Country Living

Sleeping was hard. Especially all the sounds of country living. You can hear people over a mile away, dogs howling at all hours, wind, literally everything.

I awoke at about midnight due to a typical nightmare. Just one of those “impending doom” kind of thing. I sat up and caught my train of thought before it got too far away. I looked around my small room seeking whatever my eyes could make out. Nothing. I started to relax again and laid my head on my pillow. As soon as I did this my dog decided it would be a great idea to start barking. This wasn’t a normal “get the fuck away from my house” bark. It was more of an attack bark. I peeked through the blinds to see where my dog was but wherever she was, she was not on my side of the house. I, once again, laid back down. I closed my eyes and finally fell asleep.

When I peacefully awoke in the morning I recalled the previous night. I slowly got up and walked down the stairs. It seemed like no one was awake yet. I looked at the clock and it read 12:38. Damn, I thought. I walked inside the kitchen and grabbed myself some grub to eat. I scarfed it down and viciously looked for more. Just like any other Saturday we were out of almost all food. That’s when my mind started to click and I realized my parents and siblings were probably out grocery shopping or something.

I walked the house a little bit, dying for something to do before my parents got home. I decided to play some video games. I turned on my PS3 and put in none other than GTA 5. I had to of been playing for a couple hours before I decided to get off and do something constructive with my life.

As I walked out into the living room I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eyes. I shrugged it off and my mind playing tricks on me because I was alone. I sat down and clicked on the TV. “Literally nothing is on,” I whispered to myself. I looked through all the channels and nothing interested me.

It seemed like the day was going by so slow and as it seemed my parents showed no signs of coming home soon. I walked out into the sunny abyss they called outside and sat down. I called for my dog and she didn’t come, which was a huge surprise because she’ll take any attention given to her. Suddenly I realized the last I heard of her was last night when she was throwing a bitch fit at something.

I walked around looking for her and came upon her lifeless body. I was in complete shock. I looked for the inflicted injuries only to find what looked to be bite marks.

Damn coyotes. I thought. That was the only thing around us that could have bit her AND killed her. I walked back inside with tears in my eyes and started bawling. When I finally stopped I heard what sounded like a whimper. It almost sounded like a mocking tone. I looked around the house and found nothing. My parents weren’t home yet so I deleted my brothers as an option. Was it my other dog? I quickly ran outside to look and she was still happily in her pen.

I turned around to go back inside and saw a silhouette inside my house. I sneakily walked up to the door, creaked it open and peeked inside to defer the shock of being scared. There was nothing there but I knew something was inside. I grabbed the .22 my step dad kept in the dining room and prepared for the worst. I crept into the living room and listened for any sounds to give away where it was. Suddenly my mom pulled into the driveway quickly. She ran inside and realized I was holding a gun.

“What the hell are you doing with that?”

“Mom, listen, there is someone inside the house,” I grunted back.

“Put it down. Nothing is here. It’s probably just your imagination.”

I rolled my eyes and placed the gun back where I found it. I took my mom’s words into consideration. Maybe it was my brain being overactive and it created some monster in my mind. Something was around here though. Sadie was dead.

“Hey, uhm, mom. Did you see Sadie this morning?” I carefully asked.

“No, why?”

“Well I went outside earlier, from boredom, and found her dead. She’s out in the backyard by the garden. I looked over her and she has bite marks in a couple places.”

“Gunner, please be kidding. Please.”

“I’m not kidding. Go out and look.”

Mom walked out and my search continued because I wanted to dismiss whatever it was inside my head. I looked in the entertainment room, the bathroom and started walking upstairs before I heard another sound. It came from my room. I froze dead in my tracks and slowly started to walk down the steps trying to avoid making them pop. Once I got back down I thought through what I should do. Looking around for anything. Once again I grabbed the .22 and waited for any sign of it walking down the stairs.

Mom walked back in and was sobbing greatly. She walked up to me and saw the gun again.

“God damnit Gunner, put the gun away.”

I walked over and put it in the corner. She walked up to me and came in for a hug. I hugged her for a minute or so before she let go. I gently tried to comfort her by sitting her down and telling her it’ll be okay and all that bullshit. I made her some warm tea and let her drink it. Slowly but surely she coaxed herself to sleep.

Once again my mind started wandering. I tried blowing it off but I couldn’t. My step dad pulled in and I sat quietly trying to make this daily introduction more normal. He walked in with the boys and they got quiet when they seen my mom sleeping.

