Scary Noises

He was sitting in his recliner when he heard it.  His body froze, his heart started to thump in his chest.  He reached for the remote and fumbled to turn down the volume on the television, hoping that the sound was just some background noise from the evening show he was watching. To his dismay it wasn't and even with the volume down the sound didn't go away.  Someone was in his driveway.  It sounded like metal on concrete.  A slow scraping sound as if something was being dragged along at a turtles pace.  The head of an ax exploding into his thoughts and someone coming to murder him just because he was alone in the dark.  His hands were starting to become cold and clammy. Adrenaline began to rush through his veins, or maybe was it fear, he thought.  What could that noise be?  The brisk autumn breezed whistled outside, rattling the old windows that haven't been caulked for the last 20 years.  The noise crept along his driveway alongside his house and towards the backyard.  His eyes followed the noise as if he could see through the walls of the 100 year old house.  Just then the fuel oil furnace kicked in and almost sent his heart through his chest as he sat upright in the tattered grey cloth fabric recliner that his parents had given him when he moved away.  Oh how he now wished he hadn't moved away.  He looked around the room and noticed his cat Willy was staring with intense at the gravely grinding noise too.  Then the noise stopped. Ten agonizing seconds went by.  He got up slowly and silently hoping to not give away his position as if he were being hunted.  He was fully standing now when the knock on the door came.  Three knocks in slow succession.  He didn't move. Willy bolted upstairs more than likely heading to his ill perceived safe haven under the bed. Then the knocks came again with a little more force.  There was no ignoring it.  He had to see who it was.  With one foot in front of the other he crept through the living area towards the doorway  that led into the kitchen where the back door was.  As he neared the entrance to the kitchen he slowly wrapped his head around the entryway to see the door that led into the backyard.