Shadows

I wrote this a while ago, but I thought I would share this tale of a woman who awakes in the middle of the night . . .




With a scream waiting to be expelled, Amber sat up abruptly in her bed. Her hand went up to cover her mouth to help hold in the scream. Her eyes searched the darkness of the room. The thumping of her heart was fast and filled her with its familiar beat. Her breathing was rapid and she tried to quiet it so she could listen.

She gazed at her closet, inspecting it visually to see if it was open at all. Next she looked to the door that led into her room. Had she left it open? Her eyes roamed to the bathroom door where the door was shut. Had she shut it before? She tried to avoid looking at the two windows.

Sweat dripped from her ear, and she could feel the wet tendrils of her hair on her face, down her shoulder, in the front, and down her back. She moved her hand from her mouth slowly and brought it to the top of her blanket near her other hand at her waist. She tried to make no noise. She tried to just listen to the darkness.

The silence was so loud.

Her head started to throb and she exhaled a quavering breath. She continued to attend to the blackness. Something was there. She could feel its eyes staring at her.

She stole a glance to the window near her closet. The drapes were partly closed and a minute amount of moonlight shone in. Snake-like shadows decorated the wall in a web fashion. The shadows moved smoothly, winding themselves together, yet never losing form. They were well-known friends in the night when they didn’t take a solid shape of a man creature. She allowed herself to look out the window from her bed. No one was looking in . . . at least now.

She felt the caress of the wind against her face. Her breathing quickened. Her heart started pulsating inside her head. The other window was open. She never opened the windows at night. The wind caught the silk from her nightgown and tickled her breasts. Amber wanted to pull up the blanket to her neck to cover herself, but she was paralyzed from her own fear.

She felt hot tears come from her unblinking eyes and trail down her cheeks. Her breath came in gasps and quavered with effort not to scream. She still could not look at the window, as she knew he was there.

She heard a door open in the night. She heard it creaking slowly open, and then she heard footsteps running. The footsteps were light and that of her child’s. Her daughter bounded into the room and onto Amber’s bed.

“I had a nightmare, Mommy.”

Amber pulled child in close to her and took a few deep breaths trying to scare out the fear inside. “How about if mommy goes to your room and cuddles with you?” her voice succeeded in covering the fear.

Amber held out her hand, and the little girl put her small one inside it. As Amber started to leave her room, stopped, took a deep breath, and reached inside herself for the strength to look back. She glanced behind herself at the open window. Amber’s heart skipped a beat and her breath caught causing a quick sigh. Nothing was there.