There's Something In The Back Yard

There was a rattling click at the window. Jenny prayed that it was a tree and nothing else, but yesterday was a reminder that she could be wrong. Was there something lurking in the bushes again? Last night she had seen something black whip by. Jenny listened eagerly as the tapping continued, then something whipped by the glass. Now Jenny wished that she hadn't lived alone. That someone was here to comfort her.

She slipped out of her bed, letting her nightgown drape over her feet. The wood floor was icy and dry to her soles and toes as she slowly walked toward the window. Jenny leaned her face to the pain and looked outside. Thick fog had been resurrected from her back yard's lawn after it had fallen the night before. Sooner or later it would fall again.

The entity flashed by the window once more; Jenny fell backwards onto the floor. She had to see what it was. She ran over to the sliding glass door in the kitchen and hurried outside, a flashlight in her hand.

Something was moving in the trees ahead. She stepped forward, squinting past the leaves. Nothing was there, or she didn't think...

Then it came out. A gray entity with a black cloak and a lantern in its left hand, its right was shaking slightly in a slow, fluid pattern. It kept its head down, striking Jenny with the image of terror. She could she its body, not its head.

She was fastened to her spot by nerve splitting horror. What was this thing?

As it approached, its hand shook faster, crossing from a smooth motion to a choppy hack. Jenny knew she just had to move from her tracks before it came closer.

But no muscle movement insured. She couldn't move; she felt no incentive to move. The creature staggered forward, its hand was vibrating now. It lifted its black hood and cocked its head forward.

A muted cry of terror burst through Jenny's lips. The entity had no nose or mouth, just two empty eye sockets flowing waterfalls of blood, oozing down to its neck. Jenny ran at its macabre face, sprinting to the door. It slid shut before her very eyes, locking her out with the damned.

It was walking again, gaining ground slowly. There was nowhere to go, no place to hide, but to look at the face of terror, nothing but to bleeding holes and a flat face.

As it walked towards her, the definite smell of decaying corpses was released into the fresh air, turning the suburban fragrance to the stench of a grave. The wind began blowing from the east, flapping the creature's cloak away. What was exposed was not organic.

The creature’s torso was a mess of veins, tangled and bloody. It slithered from side to side, tangling itself tighter. The lower abdomen and groin was noting more than a mixture of eyes, tongues and teeth all combined into an individual body. The legs were dried out skin tightly wrapped around the bone; the feet were nothing more than gored bone.

Jenny turned, not allowing herself to look at the thing. She could feel it behind her, gripping her shirt. It turned her around and made her eyes meat its pits. Its hand was moving faster than her eyes could see, but the visible stump that it was joined to moved to her left breast, looking for her heart. It slowly dug in, plowing through her clothing and skin, letting a bloody stain seep into the cloth.

The creatures face grew closer to hers before her mouth and the mouth less part met. It was an illusive kiss, slightly painful and unnerving. The smell was the worst this close up and Jenny swore that there was a hint of formaldehyde lurking in its flesh. The thing pulled away with Jenny's mouth!

Her arm reached for her face, feeling the smooth plain where her lips once were. She looked at the entity, at her mouth. It was once a lively red color. Now it was a decayed black. The jaw dropped exposing the now blackened tongue.

Jenny's eyes averted to the creatures hand still in her torso. She pulled back, knocking the lantern out of its hand. It roared with rage, gnashing its new teeth together. When it looked up, Jenny was gone.

Jenny pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through the address list before selecting her ex-husband's number. She texted him quickly, erasing lines every so often to fix her spelling mistakes. By the time she was done. The murderous shouts from the creature stopped.

It was deathly silent. If the creature was gone, she could run around the house and enter through the front.

Jenny built courage and dashed to the side of the house, the creature screamed with pleasure. She hopped over the fence and landed strait on her back. As she looked up, the entity was already passing through the solid wood gate. Jenny scrambled up and continued to run to the front.

She reached the door, turning the handle and pulled. It refused to budge.

No way! her head cried, No God damn way!

Tears seeped from her eyes. She had forgotten that she locked the deadbolt.

As she turned, the creature lifted its hand and pulled her nose clean off, tossing it to the ground. It was going to get revenge for smashing its lantern.

Jenny felt the cold blood run down to her chin. She closed her eyes and sat against the door, crying. One eyelid was pried open as the entity wrapped its dead fingers around her eye. Before she could fight it back, the damned thing pulled it from her face and inserted it into its own head. It stole the other eye too, letting the sockets fill with liquid before it continued to her heart...


In the coroner's office, John Mitchell examined Jenny’s body. It had appeared on his table after her ex-husband received the text message to call 911. John pulled back the white sheet and stood frozen at the sight of her body. In a matter of hours, the corpse turned a rotten grey, her dry skin tightened to her bone.

But there was something else.

John leaned in closer to Jenny's face. There was no mouth!

Jenny grabbed the coroner and pulled him into her face, repeating the grotesque process. After John's body was left for the next victim, Jenny crawled out of an open window and crawled to the nearest graveyard, burring itself in the dead ground.

A call came from a woman named Gina Grady came the next day. Her son, a mental wreck, was missing. She described his as tall, mysterious and wearing a black cloak while carrying a lantern...