My name is Malina, I am 27 years old, working in a government office in the city. On holidays, I love spending time in a village away from the hectic life of the city. I have a house in a small village that is on the edge of a forest, but after that tragic car accident, that killed my parents, I stopped going to my village. But today I wanted to go back to my village house where I hadn't gone for a long time.
That evening, I was feeling too tired after my work. I needed rest, so I thought of going out of town. I reached my house, packed my things, and left for my house in the regional area about 120 km away. It was late in the evening when I reached my village, and I was exhausted because it was a long day for me and a long drive. After parking my car outside the gate, I went straight to bed and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, my car alarm went off and woke me up. I looked out the window, but I saw no one there. I found my car keys and turned off the alarm. When that loud alarm stopped, I laid down on the bed and tried to sleep. After a while, the alarm started ringing again. I picked up the key and turned off the alarm once again. For a while, everything was silent. There was silence all around.
But it didn’t stay the same for long. After a gap of five minutes, the alarm sounded for the third time.
Okay, I thought it was fine if the alarm went off for any unknown reason, but now it was for the third time, and I wanted to know what was going on. It’s not like someone was joking with me. But this was a little too much at such late hours of the night. No, it couldn’t be a joke. I stood near the window, behind the curtain, and tried to see if there was someone doing it intentionally.
After a while, I looked out of the window, "Oh what is that crouching in the tree, humming an eerie tune?" I saw someone coming towards my car from the bush in the moonlight. Whoever he was, he was tall, thin, and had a dark complexion.
He came near the car and hit the car with his long and thin hand. The alarm sounded again, but the dark figure hurriedly went back to the bush.
At that moment, I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I was trembling with fear. I again turned off the alarm and kept looking out of the window. That shadow came out of the bush and slowly approached the main door of my house. With one hand, he opened the lock on the gate. I was so scared that I could not even move. Many bad thoughts were running through my mind.
"What's that? What does he want from me? I couldn’t believe what he was trying to do. Will he ever leave or try to break in?"
From head to toe, when I listen to his hissing sound a cold shiver ran down my spine. I was feeling as if my body was trembling with fear. My throat was dry and my heart was beating fast. I was very frightened, and my teeth were grinding uncontrollably. But I controlled myself and went down as fast as I could. I was just about to turn on the lights when my feet got frozen.
That dark figure was standing at the window. He was looking inside through the window to see if anyone was inside. By then, I had quickly hidden behind my sofa. I thought he was probably tampering with the car, which was his way of getting his victim out into the open.
I couldn’t take my eyes off his scary face. His skin was like ash, and his wrinkled skin filled me with deep fear. His eyes were small and completely black. There were two enormous holes in place of his nose. Instead of lips on his face, there were two big lines of sharp teeth. Her breathing was very heavy and fearful, which I could hear clearly like the steam of a rail engine from the window.
I knew he would not leave until he found his prey. After standing for a while by the window, I heard a sound as if someone was trying to open the front door. I saw the knob turning slowly and then he opened the door. And then the animal made a loud noise. That voice could not have come from any human throat. The sound was as if a mad dog was chewing on a bone. His voice resembled that of the sound of a deep and fierce animal’s growl.
I was so scared and knew if he came in and saw me, he would do what he wanted to. By then, I had hidden behind the sofa, stayed, and didn’t make any noise at all. Tears were flowing from my eyes. My body was trembling, and I could hear the beats of my pounding heart. I felt as if I was about to die.
I don’t know how long I hid there. When I got up, I looked towards the door. The animal was gone. Thank God he did not look behind the sofa. The door was still open and everything seemed safe. I went up the stairs and looked out the window. There was light outside. There was no sign of that animal or any other danger.
I took advantage of this opportunity and picked up my car keys. I didn’t even take my luggage. I ran towards the car. I got in the car and, closing the door, got out of the village as fast as I could. I kept driving till I reached my city.
When I reached my apartment, I sat still for a long time. In the morning I turned on the radio and started listening to the news. The announcer said that the villagers found the body of a girl in the village. Her body was lying on the bank of the river. She was probably too scared as she saw a walking shadow.
#theinkwell Prompt "What is that crouching in the tree, humming an eerie tune?"