The Shadow in the Window

Jess finished unpacking the last box and sat on the edge of the bed to rest. The past few weeks had taken a toll on her physically and emotionally and she just wanted to rest, there was just too much to do and too little time.

The breakup with Sara went well and they both felt the time had come to move on, but it still hurt. Things like this were never easy, but sometimes necessity drives the changes in our lives and this was one of those times. They were growing apart, either through their careers or in what they both wanted in life and it was already apparent in their day to day. So, Jess started the hard conversation she knew they both needed to have but neither wanted to bring to the table. What hurt the most, was just how easy it was for both of them to walk away after 6 years together.

The move wasn’t easy. The the high rent market and a lack of decent, available places had Jess looking for two weeks with no luck. When Jess found this one bedroom flat near downtown, she thought it was a miracle. She was in walking distance to her office, restaurants and nightlife, which made it easier on the budget with no cab or bus fares. Rent was a bit higher than she planned, but the top floor flat came furnished and was in great shape for the age of the building. Moving all her belongings and setting up new services didn’t take much, it was the four story climb that wore her out. The old elevator had not been working for a couple of years according to the landlord and repairs were beyond hope for the foreseeable future.

Sleep had not come easy in the past week. The old building made noises that she wasn’t used to. Pipes groaning, floorboards and walls creaking. All of it was a bit unsettling to Jess and her mind was in overdrive from the events of the past month. There was something else too. Something Jess could not quite put her finger on. Late at night she’d wake and swear she could smell the fireplace burning, only to find it dark. Jess had not used it herself and it was perfectly clean, though she knew it could be the other tenants fireplaces she was smelling. After all, the place was a bit drafty. The smell was just so strong.

She rose from the bed and gathered up the remaining boxes to take downstairs. The sun was setting and she wanted to shower and grab dinner downtown at her favorite diner, Georgie’s. Jess broke the boxes down and placed them in the recycle container at the end of the driveway, dusted off her hands and started back toward the house. The hairs on her neck stood at attention as she glanced up at her front windows and saw the sheer curtain fall as if someone were holding it open.

“Nope. I’m overly tired and I’m seeing things. Probably the AC kicking in and blowing the curtain,” Jess said to herself. “A hot shower and a warm meal will clear the cobwebs.”

As she reached the stairs, Jess took two at a time and made the climb to her door quick and with little effort. Opening the door, her stomach growled in anticipation of the promised meal down at Georgie’s. Stripping down on her way to the shower, Jess turned it on hot and climbed in. Immediately, the aches and the stress seemed to melt away under the hot water.

***

By the time Jess left the house, dark had already settled in and the stars were bright in the sky. She could see the glow from the downtime skyline over the trees as she walked to Georgie’s. Main street was lined with people already out for the night’s adventures and as she rounded 2nd Avenue and Main, Georgie’s sign was visible on the corner.

Several people lined the counter top seating with more in the booths that lined the windows. Jess liked to sit at a window booth to watch the people busy meandering along 2nd Avenue and tonight would be no different.

“Eve’ning Jess!” Sherry cried as Jess walked in the double doors. Sherry had been waiting here at Georgie’s for as long as Jess could remember. Probably longer. Sherry was mid 60’s, still wore her hair in a beehive, used a little more makeup than Jess thought was necessary, but she was the sweetest person and always had a warm smile for her customers.

“Back at ya Sherr’!” Jess said.

“Booth by the window love?”

“You guessed it. I’ll also have my usual for dinner if you don’t mind.”

“One Country fried chicken with green beans and mashed, coming up. Sweet tea?” Sherry asked.

“Yes ma’am, and a slice of cherry pie too, if you please.”

“Coming right up!”

The plate arrived within 10 minutes and Jess ate it hungrily. The little diner filled up quickly as the evening moved along but Jess was busy watching the people out her window while she sipped tea. She lost track of time and nodded off one or twice, ‘resting her eyes’ as her dad would have called it.

“Poor dear, you look like you’ve not slept in weeks,” Sherry whispered as she picked up the check from the table.

“That’s about right. Three if I’m being honest. Not good sleep anyway. Haven’t slept decent since I left Sara’s. Add to that, this old house is good at keeping you up at all hours with its creaking and moaning,” Jess responded.

“Well, you see to it that you get some sleep soon. Never does anyone good walking around in a daze.”

