Boom! Another lightning bolt pierced through the dark sky, immediately followed by the sinister growl of thunder. Though the storm had been rumbling all night long, Pete still tensed up as its sound continued to intensify while he typed away on his laptop.
“What a hell of a way to spend Halloween night,” Pete said to himself as he continued his work at the desk in his home office. Given that he was finishing up the final chapters of his horror novel, the menacing storm on All Hallows Eve couldn’t have provided a more inspiring setting.
Though he had a deadline to meet and a lot of work yet to do, he was a little disappointed that more trick or treaters hadn’t visited. He’d purchased several bags of candy to hand out, and if the trick or treat traffic didn’t pick up soon, he joked in his own head that he’d be gaining a few extra lbs. soon.
He typed out a fresh sentence and began reread it aloud, “The creature lurked in the darkness, searching for…”
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
His heart skipped a beat thanks to the loud banging at his front door. He let out a small laugh at his startled behavior and rose from his chair to go welcome what he thought to be costume clad guests. “Careful what you wish for I guess,” he said to himself. As he approached the front door, he picked up the large Jack-o-lantern themed bowl that was filled to the brim with a variety of sweet treats. he balanced the bowl in one hand and used the other to pull his heavy wooden door ajar.
“Happy Hallo…Hello?” As he looked outside, he saw no one standing on the door step. He poked his head out the door frame and looked around with a puzzled look on his face. “Hmph, probably some little jerks just playing a prank.” He walked back inside, set the candy down on the entryway table and settled back into his chair to write more of his story.
He reread where he’d left off. Looking at his screen, he read the words: The creature lurked in the darkness, searching for Pete. “Searching for Pete?” he asked himself aloud. “I didn’t type that did I? Must’ve been subconsciously thinking about myself when I typed that before the knock at the door. Talk about a narcissist!” He chuckled to himself and hit backspace until his name was erased from the screen.
Before he could continue his gruesome tale with another keystroke, another set of knocks struck the door. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! They were louder this time.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he quickly hopped up, grabbed the candy, and opened the door. But again…no one was there. He strode out onto his front lawn to investigate where those little brats were hiding. He looked left. Nothing. He looked right. No one. He was frustrated but also impressed. How the hell could they get away so quickly?
A rain drop smacked the tip of his nose, reminding him that he was getting soaked by the storm. As he turned around to reenter his home, he said in a subdued shout, “Knock it off you little jerks!”
He hustled back inside, sat at his desk, and opened up a piece of candy from the large bowl. “See if those little ass clowns get any candy now…”
Putting his hands back on the keyboard, he again reread his last sentence. And felt his jaw drop. The screen read: The creature lurked in the darkness, searching for Pete. Through the office window, the ghastly ghoul watched his prey and salivated through a set of carnivorous teeth.
“Now I know I didn’t type that,” Pete said nervously.
Tap! Tap! Tap! The sound came from the office’s window. Pete could feel the hairs on his neck stand straight up. He nervously gulped, emerged from his desk chair, and carefully walked towards the window. He could see large beads of rain quickly sliding down the window, but beyond that it was too dark to see anything else. He took a few more steps, cupped his hands against the glass, and pressed his face up to them to try and get a better view. His eyes scanned outside but he couldn’t see a thing.
Crack! A quick flash of lightning lit the sky for the briefest of moments. But it was long enough to deliver a sight so frightening that it caused Pete to stumble backwards and fall to the ground. Pete was wide-eyed and stunned with fear as he lay on his back with one arm lifted in front of him as if to shield against the image he’d just seen…
The flash revealed a hooved creature standing at least 7-feet tall on two legs. Resting atop its hulking, grotesque torso was a head featuring a long, pointed chin that flowed up to a wide grinning set of razor sharp teeth. Red sludge oozed through the predatory smile and dripped down that ghastly chin. A set of crimson horns rested on the beast’s massive head. But worst of all, eyes darker than devil’s soul stared right back into Pete’s.
As instantly as he hit the ground, Pete scrambled on his butt backwards under his desk. His heart thundered against his chest as his mind swam with fear. Wrapping his arms around himself, he tried giving himself a false sense of security. It didn’t work.
“No! It can’t be!” Pete exclaimed to himself in a near maniacal whisper. He’d seen this creature before. It was the exact image he’d conjured up in his head and sketched out when he thought of the idea for his novel.
He remained under his desk for minutes that felt like hours as he tried to calm down. He closed his eyes and began shaking his head as if to wake himself from a bad dream. He breathed in deeply. And then exaggeratedly exhaled. Pete repeated this process until his pulse finally began to slow to a more normal pace.
Slowly, his mind began to function like a sane person’s again as he convinced himself that his mind was simply playing tricks on him. After all, he was writing a scary story during a storm on Halloween. Yeah. That was it. His imagination was getting the best of him. His heart rate returned to normal.
He shook the rest of his nervousness off with laughter. “Damn, Pete, if you’re scaring yourself this badly, this book is going to be a bestseller!” He shamefully climbed out from under his desk and confidently strode over to the office window. He aggressively shut the blinds and laughed once more.
He plopped back down in his desk chair. “Whew, let’s finish up this page and call it a night, Pete.”
With fearful anticipation, he reread the last typed words. They read: The creature lurked in the darkness, searching for… A sense of relief entered his brain, and he felt it travel throughout the rest of his body. Those were the last words he knew he’d typed. He let out a thankful sigh.
He slowly placed his fingers back on the laptop. He felt his fingers brush over the keys as he thought of what to write next. Capturing an inspiring line in his mind, he began to bang away on the keys.
But the words wouldn’t type. He tried typing again, applying more pressure on the keys. He pressed escape. He clicked the delete button. He hit restart.
But nothing.
Throwing his hands up in frustration, he couldn’t figure out what was happening. He put his hands on top of his head and let out another sigh as he looked at the screen.
With hands away from the keyboard, the screen began to light up with freshly typed words. And those words were not his.
“…the creature skulked in the darkness of the living room as Pete looked at his screen in frustration…”
A violent chill went right down the writer’s spine. The phantom screen typed on…
“…step by step, the creature closed in on its prey…”
Pete could here footsteps behind him.
“…darkness overtook the room…”
Every light in the house went black except for his computer screen. Pete was frozen solid with absolute terror enveloping every fiber of his being.
On the back of his neck, he could feel a long, slender finger slowly lay across his shivering skin. It was followed by another. Then another. And then two more. He could sense the pressure of sharp claws poking into his goose bump riddled neck.
He saw one final phrase emerge on screen.
“…The storm drowned out Pete’s screams.”
The screen went black.