Hope in the Hearth

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Hope in the Hearth Page 5

by Jacob Raya


  I grabbed my 9mm pistol and walked towards the window just in case an intruder was trying to get into our house. I peeked through the blinds and saw nothing. There were only the regular street lights that are always on every night from 10:00 at night to 5:00 in the morning. I didn’t even see any scratch marks on the window. I shuttered the blinds and wondered if I was going to get any sleep.

  I sat on my bed, and I was surprised that Rebecca didn’t even get up from the light that was on and the chaos I was causing. I turned it off, got up, and walked to the kitchen. I turned on the small dining room light and got another glass of water.

  I just stood there sipping my water with the gun still in my hand. Drinking more and more, as I was nervous and a bit scared, trembling with fear and sweat running down my cheeks. I then turned off the dining room light and heard Ellie barking again. She was in the bedroom, and when I ran to the room, I saw in the corner the same white pair of dots.

  They were floating there almost 2 feet below the ceiling. I still thought it was all in my head and it was just messing with me. I rushed to the lamp and turned it on as fast as I could.

  There was nothing. Just Ellie scratching where the pair of white dots was floating. I got Rebecca up, which was tough to do, and I tried to explain to her why I still wasn’t asleep.

  “Uhhggh, Matt, why did you wake me up?”

  “Honey, Rebecca, you're probably not going to believe me, but I think there is an intruder somewhere outside our house.”

  “What? What do you mean, an intruder?”

  “I heard scratching noises coming from outside by the window, and Ellie has been barking this whole time. I’m surprised that you didn't hear her barking!”

  “Well, I’m exhausted and would like to get back to sleep. Why don’t you call the police and get back to bed.”

  “No! I think there’s an intruder out there! I’m going to search around the house.”

  “Well, okay, you do that. Can I go back to sleep?”

  “I wouldn’t advise you to-”

  “I’m going back to sleep babe, be careful. Don’t forget to turn off the alarm when you go outside.”

  “Why? Call the police and I’ll go check outside. Don’t go back to sleep just yet, okay?”

  “Okay, I’ll call the police for you.”

  “Thanks. I’ll wait for you to make the call. I’m going to go turn off the alarm.”

  I walked out and turned on all the lights in the living room and kitchen. I heard Rebecca talking to the operator, and she just told them that there was a disturbance. I was a little pissed off as to why she would say that. But then again, I think she wanted to go back to sleep and forget about all of the crazy stuff that she had dealt with today. She finished the call.

  “Matt, they just told us to keep an eye out, but other than that it’s not that big of a deal.”

  “I don’t care, Rebecca! I’m going outside to check either way!” We yelled at each other from across the house.

  “Fine, go ahead! I’d really like you to come back to bed, but I can’t stop you from doing what you want to do, so go ahead and be a detective, by all means!”

  “I will!”

  I turned off the alarm and saw that she had turned off the light in the bedroom. I heard her slam the door, and I walked outside and checked the whole front yard. After I scoped out the front yard, I checked out the backyard, but of course, I found absolutely nothing.

  I walked back to the front of the house. With my gun still handy, I turned back to the safety of the house and thought that Rebecca was probably right. It could have been something, but nothing life-threatening. Then, of course I heard Ellie barking again and thought she must have just heard the tree branches still scratching against the window.

  In fact, the sound could just have been-

  “MATT!”

  I heard Rebecca scream my name in horror.

  “REBECCA?”

  I ran inside the house and into the bedroom. I slammed through the door and saw that she had substantial cuts on her chest.

  “MATT! Something was here!”

  “What was here?”

  “I don’t know, but it attacked me and broke through the window and-”

  “Okay, whoa, holy shit! Slow down! You said that you saw something and it attacked you?”

  “Yes! I was in bed while you were checking outside for that supposed intruder. I heard some scratching noises that you said you heard before-”

  “Rebecca, you’re bleeding! Let me get you something really quick to patch that up!”

  “No! Don’t leave me here alone, please!”

  I was genuinely terrified and had no idea what to do but help her and call the police.

  “So there was this thing...and it attacked you?”

  “YES! As I said before, I heard those scratching noises and heard Ellie barking. I told her to be quiet, but she just kept barking and barking. It seemed to get more aggressive with every bark, so I got up and tried to get her to calm down.

  Shortly after, I got up, and she started to whine and quiet down. I got back in bed and saw these two white glowing dots 2 feet below the ceiling. With the light from the street lights coming through the window, I saw a black-looking hand resting on the windowsill, and it looked rather bizarre and not even human!”

  “Something was inside our house? And you said you saw a pair of white floating dots, right?”

  “Yes!”

  “I saw those same dots on the postcard on the refrigerator while I was in the kitchen and before I went to bed!”

  “Wait! Really?”

  “Yes, but-”

  “Why didn't you tell me, Matt?”

  “I thought it was just in my head and that I was exhausted and needed to go to bed!”

