Monsters Rule the Night

                                          Monsters Rule the Night

         “Okay, I’m on my way to the house now. I’ll get everything unlocked and make sure that everything looks nice for the clients. Be sure to have someone send the background info over so I can look at it. Wait, I may have some info with me.” I reached over to my briefcase on the seat next to me. I wasn’t pay attention to the road, heck; I was the only car on the road, so it didn’t matter if I swerved a bit. Searching through the case, I let my hand slip a bit on the wheel, dropping my phone.
         I took the moment to look up, only to see a farmer’s scarecrow coming at me. Breaking, hard, I heard a snap, something that could’ve only been my cellular. I braced myself, hitting the pole and sending the scarecrow flying into my car as it fell off, sending hay everywhere. Before I knew what happened, I went into shock and passed out.
         It was dark when I woke up. Hours had to have passed. There was also a light drizzle raining into my convertible. I didn’t care about the car for a moment, feeling dried blood on my forehead. I searched for my phone, but it was in pieces under my brake pedal. It probably wouldn’t have gotten much of a signal anyway out here in the middle of nowhere. It took me a few more seconds to get my bearings, realizing that I was in the middle of a cornfield, a metal pole intertwined in my car. I was also covered in hay, but I couldn’t remember where it had come from. I decided to walk to the house and see if I couldn’t find something along the way. It would at least give me shelter for the night.
          I gathered up my briefcase, and slowly got out of the car. Nothing was broken, and nothing hurt when I moved. I would have to leave the car until tomorrow, at least. I started out; walking down the middle of the road, hoping a farmer or something would find me. The moon was bright out tonight, so it was a little less dark. Didn’t coyotes live out here? I put the idea out of my mind and started walking.
            About five minutes into my walk, I heard a rustling in the cornfield. The corn was high enough that I couldn’t see past the tops of the nearest plants. I kept walking, but I picked up my pace a little bit. I heard the rustling again, and started running almost. I wasn’t scared, not really. I just wanted to get to the house faster. The rain had picked up, and I didn’t want to get to wet, is all that it was.
          After I had begun to run, the rustling had stopped. Whatever it was didn’t seem like it wanted to keep up with me. The rain started to let up when I got to the house. Interestingly, there was a little truck sitting in the driveway, empty, but with the lights on. I walked up to the truck, but the cab was empty. In the back, there was a lot of hay, covered a little bit by a blue tarp. It looked like someone had just recently put it in. I didn’t really care, so I headed into the house. I stopped before I got to the porch, looking at the house. The pictures didn’t do it justice. It may not be in the best repair, a little bit of a fixer-upper, but it had a presence to it. Two stories, with a partial third floor room, peeling red paint, a large porch that led to the door, with a few windows here in there. It was a very nice, if old, house, at least from the outside. I looked at the yard, going around to the side of the house. The weeds had taken over, and the grass was as tall as I was. For such disrepair, you couldn’t tell that no one had lived here in just a year. Maybe five or ten, but it had been vacant for only a year.
          The rain had stopped, but it was starting to become a little chilly, so I headed up to the door. Before I could open the lock-box for the key, it simply fell off and the door opened. Very weird, but I wasn’t complaining. I rushed inside, closing the door to keep the chill out. I tried the light-switch next to the door, put nothing happened when I switched it on. I flicked it a couple times, but nothing happened. I shrugged, and went into the next room, trying that switch. This one worked, illuminating the empty room with the single uncovered bulb on the ceiling. The paint on the walls was peeling, showing the coat that was there before. Our crew had just been out a month or two ago. Hmm, weird. I took a seat on the bare floor, leaning against the wall. I opened my briefcase to see if I did have a history report on the house. I tossed a few papers aside until I found the sheet describing this address. The light flickered above me, but I didn’t pay any attention to it.
            I scanned over the first couple of lines, the ones that gave me the good points of the house that is used for me to tell clients, and started to read the next couple of lines. The first one was about the repairs that had been done, no later than a month ago. I saw the line that it had been vacant for around a year. I skipped over a few more lines, and then found the part that I should never have read. The last occupant had gone missing, with only some blood stains found covering the furniture, with a police squad car burnt out, and with the officer crouched on the porch in the fetal position. His eyes had been bleeding, and the only thing he would say, was the name ‘Jack,’ and that ‘he wasn’t his friend.’ The house had otherwise stood vacant up until the time that my bank had bought it. I really needed to start reading these histories before I decided to sell the houses. I set the report down and closed my eyes. I didn’t think that spending the night here would be the best thing for me, but it beat out in the cold.
