The Thing In The Dark

The Thing In The Dark



The kitchen was asleep.
The microwave read 2:07 TIME COOK
The dishes sat half done in the sink
A sliver of blue light crept in from the hall
It left everything alone save for the dog bowl
Illuminating the name “KAZAN”

From deep in the house a muffled conversation was to be heard
Complete with music and sound effects
Though one would have to strain his ears

The dreaming refrigerator hummed
Directly across from it was the living room window
Only the faint outline of the sofa and television were visible in the moonlight
All was still

The kitchen was engulfed in blue light
And the air with raucous noise from a television set
Tripp came into the kitchen
Disturbing the sleep of the kitchen ware

Tripp opened the fridge
His long, knotted auburn hair reached just below his shoulders
Bloodshot and droopy eyes searched the contents of the fridge
He grabbed a 2 liter of soda

Taking several large gulps from the bottle
He wiped his lips
And put it back.
With a scratch of his stomach he closed the fridge
And retread back into the hall
Closing the door behind him
Cutting off the light and noise
Things went back to stillness in the Kitchen

From the kitchen the Moon was clearly visible in the living room window
It was nestled between two mountains
Illuminating the dense woods
There was only one other star in the sky
It was flashing, a stellar morse code
After a time it was obvious that the star was in fact moving
In fact getting closer
It wobbled in it's trajectory
Leaving a trail of flames in it's wake
It dipped behind a mountain
To the sound of tearing treetops
A explosive screech tore through the night

A light show broke out from the woods
Red's and yellow's shone through the trees
The lights were chaotic
And bright enough to reach through even the living room window

A dog barked madly outside
Howling and snarling
The lights went on,
Worst of all, silently
For several minutes
Before dissipating
The dog though, continued to protest

Moments later Tripp burst into the kitchen
Fully clothed now
Grabbing keys from the pantry
And leaving out the back door

“Relax Kaz.” he told the dog
Slipping his arm into his jacket
And turning on a flashlight
The large dog fought against his chain
Maddened by the disturbance
“Relax Kaz, I'm letting you off.”

He released the dogs chain and gripped tight to the leash
The dog lead him into the woods
Going silent and sniffing the earth beneath him
Together they left the safety of Tripp's backyard
And into the dense woods

Tripp's sneakers sunk into mud as he walked
His flashlight cutting through the dark
He knew these woods
They were his woods
He had grown up here
And knew the terrain well
Even in the dark
How man times had he played manhunt at night?

Whatever those lights were
Was definitely worth investigation
The possibility of danger didn't even enter Tripp's mind
No,
What Tripp imagined was an airplane crash
Many small planes flew over these mountains
A small airport, mostly for private planes was on the other side of these mountains
Low flying planes were common
Tripp would have to call the police if an airplane had indeed crashed
And besides, it's something productive to be doing
It's not like he would be sleeping now anyway, right?
He thought to himself, patting the cell phone in his pocket

At length, his flashlight spotted smoke in the distance, and what appeared to be downed trees
At that, Kazan began to growl
“Shutup.” Tripp ordered
They approached the scene

Two trees had been toppled
Tripp had a hard time making out the method of their destruction
They had been seared through at the base
A burn that sliced nearly through the tree
The body of the tree was tiger striped by these burns,
Still smoldering
The smoke acrid to Tripp's nose
A length of trees had been hit,
Tree tops and branches had been knocked down
A few were still aflame
There was a deep crevice,
Where something had collided with the Earth
What was most perplexing,
However,
Was the lack of any sort of wreckage

Kazan was wild,
Snapping and barking
“Kaz! Stop!”
The dog sat down, it's ears down, whining

Tripp chewed his lip and examined the area
Racking his brain for a possible explanation.
Though nothing came to mind
Lost in thought, his grip on Kazan's leash loosened
A chance that the dog took full advantage of

The dog bounded away into the dark,
Tripp's flashlight could barely keep up
Tripp chased and shouted after it
Ordering it to come back
But the dog was soon swallowed whole by the dark

Still, it could be heard
A raucous barking
Barking, barking,
Barking, Barking,
Barking, yelping
Then silence.

Tripp stopped and stood still
Listening
“Kaz?” he called, barely above a whipser.
“Kazan?”

He traversed the dense woods
Till his flashlight finally came upon the dog
It was sitting calmly
Panting and wagging it's tail.

“Kazan, Christ, you...”

There was something large behind the dog
A large mass obscured in the dark
Snake like appendages hovered over Kazan
It leaned closer to the dog
Tripp could almost make out a face in the dark
Large eyes examining the canine

That's when Tripp's cell phone went off

The world shook as the Thing In The Dark recoiled
It became all the sudden luminant
Blinding Tripp in it's light
A digital sound deafened him
Trees snapped and crunched
And when everything settled
The Thing In The Dark
And the Dog
Were gone

Having dropped his flashlight
Tripp ran blindly through the woods
Losing a shoe in the mud
His heart hammered his chest
Crashing through low branches and foliage
He sprinted as fast as he could home

He didn't trip till he reached his backyard
The sudden flat ground made him loose footing
And he toppled over

Slamming the backdoor behind him
He burst into the kitchen
And collapsed against the fridge
He tasted blood in the back his throat
Panting

“GO. TO. SLEEP.”
His father shouted from upstairs

Tripp sat on his kitchen floor
Staring out the Living room window
The moon had now disappeared behind the mountains
And all was silent.