Just Outside

It was late at night and the raging storm outside was intimidating.

Most of the boys in my cabin had fallen asleep, but the late night chatter could still be heard among some of them. 

The bunk i had chosen to sleep in for the next 6 weeks was the top bunk next to the back door in the cabin. Unfortunately though, due to my lack of observation i had chosen the bunk that was located next to the exit sign, which was on all night, every night. 

Luckily though, tonight the raging storm had taken out the power. Now my only task was to get comfortable in my bed. Than i would be off to dreamville.

But the thunder from the storm was just too loud for me to fall asleep. 

So, as I lay there, trying to block out the thunder claps, on my top bunk bed next to the back door, I became aware of something lingering out of the corner of my eye, something just beyond the back porch.

 I turned on my side to face the door to get a better look at what it was. As I waited for the next flash of lightning i began to doze off.

Just as I was on the brink of sleep, the lightning flashed, and i saw what had caught my eye. 

Just beyond the back porch stood a cloaked, hooded figure. 

Though i tried to see the hooded figure's face, i could not, for it was shrouded in the darkness of the hood. Before I could see more, the light was gone and the crack of thunder sent an electric shock of fear up my spine, and my eyes were now wide open.

A few minutes before I had been practically asleep, that was no longer the case. I waited in anticipation for the next flash of light. 

Had my eyes tricked me? 

Was there really some hooded figure stalking our cabin? 

Finally the lightning flashed again illuminating the porch, and revealing the hooded figure now to be standing on it. The rain pattered on its black hood. 

The intrigue i'd had moments before had now turned to fear. There was no way that I had seen the same thing twice, this thing was real, and it was just outside the door.

The light went out once more, and the clap of thunder that followed got my heart racing with terror, as logistics began to play out in my head. 

The back door was never locked, which meant nothing was stopping it from coming in. 

But surely, one of the counselors would be able to save me if it did, right? 

No, the counselors all slept on the other side of the cabin, the figure would be long gone by the time they even realized what was going on.

The lightning flashed again, 

before I'd had time to even process all of these thoughts, the figure's face was up against the glass of the door's windowpane. 

I could now see its face clearly. 

The face's outline was that of a skeleton, than I realized the skin on its face was so pale and rain beaten that it appeared to be bone. Where the figures eyebrows should have been was what appeared to be a uni-brow bone, but no hair whatsoever. And just below the boney uni-brow were nothing but eye sockets. Black, gaping eye sockets. Nothing but a void. The face's expression appeared to be sad in a frown. 

The figure's face was now against the window, smudging the appearance.

After the lightning flashed, the thunder was louder this time, and followed soon after. Which i knew meant the lightning strike had struck close by. 

I trembled, paralyzed in fear waiting for the next flash. 

Then it came. 

My life went into slow motion.

The hooded figure was still there, the only difference was now the figure's face was not up against the window, but stood back, still on the porch. 

The expression on its face had now changed to a look far more sinister. 

It was now smiling with a huge grin, what had seemed like an empty pit a few minutes ago was now filled with bright white sharp fanged teeth, and many of them. 

Its eye sockets were no longer empty but now filled with bright red dots. 

It hovered closer to the door, the figure raised its right hand and was about to break the glass paine in the door, when the flash ended. 

The thunder clapped, so loud this time i jumped, and my hearing was lost for a second. 

The clap of thunder was followed immediately by another loud crack, and then a crash. 

Suddenly the back door flies open and the hooded figure comes for me. 

But a second later, what seemed like a million flash lights all went on at once, all shining in different directions. 

The figure, the man walked towards the center of the cabin briskly with a flashlight. Took off his hood 

and It was John, the camp director.

"Is everyone okay?"

One of the counselors in my bunk did a quick role call and then responded with an affirmative. Followed by,

"What happened?"

"A tree fell down just outside the front of the cabin. Sorry to disturb you, we are still working on getting the power back."

Then he left out the way he came in. As he was leaving i noticed how similar his raincoat looked to the figure's.

I laughed at myself for this, then laid back down to sleep. I turned back to the side facing the door, and my eyelids drifted shut. 

However, when the lightning flashed again the figure was back, 

only this time its hand was turning the door knob. 

The door is flung open, and it goes for me.

 It covers my mouth and pulls me from my bed, and out into the rain. 

We are far away from the door by the time it closes.