            I started to doze, but before I was completely out, I heard a scraping noise come from the wall behind me. I jumped up and looked at the wall. Where I had been, there was a large scratch going across the wall. I felt my face, but there was no cut. I heard the noise again, but it was behind me. I turned, making myself dizzy and the wall was full of scratches. I stood in the middle of the room, and examined the marks from where I had stood. Then, to my horror, I realized that the scratches had come from behind the wall. They were little gouges had bubbled up on my side of the wall. I heard the noise again, and the scratches filled all four walls. I touched the cross around my neck, praying to myself.
          “I’m not afraid of you! Show yourself!” I yelled at the walls. All of the scratches disappeared. I heard a giggling noise, and turned, but I didn’t catch where it had come from. When I turned back, the scratches were back. Only this time, they weren’t just random marks on the wall. They formed words. ‘Sorry for the wait, my love’ was haphazardly scratched into the wall.
          “What wait!?” I screamed at the wall. I was shaking now, glancing all around me from time to time.
          ‘To meet your host. May I introduce,’ was what the message was replaced with. There was a loud bang, as all the doors shut. Except for one. The door behind me stayed open, as though it was inviting me to run. I kept my ground.
            “Very brave of you, my love. Braver than the police officer. Braver than the man before him. Braver than the many that I have dealt with before. Bravo.”
            I didn’t like the voice. It seemed like it was all around me at once, resonating from the walls, but almost as though it was only in my head. “Who are you?” My voice was low, but crackled with fear.
            “Please excuse me dear, but I have other matters to attend to. If you would be so kind as to exit, I may leave you to be. I have a prior engagement. Your clients, if you would like to know.”
            “Leave them alone!” There was no response, the wall had cleared, but all of the doors were still closed except the one. I backed out of the room, running the rest of the way out of the house. I screamed as soon as I was out the door. The car was on fire, and there was a tall, spindly figure standing next to it. Beside it was what looked like a dog. But it wasn’t any dog I had seen before. With glowing red eyes, and flesh hanging off of its body, it was a horror. The figure seemed to be holding a leash, the horror of an animal attached to it. I started going around the house, hoping, praying that it hadn’t seen me. I turned the corner and was met by a pack of goblins. They were horrid little creatures, large eyes that burned bright colors in the night. They broke into a choir of giggles as I screamed at the little monsters. I turned to run, but was stopped as the dog knocked me to the ground. It smelled like rotting meat, and as I tried to fight it off, pieces of flesh flew off. I managed to grab one of its ribs, and pulled. It wrenched free, and I used it as a club, bashing the vile creature in the head. I could feel the blood rushing down my face where the jaws had bit into me. I managed to get a good hit in, knocking the head off of the creature. I managed to get up, my blouse was ripped, and I was scratched all to hell, but I ran. The spindly figure followed me, and many of the little goblins tried to block my path. One managed to trip me, allowing the figure to catch up. I closed my eyes, my head was throbbing and I couldn’t think straight. I was loosing too much blood. I felt dizzy as I tried to sit up, but I only got a sharp kick to the side for my troubles. I fell back, my eyelids coming open. I realized that the spindly figure was the scarecrow that I had hit earlier. It help a piece of metal in its hand, the dogs barking skull in the other. Many of the goblins were standing around also. I felt a few start to nibble on my arms and legs. I tried to fight them off but I was too weak to resist. I closed my eyes before the piece of metal connected with my head. But I felt nothing. I opened my eyes, but the scarecrow had backed off, and so had the goblins. They were just standing around. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t think straight all of a sudden. I was struck with a horrible migraine, and vomited. I managed to sit up, trying to keep from choking. I felt a pain in my left leg and looked down. It was starting to melt, or at least the skin was. I could see the muscle, and I tried to scream, but as the noise started to come out, my jaw fell off. I fell backwards and passed out.
              When I awoke, I tried to speak, to ask where I was. I couldn’t see, and it was very hard to move. I managed to open one eye, and looked around. I was staring at a granite tombstone. It had a small pumpkin on it, but I didn’t take any more notice of it, instead looking at my body. Flesh was clinging to my bones in odd places, and my left leg was completely devoid of flesh. I felt around, my jaw was gone; my other eye missing as well. I managed to sit up. The scarecrow was there, and the skeletal dog had had its head reattached. I looked at the scarecrow and nodded. I turned, and there was another figure. He looked a lot like the scarecrow, but he wore a large hat. His head seemed to be a pumpkin, with an eerie red light coming from its sockets. There was a smile on its face.
            “You are one of us now, my love. I reward bravery. I reward those with little fear. My name is Jack, and I would like to welcome you to the family.”  I realized that the voice came from the new scarecrow, Jack. I also realized that he had left me to be, but in his own way. He could have killed me. Permanently.
            I stood with the help of the scarecrow. I knew where my place was then. I looked at Jack and wanted more. He simply smiled towards me, and walked me to the tombstone. I had nothing more to fear.


                                          Especially with one…