Author's note- Trigger warning-house invasion.
By the time it was dark Ella was dog tired. Her car was
full of black bin bags of rubbish and grime from the house. She had started by
clearing out all the scattered leaves, dirt and broken bits of furniture. Next she
swept away the cobwebs and cleaned all the surfaces. The final big job for the
day was to sweep, mop, and then polish all the hard wood floors.
So yes, by the time Ella sat down to drink a lukewarm none brand diet coke, she was beat. She hadn’t got around to cleaning out the stove so she wasn’t going to attempt use it to try and cook anything. She had a cold and therefore quick shower, before settling down for the evening. Ella changed into a pink sleeping onesie with a pattern of little black love hearts and plaited her damp black hair. She raided her brown paper bag from her trip to the grocery store that morning and unwrapped a ham and cheese sandwich. Her mobile in one hand and her sandwich in the other, and she felt very much at ease as she rolled onto her stomach on the sleeping bag. She opened her mouth to bite into the baguette-
-when she heard a shriek.
Ella froze stiff as her mind struggled to compute what she just heard. What was that? An animal? I am surrounded by forest up here. But it sounded weird…and very loud… Ella crept on her knees in her pink onesie to look out of the window to the front garden. Her little Toyota, stuffed to the brim with black bin bags, was exactly where she left it. She narrowed her blue eyes and scanned the darkness for any sign of the shriek. What was it? Maybe I’m just over tired and I’m hearing thi-
A spine chilling scream made the windows literally rattle. Ella dropped her sandwich on the sleeping bag and pressed her hands to either side of the window frame. That wasn’t an animal. That was a person. It sounded like a person. Crap. Where is it coming from? She chewed her bottom lip and kept searching for whoever it was. She held her mobile up and decided that whoever they were, wherever they were, they were in serious trouble. She called 999 and waited for the switch board to pick up the phone.
“Hello? Yes I need the police. I can hear someone screaming and I think they’re either hurt or in danger.
“I’m connecting you now.” Ella held her mobile to her ear and the other hand nervously held her elbow. I hope they’re okay. Another scream made her press her left hand to the window and get as close as she could to look for the poor soul.
Then she heard a gunshot that made her heart leap into her throat.
“Hello, you’re through to the Gleann Caillte police depar-”
“You need to send the police to Deer-view house right away. Someone is screaming and I heard a gun shot just now.” Ella shifted from one foot to the other anxiously and cupped the back of her neck with worry.
“Harry? It’s the girl at the shack. Who’s on duty? Yeah send him there right now. Someone’s fired a gun up there.” Ella’s eyes were wide and her jaw dropped. She could hear the eye roll of annoyance in this woman’s voice and it was boggling. Why the hell does she sound miffed at getting my call?!? What part of a person screaming and a gun firing isn’t urgent?! “Where are you right now? You’re not out in the woods at night are you?”
“No I’m inside the house.”
“Listen to me miss, you have to stay inside no matter what you hear or see.” Finally the woman sounded serious and warned her intently. “No matter what, you understand? I don’t care if you think you see your dear old ma outside. You stay put. Your doors are locked aren’t they? Are you armed?”
“Armed?” Ella flustered. “Why would I be armed?!” She shook her head to the window, only to turn as cold as ice.
In the pitch shadows in the treeline, slightly to the right of the dirt road leading from Deer-view to Gleann Caillte, were a pair of eyes. Yellow with black triangular slits, shining like they were reflecting light back up at her, were the scariest eyes she had ever seen. She saw nothing else of the creature, but it clearly saw her. She felt like their eyelines were connected by something unyielding and fierce. Her heart raced and her skin prickled with terror as the hair on the back of her neck rose.
“Miss? Please stay on the line until Officer O’Hara arrives.” Ella wasn’t listening anymore. “Missy? Are you still there? Miss?! You’re still inside the house aren’t you? Your door is locked isn’t it?! Harry she’s not talking to me.”
