A Stormy Night: Stories to Read by Firelight

Cauchemer

Scraaaatchh.

Henry bolted straight up in bed, perspiration pouring down his head and chest.

The sound was coming from his parents' room down the hall to the right.

Scraaaatchh.

He glanced at the alarm clock to his right.

2:22AM

Henry slid out of the bed, letting his hot feet touch the cold, wood floor.

He gulped.

Slowly, he made his way down the hall toward his parents room.

There was no more sound, and the hallway appeared dark and fuzzy in his groggy vision.

He carefully pushed open the door to reveal a messy and empty bed but no sign of a struggle.

The room felt like an ice box and Henry, still soaked in sweat, shivered.

Slam!

Henry jolted as the door to his parents closet slammed shut.

Scraaaatch.

The sound came from across the hall, his sister's room.

Henry crossed the hall and placed a hand on his sisters door and pushed.

Scraaaatchh.

He stepped in to find his sister's room in the same condition as his parents, only this time, something stood near the back of the room in front of his sister's closet.

The darkness made it hard to make out details but he took another step into the room.

Henry blinked once, twice, and the blurriness subsided, giving him a clear view of the hideous creature.

Its humanoid body lay low to the ground and crawled like a reptile, with long arms and legs protruding out of the side of it, branching into meaty hands and feet with thick, curved claws on each finger and toe. Its head lacked eyes, ears and a nose, and instead, was a smooth layer of skin complimented only by a wide jaw that opened to reveal long, razor like teeth.

As it crawled toward Henry, its back claws dragged on the wood floor.

Scraaaatchh.

Scraaaatchh.

Henry backed out of the room and the creature lunged at him.

He ducked, and its body connected with the wall.

Crash!

Henry scurried off of the floor and bolted down the hall without looking back. He slipped into his room, slammed the door, jumped into the bed, pulled the blankets up to his chin, and listened.

There was nothing for several moments, then:

Scraaaatchh.

Scraaaatchh.

Thud.

The creature had jumped and landed in front of Henry's door, which slowly creeped open to reveal the nightmare.

It crawled to the foot of Henry's bed and opened its wide mouth.

Despite how he tried, Henry could never look away as the creature lunged at him.

"AH!" Henry shouted as he was propelled out of his dream state.

He gasped and heaved as he caught his breath, leaned over and staring straight ahead.