It Waits
A Short Short Story
Robert M. Yelverton
Copyright 2010 Robert M. Yelverton
Cover Art by Robert M. Yelverton
Originally written
It Waits
Chapter 1
He sits in darkness waiting. His age he has no idea. Timeless? Maybe. All he knows is that he is hungry and he has been waiting a long time to eat. A rat scurries near him and with an instinctual grab it is his. He ignores the squealing sounds the rat is making as it struggles in his grasp for its very life. Long dirty fingernails hold the rat impaled. Casually he looks at its pathetic struggling. His eyes begin to glow the color of embers that are being fanned back to life. The rat seems to notice this and gives up its struggle and resigns itself to its fate. A mouth slowly opens showing row upon row of razor sharp teeth. With a deft snap half the rat disappears. Delicate snapping sounds now issue from the mouth. Bringing his bloody hand up to his mouth he opens it once again. This time he slowly closes his mouth and pulls forcefully. The rest of the body separates from the tail. Once again the sounds of small bones being broken are heard. He swallows and tosses the tail aside. That was not what he wanted. It was good, rat is always good, but he needs more. More of what he does not know yet. But he will know when it is time.
Suddenly he lifts his head and sniffs the air. The faint breeze has caught a scent, the scent of what he has been waiting for all along. His eyes widen and their color brightens as if the embers have been fanned even brighter. His mouth slowly opens in a leer once again revealing rows of very sharp pointed teeth. Drooling in anticipation he crouches, his whole body quivering as if it were a tuning fork. He hungers. Using the back of his filth encrusted wrist he wipes the spittle that is readily falling now. Slowly he turns about sniffing the air as he does. What was that? A slight noise? Just maybe...
Slowly he moves inside the darkness of the ancient tunnel in which he sleeps till feeding time. He knows the way well for he has followed its path for what seems an eternity. Then up the damp stone steps worn smooth by time. He reaches a wood panel. Yes... the smell... the warm smell... it is just on the other side. He hears the laughter but it does not bother him. Some laugh, some cry, some do nothing when they feel that their time is merging into his. It matters not. They are his, they are always his.
Using his long nails he grasps the side of the panel and pulls. It squeals as it swings inward. Drooling heavily now he steps into the small room that has a few boxes lying on the floor. Ohhhh.... so close now.
Eagerly but as quietly as possible he opens the door and steps out into the dim light. Upon seeing the smell his eye glow to the brightness of a raging forest fire. He opens his mouth wide and yet still manages to smile. He shuffles once... twice... then stretches out his arms with the oh so sharp and long nails at the end.
He is very hungry and it will be his...
Chapter 2
The night was overcast so there was hardly any light to see by. To make matters worse the wind was kicking up a fuss. The temperature would not have been as bad if it were not for that. It was chilling almost to the bone cutting right through the light jacket. Goose bumps suddenly sprang to life and the hair at the nape of his neck started to rise. It got blamed on the howling wind and the darkness. Shivering he put his head down and walked even faster.
****
He could not believe the string of bad luck he had been having all day. One thing after another had gone wrong starting with his alarm clock failing to go off this morning. Following that act he picked up a speeding ticket on his way to work. Right before pulling into the parking garage his car had started making an odd knocking sound. He would deal with that later. Being late his first day on the job in a new city was not going to win him any brownie points.
The downhill ride followed him right into lunch. If you could call it lunch that is. Lesson learned, never again eat at Joe's Diner. He understood why they sell the anti acids right beside the cash register. That was his only stroke of luck that day, besides buying a roll on a passing thought.
Back on the job the mound of paper work on his desk had some how grown larger. Sighing he had dug in to at least try and put a dent in the mountain. Then right before quitting time his new boss had approached his desk. Dropping another folder on the desk he simply said, "Rush Job" and indicated that it was due first thing in the morning.
Remembering that the small town house that he rented was not even set up yet he resigned to go ahead and finish it up. All the other workers left one by one until he was left by himself alone with the drone of a vacuum cleaner somewhere in the complex. By the time the Rush Job was finished he felt the exhaustion digging into him.