Ella was in a stupor and entranced by the thing looking at her from the shroud of the darkness. What is it? What has yellow eyes? Ireland doesn’t have wolves. Wolves don’t have pupils like a snake. But those eyes are huge and-crap! Ella shuddered and exhaled choppily as she blinked and lost track of it. She jerked her head from side to side looking for it again, and found it to the right of the house. How did it move so fast? It’s right outside the house. “Miss you need to answer me. Are you still inside? Under no circumstances do you go outside. Keep your doors locked. Do not let anyone in who doesn’t introduce themselves as Officer Aiden O’Hara. Not even if they look like him, don’t let them in unless they know his full name.” Ella would have thought that was a strange instruction, if she was really listening anymore. She was watching the yellow eyes intently and shaking as it stared right back at her. The fear of blinking and it moving again made her feel sick. “Is your front and back door locked?”
Suddenly her brain kicked back into gear and she went dizzy with terror.
“…no…” Ella gulped and her blue eyes teared up. “…I…loaded up the car earlier…and I…don’t think I lock the front door…I shut it but I don’t think I locked it.”
“LOCK THE FRONT DOOR RIGHT NOW!” The woman screamed with authority down the cell at her. Ella flinched and whimpered as she lost track of the creature again. W-where did it go? She could hear her own breathing as she panicked looking for the creature again. Her face was practically pressed to the window pane as she looked for it.
Slam.
The front door shut louldy below her.
She cupped her mouth with her left hand and tears ran down over her knuckles. It’s inside. Whatever it is, it’s in the house. Ella whited out for a second and really thought she was going to pass out. Or vomit. Or both. “Have you locked the-”
“S-someone just ran inside. Th-they're inside the house.” Ella whispered with trembling lips. She slowly turned to look at the open doorway from the master bedroom to the landing. She strained to hear what the intruder was doing. She could hear scuffling and the creak of wood under someone’s weight as it moved about. Slowly Ella moved towards the bedroom door. So slowly she thought she might never get there.
“Are you armed?” The woman also whispered and sounded just as scared, which did nothing for her nerves.
“No.” Ella was breathless with fear. Her left hand shook as she reached for the door handle. She stopped mid action and bit her lips together with grief. The door creaks really loudly. If I shut it, the thing downstairs will realise I’m up here. Then again, it saw me in the window. But if it’s an animal then it might not realise that I’m inside the house unless I make a noise. It has to be an animal. “I’ll stay quiet. Is Aiden nearly here?”
“Yes. Stay on the line with me.” Ella nodded and debated whether she should try and hide in the bathroom, but couldn’t shut that door either for the same reason, as it was even louder than the bedroom door. If she survived tonight, she swore she was going to repair the doors first thing tomorrow. Or you know, do the sensible thing and leave. After a hot minute deliberating she decided to stay put. That way she could listen to what the thing downstairs was doing and get as much warning as possible if it decided to come up the stairs. She nearly screamed herself when she heard a blood curdling howl. It’s an animal. No human makes that sort of noise.
“Help…me…” She felt like her brain span in her skull for a moment. …but people talk… “Help me!” The voice was so deep it sounded like it was a growl with a hissing undertone to it. It wasn’t a kind voice, she knew that. But it was a voice, and it sounded like the owner was in a lot of pain.
“Don’t you move.” The woman whispered in her ear over the phone. She must have heard the cry as well. “You don’t go near that thing. Don’t listen to it’s pleas or it’s promises. It will be the last thing you do. I can promise you that.”
“Why?” Ella took a slow and calculated step across the threshold and onto the landing. “…what’s in my house?”
“…nothing good. Do not go find out.”
“…help me…please.” Ella was in crisis. She could hear the agony on the rasping voice. She could also hear the dire warning from the switch board lady. A stranger, strange thing, something was in the house with her. Something with yellow eyes and that moved really fast. Something that could talk English. Something in pain. “…p…lease…” Something that was begging for help. Ella silently dropped the f bomb and looked back towards her window. I heard gun fire. He could be shot. Bleeding out right now. It’s dark outside. Maybe what I saw wasn’t even him? The eyes of a fox or something in the light of the moon looking creepy. Ella already regretted her decision and wanted to just cower with her face down the toilet bowl, but she acted regardless. Mr and Mrs Murphy raised her to be a good Christian girl, and this felt too much like a test of her character. Yes, she was scared out of her mind. But she held onto enough of her morals to know what the right thing to do was. If their roles were reversed and she had dragged herself into a stranger’s home on the brink of death, she would want the stranger to help her. She wouldn't want to die. Ella sent up a prayer and hoped it wouldn’t be her last. Lord give me strength and protection. Please don’t let me be walking into a trap.
