Noises in the Night!

Mayble stumbled against a lamp pole and became aware of the pounding of her heart in her chest. The fog swirled around her, actually on the ground now. She was becoming quickly terrified. Her little brother was no where to be found. He was so annoying but she loved him with her whole heart and he didn't usually just disappear like this. He was really all she had anymore. They didn't have much but they still had each other. Suddenly she heard someone whimpering in the darkness. She cocked her head and listened intently. Pete? It was Pete! She turned in a circle and tried to judge where the cries were coming from. She called out to him and listened for his response. The fog was making her search almost impossible. The white swirling mass was disorientating and seemed to change all sense of reality giving everything another world feel.

She headed towards where she thought she could hear the soft sobbing of her young brother. She almost fell over him in her concentration. The shuffle -click noise had begun to grow louder and somehow seemed to have become faster in it's intensity. The hair on the backs of her arms stood on end and she shivered and bent over the boy who lay half hidden behind a dumpster close to the edge of a building close to the street. She called out softly to him. A tiny voice responded with strangled sobs as he answered her in return. She knelt and drew the shivering tiny body close to her own. She became aware that he was beginning to babble something about bugs. She hugged him in reassurance and helped him to his feet. He continued to sob and tremble. He clung to her as though he were drowning and she could save him. She knew that she couldn't be far from their motel room. Maybe at the most, two or three blocks. She heard a scurrying noise close by and she knew that they had to get away from this place. Whatever she had heard and what her brother seemed so terrified of must be close by. Heart racing, she picked her brother up in her arms and turned to run. Right now what they faced in the cold dark night seemed almost heavenly compared to what was lurking in the dark.

The man/creature scuttled through the night looking for what he knew he would find. He had caught smells that he had recognized, but they had faded out and wouldn't satisfy the hunger that ravished his distorted body. He didn't recognize where the hunger came from but he knew he had to satisfy it. Something was driving him to find the source that would fulfill his needs. He quivered with desire. The direction of the chilly wind seemed to change and he smelled something different. His thick lips pulled over his huge teeth in anticipation. He pulled up his left leg and lowered his right and the click-shuttle noise began again. He now knew which direction he would go in.

Pete buried his face into his sister's bony shoulder and shuddered. Whatever discontent he had felt about his life earlier in the evening had disappeared with the terror of the night that lay beyond. His sobbing had dwindled and now all he could do was hiccup. He wiped his nose against the jean jacket that his sister wore. She didn't scold him as she usually would have, she just continued in the direction of where she knew their room was and safety lay. She wasn't sure at this moment that she wanted to know what the thing about bugs was that had her brother so terrified. They would talk soon enough. Through the fog shrouded night she began to recognize the glow of the motel sign where they lived. She began to breathe a sigh of relief.

The woman felt the sleeve of her shirt begin to rip as the man she was with tugged even harder at her arm. He reached out with the other hand and pulled it up into her hair. She felt a white hot pain radiating from her scalp and she began to scream. Any semblance of decency that he had seemed to disappear with any alcohol that he consumed. For the first time that night she felt a real fear begin to creep up her spine. This time he might do more then beat her. He had certainly threatened more than that many times before. She could barely make out his shape next to her though he was so close. The night was black and cold and felt like a grave. She felt some of her hair come loose in his hand and she screamed again. Something rustled near by.

She knew she was drunk as she seemed to be so much of the time now but she still had enough left of her old self to know that she had to return home to her children. They didn't have much, not even food at this point but they had each other. How had she been so stupid as to have let herself be trapped into something as horrible as her relationship with an alcoholic abuser. She promised herself that if she escaped tonight things would change for her children and herself. It had all just been so hard after her sweet Nick had been killed. Nick with the red curly hair and the freckles that covered his face and body as though they had been applied by some huge cinnamon shaker. Sweet Nick who had given her a taste of heaven and had given her Petey. Pete and Mayble were all that mattered and life would be different. She owed it to all of them. She winced as her companion struck out in the darkness and his hand connected with her left eye. She felt her lip split and immediately start to swell. Blood trickled down her chin and she tried to spit. All of a sudden she could smell something fetid. A scurrying, click noise filled the night and her arm became loose from the man's grip.

Now it was his turn to scream. Long and loud. Something had pulled him away from the woman and all he felt now was an all consuming pain. Something smooth and shiny reflected in the glow of a street lamp from further down the street. Something sharp exploded into his skin. He tried to breathe but for him, breath would come no more. The woman ran. She didn't want to believe what had just happened to the man and she needed to get as far away as she could. She wanted to live.

The man/creature felt his belly fill with satisfaction. The hunger was satisfied and would be for awhile. He waddled off to find the place where he had come from to sleep and possibly dream of a future time when he could hunt again. He knew only that his need was to be satisfied by the filling up of cruelty and meanness. It tasted sour and spoiled and just the way he loved it. This had been a good meal. The shuttle-click noise began to fade from the night.

Pete found a piece of toilet paper and wiped his nose. His sister stared at him in disbelief as he had shared what he had thought he had seen. She knew that creatures such as what her little brother described didn't exist, but she also had known something had been out there tonight. Something that made the hairs on her arms stand straight up. She had heard the strange noise that had filled the air with a shuffle-click. It kind of reminded her of the way the roaches sounded at night as they scurried around the motel room, only this was so much louder. She shivered and hugged Pete tight to her. She heard a frantic pounding at the door and she ran to the window to see who or what was at the door.

The woman fell into the room as her daughter held the door open just enough to allow her inside. She attempted to stifle the cries that came from her lips. Her children noted that their mother was battered and bloody once again and that the man was no where to be seen. Mayble and Pete in unison tried to convey what had been a-foot tonight. Something that seemed far more sinister than their stepfather could ever be. Mayble found an old faded wash cloth , wet it and began wiping off her mother's bloody face. Silence filled the room as they looked at each other. The room didn't seem quite as seedy as it had. In fact it now seemed quite safe and home like. The words would never again be spoken, but all three knew that their lives would change for the better from this night on. After all they had each other. They hugged and began their feast of macaroni and ketchup.

In a city not to far away a man pulled a bottle to his lips and began to drink. He slurred his words and began to speak harshly to his female companion. He would show her a thing or two as soon as they left this place. He would teach her to respect him. His blood shot eyes sparkled in anticipation.

The man/creature felt the beginnings of a need to feed. He would soon need to find a source to meet the growing hunger. He licked his thick lips in anticipation.