Truth

I sniff the ground, nose messing up one of the tracks. I’m close. My pawsteps make no noise in the fluffy snow as I take a few careful steps forward. Clumsier yet lighter steps sound from a few feet in front of me.

Sniffing the chilled air, I pause behind a patch of bushes. My eyes narrow as I look through the bare branches, searching.

Movement. I open my mouth, practically tasting the rabbit from where I stood. It sat alone in the small clearing of snow, sniffing the air with its tiny pink nose raised to the sky. I crouched, noting that it’s back was to me. Perfect.

I stepped out of my hiding place and began to creep up behind it. Close. Closer.

The wind suddenly changed direction, blowing my scent right to it in big puffs. The rabbit’s ears perked, its head turning to the side as a single black eye landed directly on me. It let out a squeak and bounded away.

I let out a frustrated growl and gave chase. I ran until my paws hurt, ran until I was tired. My legs felt like they were going to fall off at any minute. It shouldn’t have been that fast, but finally I caught up to it. Nearly out of breath, I used the last of my energy to pounce, claws digging into its back.

The rabbit laughed. Instead of dying like it should have, it turned into a shadowy figure. It was like ink against the snow, a dark cloud unable to be penetrated by the late day sunlight. I let out a yelp and tried to get my claws out of whatever it was, but they were stuck.

The figure lifted up a hand, black talons slicing at the air in front of my face. It laughed as I yelped again, terror building up in my chest.

It opened its mouth, darker than the rest of its body, a gigantic endless hole of nothingness. Oh no. No. Nonononono-

I woke up gasping for air, taking in big gulps as my eyes tried to adjust to the semi-dark light before sunrise. My hands frantically felt around, fingers getting caught in the thick blanket I had kicked away during some point of that dream-turned-nightmare.

“Just a dream.” I whispered to myself. “Not real, just a dream.” It calmed me somewhat to hear those words. To know they were somewhat true. I had dreamed of hunting prey in whatever animal form that was many times before. I had dreamed of the shadowy figure lots of times before. I just hadn’t dreamed of both at once.

I pushed aside my blanket and rubbed the goosebumps on my arms. Shaking my head, my eyelids began to droop as I thought of sleeping again. Sleeping, but hopefully not dreaming. I was mid yawn when I realized my curtains were wide open, letting in faded pillars of sunlight.

Every ounce of sleepiness dissipated as my mouth shut, eyes widening as I looked out of the clouded glass. It had snowed last night, though not rare for a winter in northern New Hampshire.

I swallowed, looking over to my shut bedroom door. Whatever was beyond the glass...that’s what had me scared. It was what I knew was there that had me scared. I wanted to open the door and let in the hallway lamplight that was barely shining in from beneath the slab of wood.

Instead, I shook my head and looked back to the window.

My skin crawled as I scooted to the edge of my bed, hugging my knees so that my feet didn’t touch the floor. The brief thought that there was a monster under my bed, ready to grab my feet if I touched the floor had me frozen for a moment. Then I shook my head again and smiled a little. How childish, I thought, dismissing the possibility. My own uneasiness must be getting to me.

Monster under the bed or not, it wasn’t what had my attention. I let out a shaky breath and got out of bed, walking over to my window.

As I raise my hand and wipe the cloudiness off of the cold glass, my eyes are on the house next door. It has a Victorian mansion look with shriveling green vines crawling up the stone sides, glittering spiderwebs seen in every corner, and a giant crack running up the front of it.

My wide eyed gaze is on the second floor window, positioned so it is almost perpendicular to the one I was looking out of this second. I could hear whispering...or maybe it was the wind outside.

Holding onto the frame and pressing my face to the glass, I peered into the window of the house across the street. It was dark, not a single light on. The yellowish grass surrounding it was tall, barely suppressed by the snow. It was freshly cut the day we moved in, but since then, it’s obvious that it hasn’t been for years.

Suddenly a light did come on, a flickering goldeny light that went through the window of the room across from mine. Dread seemed to run through my veins as a dark, shadowy figure stepped in front of the window, reddish orbs seeming to stare back at me.

It would stay like that all night, staring at my house. It has before, and I had the feeling that it would tonight. I swallowed and stepped away from the window, shutting the lavender colored curtains. Nobody else saw the figure. Nobody really knew it was there except me. I used to think it was just some weird old neighbor who had moved in and never came out of their house.

That was before I learned that nobody had lived there for the last half century.

“It was just a dream.” I whispered again and got into bed. Just a dream that the shadow was in front of me, clawing at me in the snow. Reality was that it stood in the window next door, watching me day and night.

I pulled the blankets up to my shoulders, closing my eyes and trying to rest. I got comfortable, all while knowing that it would be awhile before I could fall asleep again.

-

HONK! A horn sounded from outside my house. I opened my eyes the same time as I stumbled out of bed, still half asleep when my feet touched the cold floor. I walked quickly across my room, feet slowly adjusting to the chill. It couldn’t be the bus horn - it was a Saturday. Or...was it?

I yawned as I threw open the curtains, eyes only going to the house across the street for a second before I looked down to the road. The shadow didn’t scare me as much in the daylight, and my thoughts flew off of that topic as my eyes finally adjusted to the bright snow on the ground.

I blinked as my Mom’s sister, Aunt Em, stepped out of her car and into knee deep snow. She smiled cheerfully as she shut the door of her red Toyota, the air in front of her face clouding as she let out a breath.

