Dark

As I stared out the window the night was black and wet due to hard rain, growing wind whistled through trees. In between the noise of constant rain I could hear an odd winning and growling sound which was bugging the hell out of me. A sound like this was very unusual in the woods outside. 

I suddenly felt cold and rubbed my arms. The unpleasant, creepy sound was causing strong suspicion, yet there was this weird sensation that there was something more, something that bordered on sinister.

The skin of my arms prickled but still I kept on looking outside the window in the dark to see something, anything; maybe the noise was of some weird animal wandering around in the woods- I kept my focus straight ahead and concentrated hard until my eyes stuck on this one point next to the oak tree, right next to the yard, feeling as if some movement caught my attention and there I concentrated hard to catch that movement something that would prove that my fear was not futile, but all I saw was darkness.

Maybe it’s just a useless fear and nothing more, I closed the blinds on the windows that ran across the rear of the house. Maybe I was jittery because of the thriller books that I keep reading all the time. That was it! The rush of the wind that rattled the branches of the trees and whistled around the corners of the house wasn’t helping. I told myself there was no one hiding in the woods, that whatever I have sensed, or heard must have been some four-footed variety. After all it wasn’t that unlikely to expect unusual creatures in the woods outside.   



He mentally berated himself as he stood in the woods, darkness closing in, and the smell of the swamp thick and dank in his nostrils. Through the dripping moss and swamp oak tree, he stared at the cottage with its broad bank of windows. From these ever-darkening shadows he could, as had before almost every night, follow her movements as she walked through her home doing different chores, clearing stuff etc. As he watched her he rubbed the tips of his gloved fingers together in anticipation and licked his lips, tasting his own sweat and the wash of rainwater. God she was beautiful, not as much as he would like her to be but still there was something different and tempting about her that he couldn’t resist. As he was lost in his dreams about her she had moved she wasn’t framed in the living room any longer. Where was she?

Panic jittered through him as he checked her in every window… no sign of her. Had she decided to step outside? But he wasn’t ready to be discovered yet. He reached into his pocket, felt the handle of the hunting knife and wondered if he’d have to use it. Heart pumping his fingers surrounding the hilt, he started to move.

Suddenly she appeared, walking toward the windows from the bedroom. He relaxed a little. She was heading towards the dressing table, but she suddenly stopped as if she’d heard something. She turned, towards the window and her eyes moved until it stopped and was staring straight at him. A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth. Her eyebrows drew together and she kept on staring at the darkness.

He froze! Caught his breath!

Ignored the thrum through his body he saw as she squinted, brown eyes narrowing. He couldn’t help noticing how utterly beautiful she looked tonight. She bit the corner of her lip, her eyes trained on the very spot where he was hiding. Had he moved? Caught her attention somehow? Then maybe it was time… her time… 

He stared right into her intense eyes, willing her to see him. Daring her!

Absently she scratched her nape and he studied the movement, thought of the soft skin at her hairline. She moved dropped the blinds of the window and his inward vision died.

This is it… today is her time… that decided- he now moved his hand inside his pocket feeling the knife and dreaming about her all the while until he reached her backdoor.