The Thing in the Dark

“You should have answered the door.”

His voice came from the darkness, not from outside, not from the hallway, but it came from inside my apartment very close to me.

It was so close that I could feel the words near my skin.

I screamed without thinking, I threw the metal candle as hard as I could, but it hit nothing.

With only empty air, the room stayed quiet, except for my fast breathing.

The lights were still off, and thunder shook the window. The rain hit the glasses so hard.

I could hardly breathe, “Stay away from me!” I shouted.

There was no answer.

My hands were shaking so bad, I stepped backward not knowing where I was going until my legs hit the couch and I fell into it.

Then something cold touched my ankle, cold fingers.

I screamed again and kicked my leg widely but nothing was there.

I pulled both legs onto the couch like a little child hiding from a monster.

“Elena.”

The whisper came from the kitchen down to the hallway and then right behind me. 

I turned around so fast that the pain shot through my neck, and I saw nothing but darkness.

My heart beat so hard, I dropped to the floor searching for my phone with shaking hands, my fingers moved across until I found it.

1% battery. The screen light was low but enough to see the floor.

I saw large, fresh, and wet footprints.

They started at the front door and led towards my bedroom.

My stomach twisted, I was barefoot, those weren't my footprints.

There were shoe prints. A man's shoe print.

My hands shook as I raised my phone higher. I saw another set of a smaller footprint crossing over them, smaller and barefooted, and mixed in the water were thin red lines.

The light blinked again and my phone went off.

Darkness swallowed me again, and from my bedroom, I heard movement.

Something heavy is dragging slowly across the floor.

Scrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I slid backward across the tiles, then another sound came, a child laughing happily and softly coming from inside my wardrobe.

“No…” I whispered.

I covered my ears with both hands. 

The laughter continued, then it changed to tiny nails scraping from inside my wardrobe.

I stumbled to my feet and ran on towards the bedroom doorway without thinking.

Then I stopped suddenly. A shape stood there tall and standing still blocking the doorway, I could only see the shape of a man with broad shoulders, a head, and a suit.

For one bright second the room turned white. 

Adrian Vale stood there, and blood still ran from the cut near his forehead, his grey eyes still looking straight at me.

Then darkness returned.

I screamed and threw my phone at him and it crashed on the wall behind.

He made no sound, no cry, no movement, I ran forward trying to push past him, and my body slammed into empty air. There was no one there.

I stumbled and nearly fell, and tears ran down my face.

Then the bathroom light switched on by itself, and a warm yellow glowing light spread across the floor.

I rushed inside my bedroom and slammed the door shut and locked it.

Then I looked at the mirror, and I hardly recognized myself.

My wet hair stuck to my face, my eyes widened with fear, my lips were shaking, and I turned on the tap and splashed water on my face. “ This is stress,” I whispered. 

“You're tired. You're scared. You're imagining things that are not real.” I told myself.

I looked up again.

Someone stood behind me in the mirror.

A woman in white, she was closer now her dress was soaked, and her stomach was swollen like she was carrying a baby, and dark scars circled her throat.

She came close to my ear and said three words slowly.

DON'T TRUST HIM.

I screamed and turned around. The bathroom was empty.

When I turned back into the mirror, a crack ran straight down the middle.

I stumbled backward, and suddenly every light in the apartment came back on.

The living room light, the kitchen light, and the bedroom light all turned on bright and normal.

Outside the generator coughed like it always did.

The rain softened, and thunder moved far away, and silence returned so quickly and it felt so strange.

I opened the bathroom door slowly. 

Nothing was there.

The living room looked normal again, my couch, the books on the shelf, and my shoes near the wall, everything looked good.

 No footprints, no blood, no water on the tiles, the roses lay near the front door, exactly where I had dropped them. Looking fresh, white, and there were no red stains.

My chest tightened. I slowly walked into my bedroom, the wardrobe was closed, no scratching sound, no laughter, the curtains hung still, the bed looked untouched. 

I bent down and checked under the bed. Nothing was there.

I checked the kitchen, and it was empty.

I checked everywhere in my apartment, and I saw nothing.

I looked for my phone and picked it up, it had some scratches and it was still 1%.

I opened my call log, no unknown number called, no message, no missed calls from Adrain nothing at all.

My tongue went dry.

“Had I imagined everything?”

“Was I losing my mind?” I asked myself.

I touched my wrist, the cut from the broken glass was still there, wrapped around it was the white silk handkerchief, I slowly untied it.

I checked my bag and the black card with a silver letter V was still there.

I sat down on the bed. My thoughts felt broken and shattered.

“Maybe the crash had shocked me.”

“Maybe I had not eaten enough.”

“Maybe fear was making me go crazy,” I told myself.

I burst into tears, and I cried until there were no tears left.

When I finished the apartment remained quiet, only soft rain tapping on the door and window.

The sound was a bit relaxing.

Then I stood up and locked the front door of my apartment again, then I pushed one chair under the handle, then another.

I closed every curtain and turned on every light.

I checked under the bed two more times and confirmed that there is nothing there.

At last, I was too tired to stay afraid, I freshened up and changed into dry clothes, and climbed into bed.

The mattress felt cold, so I left the lamp beside me on.

I kept the candle standing close to me as a weapon. My eyes burned from staying too long.

I listened again, nothing whispered, nothing knocked, nothing moved.

“Maybe none of it was real, tomorrow I would laugh over it and everything would make sense then,” I told myself.

I prayed to God and lay down staring at the ceiling until my eyes closed and sleep slowly carried me.

And from under my bed, something sighed.