Short Stories 220 — Writing Prompt 53

Write about a person or object vanishing into thin air.

Wither Away (Part 3)

The noises had started to freak him out. Tim isn’t someone who gets frightened very easily, but now he seemed a little nervous. His brain couldn’t come up with ideas to explain such bizarre scenarios. He could feel the temperature of the room dropping suddenly, to a point where the gas-can burner did not seem effective anymore, as he had to wear all the jackets he had with him.

Finally, he had some time to gather his thoughts. As he relayed the bizarre scenarios in his head, he heard a massive smash. A heavy object falling on the floor. The cupboard had fallen on the ground, alarming Tim suddenly. The loud, and unexpected bang, startled Tim, to the point where he was actually getting scared.

How the heavy object had fallen, and why exactly did it fall at this time, made no sense to Tim. Once again, nothing made sense, and things were just happening, without any explanation. He grabbed his camera and walked closer to the cupboard that fell on the ground, to inspect it. He slowly walked towards the cupboard, trying to not make the squeaky noises of the floor any louder. As he reached the inspecting range of the cupboard, he heard a loud squeal from far away.

Without hesitation, his neck automatically looked in the direction from where the noise came. He sounded bad and awful. And he heard it once again, and it made Tim’s skin crawl. It was a chilling noise, and nothing felt right about it. Wolves did not make such sounds, in fact, no animals made such freaky noises. Tim only hoped that it is an animal and not something else. An animal would be easy to kill, rather than something that the bullets can touch.

It wasn’t a wolf, and it sounded mean and vile, and with each screech, it came closer and closer. The growls kept getting louder and within no time, that something, seemed like it is right next to the house. Realizing the deep trouble he is in, Tim reached out to his double-barrel shotgun. Playtime was over and now it was survival time, and Tim had no plans to die.

Tim quietly walked towards the window, with the double-barrel in his hand, breathing heavily. Upon peeking through the window, he couldn’t see anything in the dark of the night. The touch couldn’t reach far enough and couldn’t find any footprints after inspecting the surrounding layer of snow. Unable to find anything, he decided to head out, to check whether anyone is playing a prank on him.

As he took the first step, once again a thud could be heard on the main door. Someone surely had to be there, that is for sure. So Tim rushed to the door as fast as possible and opened the door. Upon looking both the side, no one is there and once again, no footprints. By now, Tim is stressing out, and in the heat of the moment, he decided to check around the house and make sure, it is clear, and no one is around.

Slowly he started walking around the house, trying to find the cause of all the noises. He slowly made his way to the back of the house, only to find no one to be present. As he is about to make a full circle come back, his flashlight is turned off. And out of nowhere all, he could hear is something coming towards him. By the sounds of it, it was rushing towards him, and without thinking anything, Tim fired a shot.

He shot with zero visibility, hoping the sound would scare whatever is present in the darkness. And it surely did. All this happened within a fraction of a second as his touch lit up again. Tim quickly retreated to his house, where once again he thought he saw something in the bushes nearby and shot his gun. He reloaded his gun as quickly as possible and shot both the shots again and ran into the house, but the sounds of heavy panting were still present, in the dark.

Tim managed to scare the creature enough to stagger the attack, but it was still there, somewhere. He came into the house, and the first thing he did is he reloaded his gun. And once again a thud on the door. Tim wasn’t interested in going out. Tim knew that it is something completely different and was not sure whether the gun will be any effective against it.

As he looked around the house, he saw a small table under the desk. Took it out, broke one leg of it, and proceeded to break another one. Took out a tape from his bag and taped both the legs into a cross. He wasn’t a believer until now, but now he did. Holding the cross along with the flashlight in his left hand, support the shotgun that was in his right.

Prepared, he slowly walked towards the door, without making any noise. As he made it to the first door the camera fell on the ground, and he saw a shadow moving. He wasn't sure whether something had entered the house, or it was an illusion created due to his flashlight.

He carefully opened the first door and looked inside, armed and loaded. Nothing is there and soon heard something in the room that he just was. There is just one way to enter that room and it is through Tim, then how could have something sneaked past him.

By now Tim is freaking out. He knew that something was fucking with him, and it wanted him to either get out or is luring him somewhere. So Tim decided to pack all the stuff. He ran around the house, gathering all the equipment and packing it in a hurry. And within 10 minutes he had his backpacked and ready to leave.

He got on his bike and left before things could go any worse. But Tim wasn’t done. He had already decided to return, and next time with his entire crew, armed and ready to figure out all the mysteries in and around this house.