Blasphemous Visitor

I used to think that home security was supposed to improve the quality of life. The new system I installed a few nights ago, though, is giving me nightmares. My sleep is not sound. I toss and turn while imagining a malignant stranger entering the house. So much evil they could do if they caught me or my wife unaware. Our children have grown and moved away. The quiet is no longer welcoming. 

I own a 9mm Beretta, but I’ve only shot it once in the sanitized arena of an air-conditioned gun range. My wife can’t believe that I’d ever shoot anyone in self defense. Too afraid of my own shadow, she says. With the dread of a break-in hanging over my head, my sanity began to slip when the first motion alarm signaled. Camera number six captured something moving inside the garage.

Three Nights Ago

A hot summer breeze moved down our quiet street. Tangled branches of Elm trees swayed above my head as I entered the house from a long day at the particle accelerator, the largest one in existence. We had made incredible breakthroughs recently, so the team was eager to forge ahead. Ensconced in the comfort of my home, I yawned in bed. My wife had already fallen asleep beside me.

A bright light stabbed the darkness in the witching hour of midnight. My cell phone alerted with its first notification from the new security cameras. Movement in the garage. The overly bright screen hurt my eyes as it shone with something unexpected. The gray-colored night-vision video clip replayed a shadowy lump shifting past the Porsche and into a dark and dusty corner. I leapt from bed and shot downstairs. Stopping in the kitchen for a moment, I gathered all the courage I could find and flung the door to the garage open. The gaping maw of black hung before me. I quickly reached through the dark opening and flicked the lights on. Nothing. I checked the large roll-up door just to be safe. It was secure. 

Bounding back upstairs, I made a note to adjust the sensitivity settings of every camera as soon as possible. I couldn't take being woken up every hour at a stray cat or bird setting off the alarm. But still. I wouldn't be able to adjust it too low for fear of missing something larger. Something human with possible ill intent.

Two Nights Ago

A downpour had arrived earlier in the day, and with it came oppressive humidity. An exasperated breath escaped my mouth when I received another late-night alert. This one occurred around one o’clock am. The image portrayed an unusually large and bulbous-like head cast in fuzzy shadow. It sat atop some sort of lumpy midsection. I withdrew further into myself. My wife stirred.

 “What is it, honey?”

The nightlight cast an eerie shadow across her sleepy face. “Nothing,” I said, trying to answer the unanswerable. Were we getting pranked? Unlikely. I looked up the word Poltergeist on the Internet. It did not help.

Last Night

 More sheets of thick rain had transformed our once clean and dry street into a formidable mix of mud and debris. This time, at two o’clock am, I received the most grotesque image yet. The blasphemous visitor’s face showed two opaque eye sockets within a pixelated and misshapen face. The cavernous mouth opened wide to reveal two sets of knife edged teeth and spectral darkness within. 

I entered the damp garage yet again. No visitor showed, but a sudden and swampy wave of heat, like a sickly hot breath, overtook me. My heart palpitated and a cold sweat stung my eyes. I dropped to my knees on the hard concrete surface of the garage floor. Bile rose in my throat. No, it was more like alien words forcing their way from my aching lungs. Strange words retched forth. “Something nameless is coming.” I whispered against my will. A tinge of disgust lingered on my lips.

Tonight

This evening, the rain finally let up to be replaced with a creeping mist about the front yard. I find myself on the edge. A lone individual overflowing with quiet desperation in our small mid-America town. I fear an indescribable madness from beyond the grave has taken me, and I can tolerate no more. 

Moving from the garage and into the house, I lock the kitchen door and slog upstairs. Once again exhausted from overwork at the lab. My 9mm is loaded and rests high on the armoire. As I climb into bed and kill the lights, I can't help but feel an evil presence loom over my soul.

“Did you hear that?” My wife shakes me. It’s three o’clock am. Strained nerves. 

“Please go and check!” She pushes me out of bed. 

I grab the gun on the way down to the kitchen. Before unlocking the door to the garage, I receive another message from my godforsaken security system. Ding! Motion detected. I am forced by curiosity to click the link and discover what’s lurking on the other side of the door.

One hideous eyeball glares back. It fills the frame as an extreme close-up of someone I recognize. I know it intimately as a twisted version of my own piercing stare.

I drop the phone, unlock the deadbolt, and turn the knob. The heavy door moans as I gently crack it open. I whisper into the dark and narrow space. “Wha—what do you want?” 

 A voice comes from the fetid darkness, “you.”

My shaking hand lifts the gun. I push it through the vertical opening and slide my free hand around the doorframe. Frantically, I feel for the light switch with my probing hand.

An icy coldness enfolds my outstretched arm. The gun fires as I’m pulled inside. Consumed in claustrophobic terror, gripped in a savage embrace, I am made to understand the presence within. 

#

I am reclining at the kitchen table. A hot cup of black coffee set before me. My wife is resting comfortably upstairs. When she awakes, it will be impossible for her to ignore the changes that have been wrought within my body; and my soul. Rays of the rising orange sunlight stream through the window. The calm of inner peace spread throughout my rested frame.  

This thing I was so fearful of. We are one now. So long it has waited in the space between spaces. The key to its freedom being advanced enough technology. I have become the opener of an unfathomable gate. There is much to do, I realize. More gates to open. More brethren to invite inside. And I am just the man to do it. I can't wait to share my revelations with the physics team. They will be amazed. Another entertaining thought floats through my awakened mind. I chuckle at the audacity of anyone attempting to break into my home anymore. Let’s just say they will have picked the wrong address.