“Heard that. I’ll do my best Sherry. Thank you for the food. It was wonderful as always.”

“I just deliver it love. Georgie does all the cooking, but you are ever so welcome!”

Jess gave Sherry a hug and slipped an extra five dollar bill in her apron as was the custom. She never told Sherry she did this little act of gratuity and didn’t intend to. Sherry would never allow it if she knew.

As Jess stepped out the diner doors, she felt a new chill in the air, uncommon for this time of year, but a welcome change from the latest heat wave they’d had in the past month. The drop in temp wasn’t much, but it would make her walk back home much more pleasant.

A block from home, the wind picked up enough that the leaves started to spin in little whirlwinds along the street. Streetlights seemed to flicker in the swaying branches of the trees lining the sidewalks and parts of the neighborhood seemed to be actually without power. Thirty feet from her front door, Jess could see the lights on in some of the resident floors, but her floor was dark. The moon was bright enough for her to see that the curtain was pulled back again, and this time, something was looking back.

***

Jess climbed the four stories slower this time. She was in no rush to meet whoever might be in her flat and she was worried there could be others in the stairwell looking out for the tenant to come home. No one was outside the door. The door wasn’t open nor did it appear to have been damaged. She pulled her keys out and quietly turned the lock.

The door creaked louder than she remembered. Nothing stirred, not a sound. Jess walked further in, glanced at the window and saw the curtain back in place. She flipped the switch on the wall and got no response. Power still out. Using her phone, she turned on the light and surveyed the room. Nothing but furniture could be seen, but the creaky old room was deathly silent. The quietest Jess had heard it since moving in. Almost deafening.

Thinking better of it after, she closed the door with her foot, not taking her eye off the dimly lit room. Creaking behind her, the door quietly latched shut.

“Hello?” Silence.

She walked the perimeter of the flat with the phone lighting what little it could. Nothing out of place, no signs of anything out of the ordinary. Just her own personal space the way she left it.

“I’m losing my mind,” she said aloud to no one. “I really need some rest or I’m going to go bonkers.”

She rummaged through her dresser to find a night gown and went into the bathroom to change. Suddenly the power came back on and with it, the radio she was blasting while getting ready to leave for dinner.

“What the hell!” she screamed. Heart racing, she grabbed the radio and shut it off. She sat on the toilet seat to catch her breath and surveyed what little she could see outside the bathroom door. After a few minutes, she walked the flat again to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary, now that she had power and lights to show what were only shadows with her phone light.

Convinced everything was as normal as it could be, she turned out the lights and laid down for what would hopefully be a decent nights rest. As she started drifting off to sleep, she noticed the moon had started shining in the front window, bringing with it some calm, knowing she could see the flat bathed in the soft glow. Within minutes, Jess was out cold and finally resting.

***

What woke her first, was the burning smell, of that she was almost certain. The thing that brought her fully awake though, was the shadow she saw standing in the corner of the room, just outside of her peripheral view. She couldn’t make out any features, but the eyes glowed like the reflection from a cats eyes, small slits like razors.

Jess tried to reach for her phone and could not move. Her eyes could scan the room, but her body was unresponsive, like being totally paralyzed. From the angle of the moon’s glow cast through the front window, she guessed maybe two or three hours had passed since she drifted off to sleep.

The shadow thing in the corner was now in the dead center of the room, just outside the reach of the moon’s light. She never heard or saw the shadow move. One second it was in the far corner, the next it moved over thirty feet to close the distance halfway to Jess’ bed.

Jess tried to scream, but nothing came out. As the terror mounted, tears streamed from the corner of her eyes.

“God help me!” she thought.

At this, the shadow made a sound that sounded like hissing laughter and was now at the foot of the bed. A long, spindly black finger with a nail as black as pitch ran across the top of her foot, leaving a small trail of blood behind it. If she could have winced in pain, Jess would have, but the paralysis was still holding her hostage.

“Wake up, wake up! This is just a dream! This isn’t real!” she screamed in her head.

Now the shadow thing grinned with a mouth full of twisted sharp teeth, covered in what Jess could only guess was mold. The corners of it’s mouth nearly stretching to the corner of it’s eyes. Drool started dripping from its black lips, on to Jess’ scratched foot and the pain was excruciating. Jess wept in waves and her vision clouded before finally passing out.

