The Creature of the Night

        A pair of haunting, beady eyes stare out from behind the glass, fixated on the moving mass on the ground below. The window remains grimy, coated in a thick layer of dust, dirt and mould. Tonight, the moon cowers away behind quivering clouds, just as unnerved by the creature as the man is. Whilst there is no moonlight, there is a dim, strip of light being ejected from a broken lamppost, and it’s enough to cast an eerie glow on the creature below.

               Under the dreary light, the pair of eyes at the window can see the creature is masked, draped entirely in black, hovering around the garden. Searching for something, the window figure acknowledges, before using his fist to wipe clean the slate of glass.

               Squeak.

               The sound reverberates harshly into the night. In an instant, the figure down below ceases what it’s doing. No longer scouring the garden, it slowly turns around, taking an eternity to finally face the window. In an effort to unmask the creature, the figure at the window stands on straight legs, ignoring the pounding of his heart in his chest. His breathing lies in-between his ears, making his head swell in fear. A single droplet of sweat trickles down his forehead, resting daintily on his lip, until a trembling hand wipes it off. The sweat trickles off of his fingers and swamps to the floor, glistening as it falls, before it finally becomes part of the rotting wooden floor. Using that same hand, the man slicks back his tousled hair, becoming more anxious by the second.

               As the figure in the garden looks up, the man anticipates what could be behind the cloak. Is it a dog? No it can’t be a dog, it’s far too stocky. It must be a human. Exhaling nervously, he lets out a shaky laugh, wondering whether this is all in his imagination. The man turns away, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over him, as his bed begins to call his name. Just as he places a hand on the doorknob to enter his room, a gentle patter from the window pulls him out of his tired trance.

               Eyes trailing along the corridor, the man squints into the dark, unable to make out anything without the light. As he steps lightly towards the window, he peers out into the garden again.

               Nothing.

               The creature has all but vanished. All that is left is a gaping hole in his garden. Blasted thing, the man curses. I’ve only just paid for the garden to be done. As he looks closer, he realises the hole isn’t a tiny one; in fact, it’s enormous. Definitely big enough to place a grown man in…

               Wait, where did that thought come from?

               Alarmed by the intrusive thoughts circling in his head like sharks, he twists away from the window, when a thump tells him something has landed on it.

               Startled, the man leaps back when the window reveals the creature, clinging onto the panes with an unsettling excitement. The creature is hooded, and as the man stares closer into the hood, he is mesmerised. Grotesque but beautiful, the man thinks. Pools of tar are his eyes, and his face is sullen, shrunken, and covered in sparse tufts of brown fluff. Lips thin, crinkled like paper, a nose that doesn’t seem to be visible, and fingers as thin as carrots. These fingers taunt him, tap, tap, tapping on the glass. As the creature remains at the window, the taste of blood and rotting flesh adorns the man’s tongue, and he wonders where it is coming from.

Fascinated, but still petrified, by the creature, the man marches down the corridor, an air of authority following him. The tension is palpable throughout the house, the silence masking the terror he feels within. He’s an emperor, charging in to claim his territory. Grabbing his thick, woollen coat, he throws his arms in, and clasps up the buttons. He fumbles with them, but eventually manages to do it up. Taking a solid flashlight from the kitchen drawer, and enclosing the keys in his hand, he makes no delays. He unlocks the door, staggers out of the house and is swallowed up by the night.

Each step he takes, a cloud of thunder follows. The ground below him is already saturated from the torrential rain they already had, and the ground rumbles and grumbles as continual strikes of lightning flood the sky with brightness. Water creeps up the man’s leg as he races around the side of the house, desperate to see the creature up close.

Upon arriving at the window, he gazes up at it, horrified – and a little bit disappointed – that the mysterious creature has, once again, vanished. The rain flattens his hair against his head, plastering it to his face, and resentment seeps out of his pores. Haven’t I been toyed with enough?

A screeching signals to him that the ghastly creature has returned. Bounding along the roof and leaping down into the swamp, the water cascades over him, a tsunami. Now drenched from his hair to his toes, his clothes cling to his figure, unwilling to part from him. He’s paralysed, watching in trepidation as the creature ploughs through the moss and the weeds. The creature travels closer and closer, until there are a mere few inches between them. The man lets out a clouded breath, the tension between them so thick that it could be chopped with a knife. A few seconds of tranquillity pass… before chaos erupts.

The creature cries out, like a wolf howling to the full moon, and speckles of saliva are flung onto the man’s face. Using his hands, the man scoops it off of his face, slinging it beside him. Breathing haggard, the creature begins to move forward, excruciatingly slow. Its bony fingers clutch the man’s arm, and he can’t escape. Throwing another cry into the night, the creature begins to feast upon the man, swallowing every last morsel of him with a gulp, the man’s cries drained out by the clamping of the creature’s jaw.

When the man wakes up the next day, buried deep in the covers of his quilt in a pool of his own sweat, his eyes become accustomed to the blinding light that is coming in through the window. Next to him, his wife continues to sleep peacefully, albeit quieter this morning; she normally snores, making it impossible for him to sleep. Smiling, the man plants a small kiss on her head, unable to see her face through her mousy brown hair.

Letting out a sigh, he swings his feet up out of the bed, and, placing his feet daintily upon the floor, he takes timid steps. Out of the room, to the end of the corridor, where he was watching the creature the night before. As if frightened it might still be there, he cautiously walks over to the window, steeling himself for what he might see.

Nothing.

Letting out a relieved gasp, he leans his weight against the window, smudging the velvety dust across his cheek. Taking another peek from behind closed eyelids, his eyes grow mortified as he clocks the hole that still remains untouched, in his garden. So it wasn’t a dream, like he’d hoped. Suddenly, a cool breeze sifts through the house, and the sun begins to evaporate. Stunned, the man takes a step backwards, shaking his head as the nightmare continues on.

“No,” he whispers into the darkness, unaware of the black shadow that is looming closer to him, crawling across the ceiling to close the distance between them. As the creature stalks towards the man unknowingly, the foul stench of raw meat and earthy soil surrounds his nostrils, flaring at the aroma. Just as he’s about to alert his wife, those thin, scaly fingers enclose his face, immobilising him.

Those fingers claw at his face, leaving painful sears along his cheekbones. Blood pours out, encasing the carpet in a fine flood of crimson. No sound escapes the man’s lips, as he is hoisted up, as light as a feather, and transported along the ceiling. Even as the colour drains from the man’s face, his eyes never once leave the hooded beast. A feeling of euphoria takes over his body, as he succumbs to the powers of the creature. His eyes flutter as he watches the sun rise, all of the light being distributed to the world again. The last thing he sees is the soft hues of the sunset, before his eyes are forcefully rammed shut, and he allows his wife to control him once again.