There was the sound of our front door opening, Aunt Em’s gaze going to our porch as her smile widened, arms going out as her pace quickened. Dark blond hair fluttered behind her as she tumbled through the snow. “It’s freezing!” I heard her shout as I stepped away from the window, walking across my room.

I didn’t even bother to close my door before I walked across the hallway and stepped into my sister’s book cluttered room. “Lu!” I shut the door behind myself, rolling my eyes when I took in the scene.

Luna was sleeping, a set of headphones on her pillow still blasting rock music from the radio that was lying knocked over on her dresser. Schoolpapers with her name on it were scattered across her bed and a few on the floor next to it, probably some homework she meant to do.

“Of course.” I sighed and walked over to the bed, shutting the radio off and picking it rightside up again. Shaking her shoulder, I called her name again. “Lu! Wake up!” I turned my gaze to her open curtain and saw that her window faced one of the many pine trees in our yard. I turned back to her, bending down so my mouth was near her ear. “Hey, wanna switch rooms?”

Her eyes opened suddenly and she sat up, almost hitting me in the face with her head. She wiped her eyes groggily, then looked over to me. “No. Why?” The last word cracked under her morning voice. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the small clock near her radio. “God, it’s nine thirty-four in the morning. Why would you wake me up?”

“Aunt Em is here and you still haven’t gotten ready.” The two of them - Aunt Em and our mother, were going to an old friend’s funeral. After the funeral, the family was going to host a party for the amazing life so and so had. “Remember?” I asked when Luna still looked confused. “We get to spend the day with Madeline and Raina.”

Madeline and Raina were our two closest friends, people we’d rather hang out with rather than go to a funeral of someone we didn’t even know. Mom was fine with it, lucky for us. She said it would be nice for us to spend the day with friends.

“Oh, right.” She got out of bed and yawned, stretching like a cat after a long nap. “I stayed up too late last night.” She muttered as she walked over to her closet, swinging open the door and taking out some clothes.

“I didn’t.” I plopped down on her bed and fixed my hair into a ponytail.

She began to change, so I picked up one of her horror books. “The Shining?”

“You didn’t stay up too late.” She scoffed, going back to the former subject. “So I suppose you got a full night’s sleep?”

I nodded and she shook her head, eyes narrowing again.

“Then why did I hear your curtains shut at precisely 4:45 in the morning?”

“I-” I don’t know what I was about to say, but she cut me off with a gasp as she pulled a sock on.

“Wait, do you still believe in that shadow thing across the street? The one that has that red balloon or something?” She laughed. “I’m not sure why I remember that. You told me when we were like, seven.”

“It’s red eyes, not a red balloon.” Sighing, I put The Shining down. “And there’s no question on whether I believe in it or not, it’s real and it’s still there.”

“You’ve been saying that since you were five.”

“Since I was able to talk? Yeah, that seems normal.” I paused, watching as she threw her hair up into a bun. “It was watching me last night. That’s why I shut the curtains which, by the way, were shut when I fell asleep.”

“I would be scared if I weren’t such a horror geek.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked over to me.

I opened my mouth to reply, but her bedroom door suddenly opened.

“Buttercups, your auntie is downstairs. Better go say hi to her before we leave.” Our mom peeked her head into the doorway, pale blond hair hanging down from her head. She was smiling, then she looked to Luna’s bed.

“Honey, what did I say about those in your bed?” Now her mouth was set in a line.

“It’s a strangulation hazard.” Luna answered, stacking up a book that must’ve fallen from a pile. I quickly read the cover, The Haunting of Hill House.

Mom sighed. “Alrighty.” She dragged out the l as Luna threw everything that didn’t belong on her bed onto her dresser. “Breakfast is cereal. Me and your aunt should really be going now, so…”

“We’ll come down.” I smiled and half shut the door as she nodded and turned away, disappearing behind the corner that led into the hallway. When I turned around, Luna’s amber eyes were level with mine, face inches from mine.

“Boo.” She said, grinning.

I rubbed my heart, which had a shot of pain and fear rush through it while I was frozen in shock just a second ago. “Luna.” My voice was laced with mock hesitancy.

“Yes?” She took a step backward and cocked her head to the side.

“You’d tell me if you were secretly a ninja, right?”

“No, probably not.” Her grin turned into a smile when I gasped. “What? I wouldn’t want to make you jealous of my awesome skills.”

“How kind.” I rolled my eyes and opened the door.

“GIRLS!” Our mother’s voice made its way all the way up the stairs.

“Coming!” We shouted in unison.

Luna opened the door and began to walk into the hallway, but with a last quick thought, I put a hand to her shoulder. “Wait.”

She turned around, raising a dark eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I was serious about switching rooms. Even if it’s just for one night..I want to know if you see it too.”

Luna didn’t even give it a second thought and smiled. “Sure, why not? Just for one night though.”

I felt my eyebrows raise. “Are you sure? What if you see it?”

She laughed, turning around and heading down the hallway. “Carrie, if I see it, I’ll be pretty surprised.”

That’s it? I wondered, shaking my head.

“And I’ll probably claim that room as my own. I mean, how cool would that be…?” Her voice drifted off as she walked down the stairs.

“Yeah.” I whispered. Pretty cool if I didn’t have to see the shadow again. Amazing actually. I just worried what she would think on day three of the shadow induced nightmares. I began walking down the hallway and smiled. That is, if she even got nightmares. In her book, they’d probably be called cool dreams.

Everything was going to be alright. I felt it.