Dead Face At the Window…

Stephanie loved her parents more deeply than life itself. As far back as she could remember, no one had ever been near as special as her parents. They were simply the best people she knew.

So it was a sad occasion indeed when Stephanie’s father was mysteriously found dead in the city park on a cold drizzly November evening. In a statement released to the press the police announced there was no apparent cause of death. Mr. Jones’ remains had been discovered when a police officer answered a complaint that wolves were roaming through the park. His lower torso protruding from hedges along the main walkway had alerted the officer to his presence. The medical examiner who autopsied the remains later stated that all the blood had been drained from the corpse somehow. Only two small puncture wounds were found.

Mr. Jones was buried in the sprawling Ridge Post Cemetary 3 days later. Many friends and acquaintances came to the funeral as well as his family. He was survived by his wife, daughter Stephanie, and son Jeffery. A mysterious fog hung over the cemetary as Mr. Jones was lowered to his final resting place.

Mrs. Jones was completely overcome by grief. She just sat holding a picture of her husband crying into the glass that covered his handsome face. To help take some of the burden off of Stephanie, Mrs. Jones went to stay with her sister Miriam for a few days after receiving a supply of sedative medication from the doctor. Stephanie remained home and took care of her 7 year old brother Jeffery. She too was heart-broken but was a slightly stronger person than her mother and thus remained to cope with the grief at home.

Jeffery was wearing a towel for a cape and plastic fangs as she entered his bedroom. He announced, "I...am..Draculaaaaa!" as she came to put him to bed. "Ok...lets get in bed Dracula," returned Stephanie with a laugh. She read in her own bed for a little while but having taken a little of her mother’s sedative, she soon turned out the light and drifted into a fitful sleep. Stephanie dreamed of her father. She was walking through the park where her father died while Jeffery played nearby on some swings. She noticed the park seemed devoid of color and suddenly felt she was being watched. As she turned about to retrieve Jeffery, she saw that the swings were empty and he was nowhere about.

The voice had a low moaning quality to it and it drew out her name as if from a distance, “Stephhhaaanie!…Stephhhaaanie!” Looking back, Stephanie saw her father wearing a black overcoat holding his hand out to her. Instinct told Stephanie she should run, run for her life and she didn’t hesitate. Branches tore at her as she ran to get away from him…but she could hear him right behind her and she didn’t dare slow down. Just as she was reaching the edge of the park, she felt her coat being grabbed. She stumbled and fell…and awoke in her bed with the sheets tangled about her.

Stephanie got up to go to the bathroom. What a strange horrible dream it had been she thought. Returning to bed, she was just about to drift off again when a tapping came at her bedroom window. She thought it was just the wind, but it came again…tap, tap, tap…tap, tap, tap… The window was covered by curtains so Stephanie had to get up to look out. Moving the curtain back, she felt her blood run cold…for only inches from the window was her father’s dead face staring directly at her.

Stephanie screamed and fell back, stumbling to the floor…crawling to her bed. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that he had not moved at all. He just stood there staring from his dead eyes. His face was completely slack, just as it had looked in his casket. He was completely motionless…completely…and he stared as if reaching for her soul. His lips moved not at all and his expression did not change but in her head, Stephanie heard him whisper softly…”let me in…please let me in.”

Stephanie heard herself scream at the dead face…”NO!!!!!” But there was a part of her that did want to let him in. He was her father, she loved him, and had missed him with all her heart. He loved her…she remembered a fine summer’s day when she was a little girl and he was pushing her on a swing. They were laughing and having great fun.

Stumping her toe on the dresser, she found she had walked halfway back to the window. His lifeless corpse still stood…waiting. “NO!!!,” she screamed…”You’re not my father!!…GO AWAY!!” The voice in her head answered, “very well, my dear…but I will be…back.” A change in the wind outside seemed to bring a sudden heavy fog about the corpse which faded into nothingness.

Sitting on the side of her bed, Stephanie took deep breaths as she tried to regroup her thoughts. What was that?…was it real? It couldn’t have been…she hadn’t been dreaming again…had she? She got up and walked through the house, checking the doors and windows. Looking in on Jeffery, she found him to be fast asleep hugging his teddy bear. The nightlight in his room twinkled in the dark.

Stephanie tried to sit up and watch tv the rest of the night being too afraid to sleep. She would have called the police, but she didn’t know what she would tell them. They’d never believe her dead father had paid her a visit. About an hour before dawn, she drifted off but her sleep this time was undisturbed.

