I wake to another panic attack. Not unusual but it never gets any easier. Something about this cabin just hasn’t felt right since I’ve been here. My wife used to love this place. Since Lilly’s passing, no where feels quite like home anymore. This feels like the empty shell of what used to be my life.

I shuffle to my feet into my house shoes, grab my phone from the nightstand, and pull the cord to cut on the lamp. Nothing. I pull the cord again, more aggressively this time. Nothing. I cut my cell phone flashlight on, noting that my battery is almost dead. It’s been charging all night, this doesn’t make any sense.

I grab my robe from the foot of the bed and ease out of my room and into the hallway. I hear shuffling outside the bedroom window. I stop walking and listen. My breathing now heavy and heart pounding. Bear? Mountain lion? I listen a few second longer, now holding my breath. I walk back into my bedroom and slowly towards the window, hoping to peep through the curtain for a better look at what nighttime visitor has come to rummage through the garbage.

I gently pull back the side of the curtain, again holding my breath. The shotgun is in my truck. Whatever vermin is out there is very fortunate that it’s too cold for me to go out and get it. It’s very dark, unusually dark actually. The street lights seem to be off. Must be a local power outage. These old mountain cabins tend to lose power during snow storms. Sometimes just the right amount of wind can leave me without power for a day or so. I shine the light of my flashlight through the window, hoping to catch the trash goblin in action.

“What the f*ck!” I drop my phone on the floor. What the hell was that? I jump back a few feet, scurrying across the floor to find my phone and cut the flashlight off. My heart now beating so hard it’s pounding in my ears. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was a….person… but oddly tall and unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s knees were… backwards. It was completely hairless and looked like it was wearing skin that did’t quit belong to it. Its posture was slumped forward, arms exceptionally long. Fingers long and half curled into a fist as it stood there staring through my window. It’s face was… horrifying. It looked like the eyes were sewn shut and its mouth was gaped open, wider than any normal human.

What the f*ck do I do?? Did I lock the doors?? I walk back out of the room into the hallway. I take each step carefully, sure not to make any noise. I slowly back myself against the wall to my right and I peer around to see if the front door handle is in the “locked” position. The moonlight cast just enough light through the windows to see fairly well once my eyes adjusted.

As soon as I look around the corner past the kitchen, my heart sank… the front door is wide open. I’m paralyzed with fear. I hear the shuffling again. I’m too scared to move. I just watch. Whatever was outside my window is slowly shuffling its feet into the doorway. I slowly ease myself back into the hallway. Holding my breath, trying not to make any noise.

Why was my door open?? I hear a loud screech that sounded like it came from the livingroom to my left. I quickly hold my hands over my ears to stop the pain. Suddenly… silence. I remove my hands from my ears. A silence now so deafening I can hear my blood circulating through my body. There’s two of them… whatever they are… and one of them is in my house already.

I slowly ease back down the hallway towards my bedroom. Each step carefully placed to avoid any loose creaky flooring. I see the second creature shuffle slowly past the hallway, this one much nastier looking that the other. It seemed as if boils had taken over most of its skin. I remain completely still, once again holding my breath as it passes by, hoping it doesn’t look down the hallway and notice me.

I feel it… the first of three vibrations from my phone before the audible ringtone kicks in. I place my hand against my pocket, muffling the second vibration. I quickly slide my hand into my pocket. Third vibration. I fumble through my pocket, trying to find the button to silence the call before…. Oh sh*t…

It rings.