It Comes at Midnight

 It’s getting late. It’ll come again. It always does. Always at the same time. I couldn’t tell you what it is or what it wants. I do know that it’s something I’ve never seen before. It’s not like the picture of the husky that wants you to “spread the word”, or the faceless man who hunts in the forest, or even the man with the burnt face who tell his victims to “go to sleep”. I have no idea what to call it. It has no name and it is nothing of this earth.

 I can clearly remember what it looks like. Its eyes were silted like a cat’s and has no nose. It wears no cloths and shows no gender. There’s no sign of it even having a gender. And I remember… It has these… Appendages on either side of its head… They were in the shape of frog eyes, but on the side of the head. It had pupils, but I know it doesn’t use to see. Its mouth is a large “V” smile, but you don’t want to see it grin.

 God, that grin…   Its teeth…   It has this horrible fanged grin…   It looked like something not even Stephen King could think of. Its hideous lanky body was almost human. It always sat like something that was ferial. Its copper eyes can look right through you.

 And it’s always hungry.

 I know.

 It’s the reason Snowball is no longer with me.

 I can still remember what happened…   I can still remember that night…   It was 10:45. Snowball didn’t want to go outside…   But I made her…   She hissed at me as I closed the door. I know it was odd, but we did have a new neighbor with a dog, so I thought it was just her not wanting to encounter Prince and Floyd.

 Oh how I was wrong…

 Around midnight I started to get worried. I got up and opened the door. Something moved in the corner of my eye. Whatever it was had taken off to the bushes.

 I don’t know why, but I looked down.

 I regretted that choice.

 Snowball use to drop off things on the back porch when she was done with her nighttime stroll. Now it was her laying there, her creamy-white fur now stained red. I couldn’t help but cry.

 The day after, I buried her with my best friends and my older brothers. The night that followed is when I first saw it.

 I couldn’t sleep that night. Her death had really hurt me. I had been with her since she was only a kitten, abandoned by her mother and half dead. I was the only one who saved her.

 That’s when I heard it.

 It sounded like a cross of a feral cat’s snarl, a bull frog’s croak, and a watery voice. I looked outside, both scared and angry. I thought it was just some kids going around and pranking people.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> Again, I was wrong.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I saw it right before I opened my window. It was sitting in a tree that I had planted when I first moved into the house. It sat kind of like a leopard, its eyes unblinking for the longest time. Its nails flexed and the hungered look in its eyes was fixed on me. I backed away from the window and called Debbie, my childhood best friend. She was at my house in a matter of minutes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> “What’s wrong?”   She had asked me. I brought her to the window and sure enough it was still there. I remember pointing at it and saying frantically, “Do you see it? Do you see it?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> But, she only shook her head and said I was still grieving, a little out of my mind since I lost Snowball. I was hurt.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> Why didn’t she see it?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> Was it only me?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> Why?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I was in tears as she started up her car and started to back away. She told me she’d check up on me in a few hours.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> She did.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I remember that too.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> She still worries over me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I don’t blame her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I’m starting to question my mental health.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> But I know now why it wasn’t seen by her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> It only wanted me to see.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> It had me as its target.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I don’t know much, but there is something I can tell you.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> How you know it’s following you, and how to protect yourself for a good while.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> HOW YOU KNOW IT’S FOLLOWING YOU:

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 1. Late at night you’ll hear odd sounds

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 2. You’re pets (mainly cats and dogs) will behave oddly around your house

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 3. You feel like you’re being followed at the most random times outside your own house

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 4. You can feel someone watching you

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 5. Only you can see it

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> HOW YOU CAN AVOID FALLING VICTIM:

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 1. NEVER stay out late

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 2. Keep all doors and windows locked

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2"><span style="color: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: background1"> 3. Stay with someone. It won’t attack you unless you’re alone.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> I can’t promise this will always work. I don’t know how long it’ll be till I slip up.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> Good luck.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"> And goodbye.