Robert yawned. It had been a long night, slowly closing his laptop so as not to wake his sister; he pulled his pants up and sat the laptop down on the desk, he’d need to clean that up, he thought to himself. He made his way to the door and quietly looked around it. His sister, he thought, must be asleep by now. Looking towards his sister’s door the dim lighting from outside left an eerie glow on his surroundings - however, just to be safe, he slowly crept towards his sister’s door, placing one ear against it to check she was not awake. Silence. As he was just about to move away, however, he could have sworn he heard the faintest movement, almost as if something scraped against metal. He shrugged it off. The house had old central heating anyway – it was probably just cooling down. Certain his sister was asleep he made his way to the bathroom.
Wiping his hands on the towel he looked up at himself in the mirror. He looked tired, his pale and sunken eyes reflected back at him, sighing he turned just in time to notice a very brief shadow cascade from his sister’s door, crap, he thought. She must be awake. He stood there for about a minute until he was certain she’d gone back into her room. That was odd he thought, slowing as he passed her room he thought he heard hushed inaudible whispers, making the hair on his neck stand up, Robert felt a cold chill pass down his spine, just to be sure though, he pushed the door open ever so slightly.
The whispering stopped immediately. Looking inside the room it was pitch black. He could make out dark shapes but as his eyes adjusted slightly he could just about make out her bed, noticing the slight bulge he assumed she was asleep. As he went to shut the door he noticed something odd, the house was quite warm, but he felt her room was significantly colder, he was tired. He just probably needed some sleep. Pulling away from the door he closed it quietly. The whispering started again, this time faster and more audible. It was definitely his sister talking, he could tell from the sound of her voice. Creeping back to his room he couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t right. Heading straight to his bed, he sat down, the green glow from his clock informing him it was 1:03am, he quickly fell asleep.
THUD. He sat bolt right up in his bed, he had heard it from behind his door, beads of sweat dropped from his head; his heart pounding in his chest. What was it? He looked around his room, the glow from his clock read 3:03am. Surely his sister must have heard that too. Unless… No, it was his imagination getting to him again, but what about those whispers?
Surely he hadn’t imagined them. Getting out of his bed he immediately noticed the cold that he had experienced before in his sisters bedroom. Shivering he gathered his gown from the chair and put it on, then slowly making his way to the door he heard it, the unedifying sound of someone or something standing outside his door. He grabbed the handle tightly, imagining what could be on the other side, what horrible grotesque, contorted creature might be standing there, then, pulling it open with a massive swing; nothing. The landing was empty. He noticed his sister’s door was ajar.
He was sure he had closed it. He looked towards it; just as he was going to back into his room he could have sworn he saw his sister. Standing there in the darkness, eyes unblinking, face contorted into a bloody mess with her cheek ripped open exposing her mouth and blooded teeth, Slamming his door shut as fast as he could, slotting the lock in and blocking it with a chair. Then standing back, listening for any sound. Then he noticed there on the door were the words etched on it.
It’s Behind You