Skratch

Skratch

** Image ID #2104128 Unavailable **

As shadows fall across the yard
the world outside seems to transform.
The snow, with footprints, darkly scarred,
loses its luster ‘fore the storm.

I feel a chill run down my spine;
an omen of the coming night.
My dark mood and my fear combine
to taunt me in the fading light.

A sudden sound comes on the wind,
lofted from some place far below.
I peer and find myself chagrined;
it’s just the cawing of a crow.

“Ominous.” The perfect word
for feelings that I cannot shake.
I cringe at every sound that’s heard
as I lay in my bed … awake.

The wind abates and silence reigns.
I hear a noise outside my door.
Perhaps the sound of Dicken’s chains
or Poe’s dark raven’s, “Nevermore?”

Imagination begins hatching
thoughts of monsters on my stair.
I listen; faintly I hear scratching
and my minds screams out Beware!

The door bangs open! In the light,
I see a rounded frozen shape.
What demon spread’s this wintry blight
with stick like arms that grasp and scrape?

This creature – Skratch – resembled
a snowman from my youth
that I had once assembled
when magic was the truth.

I pull my covers o’er my head
retreating to my childhood ways.
Cowering, my mind fills with dread
that this is the “End of Days!”

I feel the coldness of his gaze,
the sharp poke of his claws.
My world recedes into a haze
‘neath the clicking of his jaws.

Now a noise; a fight’s now begun
that escalates in leaps and bounds
until, at last, the rising sun
silences all of the sounds.

Peeking, the room still looks the same.
Nothing has changed from before.
“It was no more than a dream,” I exclaim …
except for the black feather on the floor.

It strikes me then with clarity
lost words from long before
that echo through posterity –
“Quoth the Raven, Nevermore!”

December Round 21 entry for "Invalid Item" 
Prompt: Image
Line Limit: 60
Line Count: 52