Waiting Oneshot Series by PhoenixBlade
Howl
For zandrellia's scary challenge. Way too early for Halloween, but needed something to get me back into the writing as I'm sort of stuck with my fanfics. Hopefully this'll get the fanfic writing juices going! Not too scary, but hope it works... somehow... *sweatdrop*
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Waiting: Howl
by PhoenixBlade
Rated T
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The first time she heard a howl was shortly after 3:00 in the morning. She’d woken up from a nightmare that she couldn’t even remember, but had left her clenching sweat soaked sheets. The howl had been short and sounded well off in the distance that she had brushed it off as a stray dog… yet it irked her enough to pull her comforter up her chin.
The second time she heard the howling was when she had counted to 1000, as sleep would not claim her. Fear of her nightmare returning had made it hard to succumb to sleep. She had been running, she remembered, but from what she could not recall, only that she had to get away. The howl this time was longer and seemed to be getting closer. Perhaps the stray was hungry for food… or fighting for territory against other dogs. She just had to close her eyes and let herself drift off to dreamland.
Yet she could not and had heard the howl a bit sooner than the last one had come… and closer, much closer. A flash of silver crossed her mind and she shivered involuntarily, not from the cold air, but from fear, making her toss her comforter over her head. She knew she had some sort of fear due to something traumatic from her childhood concerning a dog, but it shouldn’t have been so bad for her to be scared of some stray wandering the streets at night, could she? She was inside her house for god’s sake! The only thing that could get to her was her nightmares, but they weren’t real… but they were scary enough to get her heart pumping and blood running. She could faintly remember something silver getting closer, and closer and-
The howl was suddenly outside her window. What the… Did that stray suddenly find its way to the shrine? And so quickly! The last howl had sounded far off, but had somehow, in what seemed to only be a few minutes, found its way to the shrine grounds, just right outside her house! Was it so hungry that it was able to sniff out the small offering Grandpa had laid out for his so-called shrine guardians that didn’t exist? Perhaps it was, but the speed it must have taken to get to her shrine was impossible to believe, considering the climb up the stairs was no easy walk in the park… Was she dreaming perhaps? Dreaming of red eyes, peeking from a mane of silver, hungry and staring right at her… A chill ran down her spine as she gripped tightly to the comforter in hopes of chasing away the new image from her nightmare.
In what seemed just as impossible, she heard a howl…outside her door… When had it gotten there!? The door downstairs had been shut and locked, by herself no less! Mama had closed all the windows tightly, of which even she checked to make sure! How was this even possible!? She hadn’t even heard the stray-or whatever it was-run up the stairs to her room! It shouldn’t have even been able to come inside her house! She was starting to panic. What was outside her room!? Why was this happening!? Mama! Make it go away! Its claws were getting closer! She had to get away! She had to wake up! Mama! Ma-
A sudden chill crept into her room; seeping into her comforter and making her shiver more from it. She waited, seconds, knowing what was coming and hoping it wasn’t going to happen. Then, she heard it, a howl…inside her very own room. She felt it, the…thing, inside her room. She heard its light footsteps coming towards her bed, too light to even be heard, but somehow she knew it was coming. Her heart rate shot up as she clung on tighter to the fabric, gripping it tightly between sweaty and aching fingers. Her eyes shut tightly, her breathing became hitched, uneven and she couldn’t stop the trembling of her body as it stopped right beside her bed, making her unease shoot up a thousand fold. Why was this happening!?
A flash of fanged teeth, smirking at her as sharp clawed hands reaching for her suddenly broke her from her memory of her nightmare and the slight tugging of her comforter brought her back to reality, telling her that, yes, this was happening! In panic, she pulled her comforter back; making it, whatever it was, pull harder. In desperation, she tightened her hold and it, in turn, responded with a pull so strong that her grip on the comforter forced her to turn over to face her intruder. She lost her grip and screamed as the fabric of the comforter flew past her onto the floor, revealing herself to the other occupant of the room.
Seconds rolled by before she realized that nothing had happened to her. Though she was terrified of whoever or whatever was in her room, its presence was gone. She was curious, and scared shitless, yet she had to know if it was still in her room. Cracking an eye open, and then the other one, she realized that she was staring into a dark empty room, illuminated faintly only by the light of the moon coming in from outside her window. Still cautious, she sat up on her bed, looking into all areas of her room, but nothing seemed out of place. Where had it gone?
She got off her bed to examine her room, pushing aside large objects that may have hidden something large, like a person, and even checking outside her window for any other potential intruders. She even dared to check inside her closet with an umbrella in hand, but nothing was in there. Looking at her clock, she saw that it was almost 4:00. Mama would be waking soon, and it’d be stupid to let some stupid nightmare and crazy imagination get the best of her. Taking a deep breath, she laughed quietly at herself and threw herself back on her bed.
Leaning over the side of her bed, she pulled up her comforter…only to see a pale face with red eyes and fangs smirking back at her. Clawed hands reached for her… and she screamed…
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Her mother woke to the screams of her daughter just before 4:00. Her daughter had been complaining of sleepless nights due to nightmares as of late, but she’d never screamed in such terror before. Rushing over to her daughter’s room, she tried opening the door as her daughter’s screams got louder and more terrifying, making her panic. The doorknob was jammed. She tried jiggling it, pushing and pulling, doing whatever she could to open it. Just as she was about to grab her son’s bat to break through the door, the screams suddenly stopped…and the door miraculously opened as if it had been unlocked the whole time… only to reveal that there was no one inside the room.
Off in the distance, she heard a howl.
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Truth to tell, this did, in fact, happen to one of my friends. This happened to him when he was a kid and had moved with his family to a new house in a different state. Oddly enough, the first house there that they lived in was numbered 666. He woke up one night and just couldn't go back to sleep when he heard howling. He thought it was a stray dog, but everytime he heard the howling, it came closer and closer until he heard it outside his bedroom door and felt it inside his room trying to pull his blanket off. He fought to keep the blanket over him and eventually, whatever it was, let go and didn't bother him again. He told his parents about it and since his parents were both shamans, they did a spirit calling and found out that one of the previous owners' spirits was still in the house and wanted his family out as it refused to leave. Needless to say, they had to leave... unfortunately, the next house they went to was haunted as well, but that's a story for another time!
Hope you enjoyed this!