Outside the Window (Monoshin)

The Thing Outside the Window

There was a creature who watched Monoma sleep.

It had a still silhouette, backlight by the moon and stars. The creature never moved from its position on the rocks, even as the waves of high tide battered and crashed around the figure. Monoma could almost pretend that it was just another part of the shoreline, just an oddly shaped rock. But the silhouette was never there in the morning, just the flat boulder is sat upon.

Nieto was seven when he first saw it. He and his mother had only just moved into the quaint shore house, and the young boy found himself unable to sleep. So, instead, he sat on his bed and stared out the window on the opposite wall. It looked directly out to the ocean, all dark frothing water, and rocky beach. The wind outside howled and shrieked, ever belligerent in its goal to keep Monoma awake.

It was as his gaze swept the coastline for the nth time that he saw it; the figure. It was still, and unmoving; just a shape, really. A meaningless form on a backdrop of empty void and dying stars. It shouldn't have scared him, the figure, shouldn't have caused any worry at all. But it did. The instinctual feeling of being watched crept under Monoma's skin and into his mind. The figure wasn't moving, but it was watching him, every fiber of Monoma's being told him so. An unnatural chill crept up his spine, his hairs stood on end and ghastly shivers wracked his body.

Monoma wanted to look around the room, to get up and leave, to grab the covers and hide under them until the fear went away. He wanted the rising panic to end, but he couldn't move. Something about the figure had him frozen in fear, stuck in the seated position facing the window. Monoma wanted to scream, to cry, to call for his mother, but he couldn't open his mouth, couldn't force his lungs and vocal cords to produce any noise. All he could do was stare in horror at the figure on the shoreline outside the window and wait for morning to come.

Monoma didn't remember falling asleep that night, but he remembered waking up. He was still sat in the same position, cross-legged and facing the window. He hadn't moved all night, not even in his state of unconsciousness. Instant relief washed over him as he looked out to the sun rising over the shore. There was nothing there, nothing sat upon the rock to watch and terrorize him. Whatever it was, it was gone. Monoma carried on with his day and told no one. At the age of seven, little Monoma tried to forget the thing on the rocks.

There was a creature who watched Monoma sleep.

Its proportions were all wrong. Monoma was nine when he noticed just how wrongly the thing was shaped. It didn't visit every night, only sometimes, but every time it did Monoma spent his night frozen in cold fear. It was the first time he really looked at the figure though, and it was built wrong, whatever it was.

It was the first night that Monoma could discern any features. Usually, the form blended into its own silhouette, a barely distinguishable black mass. This time, it was positioned differently, so its shape was more visible. Neito found no comfort in this new information.

The arms, at least that's what Monoma thought they were, were too long. They extended far past what they should, ending at what was presumably the knee area. The shoulders were too broad, too wide to be proportional. They were the shoulders of something that was used to hauling heavy loads. Did the things being hauled ever fight back, Monoma wondered. Its legs were odd too. Like the arms, they were long, unnaturally so. Monoma could not make out their full details, just that the figure never separated them and that they got progressively thinner the further down they went. The legs went below the water, and Monoma could make out no feet. Stranger yet was the head. Try as he may, Neito could discern no facial features, but the head was shaped oddly. From where the hair would be on a person was a wild, upwards thrusting, mess of something; it adorned the being like a twisted crown.