Day #10: Midwinter Nights by Elizabeth Averay
The fire crackling merrily in the old fireplace, a mug of hot chocolate in my hands, and snow falling lightly outside. The street is dark as the power lines are down, otherwise it would be blazing with Christmas lights and figures in every front yard.
Sitting by the fire, keeping warm and thinking how nice everything looks at this time of year, I remember a story my mother told me as a child:
Late at night when everyone is sleeping, a figure creeps around the quiet empty streets. Scuttling from shadow to shadow, not liking streetlights or the wash of the moon and stars. Always at night, lurking and looking for anyone not indoors.
The creature is said to be small, three foot tall and no more, thin as a whip, perfectly bald with silvery skin, white eyes and a mass of wrinkles covering its face. Two small holes where a nose should be, and a straight line for a mouth concealing shiny black pointed teeth. The creature also has short legs thick with muscle and arms so long they are constantly bent at the elbows to keep them off the ground. Its fingers are like silver slender twigs with impossible strength, tipped with three-inch shiny black claws.
It is said the creature craves flesh and blood all the time, but especially in winter when it is more likely to have clouds to cover the night skies so it can roam freely. Anyone unlucky enough to be outside from the witching hour to sixty minutes before dawn are fair game. The creature is extremely quiet, making sound when it moves – and can move at phenomenal speed. No one the creature has taken has ever been seen or heard from again, but sometimes a piece of the missing person will be found: normally hands, feet, sometimes the head or a scrap of clothing. Nothing more is ever recovered.
Shivering to myself at the remembered childhood story which stopped me from playing outside when it was late, I gratefully finish my hot chocolate. Glancing at the front page of the newspaper I see the headline screaming COUPLE TAKEN FROM THEIR BEDS! NO SUSPECTS.
I head upstairs and climb into bed, glad to be inside.
Downstairs, gazing in through a window is the white-eyed, silver-skinned creature from the tale. The creature waves its hands over the glass in the window – and it vanishes.
The creature climbs inside and heads up the stairs.
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