Don't Look Out the Window

It is out there now, as it has been for many nights before. I spotted it as I stared out the window again tonight, and so I am writing this in the hopes that if you should read this, you will do what I should have done. If you suddenly wake up at night, do not look out the window. You will feel drawn to, your dog might be staring out, growling, or barking and you might think it is just some harmless creature of the night, such as a fox or bear and you decide it would be a perfect chance to catch sight of these often-elusive creatures of nature. No matter what reason you can think of you must not look outside. The reason I am telling you this, is to warn you and hope that you can avoid the fate that I fear is soon to befall me.

For, my friends, I did look out the window. Now, I fear that I will not have long left and so before the end I have written this and sent it across the internet in the hopes of keeping others safe from them.

Let me start at the beginning, I live in a no-name suburban street in the middle of casual middle America. Everyone has a fence, a yard, and a front lawn we spend once a year making utterly immaculate to win some sort of bragging rights on the street. Everyone knows each other, and it is a rather close community. There is the neighbor always peeking over your fence to talk how you are doing. The one lady with the thirty cats, and the collection of middle school brats who seem to make it their mission to cause mayhem around town; only to be punished when their actions finally catch up to them.

In short it was a rather peaceful community, with nothing strange or out of the ordinary that would garner attention. We didn't even have a local monster or legend ot scary tourists or young children to obedience. At least, that was what I thought at first. I wish I still thought that. There is a scratching at the door now, I have to be quick.

To be brief, I had lived my whole life in this community and waws the strongest skeptic of the supernatural you could find. But now, I am not so sure. For several nights, I had found myself waking up in the middle of the night, with my dog growling and staring at the window. At first, I passed this off at him hearing a fox, or owl or whatever else a dog might hear or smell that would cause them to start growling and barking. At first, I brushed it off, did my best to ignore him and go back to sleep. For a while it worked, but the longer it kept up the harder I found it to ignore and soon was starting to lose my temper with my dog.

I tried putting him in his crate, but that only caused him to scratch at the bars and whine. I thought he had to use the bathroom, but whenever I tried to take him outside, he would suddenly tuck his tail between his legs and pull back against the leash; even managing to slip out of his collar and shoot back upstairs to the bedroom where I found him under the bed. That confused me, as my dog is a full-grown Bull Mastiff; what could make a dog of his size cower and hide? I decided then to try and spot what it could be that was outside my home. At first, I installed some cameras at key spots around my house. The front door, the back door. Near the shed and by the garage looking down over my driveway.

When I watched the first night of recordings, I was expecting some sort of animal, like a bear or maybe even a coyote; something that might explain my dogs’ reactions. But all I saw was nothing, nothing that could explain why my dog would be barking at the window and why he refused to leave the house. I was at a lost, but with no other course of action kept up the recordings; telling myself that I should see something. Eventually I did.

While I was staring at the video feed of the cameras, I noticed something in a corner of the feed, just out of view of the camera feed. It was so small, just a slight change in the video to show that something had passed through the camera feed to be recorded; but it was too small to see. In fact, it was perhaps a miracle that I even managed to spot the movement. As I stared at the short, three seconds of footage, I began to realize that the movement was coming from an angle that was not covered by cameras.

It was coming from near my house, more specifically it was coming from the area of my house where my bedroom was. Which meant, it had to be noticeable from the window that my dog was always starting out of. I felt a slight chill, and some part of my mind told me to just ignore it and forget the whole assorted mess. I wish to God I had listened to that part of my mind.

Despite it, I was intent on figuring out the mystery of this strange event that was disturbing my sleep every night. So, on the next night when I woke up and heard my dog give the telltale growl and short bark as he stared out the window. Tearing myself from the covers of my bed, I stomped over to the window and stared out into the night to see what exactly it was that was causing all this fuss.

I stared, unsure if I could trust my eyes. I rubbed at the several times, and even pinched myself to see if I was still sleeping. But I wasn't, and I was sure I was not delusional. But I honestly could not explain what it was I was seeing.

It was a figure, I can't say it was a human, because the proportions were utterly wrong for a human. Its limbs were too long and spindly and bent at strange angles that would be impossible for anyone with bones to bend them at. It did look vaguely humanoid, with two legs and arms and what seemed like a head but that was where the similarities ended. It was too dark to get a good idea of the creature’s features, but its visage alone was unnatural. Worse was what it was doing.

It was dancing.

Not like the dance you or I might know, but the way it moved its long limbs about and moved along the lawn could only be described as dancing of a sort. I heard my dog whine, as if sensing I had seen what It had and now decided that he did not have to put up a brave front anymore, digging under the covers and starting at me. I should have followed, buried us under the covers and prayed for the sun to rise; but I couldn't.

I couldn't move, as I was utterly transfixed by the movements of this strange creature that was dancing on my lawn. Its very appearance was frightening, but its movements were almost enchanting in a way. I found myself leaning forward into the glass, to watch it closer when I noticed that it had stopped. Not only that it was standing straight and still, and what passed for its head seemed to be tilted up, staring up at me.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of dread and I ducked away from the window and dove onto the bed, hiding under the covers and clinging to my dog. My mind went a mile a minute as I tried to figure out what it was, I had seen, and wondering if it had spotted me. It must have, no maybe it was just finishing its strange dance and that was how it always ended. It was too dark, and all the lights were off in my house for anyone to see through the windows.

That is what I told myself the rest of the night. And when I saw the creature again, staring up at my window, I told myself that again. It was only on the third night, that I finally had to admit that it had seen me; and knew that I had seen it. For several other nights this went on, with me waking up in the middle of the night only to find myself staring out the window to the creature, which only seemed to grow clearer and more pronounced in the dark with each passing night.

It was horrible, with skin stretched out along its entire being with bulging masses of what must be its joints. Its skin looked pale and corpse like and its face was nothing more than a pale bald orb with a small slit along that must have been its mouth. It had no eyes yet seemed to be able to see me none the less. And tonight, I noticed its claws. Long, sharp and caked in blood.

I know now that this creature, this thing, whatever it is, is a predator. Beguiling us to stare out the window because that is the only way it can catch its prey. It must be seen, before it can hunt. And the more it is seen the faster it can. It’s torn through the front door now; I can hear it padding through my home to the stairs. I don't think I can run away, even if I jumped out the window, so before the end I have decided to write this warning to anyone who suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to look out the window.

Don't do it.