Footsteps on the floor, each click echoed by the beat of my heart. A laugh, a murmur and a footstep closer, I held my hand over my mouth - my sobs choking me as I fought to keep silent. A creak, a groan and the sound of a door slamming shut. I crept further into my bolthole. I willed myself not to be found. I prayed to anyone who would listen and with every breath I took, I knew they approached. Footsteps on stairs and fingers ran along the banister, the weary climb upwards, closing in. I fought the urge to run. I fought panic I fought tears. Whispering, mutterings and the sound of shuffling feet on wooden flooring, they were close. A scream caught in my throat, my lungs unable to work, I felt light headed as I listened to their ever-approaching footsteps and still I could not breathe.

Then nothing. A clatter, a crash followed by silence. Unbearable silence. Silence compounded by the darkness that bled into the room, like water in a sinking ship. Closing in around me, I'd be suffocated by the darkness before they got me. My own fear would kill me. I waited. Listening. Not a murmur, not a movement, then a hiss of breath, my own. Silence. I glanced at the door. They had to be on the other side. Waiting. Listening. A step, a single footfall resounded outside. I cowered. A hand brushed upon wood, fingertips dancing lightly over the handle. I shrunk back, breath held, knees clutched tight to my chest. Listening. Whispering in a strange tongue, but full of dark intent sounded, then the noise of a hand grasping the door handle.

A burst of light and my eyes shut tight. I would not look. Monsters under the bed go away if you don't look at them. I refused to look. Mutterings, murmurings, and a hand on mine - I jumped away. Arms like vines reaching forward to ensnare me. I curled further into myself. Terror gripping me, sobs coming quickly now. Dry, sore and with the threat I'd pass out. Each touch made me sick. Each gentle caress made me tight with fear. Their voices, insistent now, but I couldn't understand. They spoke in a foreign tongue. I cried out, I begged. They pulled, they coaxed, they stroked. I did not move I did not open my eyes.

Footsteps. Downstairs. Rushing towards us. I thought of him. My saviour. I would go to him. I waited. I listened. Raised voices, a slamming door. The urge to open my eyes, just to see him, but I feared the thought of seeing them. Demonic, horrific, their faces alone enough to scar the mind, instilling terror, enhancing fear, my eyes stayed closed. A movement, a brush of air and another hand on my leg with a gentle whisper that made no sense. I could feel their breath on me. They were almost in the cupboard beside me, filling my chamber with a vile putrid stench. The smell of death, I screamed. I didn't want to die. My scream turned to sobs, tears flowing from my tightly pressed eyes.

A scuffle, irate voices and they left my cupboard. Maybe he was here. I didn't dare check, then silence, broken only by my sobs. Minutes stretched and they never made a sound. Deathly still. A laugh, then a mass of twisting, grappling hands filled my bolthole. Touching me everywhere. Grabbing me, hauling me out. Throwing me to the floor, lying curled in the light. Violated. Frightened. A heated discussion erupted as I cried on the floorboards, the light stinging through my eyelids. I started to crawl. My legs were pulled out from under me with a slap and a shout. Confusion.

Pulled to my feet, I stood, naked in the light. My eyes still closed. They shouted, they screamed. I cowered. I cried. Pushed forward. I stumbled. Hugging myself, I walked ahead. They scared me. I walked slowly and they yelled, shoving me to verify the point. I fell. Flesh scraped on splintered wood, blood welling and my ankle twisted. I limped onwards. I knew we approached the stairs, but fear kept my eyes closed. I reached for the banister and they screamed in anger at me, with a final push to my back. I fell. Tumbling. Breaking. Screaming. The crash and roll into wall on the ground floor stealing me away to the darkness, fading me from their world back to my own.

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