Never Let the Lights Go Out

Dim street. Warm house. Streetlamp. Broken glass. Ghosts, minds, shadows. The silhouette saw it all and knew that nothing had changed. Everything was always the same here at night. No one knew that tonight would be different.

The silhouette dashed in front of one of the curtain-covered windows along the street, so fast it could qualify as a mere figment. A slight tremor of cold anger shivered up the silhouette’s spine. It did not want to be a figment. It wanted to run into the street and gleefully laugh as people screamed… but no. Not tonight. Intimidation was not going to work tonight.

The silhouette made its way down the street, sticking to the darkest corners. It was almost impossible to tell where the darkness ended and the silhouette began. No one would ever know it was there. It was sure of that. People’s eyes didn’t like to roam. They were too afraid of what they might find if they looked closer. Normally, this would aggravate the silhouette more than anything, but tonight, it could use this fact to its advantage.

The silhouette suddenly halted and looked up to the roof of the apartment it was standing in front of. Just as it expected, there was a camera mounted there, glaring at the silhouette with contempt, flashing red eyes. The silhouette dashed to a dark corner just out of the camera’s view and started to climb up the scaffolding bolted to the side of the building. A construction project left to rust long ago.

The silhouette reached the roof and bounded with unearthly speed and silence over to the camera. It paused for a second, then cocked its head, like a curious dog watching a squirrel. Then, it leaped forward and with surprising strength, it gripped the camera with one hand and smashed it into a million pieces. It knew smashing the camera rather than killing the battery could give it away, and that it’s cold anger may have betrayed its cover. After a second, though, it shook its head. The humans were too ignorant to see the truth. They would loop in circles around it for days, but would never be able to figure it out. It was sure of that now.

The silhouette jumped silently off the roof and made its way to the back of the apartment. Here, the curtains on the first floor window were slightly cracked, letting a stream of warm light shine onto the long dead grass. The silhouette cautiously peered inside, trying to find its target. The room had a small, rickety table with three dark chairs placed neatly around it. But to the silhouette, the room might as well have been empty. Its target was not there. Yet. It waited patiently, knowing it had many hours before dawn. After a long while, they finally walked in.

She was a young, college-aged woman with plain brown hair, light brown eyes, and a stack of books that seemed to be permanently glued to her. She settled down in one of the chairs and started working on something. This person was always working on something.

The silhouette had a sudden rush of something start at its head and come all the way down to its feet. A feeling? Guilt? Anger? It couldn’t tell. It didn’t much care, anyway. It didn’t matter. She was too Aware to be left alone, whatever it may have felt.

The silhouette sat there for hours, watching the woman work. Time ticked slowly by, and the silhouette started to grow impatient. It wanted to start now, but it knew she would sense its presence if it moved now. Better to wait. Always better to wait.

Finally, after a long, long while, the woman moved. She shut her books and stacked her things into a neat pile once more. Rubbing her eyes, she left the books on the table and wandered away. The creature sprang up, showing no signs of tiredness or fatigue. It bounded over to the door to the basement in the back of the apartment and creaked it open. It could sense the mind above it was too tired to be Aware. Now was its only chance. Now. Tonight. It made its way over to the electrical box and stuck its fingers in the keyhole on the door to it. It came unlocked instantly. It reached its unnaturally long fingers into the box, and flipped all the switches to OFF. Now that it was done, the silhouette knew it didn’t have much time.

It bounded out of the basement and went to check the first floor window. The lights were off. It quickly bounded over to the back door on all fours and unlocked it with its finger like it did with the electrical box. A second later, it was in the house. It bounded up and over to the bedroom, opening the door without caution. It knew it won. It’s done. It’s OVER. OVER. OVER.

It pounced. She just managed to scream before she was silenced.

It sliced her and took her blood, spelling words onto the walls…

NEVER LET THE LIGHTS GO OUT.

For the first time in years, the silhouette smiled. Faint rays of moonlight illuminated the pointed teeth, the long, deadly fingers, the terrifying white eyes. Its true form. It showed this form to very few, but just enough for it to be known, to be feared. It loved the taste of the fear.

It sat and listened as sirens made their way down the street. As the police cars pulled up, the silhouette smiled one last time, and disappeared into the night once more.

***

Dr. Lawrence paced in a tight circle just inside the police caution tape, trying to piece the clues together. None of this made sense to him, or to anyone else on this case, for that matter.

The girl, Emily Warren Weschester, had been murdered in her own home. She had no determined friends, exes, or enemies of any sort. She was a quiet, observant girl who never did anything to anyone. The way she was killed made no sense either. Despite all the things he’d seen, this particular case gave him chills. The note on the wall. The body, mangled and cut. And the switches in the electrical box had all been turned to OFF. 

It was an odd case indeed. Odd and chilling.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Dr. Lawrence saw some sort of dark shape dart past. His head whipped around, his mind snapped out of his train of thought. He scanned the whole area. The apartment. The street. The sidewalk. But all he could see was a black alley cat sitting on a bench close to the crime scene. He thought that would make him relieved, but it didn't. He shivered, despite the warm sun beating down, and walked back over to the group of other detectives on the other side of the house.

The creature sat on the bench, watching the detective’s fear. It smiled, the fear filling him up like nothing else could. It wished it could be in its true form, but it knew this one would have to work for now.

As the sun climbed ever higher, the creature began to feel discomfort at the heat. It reluctantly turned away from the scene and got up to leave. It had other things to attend to before night fell again.

Night. When the lights go out.