A Stormy Night: Stories to Read by Candlelight

Knock Knock

Anthony drove cautiously along Old Raven Road. The night was still, and the eeriness of it frightened Anthony as he made his way home from a late night party with his girlfriend, Rachel.

"Jesus, slow down!" She exclaimed as Anthony took a sharp turn and she grasped the handle above the door of his Mustang, "You're gonna get us both killed!" Anthony looked over to Rachel, and after seeing the scared look on her face, he eased his foot off the gas.

"I'm sorry hun," he said, bringing an arm over to her shoulder to comfort her, "I'm just a little drunk, I guess." She raised a brow at him,

"You guess?" She asked as she pulled a cigarette from a pack in her purse and looked over at him beggingly, "You had like, four beers, all in a row." Anthony rubbed at his facial hair and glanced over before patting his chest and retrieving a lighter. With a click! he lit Rachel's cigarette and she inhaled deeply,

"I don't even know why you're driving, to be honest."

"I'm driving because I'm the only one that's gonna get you home in time," Anthony said, pulling at his sweaty collar.

"Are you hot?" Rachel asked, reaching over to the crank for the window. Anthony slapped a hand down over Rachel's, but didn't say anything, and she returned his look of fear with one of skepticism,

"What's gotten into you Anthony?" She asked as she pulled her hand away from the handle, "You seem all scared." He shook his head,

"No, I'm fine," he said with a jitter as he shifted into a higher gear. She looked at him strangely,

"Something happened at the party didn't it? Something that freaked you out?" Anthony swallowed but didn't reply, and Rachel's eyes went wide with amusement,

"That old story!" She shouted, clasping her hands together and startling Anthony, "The one about Old Raven Road!" Anthony shook his head but his eyes remained forward, darting back and forth occasionally to look around.

"You honestly believe that if you stop this car someone is going to knock on the window and ask where her killer is?" She said, tipping her head back and cackling, "How gullible are you?" Rachel wiped tears away from her eyes and re-lit her cigarette,

"I mean, come on," she said, taking a long draw, "they were kidding, the whole thing's a joke."

"Yeah," Anthony said with a nervous smile, "just a joke." He pressed his foot a little harder to the gas pedal, when suddenly, Rachel slapped a hand onto his chest,

"Pull over!" She shouted.

"What?" Anthony asked in a panic, "No!"

"Unless you want the dash of this car to smell like puke you're gonna pull over!" Rachel rolled down the window rapidly as the car came to a halt, and Anthony could hear the vomit hitting the side of the dirt road. He looked straight ahead with one hand on the wheel and the other on the stick, and when Rachel leaned back in, he handed her a pile of napkins he'd stuffed in the glove box.

"Thanks," she said as she wiped her mouth and tossed the wipes outside, "I must have had too much to drink too," she said as she fumbled around her seat, "I think I'm gonna lay down for a minute." Anthony nodded and watched as Rachel lowered her seat and the face of a girl appeared in the passenger window. There were two distinct, sharp knocks on the glass, and Anthony shouted, causing Rachel to jump up in her seat some and ask,

"What happened?" She looked around groggily, then fell back to the seat. The girl was gone when Anthony looked out the passenger window again, and he let out a sigh of relief as he shifted the car into first, then second, then third as he sped away from the napkins and bile on the side of the road. Rachel sat up quickly,

"Pull over!" She shouted.

"Again?" Anthony asked. She nodded, rolled down the window and leaned out, but she didn't throw up. Instead, she stayed bent halfway out the window for a moment, a moment too long.

"Rachel, are you okay?" She didn't reply, and when she turned back into the vehicle and looked at Anthony, her eyes were a milky white. His heart started beating faster and his stomach sank as he pressed himself against the drivers side door, fumbling for the door handle. Rachel inhaled deeply, cracked her neck, then said,

"You have no idea what this is like." She lifted her hands and flicked her fingertips, "I haven't had a body in a very, very long time," she said, "not since you took it from me. Isn't that right, Anthony?" He gulped but didn't reply,

"No, no, no!" She whispered as she leaned into him and put a finger softly to his lips, "Don't say anything. I want to see your face fill with fear first." Anthony hesitated as Rachel pulled away from him and crossed her legs in her seat to look at him and say,

"They never did find my killer," she said as she pulled a lock of her hair to her face and inspected it, "just poor old Annie, left for dead on Old Raven Road, another legend in this spook show town." Anthony grasped the handle of the door, but it was locked.

"No point," Annie said as she leaned back in closer, "I'll just tell them you heard something outside and I never saw you again." She drew a finger lightly over his neck and up to his ear,

"That's what you told them, isn't it?" She nodded, "They'll believe it too," she whispered as she kissed his neck carefully, "chalk it up as a serial killer on Old Raven Road." Slowly, she placed her hands around Anthony's neck and began to squeeze tightly. Anthony flailed about, punching and trying to scream, but his voice was silenced by the grip Annie had on his windpipe.

"Shh," she whispered as she drove her thumbs into his neck, puncturing a hole in his esophagus and spraying blood on her face, "just relax." She drove her hands into his neck until there was a gaping hole where his throat used to be, and she leaned back carefully to inspect herself in the mirror. She reached into the glove box, grabbed several napkins, and wiped the blood from her hands and face. She pushed open the passenger side door and stepped out into the cool night, enjoying the sensation,

"Rachel, you've got quite a nice body," she said as she shivered in the new skin, "I think I might just keep it."