Nothing could come up from the creek because the sides were too steep and wet. As far as Sherman was concerned, nothing could get onto the porch from the sides because they were too high. But he could see through the wood railing.

The light might be too bright for him to see anything. He needed to turn it off and find a flashlight. The large one he had found at the other place might work.

Smitty was shivering now out of fear. Sherman bent down and patted him on the head. He didn’t know what else to do.

“I’ll be right back. Then we can see what might be out there.”

He went in and returned with the flashlight and the extra battery from his backpack.

Smitty was still there. He was baring his teeth and growling low in his throat.

Sherman turned off the porch light and turned on the flashlight. He let his eyes adjust to the dark for a few seconds while kneeling beside Smitty under the umbrella. He played the flashlight around the gorge top until he could make out some of the plants on the other side.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s see what’s out there.”

He turned the flashlight to the way they had come up from the south. Smitty’s growl got louder, but Sherman couldn’t see anything. The grass was well-kept to the tree line.

Then he froze. It might have been a twig snapping or a pebble hitting the side of the gorge. It wasn’t so much that he had heard it but that he had the memory of hearing it. Perhaps his mind was making excuses for why his muscles froze and his heart pounded now in his ears. He didn’t want to move, afraid that if he did, he’d be noticed.

Smitty was starting to get to his feet. He let out a short bark followed by the same low growl he had been making.

Gradually, his muscles became unfrozen. It was foolish to think he wouldn’t be noticed when he was holding a flashlight.

He couldn’t see anything because the light wasn’t very bright. If he put the new battery in, he might be able to see what was coming towards the house.

He crouched down over the flashlight and screwed the top off while keeping the beam pointed out towards the noise he thought he had heard. If he didn’t turn off the flashlight, he’d be without light for as little time as possible.

He rocked it up towards his face as he screwed the cap back on. The new battery made the light much brighter. Spots haunted his eyes after he pointed the beam back out. Shadow and light danced through the trees.

Smitty was still growling and looking south at something out there.

Sherman stood up and scanned the tree line with the light. There was still nothing there, but he could see the shadows of the trees in front being cast on the brush deeper in the woods.

Smitty stood and backed up against the door as much as he could as if trying to get away from the deck.

“Nothing’s out there,” Sherman said. He started to turn around. As the light swung back towards the house, he saw a line of mud on top of the grass, as if something dirty had been dragged over it.

His heart skipped a beat as he felt the flush of adrenaline spread through his chest and up his neck.

_Shit_, he thought. _There was something out there._

And it was coming to the house.

He played the light against the trees again and then followed the line of mud down towards the house, swinging back and forth a bit to get a wider area and make the shadows dance.

Nothing out of the ordinary other than the line of mud from the trees towards the deck.

Sherman knew the ground was a good drop below the top of the railing. That’s why he and Smitty hadn’t tried to get into the house from behind. Something would have to jump quite a ways to reach the top.

He aimed the flashlight at the mud streak and walked over to the edge, careful not to make any noise. He took a deep breath and swung the light to the ground below.

Again, there was nothing there.

He turned the light back and forth, scanning the ground below the deck. There were what looked like footprints in the mud right next to the wood, but they were filled in with water. The toes were gone, but the heel looked to be there.

Some of the grass had also been matted down, but it didn’t have any mud on it.

He ran the light up the ground towards the house. As the light moved up the slope, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. A shadow seemed to skitter around the house to the front.

It could be a possum or a deer, but those didn’t drag mud onto the grass and leave human footprints in the flower beds. He had only seen the tail end of it and in shadow at that.

Smitty was still agitated, but his growling had died down.

“I’m going to go inside and see what’s out front.”

He put a hand on the doorknob and looked back down at Smitty.

“Let me know if anything comes back around here.”

He turned off all the lights and went through the house to the front. He wanted to see what was out there without having to deal with his reflection in the windows. He also didn’t want whatever was out there to be able to see inside.

The front porch light had been on all day. It gave just enough light for him to see if anything was near the house, at least from the living room.

He climbed onto one of the armchairs set against the window and peeked above it to see what might be out there.

The rain looked more like a fog as it caught the light. The trees stood still.

Sherman could almost see the little droplets of water drifting downwards in the light.

The air conditioner came on, and a few seconds later, he felt a soft caress at the back of his neck.

Nothing happened for a while, and Sherman almost began to think he had imagined the whole thing, though Smitty had been concerned about something.