FEAR

1797 words





Fear



         Janet sat bolt upright in bed and glanced at the clock. It was 3:30 in the morning and something had awakened her from a deep sleep. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat on the edge. What had awakened her? There had to have been something but she couldn’t recall if it had been a noise or just a feeling. She got up and pulled the curtain back and looked out over the back yard. It was a pitch black night and the light from the streetlight barely cut into the darkness. She stood there watching for a minute seeing nothing. Even the moon was blocked by the thick cloud cover. She walked downstairs to the kitchen and got a glass of water. Janet just had a strange feeling that something was wrong but still had no idea what. She was feeling a little nervous and she thought she heard a scratching sound at the back door.

              Jane lived ten miles out in the country and the nearest neighbor was a mile away. Dan, her husband, was a truck driver and gone a lot and her teenage son was on a weekend trip with friends. Janet walked through the house checking all the locks. The house was locked up tight.

              Should I call 911? No, she decided. If I just told them I heard a noise, they would haul me off to jail for making prank calls.  She put that idea out of her mind. Janet started back towards the stairs to go back to bed when a tremendous clap of thunder made her jump and the lights went out. She looked out the front window and saw there was a tree on fire in her front yard. That was too close, she thought. I need to find a flashlight and candles while I’m down here. Janet went back into the kitchen and felt around for her utility drawer where she knew she kept a flashlight. She opened the drawer and felt for the flashlight. Janet turned the flashlight on and a very faint light appeared that wouldn’t begin to part the suffocating, absolute darkness of the night. Janet shook the light and the faint light disappeared completely. “Damn,” she said, “I’m really prepared for emergencies, aren’t I?”

         She jumped as she heard a noise and rushed back to the window.There, she thought. She watched as a dark shadow moved across the yard. Was there someone out there or was her imagination getting the best of her? Was she safe? Feeling along the counter where she knew she kept a couple of candles, her fingers wrapped around one, clutching it with a death grip. Janet made her way in the dark to the stove, touching the back in search for the kitchen matches kept there. As she pulled the box open, with hands shaking, matches flew everywhere.

            Janet got down on the floor and was crying as she crawled around feeling for the matches. She was getting so frustrated. She loved thunderstorms, and had never feared being alone, so why was she so nervous? She found a few matches and made her way back to the candle and struck a match. The candle put out a faint glow in the dark room, but didn’t do much good in driving away the darkness. Janet picked up the candle and decided to go back upstairs and lock her door and try to sleep.  Just as she reached the top of the stairs, another ear shattering boom split the air. Janet was so startled, she dropped the candle and it went out. She was feeling around the floor for the candle as she heard a loud thump. It sounded like it was coming from the front door. Now she was shaking.

          She had to go back down the stairs to get more matches and to find the ball bat. Why hadn't she brought them with her? Had somebody gotten in her house? She was really starting to tremble as she searched the kitchen for more matches and the bat. Just as her hand closed around the bat, there was another explosive sound. Lightening must have hit something else, she thought as the wind picked up and she heard the rain starting to come down in torrents. She could hear the limbs from the trees scraping the house as the strong wind tortured the trees. She thought she heard a banging noise from the North side of the house, but couldn’t be sure because of the racket of the wind, rain and thunder. Janet was really beginning to get scared. She relit the candle and walked back to the phone. She picked up the phone and as she started to dial 911, she realized that the phone was completely dead. She was starting to cry as she laid down the phone. Janet knew it would be senseless to go back upstairs and try to go back to bed. She was entirely too frightened and needed to listen carefully for any sounds that didn’t come directly from the storm.

          Why wasn’t I better prepared for something like this to happen? she asked herself. She took the candle and bat and walked into the living room. She was hearing something but couldn’t figure out what it was. It suddenly sounded like someone had run as hard as possible and hit her front door. Startled, she blew out the candle and stepped into the coat closet and closed the door. What am I going to do? she wondered. I know someone is out there trying to get in. What do they want? No one has called out, but they’re still trying to break in. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she knew she must find a safer place to hide. She had no idea whether the intruder was already inside her house. She buried herself behind all the coats hanging in the closet.

          “OK, this is ridiculous “ she complained. “Pull yourself together, Janet” she admonished herself. There was a loud boom and Janet jumped. “What on earth” she exclaimed. She left the closet and ran back to the window. Just as she pulled open the curtain, a large bolt of lightening hit.  She preferred the soft rumple to the loud cracks, but neither frightened her. It was just the unknown sounds she seemed to keep hearing in between the loud claps which had her thoroughly frightened. Janet went back to the kitchen and relit her candle. She looked carefully around the room. The candle didn’t help much and she feared someone might already be in the house with her.  What did they want and why were they tormenting her like this? She called out, “Who’s there?” No one answered. 

         Janet jumped again as another loud crack deafened her, and knew that the lightening had once again hit something. It has to be just the storm, she thought.  With the streetlight out, it was pitch black. There was not even a shadow lurking in the darkness and the heavens had opened up and released a torrent of rain. All she could hear now was the pounding of the rain on the roof and against the house. Something was scraping the side of the house. It had to be the tree limbs in the wind, she told herself.

         Just then, Janet heard another noise. It was a scratching sound and it sounded like it was coming from one of the windows. It didn’t sound anything like the scratching of the tree limbs in the wind. Now she was really terrified. Someone was definitely trying to break in. “What can I do next? She cried. I must get a hold of myself, she thought, I’m acting like a baby,  but her pep talk was not helping any. I know there is someone out there. I have no lights and no phone and it‘s 4:00 in the morning. It will be hours before the sun comes up. The sharp crack of thunder shook the house and the lightening flashed momentarily lighting up the whole kitchen, but only for a second and the light was gone.  I have never seen it this dark, she thought. Even the light from the candle only penetrated the choking blackness for a foot or two. She'd never been this frightened in her life, she thought as she tried to decide what to do next. Janet searched the kitchen for more candles, as she thought of what to do. She found and lit the other candle on the counter and the two together barely broke through the suffocating darkness. If only the phone would work, she thought.  The loudest clap of thunder yet shook the house and rattled the windows. “I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid,” she chanted to herself. She clutched the bat even tighter as she heard an explosion. It sounded like the front window had shattered. She didn’t want to die. She stood there trembling and holding onto the bat for dear life.  Whoever it was, was now inside and she had no idea what he wanted.

            Janet was imagining all kinds of horrific scenarios as she heard someone moving quietly through her living room. The light from the candle showed nothing. Janet took her stand and held the bat ready to swing. The sound came closer and she was shaking so hard she almost dropped the bat. She heard a noise right in front of her and started swinging the bat, when suddenly she  was hit on both shoulders at once and felt herself being knocked backwards. As she hit the floor, she felt a wet tongue on her face and two heavy paws holding her down. They were right below the lighted candle and she started laughing hysterically, as she recognized Duke, the neighbor’s German Shepherd. He was shaking and giving her a shower as she sat there laughing. She threw her arms around  his neck and said, "let’s go get a towel." She remembered when the neighbor had told her about how frightened Duke was of thunder.

         The  terrible thunderstorm shook the house the rest of the night, but Janet felt safe in her bed with her arms around the big German Shepherd.