Sitting in his car he turns the key. Nothing. Not a sound. Hoping for a different result he turns the key again. Same result. In frustration he beats on the steering wheel. He wonders how and why his life has taken this sudden turn. Why only a few days ago he was on top of his game looking at a whole new upwardly mobile life. What had he done to deserve this sudden down turn in his life?
Standing at the bus stop stand on the corner he squints at the route map and times. Wouldn't you know it? No more buses at this hour went to the part of town that he now called home. Shaking his head in disbelief he mentally calculated just how far home was. Five miles at the most. A very long walk but doable. He was still relatively fit and maybe the walk would help ease the building tension that he felt.
****
It seemed like he had been walking forever when he realized that he was walking beside a graveyard. It was an old one. This late in the season the trees had no leaves. The wind blowing through the empty branches just lended to the eeriness. Once again goose bumps sprang seemingly out of nowhere. The hairs on the back of his neck stiffened and tried to crawl away. This time the strong feeling of a presence came along for the ride. The sight and sound of skittering brittle leaves jarred him back. Crap, he has got to stop this. He has got to snap out of this. He was almost home! Once again the sense of something there came to him. He could not help it, heart hammering, his feet turned on their own and he fled.
Home, Home! Trembling and starting to babble to himself he fumbled his keys out of his pocket. He made it! He slammed the door closed and shot the lock. He did not know what was going on. All he knew was that he was terrified. So not like himself. Eyes wide he slowly backed away from the door. He just knew that something that he did not want to see would come busting through at any moment.
Time passed slowly. His heart rate slowly returned to normal and he began to relax. The strangest thing. He began giggling like a schoolgirl. The giggling turned into laughter. Laughing he turned and put his keys on a small table. He had to get hold of himself or he would wind up being committed somewhere. With his head down he put both hands on the table and leaned.
That is when the smell hit him. How had he not noticed it before? My gosh it was strong. Wrinkling his nose he tried to identify it. It smelt old. It smelt rotten. Gagging he realized that it was getting stronger. Then he heard a slight creak.
Quickly raising his eyes he looked into the wall mirror that was above the table. His eyes locked onto a pair of brightly glowing eyes. They were the color of glowing embers fanned by an unseen wind into brightness. Then he saw more, he saw the mouth opening wide and ohhhh all the rows of sharply pointed teeth.
He began screaming and screaming and screaming...
After the screaming stopped the noise began. A soft slurping sound followed by crunching. This went on for a while. Then if you listened very closely a sigh of content.
Chapter 3
In the home next door an old lady sat. Tears were running down her wrinkled face. She sat listening to the screaming of the nice young man. It seemed like his scream
s would go on forever.
She hated this part of her life. She has yet to reveal the secret to her daughter. But she must do it soon. She would not live forever. The eldest daughter in the family going back for generations had been charged with the care of the creature. Going all the way back to time knows when.
In the more modern times of yesteryear a small house had been built over the mouth of the cave in which the creature lived. For convenience another home built right next door. These were the only two homes at the end of the road. Her family owned a very large parcel of land to help keep the secret.
Her Papa had told her long ago that you must sacrifice a few to save many. The creature you see cannot be killed. It is evil in its purest form. So we do what we must do
Sighing she gets up. The screams have stopped. She puts on a kettle of water to boil for tea. That would help her for what is to come. It helped to warm and loosen her old joints. But, it must be done. If the creature is not sated and stopped with a feeding at the entrance it would come out and she would not be held responsible for that travesty to the world.
It is now a few hours to dawn and she stands on the stoop to the small townhouse. She enters the home. With what happens she was expecting more blood and gore. But there really is not much of either. The creature was indeed hungry. After cleaning the slight mess she grabs the few things the young man had moved in himself. The movers had yet to come. She would meet them later along with the Police and deal with them. Once again everything is ship shape.
She looks at the "FOR RENT" sign that is in the closet. That would be for her daughter to put out years on down the line. Maybe, just maybe her daughter would not have to go through this. It skips a generation occasionally. Not often, but sometimes it does.
THE END
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About the Author
The Author is Florida born but is currently residing somewhere in East Tennessee. His is happily married and has three grown sons and a smattering of grand children.
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