"The Shadow: In the Attic

“The Shadow: In the Attic”
by
Miguel Carreno


Have you ever felt something strange about a new house you move into? Especially one that looks old, dark and gloomy. Well I have, something so strange that I do not know how I survived it all, but before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning of this horrible encounter. At the end of March my parents sold the old house and bought a new one while I was away at college. I had no idea what the house looked like for there was no pictures of it, all I knew is that it was near the Colorado Rockies. I was forced to wait for the day I got home from college when I would meet my parents and little brother at my grandparents house and then proceed to our new home.
As we pulled into the driveway the movers were already unloading the truck and I got my first view of our house. It was gigantic, old, and looked like it was from the 1900's. Why my parents wanted an antique house I have no idea. The colors of the house were dark blue and grey, there were two floors along with an attic and basement. The windows all had white shutters and there was a big porch in the front with a swinging bench and beautiful flowers and plants outlined the railings. The backyard was long and marked off at the end by the beginning of the forest with a beautiful view of the Rockies behind them.
As I surveyed the house, the sirens of cop cars and an ambulance broke my concentration as they past down the street and up one of the steepest hills I have ever seen. I lost sight of them near a red cabin with a truck in its driveway at the very top. I then turned my attention back to the house, as a sense of fear, and paranoia filled me as I gazed at my new home. Before turning away to go inside the strange movement of the curtain in the attic window caught my attention, it appeared as if though someone was pulling it aside to look down at me and my family. I quickly turned and though to myself “It must be my eyes playing tricks on me or the wind, yes the wind.”
I excepted my excuses, and proceeded inside to the first floor where each floor was humongous. There was a short hallway that connected the living room and kitchen, as well as one that connected the dinning room and a smaller room that would be our office part of the house. There was a staircase right in-between the hallways leading upstairs. To the left was my room all the way towards the end of the hall, and to my right the way up to the attic. As I turned towards my room I felt a little sick and went in and laid down on the floor.
I began to fall asleep, but a small scratching noise startled me very bad that I jumped up and quickly searched for the source bout found it only to be a small branch scraping my window due to the wind. I laughed softly to myself and searched the room for my television. After I found it I plugged it in and the news popped up on it, the weather report said there would be strong winds lasting all night, and then the strangest report I ever heard.

“Police are baffled tonight after an investigation at the cabin atop Shadow Hill, revealed signs of struggle inside, and strange claw markings. Police also found large amounts of blood leading into the woods. The owner of the cabin has not been identified and there are no current suspects.”

As soon as the report ended I began to hear the scratching again. I went to the window and the branch was gone, what then made that terrible noise? I turned off the T.V. and listened closely to see where the noise came from. After a few moments it was clear that it was coming from my ceiling, or in other words the attic!
I sat on the floor and tried to drown out the sound, saying to myself it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. I quickly turned the T.V. on to get my mind off it, but just more strangeness, when breaking news was reported.

“ We are live at the cabin atop Shadow hill where police have discovered the body of a man at the bottom of a cliff with enormous gouges in his back and apparently has been skinned, police have now identified the man as John Straton, the owner of the cabin and still trying to piece this incident together.”

I couldn’t handle the report anymore, I shut it off and tried to sleep but the infernal scratching kept me awake. I opened my door and shrieked at what I saw. Utter terror and sorrow filled me as the heads of my family were stuck to the walls of the hallway adorning the hallway to the attic, with expressions of horrific terror upon their faces. As I dried my eyes I reached for a flashlight, I had to see what was up there. I walked down the hallway as the lights flickered and my poor family’s heads hung there. As I go half way down the hall the attic door opened by itself, and the walls began to pulsate to the rhythm of my fear stricken heart. As I neared inches from door I heard the voices of my family.

“No, don’t go in there Edward.”

I turned back in shock as the heads began to talk to me.

“Mom, Dad, James?!”

“Don’t go in there, come to us.”

I stepped towards them as if nothing was wrong with them

“That’s it, come to us sweetheart.” said my mother.

“No I cant I must see whats up there.”

“Come here Ed!”

They shouted all at once as their eyes turned red and teeth became fangs. I quickly ran up to the attic in to total darkness.
I sat at the top of the stairs catching my breath, but I was quickly interrupted by the scratching and strange hiss of whatever lead me up there. I turned the flashlight on and slowly surveyed the attic. Each passing time nothing revealed itself, only the strange “hisssssssss.......,” but as I passed the window I saw something run from the light out the corner of my eye. I could hear it scurrying about as I stood in shock shaking uncontrollably, waiting for this shadow to reveal itself to me. Then as if in a far off distance I heard the faint running steps of the shadow, slowly getting louder and louder as it neared me. In an instant I was thrown to the ground by a horrible scratch by claws that gouged deep into my flesh and meat down to the very bone of my arm. The flashlight was knocked out of my hand and I was in total darkness grasping my fresh scratch. I sat in total fear waiting for this thing to finish me off, but only the mocking hiss was all that I heard.
After awhile I noticed nothing was going to happened, at least anytime soon, I saw the moon light in the attic window and made my way toward fumbling with the latch to get it open and yell for help. Just before I would conquer that lock two razor sharp claws ripped into my legs and dragged me to the center of the attic. The shadow began to hiss violently and circle me like a wounded animal. My heart raced and fear grew greater then before, as the endless ceremony of the creature sent terror through my nervous system. I slowly got to my knees and began to crawl my way to the window again. I had to try anything to survive this chaos and escape this wretched house. I crawled and crawled for what felt like an eternity, but finally I had reached the window and fumbled with the latch again. Total silence alarmed me, no footsteps or hissing could be heard. I stopped my efforts with the latch to wait for any signs of the shadow. Then with the incredible speed the footsteps of the creature headed straight for me, I broke the window and yelled at the top of my lungs for help, but I was quickly subdued by the claws of the shadow. It grabbed me by the head and dug its claws deep under my skin causing my blood to gush out and cover me and the ground in a thick layer of it. Then without warning, without a hint, the creatures others arm grabbed me and lifted me while the other one still grasped my head, digging deeper under my skin. And before I could blink threw me out the window ripping my skin cleanly off my body. The sirens of police cars awakened me from my three story fall and as I looked up to that cursed attic window, I saw it. The dark shadow with bright red devil eyes holding my skin in its hand as it dangled violently in the wind