It's There

“I’m telling you, he’s right there. I don’t know why you’re not freaked out about this!” Lilly said, poking her eyes through the venetian blinds and stretching them wide with her fingers.

Across the street in this dark and chilly night was a man whose stature was unfazed with a presence chilling to the bone.

“He’s been standing there for the past hour and hasn’t moved an inch.” Her eyes ever so mused by the man and kept trained on his silhouetted shape underneath the dim light post. “It’s like he’s planning something.” She bit her nail and shook her head with contempt. “I should go out there and say something.”

“Relax, babe.” Her boyfriend Charles shut the blinds in front of Lilly, causing her to flinch and back away. “You’re just overreacting. Maybe he’s just waiting for a late ride.”

“Overreacting?” she breathed and crossed her arms. “I can’t think of anything else this guy would want.” she shrugged her shoulders, “I mean—he might be playing some cruel, unusual, prank on us, but I just don’t want to risk it.”

She passed Charles, swiftly by the living room couch, and darted into the kitchen. “I think this man has a plan and I’m not about to let him rob this house, or kill us, tonight.” She hurried toward the kitchen counter and opened the knife drawer. Her hand shuffled through the stacked knives to find the sharpest one.

Charles, unfazed, thought it was best to laugh it off and lean on the kitchen counter from the other side of his, now estranged, girlfriend. “You got to relax, babe.” He smiled and shrugged one of his shoulders. “At this point, I don’t know which I’m more afraid of. The man—or my girlfriend flipping out about the man—”

“I told you,” she scrambled through the knives, “I took my pills already, so quit messing around.” She pulled out the largest knife out the drawer and slammed it onto the counter. “And, for your information, I’m not crazy.” She slammed the drawer shut. “Just cautious.”

Charles gave off a cheeky smile and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t think keeping a knife around you is the safest thing to do. Like, what if you accidentally stab me, or what if you stab the both of us, huh?”

“It’s safer than whatever that freak has in store for us.”

Charles lifted his hands off the kitchen counter and waved them in the air. “Alright," he gave in, "but if I find a lick of blood on my shirt, you’re going to owe me another one.”

“Alright.” Lilly pulled the knife off the table and dashed for the front door. She turned the knob to pull the door open, but Charles swooped in and shut the door. Lilly fazed by what just happened said, “What are you doing?” She waved the knife around in his face. “Step aside so I could go kill this jerk!”

“Jesus, Lily.” Charles backed off. “Watch where you point that thing!" he rubbed his mouth with worry. "Are you seriously still considering this?”

“Yes!” she gestured to Charles. “Now back off before I prick you with this knife.”

Charles fretted his lips, closed his eyes, and sulked his head into his chest. “Give it to me.” he stomped.

“What?”

Charles smiled and stared deeply into Lilly’s eyes. “Give me the knife—I’ll go ahead and deal with this guy. But only because it’s better if I hold the knife, unlike the one who waves it around like a lunatic.”

“It’s called intimidation.”

“Sure, whatever.”

Lilly inspected the knife before handing it to Charles, who snatched onto the hilt and held the knife up in front of him.

“Remember what I said.” he pointed. “You're going to owe me another one.” He gave one quick smirk before reaching the knob and opening the door. “I’ll be back.” Charles walked through the door and shut it close, leaving Lilly to herself.

She crossed her arms once more and tucked her lower lip into her mouth. An ever-looming threat was on her mind, and she couldn’t shake the feeling. Instead, she thought about all the terrible things that could happen. No—That wasn’t a good idea, especially when her boyfriend’s life was on the line. She should’ve been the one to confront the man, not him. Lilly rushed to the venetian blinds and opened them wide to see the whole view of the street. The night was still young with her patio muted with a faint yellow hue. Her eyes strained at the row of dark houses around her own. But something was off. The man from across the street had vanished. Her eyes widened, as she scanned the area for any signs of Charles or the man. That’s when things started to feel off. To her right, outside on the patio, was Charles holding out his knife. The knife twitched with his hand, as his body stood motionless by the second.

The eerie silence outside was disturbed by the sound of crickets chirping a harmonious tune, as Charles swayed his body back and forth with the summer wind. Worried, Lilly lifted her finger up to the window and tapped it to get his attention. Charles turned his head ever so slightly to Lilly when the patio lights popped, engulfing Charles into darkness. But he wasn't there. His complete existence vanished when the lights popped.

Panicked, Lilly rushed to the door and opened it to see the patio floor scattered with glass. The lustrous glass shined on its sharp ends back into the house. Lilly winced at the glass, not wanting to cut her feet, as she carefully poked her head through the door. The crickets chirped. And chirped. Then silence—No sound, no crickets, only her rasped breath that pumped through her throat and played with the sound of her heartbeat. She gained the courage to say something—Anything. “Charles…?”

A croak leaped through the patio, as Lilly backed away and slammed the door shut. Her hands quickly turned the dial of the lock and fumbled with the chain link lock above. She pushed herself off the door with a rattled body that stumbled toward the couch.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Lilly hurtled out a scream and kept her eyes trained at the venetian blinds. Blinds that rattled with each tap.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The living room lights flickered and buzzed. Lilly pleaded for the power not to shut off. She begged for it to stay for just one more second, but it wasn’t enough. The living room lights shut off, along with the other rooms in the hallway, taking her deep into the abyss.

Lilly jumped at the scuttling down the hallway. Everything around her was an object, as she patted the living room couch to guide her toward a weapon. She pulled out her phone from her pocket and shook it to turn the light on. She scanned the light across the living room in search of a weapon she could use. But right when she thought about going back to the knife drawer, a twisted face peeked its head out before vanishing out of sight into the dining room. Lilly kept the light trained at the white corner where she expected the face to pop up again.

The scuttled sound welcomed itself again into the hallway, but this time she could see what was moving around. At the long end of the hallway, Charles stood there, staring deeply at a picture hung in front of him.

“Charles?” Lilly spoke. She slowly walked into the hallway and kept the light trained on Charles’s back.

Charles hummed a soft tune, like an old lullaby. His body twitched and shook with each note. Light detached itself from the front of his body and emitted a harsh shadow that spread far into the room next to him.

“Come on, Charles,” she peeked at the other open doors leading into other rooms with their own void, “this isn’t funny.” She glanced into the living room, then back at Charles, who jerked his head a bit. She stopped in the middle of the hall and backed off, believing that someone, or something, was lurking in the other rooms. “Charles?” She licked her lips and shimmied a bit closer to him. “Babe? What happened? Are you alright?”

That’s when Charles stopped twitching, as if his movements responded to her comments. His body was still. So perfectly still. Lilly wanted to scream but couldn’t help but back off instead. His posture was as straight as a stick with his arms shot down to his sides. Charles turned his head ever so slightly. Lilly kept the light pointed at Charles and gasped. Then his head stopped turning. Lilly listened closely to the sound of her breath.

Charles snapped his entire back down to the back of his feet and showed the blood scattered across his face. A face plastered with an unruly grin with bleached skin. Pupils dilated beyond humanly possible, as he stretched his arms towards Lilly and said, “You owe me another shirt!” he laughed viciously.

Lilly placed a hand over her mouth and gagged. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to leave and never come back. She backed away from the grisly sight and stared down at the floor. But she could only go so far. If it wasn’t for the figure behind her blocking the way. Lilly gasped and looked up to see Charles staring right at her. Charles smiled and screeched while running towards her. The phone dropped to the floor as Lilly’s screams were drowned out by the ear-splitting croaks.