The young man kissed her tenderly as she folded her arms around his neck. Running one hand through his hair as the other gripped her flashlight. The late autumn breeze caused the house to creak. Decaying floorboards seemed to shift to the left, then back into place. The young man’s flashlight stood on its end, lighting up the tiny upstairs room. Slowly, he unzipped the windbreaker the young lady was wearing. Letting out a thin, pleasant gasp, she drew him tighter as she pushed herself against the wall.
Placing his hands on her hips. He moved to kiss her neck. Moaning through a whisper, she wet her lips. As the young man continued. The young lady felt a tender caress on her cheek. The young man's hands had left her hips and were now moving up her shirt. Opening her eyes in a panic. There, standing in front of the exposed window, a man stood dressed in overalls and a checked shirt. His hair short, dark, a patchy mustache clung to his upper lip. A grin inches across his face, so slow that the air in the room looked to be eliminated. The young lady noticed it was getting hard to inhale, struggling to get her breath. The smile ripped open across the intruder’s face, uncovering a row of crooked and discolored teeth. Finding her air, she let out a scream, thrusting the young man away from her. Making her way from the room and down the stairs. Each foot step a heavy hollow echo in the house's cavity.
“Annie? Annie!” The young shouted, standing dumbfounded. Picking up his flashlight, he went after her. The house looked darker as he stepped into the hallway. Even with the front window letting in moonlight, the flashlight beam in the hallway. Heading down the stairs, he could hear no one else in the structure. Coming out the back door. He saw Annie sitting in the field, her knees pulled up to her chin.
“What’s going on? Why did you leave?”
“Lets go, Don” was the only thing Annie said as she picked herself up off the ground, heading back to the truck.
The house stood in the middle of the field, a prominent figure of power. Framed amongst the front window remained the man in overalls. Watching Don chase after Annie through the swaying wheat stocks. Pressing his lips closely, the man in the overalls rubbed his face and chuckled. The house, in response to the man’s chuckling, groaned.
“I’m never going back to that house. That is the final word, Donald.” This argument had been in full motion since they had arrived back at the truck. He couldn’t get anything out of Annie as to why she left or why she wouldn’t go back. Don knew they had ended the conversation topic when she called him “Donald.”
With every remark of the house on the drive home. Annie could feel a presence observing from the backseat. As Don dropped her off at her place, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and went inside.
Closing the door and turning the deadbolt lock, Annie kicked off her shoes. Going to the Kitchen she flipped the switch for the light, the bulb popped in a bright movement. Cursing under her breath, she felt her way to the fridge. For her eyes still burned from the image of the popping light. Opening the fridge door, soft white light flooded the room. Grabbing a water bottle, she closed the door, then headed up the backstairs. That feeling of being watched lingered as Annie traversed her way to her room. It was making the flesh along Annie’s arms prickle.
After dressing for bed. Annie opened the window a crack so that the night air might calm her nerves. Climbing into bed, the feeling of being observed vanished. Letting out a sigh of relief, Annie pulled the covers close. Just as the wind tousled the curtains through the opened window. Fingers again caressed her cheek. Holding her eyes tight, she shook her head. Repeating, “NO. NO. NO. NO.”
Soon the breeze stopped, and so did the sound of the curtains’ soft waltz. Opening her eyes, she saw the man in the overalls. Annie let out a scream that was quickly silenced. As the man placed a hand over her mouth. The man then raised a finger to his lips. Annie was so scared that her heart and body stopped functioning. The hand was cold and clammy. Slowly, the man in the overalls removed his hand.
“I forgot to tell you, sleep tight.” Then he vanished.
KW Dean
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