Promise?

Chapter 5

It was late.

The Hello Kitty night light/alarm clock combo on her bedside table read 2:27AM in big red numbers.

It was late and Noah should've been sleeping but... she'd heard something...

With her eyes heavy from sleep yet struggling to stay open she looked this way and that just to make sure that everything was as it should be; no weird shadows, no missing objects, nothing out of place but in the end the exhaustion weighing her limbs and eyelids down proved too difficult to keep fighting against and Noah soon found herself being pulled back into the world of slumber once more. After a few seconds of cuddling against the thick warm blanket around her though Noah was suddenly roused yet again by the same sound... only this time it was slightly louder- a sharp clack against glass and when she opened her eyes this time and found herself facing the rectangular window across her bed, streaming bright silver moonlight onto the floor below, something inside of her instantly knew: the sound had come from her window.

Her eyes were wide and alert now while her heart fluttered nervously in her throat as she sat up on her bed. Aside from the glowing rectangle on the floor her room was nearly pitch black making it nearly impossible for Noah to even see her tiny hands which were clenched on her lap. Strangely enough though although the noise had startled her and she was plunged in near darkness Noah did not feel any fear as she stared at the glowing window across from her. If anything, she felt curious... how had something managed to even reach her window with enough force to make a sound? And why? Cocking her head to the side she frowned as she willed her ears to pick out even the smallest hint of a noise- anything that could give her a clue that could begin to answer her questions.

At first, there was only silence which was then quickly interrupted by the soft chirp of crickets outside. The harder she listened the more Noah could hear; the soft muffled sound of the clock downstairs, the soft gentle snores of her father in the bedroom just down the hall, the steady drumming of her heart... Noah could hear a lot of things going on in the night but none of them were the clacking that had roused her awake.

But knew she'd heard something- she wasn't crazy.... it couldn't have been in her dreams... she was sure of it so... why wouldn't it happen again? As she sat on her bed with her head cocked to the side while willing her ears to pick out a sound she became increasingly frustrated with the silence that answered. As she kicked off the covers from around her legs in order to investigate for herself Noah paused... she frowned... sat as still as possible and held her breath...

A clack exploded off the window across from her, slicing through the silence of the night and sending a multitude of tremors through her body.

Noah's heart fluttered excitedly in her chest as she gripped the edge of the mattress in tight fists. Not only had she heard the sound... she'd also seen the cause of it... it was a pebble! No tinier than the tip of her pinky bouncing off the glass just a few feet away. Without any other thought in her head and only a strong sense of urgency flowing through her veins at the possibility of being able to see the source behind the mysterious pebble Noah kicked off the rest of the blanket from her feet and threw her legs over the side of the bed... and stopped just before her feet touched the ground.

What if... what if it was something scary? Like a monster or a thief?

Or...

Noah shivered, curling her toes and quickly pulling her legs up to her chest as sudden fear gripped her, cold shivers running up and down her spine. What if... it was... a ghost? A sharp gasp escaped her while another cold tremor raced down her body.

Suddenly the fear she hadn't felt earlier washed over her tiny body in thick cold waves that left her trembling and gasping for breath. Chastising herself for kicking the blanket away earlier,  she mourned the loss of the one thing that could've kept her safe by acting as a barrier between herself and any ghost that might come her way (in case there was any).  Somehow she managed to shake the fear off enough to wrap her arms around her legs and hug them tight to her chest then she squeezed her eyes shut while a small whimper escaped her. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes ready to fall the second anything happened. Her heart fluttered like a caged bird in her chest. Fear was the only thing she could feel now and it made her breath catch and a scream build deep inside her belly ready to burst out of her only to lodge in her throat. She tried to swallow it down but to no avail. Tried to take deep breaths only to have them catch again and again. Tried to calm down only to feel panic hot and thick burst into her chest and rush through her veins.