The Silent Vixen

This is my first attempt at any sort of writing project, so any kind of criticism is welcome and appreciated.

What Does The Fox Say

It was a normal June night in the little country town I live in. I was enjoying the cool night from my enclosed porch. My wife had taken the kids to her parents for the day and hadn't return home yet. As I raised my glass to take a drink, I saw a small creature emerge from the woods across the yard and slowly start walking towards the road. The neighbors dog must have caught the scent of it because it started barking in the direction of the creature. It was about the size of a coolie so I figured it was a stray dog, which made the neighbors dog start barking, and I went back to my drink.

Unafraid of the dog it walked towards the road and it came near a street light and I saw that it had reddish orange fur, realizing it to be a fox. It was larger than the foxes I have seen scampering around the field at night, which interested me a little. As I watched the fox walking across the road I suddenly recalled the amusing little song that my kids would play on Youtube about what noise a fox makes, bringing a chuckle as I remembered all the weird noises the singers made in the song.

Jokingly I looked in the foxes direction and said in the same sing song tone that they use in the video,“What does the fox Say”. This brought another chuckle from me.

Suddenly the fox stopped in his tracks and started looking around as if searching for something, its ears darting this way and that.

“Did it hear me?”, I thought to myself. No it couldn't have.

Slowly it began to raise up on its back legs, back still bent forward, front paws now resting on the ground reminding me of a chimpanzee. The dog was now barking ferociously at the creature.

The fox must have got annoyed trying to listen while the dog barked because before I knew what was happening the fox was rushing in the direction of the dog and was over the fence in a matter of seconds. I heard the dog yelp, then a loud snap, then silence.

During the whole scene I must have been holding my breath because my chest was starting to hurt. I let out my breath with a gasp and slowly started breathing again. My gasp must have been louder than I had thought because the creatures head shot in the direction of my house.

I dropped down as low as I could while still being able to peek over the ledge of the window. Slowly the creature climbed the fence again and started walking this way. It walked slowly, head never leaving this direction, shoulders low to the ground, like a wolf stalking its prey. Its eyes glowing a cold yellowish color.

My grass was by no means overgrown, but as soon as the creature crossed the street and made it to the grass it disappeared and I lost track of it.

Scared beyond any point I have ever been in in my life I scanned the yard nonstop, but there was no sign of the creature.

“Where is it? It cant have just disappeared!”, I screamed to myself.

Then I saw them, those glowing eyes staring right at me from the other side of the driveway. Slowly the shape of the creature came back into view. I heard a voice inside my head say “What does the fox say?” in a calm, low tone. The creature raised its head as if it were howling but there was no sound. I watched, too scared to move, too scared to try and hide. Once again its head went up as if it were howling, but still no noise.

"Crack" I heard come from somewhere close. Then another and another. Looking around I realized that all the windows of the porch had started to crack. The cracks worked their way across the entire window until the sound was deafening. Suddenly there was a loud explosion as the first window shattered raining glass on me, a few pieces nicking me and drawing blood. I dropped to the floor and raised my arms up to protect my face. One after another the windows shattered.

When it was safe I sat up, shaking the glass off of my head. On the wall of the house I saw lights appear and start to grow brighter. Lifting up to peer out the window I saw headlights on the road. The car started to slow and turn into the driveway. It was my wife with the kids.

I stood and ran out the porch door to warn her not to get out of the car, almost getting hit in the process. She slammed on the breaks and jumped out of the car to check on me.

“Whats wrong?” she asked in a worried tone.

“There is something in the field, it shattered all the windows!”. She looked towards the house. “There is nothing wrong with the windows. Are you okay hun?”

I looked at the house and just as she said all the windows were just fine. I stood, staring at the house in disbelief.

“What is going on?” I thought to myself. Was it all in my head? No it cant have been. I felt the shards of glass cut me. I ran my hand across my face where I had been cut and looked at my hand. No blood. My wife, looking at me the entire time with a worried look on her face, raised her hand to my cheek and asked again, “Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor?”.

“No no... I'm fine... Must have fell asleep on the porch and had a bad dream” I told her, not completely believing it myself.

We got the kids inside and tucked in and started getting ready for bed. As I walked around the bed to get to my side I stopped to look out the window and thought about the “dream” I had. As I looked out the window my eyes scanned the yard I saw the, those eyes, looking right at me, then they were gone. A feeling of relief came over me.

I stood there just staring out the window until my wife asked me if I was coming to bed. I scanned the treeline one last time before turning away from the window and crawling in bed.