  “I didn’t know this was going to happen! Let alone that you would be attacked by this thing!”

  “It’s not that bad. I turned on the light as soon as I saw the black-looking hand, but when the light turned on, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my chest and heard the window break. It must have attacked me really quickly and escaped through the window or something.”

  “I’m calling the police right now, and you bandage that up while I check the house!”

  “No! Matt, don’t! That thing could still be out there! You don’t know what it’s capable of or what the hell it even is! It seems to be scared of lights, because it disappeared once I turned on my lamp. So, as long as we have the lights on for the rest of the night, we should be fine!”

  “Why would we do that when I could just kill the bastard myself?”

  “Because it’s not safe! Just call the police and wait inside the house with the doors locked and the lights on! We will wait for the police to arrive!”

  “Fine! I’m only doing this because I don’t want anything else to happen to you! Don’t worry, babe; I’ll be fine. I’m going to bandage the wound up right now.”

  “Okay, be sure to do that. I’ll go lock the doors and turn on the rest of the lights.”

  “Do it quick and come right back here!”

  I ran to all the doors and locked them, and turned on the rest of the lights around the house. I quickly rushed back to the bedroom to wait for the police to arrive.

  “I think we should be safe here. I mean, as long as we have the lights on, I don’t think it will want to come near us.”

  “How do you know that, Rebecca?”

  “Because I told you! As soon as I turned on the lamp, the creature fled in the blink of an eye, as if it was afraid of it.”

  “That makes a little sense, I guess.”

  “What do you mean you guess?”

  “I don’t want to argue right now, just patch yourself up and we’ll wait for the police, and if we have to stay up the rest of the night, we will!”

  We sat there waiting for the ambulance and police to arrive. It took some time, as it was the middle of the night, around 2:00 in the morning. I sat there with my gun and Rebecca started to put her hea
d on my shoulder, as she was exhausted.

  I mainly kept watch and so did Ellie, waiting to see if the creature had the urge to attack again. We didn’t know that this was how our night was going to end up. I should have felt some instinct that those white floating dots were its eyes and the scratching noises were the creature’s doing. Even perhaps the reason why that damn shovel fell in the shed! We waited and waited. It felt like almost an hour, but turned out to be only 25 minutes.

  Eventually, the police arrived and helped Rebecca as well as searched the house to see if there were any signs of the creature still lurking in or around the house. After searching for some time, they did find something that none of us wanted to hear or even discuss.

  It turns out that the creature was stalking us the whole time, as they found scratch marks on the side of the house along with a few spots of blood, possibly from another victim.

  The officer came up to me with fear in his eyes and his hands trembling. He asked me if I knew who attacked her, and I only told him the first thing that came to my mind without any hesitation.

  “Um, I don’t think it was a person, Officer.”

  “What do you mean? Are you positive it wasn’t just a man or woman looking to start a problem?”

  “With all that we have seen tonight, Officer, it was a thing that doesn't belong here. It may have been something not of this world.”

  5

  Loved Ones of Anguish

  We stayed up all night and felt that the night lasted longer than it should have. The police told us that they did find something that could have possibly been left by the creature.

  They said they found footprints in the garden on the side of our house. The footprints looked like they had three sharp, pointed toes and one large print. The toes seemed very long, almost 2 feet long. They also saw traces of some blackish-looking droplets right next to where the window was broken, or where that damn creature broke out.

  I remember Officer Miller telling me something that he had experienced that was similar to the encounter Rebecca and I had witnessed.

  It happened at his home right after he visited the vacant apartment building about a day and a half ago. He told me that he was relaxing at his home after a long night at work and was watching some television while snacking on some cookies.

  His wife had left before to go to a party for her coworker’s birthday, and he had to stay and watch their baby boy. They had their boy for a year and kept him in a separate room.

  Of course, as any other parent would do, they set up a camera in there as well as kept a baby monitor nearby when they weren’t with the baby.

  He told me that he stayed up pretty late that night, until around midnight, and his wife was supposed to be home by 2:00 at the latest.

  “So, I was getting a little tired and decided to get ready for bed. I had the baby monitor right next to me while I took a shower and brushed my teeth. I got the bed ready and tried to fall asleep. With the baby monitor on at all times, it can pick up the baby making some noises, such as crying or coughing, but I heard something that sounded out of the ordinary that night. There were little crackling sounds, almost like light scratching noises followed by some odd, light breathing. I assumed it was the baby that was making those noises and didn’t overthink the situation.

  Then, the breathing started to get a little more substantial. I thought it could have been my wife coming home early, but when I got up to check the baby's room, I heard my wife walk in. I was incredibly terrified as to who was watching my son, so I told my wife, and we both rushed in, hearing our son crying before entering the room. He had a little cut mark on his head, and my wife and I then argued about how I was supposed to be watching him at all times.”

