MicroHorror

It wasn’t too long ago that Brian had just been enjoying a normal walk. Now he found himself in a full-on sprint, running from something. What it was he wasn’t even sure of, nor did he want to know. All he knew was that it was coming for him, and that was far too much information to begin with.

It had all started when he heard something moving from the hedges behind him. The rustling gave him a little fright, enough to make his head dart back. What he saw was some dark figure coming out of there. Whatever it was, it began running after him, giving him only one option: running for his life.

Brian was doing just that, and could still hear the footsteps behind him. He had no idea how far he was from his original spot, but he became aware of something rather quickly.

The footsteps had stopped.

He stopped where he was and looked back. The figure had stopped and was now staring at him, unmoving. Now he was aware that it was just a human, and not even a very large one at that.

Was that puny thing what he was running from?

Brian now wasn’t scared at all. He had had nothing to worry about all along. Although, there was a noise in the distance that was pretty annoying.

He looked around to see what it was. It was at that moment he noticed he was standing on train tracks.

There was just enough time to know the train was coming, but not enough time to move.

“Hey, Jim! We got another one. You think you could go scrape it off the front? I just hate how they stick on there like that,” Bob, the train engineer, yelled.

“Sure, no problem.”

Jim was about to walk out front to do just that, but stopped first.

“I have to say, Bob, you’re really on fire tonight.”

Bob smiled.

“I never miss.”

He stood there, unwavering.

When the rain began, he did not falter. His clothes and hair became soaked, but he hardly noticed. It probably would eventually lead to the onset of a cold, but that wasn’t an important thing at all. At this point, hardly anything mattered to him. There was only one thing on his mind.

Patience was a virtue he luckily possessed, because the wait seemed to last forever. The rain ceased, then started again. Thunder cracked around him, but the noise never made him jump.

Finally, the door to the house he had been staring at opened.

He could have rushed after him, but chose not to. It was better to make him come to him.

And rather foolishly, the man did just that.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment a long time,” he said to the man before connecting with a right hand that sent him onto the muddy lawn below.

The look of fear in the man’s eyes told him the lesson to not mess with his wife had been learned.

And yet he still didn’t relent.

She was in her bed, but she had not slept a single wink. That’s because she kept hearing the noises. And the more they continued, the more terrified she became.

The first time she heard the sound of the floor creaking downstairs she tried to convince herself it was her imagination. But it just kept going to the point that the sound was completely undeniable.

And then there were the other noises. Things had been falling in the last few minutes, and her not knowing just what any of it was made her condition even worse. More than ever, she wished Roger wasn’t away on that business trip. If he were here, he would take care of whatever was down there.

But there was no time left to think of any of that. No matter how scared she was, she knew she’d have to take care of business herself.

Thankfully, there was at least Roger’s gun to protect her. She leaned over onto the nightstand and held it firmly in her hand.

It was now or never.

With her hands trembling, she kept the gun pointed in front of her as she walked down the steps. The sounds of the floor creaking continued, along with something else.

Footsteps. And they were coming in her direction.

She was halfway down the steps when the footsteps stopped. The outline of whatever was down there was clear to her.

She fired one shot.

The figure disappeared to the floor in a heap. When several minutes passed without any movement, she finally got the nerve to turn a light on and see the thing face to face.

It was Roger.