I heard scuffling upstairs and knew it was moving. It seemed as if I was the only one who heard it though because everyone just continued on. I could only imagine what tonight was going to be like and I was honestly scared, but managed to hold myself together.

I opened my eyes to the sound of something scraping against the corridor wall. I cowered down and pulled my blankets up as far as I could. My movement made the bed creaked and the noise stopped. I knew it was still there so I remained in my position. The sound started to get closer and closer until it was nearly standing in my doorway.

I dared to peek above my blankets and seen the darkness inside its eyes. I wanted to yell but when I opened my mouth nothing came out. I reached down beside my bed as slowly as possible and grabbed the baseball bat I kept underneath my bed in case of intruders. I gained the courage to stand up, yell, and give it the biggest whack I could. I could feel the vibration of the bat with the bones in my hands. I woke everyone up which is what I planned to do by yelling. I started sprinting down the stairs tripping every other step and somehow managed to keep my balance through the fear and speed.

The thing became pissed off and started jumping down the stairs causing scratch marks all the way down the wall. My mom, step dad worriedly came out of their room unprepared for what they were about to see. I slipped my shoes on for some reason and bolted out the door.

I knew inside running would do no avail. I had to either kill it or somehow get rid of it. I hid behind some old fence leaned up against a shed we had in the back yard. I tried to hold my breath to reduce the noise. I heard it trudging past me but I was too afraid to look. “Gunnerrrr, where are youuuu?” it asked. I stealthily snuck out from behind the fence and made my way back into the house to warn the others.

I shot through the doorway and screamed for the others. My brothers weren’t fully awake yet. Both my mom and stepdad were getting ready to head outside to chase off whatever was chasing me. I warned them and told them to call 911.

As they called the thing started scraping at the door before it finally broke it down. My mom dropped the phone and we went into defense mode. We all skipped upstairs, running into my parents' room. I told them that we only had to survive the night and it would all just go away. We could move out of the damned house and everything would end.

Minutes seemed like hours in silence. We knew it was doubtful we’d make it. That was the overall feeling of everyone. We would all every few seconds peek up at one another and try to read the others emotion. I tried to look unscared but I knew that deep inside I was scared shitless and everything inside me just wanted to give up.

Everything went quiet. Literally everything. The normal dogs barking or howling, no wind, no neighbors just the feeling of our own heart beating and thumping so violently. The familiar sound of scraping haunted us once again and we all became frightful for we knew we were trapped in a corner.

My mind wanted to say, “Get out of our fucking house,” but my heart said, “Sit down. It’s a nightmare. Even if it’s not you cannot do anything.” I decided to cower down and allow my stepdad to deal with it. He gave us the orders and we listened like hardened soldiers.

We opened the window while he tried blowing lead into its chest. Shot after shot rang out before all of us were finally out onto a porch roof. The only way down was to jump to the porch which was one story below us. Thirty seconds went by before my youngest brother jumped. There was still two to go and I couldn’t wait. I started yelling which just caused panic. Another fifteen seconds and still my mom to go. Still hearing the boom of the shotgun behind me, I relaxed thinking I had time. I was wrong.

The brutal screaming of my stepdad is a sound that is unforgettable and is still ringing in my ears. I finally jumped and made it quick. We loaded into the car and started it lightning quick. I backed up and screeched out of the driveway a few miles into town. We had no clue where to go. Nothing was pre-planned. We sat at the stop sign to collect our thoughts and consider what to do next.

The only thing that got us going was the car behind us beeping furiously. We slowly sped up to pull off into the old school lot. We stopped. Nothing was said. No one looked at each other. We all just sat slouched over in sadness. Suddenly in front of us, appeared the creature. It climbed on top of car and once again we heard the scrape that we knew as the sound of death. I attempted to make it fall by accelerating but somehow it managed to remain on.

It felt like we were going lightspeed before it finally fell off. Suddenly the blinking light on the dashboard meant death. We were low on gas. I tried to drive as far as possible before I heard the spitting and sputtering of the engine. We pulled off the side of the road and got out. There was no sign of it for my range of vision.

Then the impossible happened. The sun came up and light started to once again illuminate the sky. I dropped to my knees and cried thinking we were okay. Everything seemed so perfect in those few minutes of peace and calmness.

My mom was screaming for what I assumed was losing my step dad. It was hard. He saved us and now he’s gone. My mom’s screams muffled and there was nothing for a split second.

There was nothing until I felt the warm slimy feeling of something breathing on the back on my neck. That’s when I was nothing.