That Which Lurks

by Billy Wong

  #

  That night, Josh awoke to high pitched screams. At first, his fuzzy head couldn't puzzle out who would scream like that. Hunter? He'd never heard her so panicked, but it must be. She had to be in terrible danger to make such sounds! Maybe Rex and/or friends had somehow snuck inside and threatened her with a weapon. He grabbed the baseball bat beside his bed and rushed to her room. When he got there he found her alone, sitting up in bed. She hugged her knees and looked white as bleach.

  "What happened? Nightmare?"

  "H-he tried to rape me."

  The window was wide open. "He who? Rex?"

  Barely audible, she said, "Dad."

  "So you had a nightmare." He walked over and rubbed her shoulders. "But what's with the window? That's dangerous."

  "I only opened it a crack. Dad came in through it and left through it."

  Josh frowned. "Now you're just saying nonsense. Dad's dead, and if he did come back as a ghost, why would he need to use a window?"

  She looked up with tears in her eyes. "I don't know, but he did! Do you think I opened that window?"

  Hunter wasn't the most well-adjusted person, but he didn't think her that messed up. "I don't know. Maybe it was Rex or one of his boys, and you thought it was Dad?"

  "No! I'm not that drunk now. I saw his face. I was fucking scared Josh, I've never been so scared in my life. Even when I remembered being raped, that was in the past and I didn't really understand when it happened, and when I went to prison I felt I could handle myself and I did. But this, this was like a nightmare, only it was real..."

  "It's pretty dark in here. You sure they didn't fool you with some kind of mask or something?" After all, anyone they grew up with would've known her weakness.

  "Yeah, it's real likely they'd have a perfect mask of Dad."

  Not sure what to think, Josh walked over to the window and pulled it down. "Look, the most likely explanation is that you opened the window because you were hot, forgot about it and then had a nightmare. I mean, ghosts climbing in through windows? Come on."

  "You just won't admit he raped me. That's why you don't believe me."

  "Even if he did, this story would make no sense. But how about this—we stay here for an extra night or two, and I'll prove to you there are no ghosts."

  Hunter's hands waved with nervous energy. "But we have to get back to our jobs, our lives..."

  "I have enough sick days saved up, and I know you work freelance. And if we don't solve this issue now, you might go around thinking you're being haunted by Dad."

  "M-maybe you're right. How do you plan to prove it?"

  He thought about it briefly. "You said you could see the 'ghost,' right? We'll set up a camera in your room. Then we can find out what's really trying to rape you, a ghost, some guy who you have no business being afraid of, or your imagination."