Encounters with The Rake
(A Collection of Short Stories)
by
Rob Bray
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
Copyright © 2019 Rob Bray. All rights reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.
Version 2019.21.07
1
The night was cold and silent. There was a heavy fog over the small town that helped to carry the silence. The heavy silence made the sobbing of Lisa Wood louder! Her husband David wasn’t aware of just how loud her sobs had become; as they both rushed to barricade the bedroom door.
“David what is it?” Cried Lisa, “what does it want!”
David Wood was the kind of person that always knew what he wanted in life, he always had a direction and knew what to do in tight situations. So, when he didn’t reply to his wife it was simply because he didn’t know what to do or say! Which for him was a scary thought in itself. David was now doing the only thing he could do and that was to carry on with the construction of the barricade and to try and find a weapon of some kind!
“David!” Cried Lisa, “What is…” She was cut of by an unholy shriek coming from downstairs.
“Sweetheart I need you to climb out of the window and run for help” Said David, In a calm and an almost soothing tone.
Lisa began to cry more as the idea of leaving her husband started to creep into her mind.
“No….No…..No” sobbed Lisa “David, I can’t, I won’t!”.
“Please Lisa, I need to get help” pleaded David “ Plus, I need to know that whatever happens, your safe.”
Their house was a large property, a beautiful manor house, built in the 1800’s with a lovely view. To the front of the manor lay the small town of Woodale, just a few miles down the road. To the rear, there was nothing except fields and trees, the expanse of nothingness was one of the reasons why David and Lisa were drawn to the house. Now they would give anything to be living in the middle of the busy city!
“Please, David I can’t leave you” continues Lisa, almost in hysterics.
“Lisa! You have to leave, just go!” David demanded, more forceful and menacing with his tone.
From the bottom of the staircase they heard a scream, not a normal scream from a person but one that sounded animal like, creature like and most definitely inhumane. Then they heard the stairs creak, whatever this was, it was on it’s way up the stairs.
“Oh SHIT!” muttered David under his breath but loud enough for Lisa to hear.
“I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” screeched Lisa, tears streaming down her face, her whole body shaking in fear.
David turned to Lisa a look of panic and dismay in his eyes,
“We are not going to die” he snapped at her but while trying to maintain calm and reassuring.
Lisa dropped to the floor, scuttled towards the window and curled herself into a ball. Her whole body heaving from the sobs, all the while David was looking for something, anything he could use as a weapon.
The only thing he could see that was remotely weapon like was the bedside lamp, a bright yellow lamp with a big purple flower! He had no choice, this was it. As he quickly grabbed the lamp, pulling to plug from the wall, he thought to himself that if this was the like in the films he would be the hero and spring into action, then again if this was the movies he would have a gun or at least there would be a perfectly placed object that would be useful, more useful than the flimsy lamp he had. Although it then crossed his mind that he had no idea how to use a gun, but he could point and shoot, it was likely it would do some damage to the intruder.
Suddenly the silence was deafening, everything was still, It was as though the world had stopped and the only thing David could focus on was the THUD, THUD, THUD of his heartbeat. He turned and saw Lisa was still there curled in the ball she had formed under the window. Suddenly a feeling of sadness came over him, a true sadness, one like he had never felt before. It was in that moment he realized he could not save them. His beautiful wife, the woman he fell in love with the moment he saw her. Here she was scared, broken, terrified, he couldn’t save her from this, he couldn’t protect her, there was nothing he could do.
Suddenly, an unearthly cry brought him back into the room, back from his thoughts. Then came the sound he had been dreading, a bang on the door – the bedroom door – the entrance to the room they were in!
It banged once, twice, again and again getting louder and louder. More and More forceful, the intruder was using it’s being to bang against the door.
Lisa screamed and jumped to her feet,
“GO AWAY! GO AWAY!” over and over she screamed, partly sounding scared but with an angry undertone. She headed towards the door and matched the bang from the intruder, hitting her fists against the door.
Then it stopped, Lisa was waiting for the next bang, but it never came. Everything was still, quiet, silent. So quiet it could make you mad, following the noise that had been happening just seconds ago, even if there was an intruder in the house.
“What is it doing?” whispered Lisa, perplexed “Has it gone?”
