The Sound

It was 3 am in the morning. Clarice woke up, all sweaty and feeling a little under the weather. She always had trouble sleeping, even as a child she would always wake up early and be restless for the rest of the night.

She walks to the bedroom window of her small appartment and looked outside at the moonlit concrete and glass buildings that tried to touch the stars. Suddenly there's a loud click, originating from her zippo lighter while she puts a cigarette in her mouth. She always had a pack a smokes in her nightstand. The smell of cigarette smoke calmed her, the nicotine helped her relax and could help her to find her sleep again.

After her smoke she lays down in her bed, and after 30 minutes of staring at the ceiling, she finally slumbers.

It's 4:30 am now.... the sound of glass smashing  tore Clarice out of her sleep. It sounded like it came from downstairs. Could it be a stray cat littering the thrashcans again? Clarice rolled her eyes and put a t-shirt on. She had no more plans to sleep tonight. She'll just have an extremely long breakfast. Even though she suspected it to be some animal that knocked over something, she felt unnerved. She light up another cigarette and opens the door slowly. Barefooted she started walking towards the small staircase. The floor felt colder than it used to. And for just a moment she could feel a shiver crawling up her spine. Was she getting a fever?

Slowly walking down the staircase, she entered the kitchen and she flicked on the light. She doused her cigarette in the ashtray that was on the kitchen table. She was going to check outside, to see if the ruckus came from outside her door. as she stepped to the door, felt a painful sting in her left foot followed by gristling cracks. She immediately awoke from her drowsy state and looked at her foot. It was bleeding.....

She had glass fragments sticking in her foot. It was an agonizing and burning feeling. She sat down on a chair at the kitchentable, cleaning her foot and desinfecting the wound. A cooking pot fell on the ground... it startled her and she looked at the source of the sound. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence and staring at the cookingfurnace where cooking pot stood on, she decided to pick up the cooking pot and put it back.

When she put the cooking pot back on its orginal place she could hear a faint murmur coming from the kitchenwall to which the furnace was attached to. Being both unnerved and curious she listened more carefully. The murmus were still incomprehenisble but they got louder. She put her ear against the wall and she could finally hear the whispers.....

" Why did you come down? You should have stayed in bed.. Now.... we can't let you go...."

" You must become..... one of us now...."

Quickly withdrawing her ear from the wall, she backed away a little from the wall.

Was she so exhausted she heared things?

The light in the kitchen started to flicker on and off. The intervals between light and darkness growing bigger.

Until the light stayed on for a few seconds and then the bulb bursted.

During the bright but short flash of light, Clarice saw an boney black claw coming out the wall, the wall was devoid of all color and she could only see numerous mouthes gritting their teeth and biting.

Clarice tried to scream but she felt a cold grasp covering her skull and pulling her towards the wall..

Clarice woke up, all sweaty and feeling a bit under the weather... It was only a dream. As a child she would wake up early due to such dreams. She decide to have a smoke to calm down a bit. After taking a deep drag she looked at her alarm clock to see what time it was..

It was 3 am.

She heard glass shattering....

The sound.........

came from downstairs...