“I-I’m coming.” Ella slowly walked along the landing and braced her trembling hand on the banister. “I’m c-coming down. N-no sudden moves please. I’m pretty scared right now.”
“NO YOU STUPID GIRL DON’T YOU-” Ella hung up and put the cell in her onesie pocket. Aiden will be here any second. The guy is in pain and injured. I have nothing worth stealing here. I should be okay…
Ella took each step with her ankles feeling weak with terror and her mind whirring with doubt. The woman on the phone sounded very certain she would be in terrible danger if she went down to ‘it’.
“H-hello? M-my name is Ella. I don’t have anything valuable, but my parents love me very much. I love them more than words.” She wanted him to think twice about hurting her. Ella hoped tht making him think of her as a person with family who would miss her, he would be less likley to try anything 'funny'. “I bought a first aid kit today so I can maybe help you?” Ella struggled to swallow her mouth was so dry. “I-I’m no doctor though.” Aiden can get this guy to a hospital really quick when he get's here. I just need to try and stop the bleeding. She chuckled nervously as she ran out of steps and stood at the bottom of the stairs. “How can I help you?” Ella timidly looked around the dark hollow house for the guy.
She found him.
Slumped to sit back against the front door was a figure that made her wonder if she was hallucinating. Perhaps suffering a mental break? Her brain had to be misinterpreting what her eyes saw. She couldn’t really be looking at something so terrifying, could she?
In the dim light from only one candle she left lit from her earlier house work she saw the outline of a man. But this was no man. He was covered in dark raven fur. She could tell as much from his long legs half bent up before her. His toes had sharp points, and he pressed his left hand to the floor to support his weight whilst the right cradled his abdomen. She absently noticed a pool of dark blood forming at either side of him from this wound. Her focus however wasn’t on his injury, but his face. He had a thick mane of fur around his head, two long rabbit like ears, but they were hanging limp on either side. Ribbed and demonic on his head were two upward reaching goat horns. His face was black and most of his features were hard to make out, but there was no missing his golden eyes. Molten, glowing, and with black fathomless slits for pupils.
“…blood.” He spoke so softly and darkly Ella almost missed it.
“…your blood-yes you’re bleeding.” Ella shook like a leaf as she shuffled to the left to a previously abandoned shopping bag. “Sorry. You’re not, I mean you’re…sorry.” Ella was beyond frightened. What the hell is he?! Aiden. Just hang on. Aiden will get here with a baton or tear gas or something. N-no sudden moves to get myself killed here. Her hands were clammy as she rummaged around for the first aid kit. I should have stayed upstairs. What an idiot.
“…lucky me.” He chuckled weakly and winced against the pain it caused. “I thought I was going to die tonight. Then I saw you in here…and you left your door open for me.” Ella fumbled and dropped the first aid kit twice in the bag. I didn’t leave the door open intentionally. She timidly nodded, not telling him he was wrong, and still half hoped she was dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or high on fumes from cleaning? He looks like a monster from a horror film. Like a demon. What the hell is he? “A lucky encounter indeed. I would have died, had you not come to my aid.” Ella closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. That was right. That’s what she was doing. She was being a good person and offering this injured ‘guy’ aid. The police will be here any minute now. Any second. Hold it together El. Ella nodded and braced herself. She held the green box up towards the creature in offering.
But he wasn’t there.
Her door was bare of any dark spectre. She dropped her blue gaze and could make out the blood pool. So she hadn’t imagined that an injured ‘something’ was bleeding out there a moment earlier
“…h…hello? I have the first aid kit. I can treat your wounds now.”
“Yes, you can.”
Ella dropped the first aid kit and it hit the ground, pinged open, and scattered its contents across the floor. She screamed as her hair was fisted and her neck was jerked to the right. The beast restrained her upper body with his left arm in a powerful vice over her chest. “Your blood offering will heal all my wounds. Thank you.” He cackled and she screamed and the sharp press of fangs at her neck.
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