Hello everyone! So, I am sorry I am late with posting the second half of my short story. I don’t want to bore everyone too much, but life has been hectic. Between work, writing, keeping up the home and planning a wedding – I feel a bit stretched thin. Plus, we have the holidays fast approaching and I will be traveling out of town to visit family as well. So if a few blogs are a bit delayed- I apologize in advance! Thank you for reading, and of course I appreciate you!
Evee runs her hands up and down over his arms a few times, trying to generate some extra warmth for her little brother. She grabs his wrist to hold. Silas wipes his eyes with his free hand. They turn and start to walk along the trails. Evelyn chuckles to herself. Silas looks up at her. Evelyn looks at him
“Sorry buddy, you’re out here every chance you get, it’s hard to imagine there’s anything out here that would have you shakin in your boots!”
“I wan’t shakin in my boots!”
Evee laughs and seizes the moment to pick on her kid brother. In a mocking voice she teases
“Ohhh Eveee, help me I’m so scared. The boogeyman is chasing me, I need a hug!”
“I didn’t say the boogeyman was chasin me! Stop it now Evee, mom says you shoun’t tease me. I’m 8 years younger than you, it ain’t fair!”
She softens up, it’s true. It’s not fair to pick on Silas, he makes it too easy.
“It’s ok, I love you… even if you are chicken. These woods can get scar—“
There is a great and heavy gust, a snarl and something that knocks Silas into the ground. A loud, shrill scream echoes through the empty branches above. It’s the worst sound Silas has ever heard. He rolls over in the leaves trying to orient himself, to see what had just happened. He tries to get his eyes to focus and re-adjust in the darkness. He sees Evelyn is on the ground, a few feet away from him. She’s half consumed by a pile of fallen leaves. Her eyes, now much bigger than they normally are stare at Silas. She tries to pull herself with one hand and is pushing her legs. Everything just slides in leaves, with no traction to grab. He notices a stream of blood starts running into one of her eyes and down her face. She gasps and another scream roars from her throat. Silas watches in horror, his young eyes trying to comprehend what he is seeing.
Something was pinning her down. It stood with two tall, tower-like front legs pushed violently, aggressively into the middle of her back. There were 4 tall, lean legs all together. It was the biggest animal Silas has ever seen. It’s horrible looking, so much so that Silas struggles to keep his eyes on the thing. He notices a smell, a rancid horrible smell. He can’t tell what it is, it’s like bad earth? It’s something weird, almost sour, a smell that he’s never experienced. He looks hard, willing his eyes to see in the dark but he can’t see it’s face. The animal lunges down and Evelyn shrieks again. Silas gawks at Evee, wide eyed and frozen in place. She looks up at him, breathing heavy, trying to get any air she can. Evelyn begins to cry. Her tears make streaks down her cheeks, washing away blood to once again show beautiful tanned skin. She and Silas lock eyes, and it’s at this moment everything goes silent. The wind stops howling. The leaves dancing around no longer rustle. The sound of wet blood and sinew being torn all quiets in this moment. Evee, after this moment that silences a forest, mouths something to her brother. She mouths the word
R-U-N
Silas looks down and screams. He pushes at Evelyn’s severed hand that is still wrapped around his little wrist. He looks at it in horror; stunned to see the severed hand still holding onto him. The grip is still firm around his wrist. He notices some blood dripping off his hand and feels his stomach get queasy. Silas looks up and the monster is too busy torturing his sister to pay his shriek any mind. There are details that make it look like a dog, but also something he’s never seen. It has fur, or hair? It is rich and thick in places, but patchy and mangy in others. It is brown and deep in color. There’s black, or grey hair arranged in a way that it has pattern to it. Some spots are so bare you can see its skin, which is a sickly grayish green…
Is it slimy? How can it be furry AND slimy?
Finally, he gets the severed knuckles loose and lets the hand hit the ground. He looks up at the monster again, taking in its towering legs, and its thin, long body. He slowly gets on his knees, never taking his eyes off the thing. He watches as it rips off one of Evee’s arms. Silas starts to sob and takes off running. The sounds of his quick feet in the leaves are deafening now, it sounds like the only noise echoing through the forest. Silas feels warmth wash over his body… he sees the end of the trees up ahead! He breaks the tree line and cries in relief when the house comes into sight. The porch light shines bright in this darkest of nights. That back porch light has always been a beckoning call to him, letting him know it’s time to make his way home. Tonight, that light is warm and means safety. A light in the darkness, teasing relief from the horror he just witnessed. He comes to the screen door, he goes to fling it open and is jerked, it’s locked! He yells and starts to cry again. As he screams his breath turns into a huge white cloud floating into the cold night air. Warm tears stream down his face again as he shakes the handle. He hears his mother.
“Silas, what! What!!”
His mother comes into view and opens the screen door; Silas falls into the house and grabs her leg sobbing.
The parents waste no time. Silas’ mother is bounding from the home before the father could stop her. The screen door banging shut behind her. Silas’ father disappears into his den to emerge with one of his many guns and calls after his wife as he runs into the woods behind her.
Silas stands in the door way watching his parents disappear into the woods. He’s hyperventilating, snot and tears running down his face. His eyes frantically scan the tree line; his eyes darting back and forth for any sign of his parents, Evelyn or the monster. The suffocating silence of the night is broken with a gut wrenching wail. It’s a cry that makes your heart drop and you hold your breath. For the second time tonight, another woman that Silas loves had made a noise so terrible that Silas couldn’t comprehend it. He screams and runs into his room, slamming the door behind him. He gets into his bed under blankets and pillows and sobs. He hides under his fortress of pillows, blankets and all these comforts that once protected us as children from the bumps in the night. Tonight, it brings him no comfort. There isn’t the question of what he saw. There isn’t the question of if something was outside his room. There was a monster. He saw it with his own two eyes. It chased him, it caught his sister and it is absolutely outside right now. It is on this night that Silas lost this comfort of childhood. Never again would he hear the house creak or the furnace clank and be able to throw his blanket over his head and feel like he is safe.
I hope you enjoyed one of my short stories. I may plan to add more in the future, or specifically write them for a blog post. Please, follow along with my on goodreads to keep up with what I am reading, and follow me on Twitter. Thank you again!