***

Jess woke to a banging at her door and someone calling out asking if everything was OK. Immediately, she responded screaming at the top of her lungs. The door bust open with two police officers and six firemen clamoring through the threshold, flashlights like beacons of hope scanning the room.

“Ma’am, you are OK. We’re here to help. Just tell us what happened,” the first officer said, hand ready on the grip of his holstered gun.

“Are you here alone?” the second officer asked.

Jess just shuddered and began to sob. The firemen approached cautiously and wrapped her in a blanket. One of the paramedics began telling her that they were going to bring her downstairs while the police searched the premises and for her safety. Jess heard none of this. All she could see was that hideous smile in the darkness.

Downstairs the paramedics had Jess in the ambulance keeping her warm and asking her if she could tell anyone anything about what happened. Jess just kept staring up at her front window, silent. She winced when the paramedic started treating the long scratch on her foot.

“That’s a nasty scratch. I’m sorry if I hurt you. Looking at how deep it is, you will likely need stitches so we will have to take you to the hospital. It almost looks like a burn? Can you tell me how you got this? Did someone do this to you?” the paramedic said, patient and soothing.

“Something in my house,” Jess whispered.

“Someone was in your home?” the paramedic asked.

“Something. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t human.”

The paramedic stopped wrapping Jess’ foot for a moment and looked from Jess to the other firemen standing nearby. The fire lieutenant, nodded at the paramedic and stepped off to the police officers. Jess could hear them talking softly, but could clearly make out the conversation.

“She said someone attacked her in the house. Well, to be clear, she said she didn’t think it was human. It’s a pretty nasty scratch so we’ll need to move her to Sacred Heart to have stitches and a doc look at it,” the lieutenant stated.

“OK. I’ll have some more questions for her when she settles so I’ll meet you guys there in a bit. We need to do one more sweep of the apartment to be sure,” the officer who was first through the door replied.

“Did you guys find anything? Door was solid so no forced entry there. The only other way for anyone in would have been through the windows,” the lieutenant said.

“None of it makes sense. Windows were all locked tight. Landlord said they heard loud scraping noises earlier and then called because of the smell. Like a fire but very strong. No smoke, just the smell,” the officer said.

“When I spoke to the landlord after we came down with the tenant, she mentioned that the whole place was like 100 degrees, so she assumed there was a fire. I could smell the burning too. A little downstairs, but it overwhelmed me when we reached the top floor and bust down the door. Strange thing is, it wasn’t like a normal wood or house fire. More like a chemical fire, sulfur or something like that,” the lieutenant offered.

“Brimstone,” the officer whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“My partner said it smelled like Brimstone to him. Do you know what that is?”

“Ha, haven’t heard that in a long time. Church studies. Fire and Brimstone. Biblical destruction. Brimstone is basically what we’d call sulfur today,” the lieutenant laughed.

“What does the residue from burning sulfur look like do you know? Is it something like this?”

The officer produced a small evidence bag and handed it to the lieutenant. The evidence bag contained a few pebbles of yellowish-green stones, some burnt or charred from brown to black, darker than coal. There was also some black oily sap like substance.

“That looks like particles of sulfur and residue. Where did you get this?” the lieutenant asked.

“In her flat. There was a trail of it leading from the fireplace to the foot of her bed. Not a trail, a wide path is more like it really. Footprints in parts of it, some of the prints leading to the front window and some of it on one curtain. No fingerprints on the curtain or in the footprints, but I’m getting a forensics team up here to really do some digging.”

“Did you find anyone hiding in the flat?”

“Nothing, but we will.”

***

Around 3 AM, Jess was admitted to the hospital at Sacred Heart for observation. She was still in shock from the nights events and not talking much. The cut on her foot baffled the doctors. They said it looked like a surgical cut with some kind of wide blade or razor, but it was so hot that it cauterized the wound around the cut from excessive heat. The doctors didn’t need to stitch it, but instead treated it like a deep burn wound.

They gave Jess sedatives to ease her mind and allow her to sleep. She never thought she would be able to sleep again. The nurse pulled all the curtains and darkened the room before shutting the door. Jess could hear the soft hum of the machines around her and started to drift off. She didn’t know if she would dream and hoped she wouldn’t. As her eyes began to close, she smelled something burning and swore she could see something sitting in the corner of the room.