Shutter

Knock, Knock. The wooden shutters banged heavily against the window frame begging to be locked. I sat up in a bed and peered around the room. I wasn’t too sure which room it was coming from so decided to check them all.

This house was huge; biggest I’ve been in so far. Even more confusing than the last, but I suppose that comes with living in other people houses. It’s just too expensive to rent motels while backpacking, even though you could be rooming with axe murders.

            After checking my own window, I checked the closest room to mine. I knocked first and waited for a reply. When no one answered, I realized how late it was and immediately felt bad for knocking. I moved on till I found a room I could check, one with an open door, and entered after making sure no one was sleeping inside it.  I found the source of the disturbance and quickly moved to remedy it. I closed the shutter before taking a lasting glance at the atmosphere outside. I knew east Russia got foggy this time of the year, but tonight was eerily dense. As I was admiring the thickness of the fog, I realized that there were no cars parked in the massive drive way, where previously that evening there had been at least 4 or 5. The absence of the cars sent a sharp chill down my spine.

            Suddenly, I heard a crash. Not a small crash like when glass breaks, but the foundation of the house shuttered at the core. My mind could not comprehend what could have caused that vibration. Was it an explosion? I raced downstairs to try to find someone or something to get help, but the first floor was completely empty. I felt alone. I might have been alone. But deep down, I knew I wasn’t.

I stared at the front door for a while. Frozen in fear, I couldn’t decide whether to leave, go back up stairs, or search the house more. As I stood there pondering, the decision was made for me.

            “Hello, is anybody there?” I called out hopelessly. I was answered by another large crash, impossibly larger than the last.

At this point I knew I had to leave. Someone or something was causing this noise and I wasn’t about to stick around to find out. I ran upstairs as quickly as I could. It was after I fell that I realized running up an old set of stairs in the dark is not the smartest of ideas.

As I laid there slightly concussed, I saw a dark blurry figure come towards me. The dark figure divided into multiple figures until dark blurry shadows were all that surrounded me. Stricken with fear, I passed out and let fate decide the outcome.