The jingle of the bell dredges Lucy from deep sleep in the middle of the night. She ignores it, at first, assuming the sound is her cat, Milo.
The bell persists, the sound moving from one end of the house to the other, louder than usual, more frantic, somehow, than Milo’s usual nighttime movements.
“Milo?”
The bell ceases for a moment, and the house goes eerily quiet.
Lucy reaches over, turns on the light on her nightstand.
Milo is lying at the foot of the bed, head up, ears perked like he’s listening, but something is…off.
“Milo?”
The cat does not turn at the sound of her voice. He doesn’t move.
Her heart in her throat, she leans forward, hand outstretched and trembling. The chill and stiffness of his body makes her recoil. She hops from the bed, backs away.
Milo is unmoving. His eyes are gone, nothing remaining but hollow sockets. She stifles a scream as the sound of the bell in the other room begins again.
The door between her and whatever made the sound offer little in the way of safety. It’s flimsy at best. Might as well go through.
On the other side, she finds the shadows in a state of chaos. Like tentacles, they lash out from behind and beneath furniture. They writhe along the walls, this way and that.
The deepest shadow, the one with solid form crouches at the center of the room, watching Lucy as she walks in. They stare at one another for a moment in the quiet night.
“Milo?” she asks one more time, her voice hopeful.
He shakes his head, jingling the bell around his neck at her, and then pounces playfully, knocking her to her back on the floor.
—-
Like short fiction? How about a whole dang book of it? My newest release is available in both print and ebook on the Amazon. Link down yonder.
Professional Stringer of Words 