章 8: Veiled Night
Night feasted on the old house, its black tendrils coiling around it as if to choke it. In the little sliver that managed to creep through the swirling grey above, Avery could see how frightful this house truly was, staring at her, like a face, twisted and deformed. The eyes like two crooked windows. The gaping mouth like a grand green door. The hair like slanted roof tiles. Formless shadows were dancing over the face, scattered by the tangled branches of the mangled trees that lined the driveway, without leaf, without life, thin sharp limbs piercing the silver sky. The moon uncovered itself at last. It glowered down upon Avery, scowling, or perhaps giving warning. She did not know. All she knew was that this place, this festering rotting place, was to be her new home, whether she liked it or not.
The steps to the mouth were lost in wild scrub, half-sunken into the dry earth. Avery took cautious steps, her eyes flickering around her. She did not trust the night. For good reason. Close up, she could see the state of the wooden door. Paint, chipped, wood, frayed and ripped. Knocker, dull and rust-covered. She took it in her grip, holding it only lightly in disgust, and banged thrice upon the door. Three hollow echoes resonated within. The cold crept closer, the dark grimaced, and a chill made Avery shudder. There came a whisper, drifting from the depths of the night, like the moans of a dying girl. It was calling her name. Avery. Her back clung tight to the door. Her heart thudded in rampant drumbeat. Her breath fogged the air. "Hello?" she called in a whisper. The night did not respond. Avery took a single step away from the door. Her eyes strained to the blackness. A shape shifted; a shadow, darker than the rest, scampering between the thorns that lined the base of the house. The hedges shivered. The hinges of an opening to the crawlspace creaked, and the open grate flapped. The shape passed her again. Closer. Drawing nearer. Then it took form, rising out from the black, like a twisted bloated man, veiled by black. Avery screamed. No sound passed her lips. The shape charged. The darkness plunged. The wind howled. And the front door, with a mighty creeeeaaaaak, opened, at which the shape vanished.
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