As she finished the second question, BANG, the door broke from the frame. Wood splintering across the room, the bottom still attached in place. Lisa screamed. David screamed. The only barricade and protection they had was half a door.
For the first time, the couple could now see what had been behind the door plaguing them horribly for the last few hours. This was the most intense it had been, but it had been making its presence felt for the last month in more and more. The ‘creature’, as Lisa liked to call it, previously had made noises, bangs and cast the occasionally silhouette on an evening from a distance but tonight as this was the first time it had attacked them.
Previously, Lisa had complained night after night of being woken but not sure what by. One night, Lisa woke and could see something at the window but when she blinked it was gone and she had convinced herself it was because she had still been half asleep. Another night, she swore she woke to the ‘creature’ standing in the bedroom but again on blinking it was gone. When Lisa had told David about what was happening, he had thought it was just stress and didn’t take it too seriously. When Lisa started to talk about it more and more, almost obsessing over it, David started to become concerned.
The last few weeks, Lisa had got worse. David although slightly worried for his wife, he had tried tirelessly to explain each ‘encounter’ she came up with, each noise she attributed to the creature. Lisa had recently found out she was expecting their first child and he knew it was common for pregnant women to have strange and realistic dreams, so had put it down to this. They were so happy to be expecting and everything seemed to be coming together nicely for them….Finally.
“One more attempt at that door and its going to give” explained David “So, you NEED to leave. You have to go”
As David finished his sentence, the door seemed to explode into pieces and the thing that had been throwing itself
against it was in. It was now in the same room as them.
With a sound that cannot be explained in words, other than high pitched and shriek like, the creature started to crawl towards them. It was prowling, cat like, straight towards Lisa.
With lamp in hand, David ran towards the creature, launching himself between the two. As David hit the floor between them, the creature swiped at him and with no effort at all David was back in the air and hurtling towards the far end of the room.
As David landed and corrected himself, in the moonlight he could now see the full form of the creature, it had the limbs of a human but crouched and moved like a dog. It was hairless and the limbs although recognizable were twisted and contorted, it was unnatural and was the depiction of evil and still heading towards his wife.
The creature jumped, Lisa screamed, a loud, guttural blood curdling scream.
The creature had got her, it was on top of his wife!
“DAVID!!! PLEASE, HELP, P…L…E…A…S…E”
David ran towards them both and grabbed at the animal, it shook him off, he tried again but is was writhing around. Suddenly from within himself he had a sudden surge of adrenaline and her grabbed the creature with all his might and like something out of a strong man contest he lifted it, tossed it off his wife and away from them.
David turned to Lisa and saw the paleness of her face, he saw that the creature had stabbed her and she had blood on her clothing. Lisa let out a half scream, half whimper noise, to warn him the creature was coming but as she did it pounced at it and he was tossed in the air and landed with head hit the floor.
David stood, blinked to himself and touched his head as it felt wet and sore. He had blood on his hand, he must be cut. No time for that now he though, pulled himself together and got to his feet. David turned to see the creature was back with his wife.
Lisa was screaming and crying, being dragged towards the door. He tried to run but fell. The room was destroyed. David got up as quickly as he could but as he reached the hallway he could not see her. Then another scream followed by extended screaming, further away now. David turned to try and work out where it was coming from, it was downstairs that for sure but it sounded like it was from the gardens.
“Lisa!” he shouted “Lisa! Where are you? Let me know”
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, sure enough the door was open and he could see movement from the end of the garden. He ran outside and as he got closer he could see Lisa was laid on the ground he ran faster and in lightening speed arrived at his wife’s side.
By now, Lisa was starting close her eyes.
“Lisa, I’m here. Your going to be ok, I’ve got you”
Lisa couldn’t reply as she was weak from the loss of blood and frozen in fear. She could see what was behind her husband.
The creature was still here, it was behind David crouched low. It began prowling again, getting nearer and nearer, with a sudden ear piercing scream it was on him and threw him, like a piece meat, to the side.
With all her might Lisa screamed again. The creature stopped for a second. Then moved quickly, dragged her through the hedge, through the fields and as David peered through the hedge he saw his wife being dragged away into the night.
The Story Continues….
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