The sun has set and the sky has gone dark. The air smells of dried leaves and burnt wood. The soft breeze that is blowing has a slight chill to it. It’s cool enough for a sweater weather. At the Garner’s house, the driveway light usually turns on automatically illuminating the walkway but not tonight. On the front door hangs a wreath covered with small bats and pumpkins. Inside the house, six-year-old Jeremy and seven-year-old Lisa are sitting in the family room watching the movie “Teenwolf”. Their mother Tracy is in the kitchen making dinner for them all when she hears a knock on the front door.
Tracy walked to the front of the house and glanced out the living room window. Hmm, the driveway light didn’t come on, she thought. She walked to the door, flipped on the porch light, and asked who is there. But no one answered. Tracy could hear her children’s laughter from the other room as she unlocked the front door. The large wood door squeaked as she slowly opened it, but saw no one standing there. Carefully she pushed open the screen door and peeked her head outside, but there wasn't a soul in sight. That’s strange, she thought.
She took one last look before she closed the front door, s-q-u-e-a-k. Tracy locked the doorknob and turned the deadbolt. Not thinking anymore about it, Tracy walked back into the kitchen and stirred the pot of chili. When the movie was over, Jeremy and Lisa ran into the kitchen repeating I’m hungry, I’m hungry. Tracy smiled and instructed them both to go sit at the dining table while she dishes them up some chili.
Lisa ran ahead of Jeremy and sat in her usual spot at the table facing the family room TV. Jeremy climbed up onto the bench and sat down on his booster seat. Holding a roll of crackers under her chin, Tracy carried two bowls of homemade chili to the table. She placed a bowl in front of each child and opened up the roll of crackers. Jeremy grabbed a cracker from the few that Tracy put down by him and dunked it into his chili. Lisa crushed her few crackers up and crumbled them into her chili. Tracy went back into the kitchen to get a bowl of chili for herself when she heard Lisa scream.
Tracy hurried back to the table and saw both Lisa and Jeremy pointing at the window.
“What is it, what did you see?”
“A face, a scary-looking face,” Lisa cried.
Jeremy bobbed his head up and down several times as he stared at the window. Tracy hesitantly walked over to the dark dining room window and looked out it. Since it was so dark outside, she wasn’t able to see anything.
“Are you sure that you saw someone?” Tracy looked back at her children.
“It looked like a wolf-man mommy,” Jeremy said.
“A wolf-man? Well, I don’t see anything now,” Tracy looked back out the window.
“There was something there but I only saw it for a second,” Lisa said.
Tracy reassured her children that no one was out there and to eat their dinner. She went back into the kitchen and dished herself up some chili and carried the bowl back to the table. As she sat down and dipped her spoon into the bowl she heard a loud CRASH and THUMP in the backyard. Lisa looked at her mother with a surprised expression.
“Stay here, it’s probably nothing,” Tracy said.
Tracy got up from the dining table and walked over to the buffet table where she pulled a flashlight out of the drawer. She walked into the kitchen and headed to the back door. She knew that the back porch light lightbulb hadn’t been replaced yet so she turned on the flashlight. Cautiously, Tracy opened up the back door and shined the flashlight out.
“Is someone out there?” Tracy called out through the screen.
She heard some crickets chirping not far from the door as she unlocked the screen. Not sure if she should go outside or not, Tracy waited a minute. Just then, she heard scratching sounds like something clawing on something. She shined the flashlight around through the screen but it was hard to see anything. Tracy knew that she had to go outside to find out what it is. She slowly pushed the screen door open and stepped down. Quietly she closed the screen door behind her, and then shined the flashlight in front of her. Tracy cautiously walked out onto the dark back patio and looked around.
As she walked to the far corner of the patio she heard a growl. Tracy stopped and shined the flashlight in that direction. I don’t see it but it’s obviously an animal, she thought. Tracy stood still shining the light and hoping that it wouldn’t come at her. She wasn’t sure if she should stay there or run, as her heartbeat pounded in her chest. Along with more growls, she heard the tearing of cardboard. Tracy took a large step forward and peeked around the corner of the house shining the flashlight in that direction.
Once she saw what was out there, she slowly backed up and hurried into the house. Lisa and Jeremy were scared and standing in the kitchen waiting for their mom when she rushed in and closed the door behind her.
“It’s okay,” Tracy said.
The children ran up to their mom and she hugged them.
“Did you see the wolf-man mommy?” Jeremy asked.
“Yeah, what’s out there?” Lisa looked at her mom.
Tracy smiled at them, “come here, I’ll show you.”
Tracy walked with her children to the other dining room window and shined the flashlight out through it. There, Lisa and Jeremy saw a large furry-faced raccoon eating leftover pizza crust out of a pizza box that was in the garbage can. As for the knock on the front door earlier. A piece of mail was leaned up against the house, near the door from a neighbor who was in a hurry and couldn’t wait.
I hope that you enjoyed this story. Please Join me next week for story 2 of 7. In honor of my niece’s birthday today, I dedicate this one to her. Happy Birthday Tracy.
I was waiting for the murderous clown face to jump out at her, lol. Coons are okay but not clowns, lol.