turned around, my hand in the hole where the door knob should be, and began to close the door.
A sound of metal hitting the floor made me stop dead in my tracks. I could feel my chest go in and out as if I was taking deep breaths, but my breaths felt so shallow. I turned my eyes toward the dark of the room. Bringing up my light, I slowly swung it from the far side, away from the attic door, towards where I was sure the metal bar fell. I didn't want to face what I feared. The light stopped moving on the door, the bar gone. I wished I could only move my hand farther back towards the stairs. The attic door was cocked open. I knew from opening the door in the past, it swings open all the way, but it stood there, as if something was behind it holding it ajar, or something on the other side, holding it open. A hand crept around, grasping the door. The nails from the hand stretched out, shinning in the light. I saw in the corner of my eye as I turned to run, everything blowing upwards into the middle of the room. However, I didn't stop to see the magic show.
I ran down the stairs, trying to keep my feet from being outrun by my beating heart. The dog waited at the bottom of the stairs barking wildly. Footsteps fell behind me, they seemed so close, trailing mine. I grabbed the door and threw it closed behind me, throwing my back against it hard. Making sure I heard a reassuring thud, and pressed my weight against it. Steve's eyes were wide open, gaping at me. There are times when he can speak clearly. I only wish this wasn't one of them.
"They're here!" I could make out every word as if he knew what to say at this moment in time. "They're here for me! To get me!" A loud thud behind the door brought me back to my reality. Something on the other side pushed hard, I felt the door opening and I gave it a good slam back shut. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like multiple fists pounding on the door, wanting to get in.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" I shouted with all my might. The pounding stopped. I heard three slow knocks near my head. "Get out!" I shouted again. I was only confused even more. Here I was holding a door closed inside the house, telling an intruder to leave, as if he flew up to the attic just to come down the stairs. I heard scratching behind me, coming down from the top of the door to the bottom. "That is enough!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. I turned around with the knife in my hand ready to thrust it into anyone behind the door. I swung the door open like a wild man, knife held high. I turned around expecting someone to be there in some crazy mask, but I only found an emptiness staring back at me. My breathing was hard and I attempted to slow it down, but not by much. I looked at the back of the door. There was splintered wood everywhere. This told me one thing. Not that there was something in the house, but I was alone in the house with a man who scared me by what he said. Something was in here.
I looked up towards Sam' room and the blanket fell, blocking the light. All of a sudden, there was silence up there, and then darkness. The light had gone out. I went back into the bathroom and unplugged the extension cord then put it back in. I went back to look but it was still out. Then I tried to reset the plug in, and went to check out the light again, nothing. I closed the door hard and then pushed a big chair in front of it. Futile, maybe, I thought to myself, but at least it might give me a warning.
I turned around and walked over to Steve. His face was all red, tears streaming down, his bottom lip quivering. I took his sheet and wiped the tears off his face.
"Steve?" I said to him. "Who are 'they'?" He looked up at me.
"In my dreams." He said. His words were beginning to get harder for him to say, although I could make out what he was saying, I had to read his lips again, only to ask questions to confirm what he was saying.
"In your dreams?" He shook his head. Then he spoke again. Patience was something I was full of right now if I wanted to hear him. "Where are they from?" His lips pronounced his fears. "From a place?" I repeated him to confirm. He shook his head, he spoke again. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "From space?" His eyes widened and he nodded his head. "Are you serious?" He's talked to me before about aliens, if I believed, I said I didn't know. He said he wasn't too sure about that himself, or he didn't believe it. "I thought you told me that you didn't believe." We carried on the conversation together.
"I said I didn't believe, because I didn't want too." He said.
"How do you know they're from space?"
"They told me. But I was so scared when they spoke to me, but I am not sure anymore." He wet his lips down. I gave him something to drink from the side of his bed. I leaned in closer to him.
"What happened when you first met them?"
"I was a child. They told me they would come back for me. I don't want them here. I don't want them here." He looked down at his body. The fear of the situation was making his contractions worse. He looked back up at me. "I don't know what to do." He started to cry again. I picked up my phone and dialed Victoria. It went straight to voice mail. There was no telling when she would get back to me. I hung up in a hurry to dial someone else. I tried Sam again and Steve's wife, both to no avail. I scoured throughout my phone list, no answer. Not even voice mail. I cursed the situation under my breath then all of a sudden, the electricity flickered off then on, the television screen showed nothing but white noise. Both he and I looked over at it, watching it carefully. The noise wasn't a static one, but it went off then on, as if someone was switching a switch, making sure it
caught our attention. Just then the television went off and all I saw was the reflection of Steve and me. My breath caught in my throat. Another person was in the room. On the other side of the bed he stood. I turned around and looked. No one was there.
"This isn't right." I said. I looked down at my phone. It was all garbled, the colors, the words, everything was out of order. I quickly took off the sleeve and threw off the back plate. I took the battery out quickly and tossed it onto the couch and flipped the phone back over. The screen went pitch white. A high pitched scream came forth from it and I tossed it against the wall hard, shattering the scream amongst the pieces of the high priced phone. I quickly logged onto the computer chat and tried to contact Victoria or anyone. Nothing. Just then, the computer screen and the television screen went white. The dog went over to the window and started to bark again, the hair on her body went straight up. The high pitched scream came across the computer and the television. I quickly picked up a folding chair that was near me and dashed it across the computer screen and then turned around and tossed it at the television, the screen imploding on itself. The barking madness was starting to get to me and