The next day, she took Jeffery by to see their mom and stayed for dinner. Stephanie kept the previous night’s events to herself…she didn’t want to add to her mother’s burdens. In the light of day, she reasoned that it had to have been another dream. She later took Jeffery to a sci-fi movie he’d been wanting to see to get their minds off of things. The movie had great special effects and she found herself enjoying it in spite of her troubles.

As darkness fell that night, Stephanie fixed dinner for herself and Jeffery. He was in good spirits and they played a children’s game or two before bedtime arrived. Curious, but not wanting to upset Jeffery, Stephanie asked, “have you seen anything unusual lately?” Jeffery looked at her strangely and asked her what she meant. She dismissed it by saying, “oh, nothing…I’m just tired I guess.”

After putting Jeffery to bed, she lay awake trying to read again. Everything seemed normal but she couldn’t help the feeling that something lay in the shadows outside just waiting for the lights to go off. She took another of her mom’s sedatives and after an hour, when the text began to get blurry, she turned off her lamp and went right to sleep.

About 3 am, the dreaded tapping began again. Stephanie was really sound asleep so the tapping continued for a while until her bladder roused her. She immediately heard the tapping…tap, tap, tap…tap, tap, tap. Going to the window, she braced herself for what she knew she would see. Lifting the curtain, Stephanie nearly fainted when she saw that not only was her father standing there but her dearest mother stood beside him.

The flat, hollow look in their faces told her that they were both dead now. She screamed…”No, no, no, no….NO!”, and tore at her nightclothes. Tears ran down her face as she wrung her hands. Quickly, she ran to the phone by her bed and dialed her aunt. The phone just rang and rang without answer. Stephanie dialed 911 and asked for the police.

When the police arrived, Stephanie had decided to just tell them about trying to reach her mother who was staying at her aunt’s house. She described how she’d phoned several times but never raised anyone. She accompanied the police to her aunt’s home where they found everything to be normal except for the back door being open. There was no trace of the mother or aunt. The police suggested that perhaps they’d gone to visit another relative and would probably call her on the next day. Stephanie knew that wasn’t the case, but let the police drive her back home where she bid them good night and locked herself and Jeffery inside.

Overcome with grief, and half out of her mind, Stephanie paced back and forth in the living room as the sun rose. She did call a couple of her other local aunts and uncles to see if the police might have been right…but in her heart, she knew they wouldn’t be there. Throughout the day, she tried to come up with a plan but her efforts were of no use. Really tired and overwrought, she laid down for a while and caught a few catnaps but knowing the terror the night would bring, she couldn’t rest very well. Jeffery watched TV while she finally slept and was so self-sufficient that he made his own lunch and didn’t wake Stephanie until dinner time as the sun was setting.

While she made dinner, Jeffery went to his bedroom to play. She didn’t hear the front door when it opened and closed behind the boy. When the food was ready, she called for Jeffery but received no answer. Going to his room, she felt a pang of jealousy that the boy could be so oblivious to everything while she had to deal with it all alone. Jeffery was not to be found. He wasn’t in the closet, under his bed…nowhere in the house. A feeling of dread enveloped her and she frantically ran from room to room.

Stephanie returned to Jeffery’s room one more time to search again when she heard the tapping at the window of his bedroom. Afraid to look but having no other choice, Stephanie went to the window and raised the curtain. Staring at her from the outside were the dead faces of her father, mother, and brother…

She heard their voices in her head pleading for her to let them in, but it wasn’t necessary. All the people she loved dearest stood outside that window. With a single tear streaking down her face, she slowly reached up and unfastened the window lock…

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A month later, Stephanie was notified that she had a visitor. She hadn’t had any upon her doctor’s order since she’d been admitted. The nice-looking older woman came into Stephanie’s hospital room and sat beside her on the bed. “Stephanie…Stephanie…it’s your mother dear.” Stephanie just laid on the bed staring into space as if in a world apart. The doctor standing in the doorway walked to the bedside and placed a hand on the mother’s shoulder. “I had hopes that she might come out of it if she saw someone familiar, we’ve tried everything,” he remarked. “These cases just require time sometimes. You say she just became like this right after her father died?” “Yes”, said the lady, “she was always so fond of her father…after his death, I guess she just couldn’t get over it.”