Short Stories

Creature

I could feel it, or him, or her, this creature that is lurking in the shadows. It's presence has awoken me. It made no sound. It moved not one muscle, but just by being there, it scares me. The bottom of my heart felt weighed down by lead, waiting for it to move, to breath. I could hear was the crickets in the woods and owls in the trees. I turned over for some old fire wood and raked it across my stone head rest to produce light. But once I had turned back, The creature was gone. I felt it right behind me.
    I quickly took my knife and slashed behind me, but all I cut was a standing lone shadow, that has fell into ashes. I looked back at the shadows that I saw the creature in before. It was still there. I crept over to a pit and reached inside it to find myself a bow and a stash of arrows. I drew my bow. 1. My heart was pounding. 2. I pulled back on the bow. 3. I closed my eyes. 4. My shaking hands refused to calm down. 5. Release.
     It was gone. The crickets made no sound. The Owls stopped hooting. It was silent. I dropped to my rug in exhaustion, but It's the absence of the creature that kept me awake.