Green Skeleton Man Prompt

It was a cold winter. And Jane, a newcomer to town, just finished unpacking her belongings from her utility trailer. A thick fog floated throughout town, engendering with it a dreary mood. Overall, though, Jane was happy to be moving out of the city, and felt relieved to be away from the noise, droves of people, and, most importantly, away from the crime that the city bestowed. For years, the city she once loved, and in her younger years craved, had finally slipped too far. A green fog hazed the city officials' judgments, assuring help was not coming soon.

Months before her move in, Jane visited Pleasington and fell in love with the community: the houses were spaced out, the neighbors were friendly, and downtown housed all the consumer pleasures she needed. It was the perfect balance of suburb and city life. And most importantly, she would no longer have to worry about what or whom was around every street corner. Finally a new beginning, she thought.

Though on her move in day, despite only having visited once before, Jane could not shake the feeling of peculiarity. Something was off. And walking back inside with her last box in hand, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a shapely figure quickly crawling past the brick edge of her house and out of sight. She gasped and dropped the box, but upon remembering the neighbors had various outdoor animals, she brushed off the shadow; I'm just stressed from moving and in a new environment she thought to herself, It was nothing more than the neighbors stupid dog.

The door now closed behind her, and with the top bolt emphatically locked, Jane began to feel her tension ease. Facing inside, you could see the vast number of windows that decorated the walls. Like many newly constructed homes, the living area bled seamlessly into the kitchen and dining room. Daunting and tantalizing, the stacked boxes displayed hours of work that needed to be done. But first there was a celebratory beer to be drunk, and cracking it open she heard– Knock.....Knock. The banging stopped at just two and repeated at a slow interval – Knock.....Knock. The weather had turned from a dense fog to a torrential rain. Rain cleans the air and provides the chance for a truly fresh breath the next day, but cleansing requires that there existed nastiness before, so the obscenities among us peak just before every storm. Lockstep with the knocks, Jane’s heart began to beat at an increasing pace. A nervy scan of the room revealed no one inside, and she knew it must only be a neighbor, only a knock and nothing more, so why so anxious? Walking to the door, she grabbed a baseball bat, inched close to the eye hole and peered in....relief. It was her neighbor after all, John, dropping off a house warming bottle of wine.

“Well how do you do this fine evening?”, he said with a light southern twang, “I don’t have much time on my hands, but just thought I would give you something to welcome you to the neighborhood.” Jane graciously accepted, and upon closing the door, let out a sigh of relief – another false alarm. And just as she began to feel the tension ease, she turned around and across the room, standing outside of the window, a shapely shadow stood on the other side of the glass. Frozen in a terrified stupor she stared at what appeared to be a man. It stood there, unmoving and with no regard for the roaring winds. Sockets remained where its eyes used to be and it appeared to lack skin of any kind. It was rail thin and had a sinister grin on its face. For seconds now, it stood there motionless with an umbrella in hand.

Jane, now with her heart beating out of her chest, reached for the door handle, and twisted the knob, only to find it would not budge. Somehow the door was locked from the outside. Turning her gaze quickly back to the window where the skeleton before stood, Jane was in a full panic. For the apparition was now in the room, motionless and staring once more. Jane screamed with tears running down her cheek, “what are you and why are you here!!” But none answered. She raised the bat, shaking with impetuous intent, and decided, in that moment, that she was done with being scared. She spent years in the city fighting and was tired of her scared disposition. Tired of being a damsel in distress, no more, tonight she would fight. Charging at the apparition, now, she raised the bat like a greek goddess of war, and swung at the skeleton man that stood.

Woosh, the bat moved and she heard nothing but air.

Upon opening her eyes, the thing was gone, and she stood alone in a room sweating and panicked. For Jane was alone after all.