Blink
I cower in the corner trying not to hear the scuttling sounds from the attic. The scratching of tiny claws, the beating of miniscule feet, the giggling of inhuman laughter – it’s maddening! I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Frozen in terror, I’m not sure I have the will to force my body to move. I shift slightly as my left calf begins to cramp. Silence – the noises from above have stopped. Did they hear me? I should run; this may be my only chance!
Gathering my wit’s about me, I lean forward placing one hand on the floor in front of me. Still nothing from above. Bolder now, I place the other hand on the floor and shift my weight. The damn wood betrays me as the old boards squeal. I freeze in mid crouch listening for signs of movement from above. All remains quiet.
My crawl from the corner is agonizingly slow. What in reality takes only a few seconds, feels like an eternity to my pounding heart. I’ve made it to the center of the room. Pausing for a moment, I glance up toward the hatch that separates the attic from the bedroom.
My lungs sucking for breath, my body shaking uncontrollably – I’m ashamed to admit I wet myself. The corner of the hatch is ajar; two sets of blinking eyes stare down at me in silence. Then a fifth eye blinks open, quickly followed by its accompanying sixth. As I watch, a multitude of tiny gleaming orbs struggle to see through the slight gap. I stare in horror as the hatch lifts further to allow more of the beings a view of what’s below.
The hatch now completely open, the small creatures stare at me from every available space. I begin to wonder if they are harmful or not. One of them speaks, I cannot discern if it is meant for me, so I continue to look upward mutely. A muffled reply sounds from farther back in the open space above. The first, turning its head, speaks again. This seems to excite those gathered around the hatch. They began to fidget; bouncing and bumping into one another. The one that was speaking turns and looks down at me. This time it makes no pretense of hiding its wickedly-long, slender teeth – teeth clearly intended to rip meat from bone.
© Copyright 2013 Nina D’Arcangela. All Rights Reserved.
Coffin Hop Goodies!
How do you get them? Comment on my Coffin Hop 2013 posts on this blog – I’m posting something new each day, so keep coming back for more chances to win. When will they be announced? When the hop ends (after October 31st). What are they going to be? A surprise! I like surprises, don’t you? ;}
Don’t forget to visit my other two blogs that are participating:
Spreading the Writer’s Word
The Road to Nowhere…
and the Sirens Call Publications blog:
The Sirens Song
plus the blog for the writing group I belong to:
Pen of the Damned
and all the other amazing hoppers on the Coffin Hop list!
October 30th, 2013 at 1:48 am
Very nice one, Nina!
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Thank you, John! 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 3:20 am
Creepy, I just finished watching gremlins 2 so the images kinda blended! Lol
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:07 pm
Perfect timing then! Thanks for reading my rambling dementia! 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 3:22 am
That was so good, I seriously wanted to read more. I was hooked from the beginning! I know when something I’m reading is good when I get lost into it and can picture everything that’s going on. You have such a great talent for writing. It truly inspires me. Keep up the good work!
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Thank you vampfan083! I love ‘drop-you-in-the-middle’ reads. Start in the middle of the action, end with… who knows? Thank you very much for your compliments and kind words! 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:26 pm
You’re welcome! 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 9:29 am
Yikes! 😉 We don’t have an attic in our house. In our first house we had a space above the hallway that I used to hide Christmas presents in. Once I began to see those eyes staring back at me, I quit opening that hatch… Hmm? I wonder if I left presents in there when we moved…
Cool story.
-Jimmy
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:15 pm
LOL – Thanks, Jimmy! We have a full size attic in an old Carpenter Built home from 1920 – it’s freaky up there… and spells deliciously of old wood and hidden crevasses. The original brick stack runs straight through the center. It’s a Mecca for creepy imaginative tales!
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October 30th, 2013 at 9:46 am
Love the imagery. I don’t like being backed into a corner either. But then, who does?
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:19 pm
Being backed into a corner is always a sucker’s bet. It never goes well! I’m glad you enjoyed the imagery. I prefer to write detailed pieces that provoke an emotional response over a beginning-to-end story. Tomorrows post is a ‘story’, and while I enjoyed writing it, and its a fun quirky tale, I much prefer this type of piece. 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 11:01 am
EEEP! Those small creatures are so scary, really got drawn into the sense of the building horror!
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Excellent! That’s the kind of thing that I love to hear! Believe it or not, they were very cute (think Galaxy Quest cute) in my mind before they feasted! ;}
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:59 pm
I see what you mean, that’s great! 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Short and sweet – ok so I have a strange definition of sweet 😀
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Haha! I like short and sweet, and if you ask the attic dwellers – she may very well have been ‘sweet’ for all we know! ;P
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October 30th, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Scary things in the attic, oh my. It gave me the shivers.
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:23 pm
Shivers are a good thing. I had fun with this one. I’m glad you stopped by to read it – it was a bit more quirky than the others. 🙂
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October 30th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
Love it Nina (and thanks for royally screwing me for this weekend I need to go up into my attic as I pack my Halloween decorations away lol). You are the Coffin Hop Queen of the Creature Feature!! 😉
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October 30th, 2013 at 7:25 pm
LMAO – I don’t know about that! (Is there a statue? I like statues!) *giggling* I’m glad you liked it, Joe. It was fun and odd while still being horror. Thanks for the kind praise; and beware the attic dwellers this weekend! :}
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October 30th, 2013 at 11:02 pm
Umm, I don’t think we’ll buy a house with an attic now.
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October 31st, 2013 at 9:27 pm
Oh, come on… just imagine what could be up there!! True story – this was inspired by the flying Red Squirrels we found living in the attic the first year we owned the house. The sounds were much fainter, but still very odd! Just for the sake of clarity, we captured and set free all 36 that we were able to live-trap.
Thanks for the visit!! 🙂
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October 31st, 2013 at 2:51 am
Nina, you consistently creep me out. ^__^
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October 31st, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Thank you! I take that as a great compliment! 😀
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November 5th, 2013 at 2:52 pm
I love the shivers I get from a creepy tale – the rush of fear. In a very short amount of space you were able to yank these emotions from me….. *goosebumps*
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November 6th, 2013 at 3:06 pm
This was a fun one! I like the might be cute, but definitely gonna be evil angle! This one was fun to play with! Thanks, Zack! 🙂
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