  Of course, Officer Miller, being a police officer, would let nothing happen to his baby boy, and he was just as confused as his wife was. They called the police and reported an intruder inside their home, but what Officer Miller noticed that was a bit out of place in his son's room was that the closet was open. He closed the closet and went to check the cameras.

  “I was shocked to see that there was a black-looking silhouette standing over my son for a good amount of time. The camera had the hours of how long it was on, and it turned out that the black silhouette had been watching my son for over two hours. That’s about the same amount of time I rested until I heard the heavy breathing coming from my son’s room.

  When I looked at the last five minutes of my wife and myself barging in, I noticed that the black figure had disappeared and the closet had opened by itself. My son was left with that scratch mark, which had to have been from that black figure. I couldn’t make out what it was, but I knew that it must not have been human if it could disappear that quickly. I got a decent look at its face, but could only see the hand resting on my son's crib and a pair of white dots floating above the hand.”

  After Officer Miller told me about this, we started to have a massive conversation about a similar thing that happened to my fiancé and me before them showing up for the emergency.

  “So that happened, Officer Miller?”

  “Yes, it did. I’m not joking, Matt. Even my wife thought I was crazy. She didn’t even want to look at the video footage, but when she did, she clung to our son like bread and butter. We make sure that he sleeps in our room, but no disturbances like that one has happened again in the past 48 hours. But you said that you witnessed the same pair of white dots as well as your wife stating that she saw a black-looking silhouette followed by a black hand resting on the windowsill, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “Yeah, that is exactly what happened. And we're not sure where that creature could be at this time. Are you guys going to search anywhere else besides my house?”

  “Yes we are, but for now we think this creature could be tied to the encounter my wife and I experienced and that your wife and yourself experienced. Also, it sounds a bit weird, but it could also be responsible for the death of that homeless man, as he could have been killed in the dark. And it seems this creature likes to hunt and stalk us at night or in the dark and doesn’t like the light too much.”

  “It will be sunrise in the next hour, so we should be fine out here, right?”

  “Yes, we should be. We have plenty of lights, but of course, many others still don’t believe my encounter and think it’s just a load of bullshit. They also don’t believe that this creature's weakness is any sort of light, including fire. I hope they take our word for it, because they may end up all dead tonight!”

  “Yeah, I felt the same way. If I ever told any of my friends or family members about this, they’d think I was taking too much of something or drinking too much, even though I only drink once a week or on special occasions. And I never thought of it in that way. Now I’m more worried about my family and friends. So, what are we going to do in the meantime, Officer Miller?”

  “First, we're going to be here for awhile and make sure that everything is safe around here. Second, we're going to put warnings all over the news and social media outlets. Hopefully, that’ll open people’s eyes to how dangerous this night could be.”

  “Yep, that all sounds good, Officer Miller.”

  I waited there for the last two hours until the sun rose up to finally go back inside and get some rest. I was fatigued and felt that I was probably not even going to be able to sleep for the next week after what Officer Miller told me and what happened to my Rebecca.

  She was getting treated in an ambulance, as it was not severe enough of an injury for her to be taken to the hospital. But still, something that can cause that much blood loss, I could only imagine just how strong the capabilities this creature may have that we may have never seen before. I stood by her most of the time and looked around to see if that creature could be lurking anywhere around, staking us out.

  “So, you holding up pretty well, honey?”

  “Yeah I am, thanks for asking, babe.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Not too much. It was
excruciating in the first five minutes I was scratched by that creature, but once they helped me out, my pain started to subside after 10 minutes or so. So, it’s not too bad. I’m just glad that I didn’t get scratched anywhere near my face.”

  “Yeah, me too. That would have been even worse and would have sent me over the edge to go further in trying to kill that damn thing.”

  “Yeah, you could babe, but I would want you to stay next to me and be safe, you know. I want to know that you’re still here and not have to worry about what is going to happen again if we end up encountering that creature for the second time.”

  “I know, I know, it’s just the feeling I get. A protective feeling. To protect you and the house, and if we have any children, to protect the kids, too.”

  “Yeah, that would be nice to have kids one day, wouldn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it would be. The only problem is all the hard work that comes with raising a kid, but it all has benefits in the end, doesn’t it?”

  “Of course it does!”

  We sat next to each other, and Rebecca started to slowly go to sleep, as she was exhausted too, and began to rest her head on my shoulder. I fell asleep as well, but it didn’t feel like it lasted for too long, as Officer Miller yelling woke me up suddenly.

  “Let's go inside that house and check it out right now!”

  I was confused as to what happened, so I quickly ran up to him and asked what was going on.

  “Hey, Miller, what happened?”

  “We got the SWAT team on standby in case the murderer is still in there.”

  “What do you mean, a murderer?”

  “We got another call saying that your neighbors found their children killed in their rooms, some torn to pieces, and shortly after, dispatch told us that they heard painful screams in the background, and then the phone disconnected.”

  “Could this all be that damn thing again?”

  “Yes, I for sure think it’s that creature that did this as well.”

 

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