Claws in the Dark | ✔

VII

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Miles parked his car in the garage and was outside waiting for the door to close. When it finally did, he clutched the box of files under his arm and proceeded towards the porch steps. He glanced up at the tree that separated their garage from the house. There was the silhouette of something in it. Not knowing what it was, the curious detective in him put the box down on the lawn and advanced towards the tree to investigate.

He didn't take his eyes off the natural monument, which was almost stripped bare of its leaves, and as he drew nearer to it, the figure appeared to be moving. He paused for a moment. The figure stopped moving, too. He took another step, but the figure remained still as if it were a part of the tree.

He ambled towards the tree and was certain that the figure moved again because it was lower this time. He stopped when he was about five feet from the trunk of the tree, and squinted at it.

"Miles?" Gina called from the front door, distracting him. He looked her way, startled. She smiled when she spotted him by the tree. "I thought I heard you pull in."

Looking back to the tree, he saw that the figure was gone. What the...? His breath hitched and there was a rapid increase in his heartbeat. He tried to scan the tree and the surrounding area, but he saw nothing. He shook his head and blinked a few times, then picked up the box of files and quickly continued to the house.

"Sorry I'm late," he told Gina as he walked in and placed a light kiss on her lips. "I was with my new partners, and we were caught up in looking through these files," he gestured to the box. He kicked the door shut and put his workload down in a corner on the floor. "Where are the kids?"

"George is in his room playing with that video game of his, and Rebecca's probably on her phone texting that guy from earlier," she replied.

"Oh, oka--wait, what?!" Miles stopped in his tracks on his way to the kitchen and turned to look at Gina. "You mean Mike?! I told her not to talk to that guy. He's too old for her."

"Oh, Miles, we're the same, you know. You're three years older than me – how do you think my father felt when he found that out?" She laughed as he scoffed and walked up to him, placing her hands around his neck and kissing him.

"Mmm," she said, pulling away. "You still have a promise to fulfil." Smirking, she started to undo his tie and pushed him into the kitchen.

Miles lifted her and turned around to place her on the island counter as they kissed. Gina's eyes were closed for a moment, but when she opened them they settled on the glass window fixated on their back door, which led to the patio. She pulled away from the kiss and screamed at what she saw - a monstrous face staring back at her. Her ear-piercing scream got Miles to turn around, wanting to see what could've caused her to shriek; when he did, nothing was there.

His eyebrows scrunched together and he looked back at Gina. "What's wrong? Did you see something?"

"I...there...something...was," Gina answered, her words jumbled.

"What?" he asked.

She cleared her throat and shook her head vigorously. "Something was there. I don't know what it was, but I saw it," she said, getting off the counter after Miles moved aside.

He walked over to the door and squinted to see through the glass. All that was outside were a circle table with a beach umbrella over it, a few lounge chairs and a barbeque grill. "Nothing's there, Gina."

"Miles, I saw it!" she tried to convince him. "I'm not crazy. I'm not seeing things."

Just as he was about to respond, something dashed across in front of the door, a scratching sound accompanying the movement, and disappeared beyond the darkness. His breath caught in his throat and he jumped away from the door.

"What is going on down here?" Rebecca said as she entered the kitchen, George tailing her with his video game at hand. "I heard Mom scream. Is everything okay? Dad, what did you do?"

"What?" Miles asked, looking at her confusedly. "Why do you assume I did something? Never mind, don't answer that."

"Because you made us move again," Rebecca finished anyway.

Miles sighed. "Your mother and I thought we saw something outside. Now, I'm gonna go outside and make sure everything is okay. We don't want burglars on our second night here, now, do we?"

He turned around and opened the door, pushing it open slowly. He poked his head out and scanned the patio and the rest of the backyard. Fully opening the door, he stepped out.

"Anything?" Gina asked in a whisper as she stood behind him in the doorway.

"I don't see anything," he answered. He was about to go back inside when something on the walls of the house caught his eyes. His body became taut, his eyes widened and his heart raced. "What...the...?"

Gina saw the stupefied look on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked and came outside to stand next to him. When she looked at where he was staring, her jaw dropped and she immediately felt scared. "What...what is that, Miles? Is that...is that...blood?" she asked in a whisper so that their children couldn't hear. The blood trailed along the side of the house in what appeared to be four lines in a claw-like manner.

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◀ MARDAIS ▶