Mischief in the Night (Part II)

Carter could see the dark massive shape of a figure looming over her doorframe. This beastly silhouette could not possibly be human. The stance of the creature hovered outside, slouched with horrendous posture, waiting. She felt as though the sound of her breath was pounding through the stillness of the air. Afraid that whatever it was that was just beyond the door would hear her, she covered her own mouth as she remained paralleled to the cold ground. Her body was screaming from within. All she wanted to do was to back up and return to her couch to hide beneath the covers. As she started to push her torso backward, removing herself from the mudroom, she felt appendages curling around her ankles and gripping tightly as they yanked her backward. She screamed for the unknown and desperately tried to flip herself over to see what had gotten a hold of her. Before she could, everything went black. Carter could only feel the movement of being dragged, but could no longer see or hear a thing. The fear had taken over all of her senses.

***

The sun entered through her bedroom window, stirring her from her cocoon of covers. She slowly peeked out and realized that her blinds were open and the sun was high. Guessing that it was probably about 10am, she rolled over looking for her alarm clock. It wasn't there. Carter sat up and stretched out her limbs, flinging the blankets off of herself. Swinging her feet over the edge of the bed and landing on the floor, she walked to the bathroom. The door was shut. She never left any of her doors shut. She could hear water running and attempted to open it, but it was locked. Feeling panic set in, she headed to her kitchen junk drawer to retrieve the lock popper to gain access. As she turned the corner of the hallway, a small child went running past her, practically knocking into her. In horror she turned, her mouth agape, she watched the child.

His hair bouncing about his head as he rammed into the bathroom door, pounding and screaming for his mother.

Carter froze completely, what was this child doing in her home? As her hearing tuned back in, she could hear what the child was screaming - GHOST. Still pounding on the door feverishly with his tiny fists, he stared directly at her. Chills ran through her spine and down her arms making her hair stand on end. Tears begin welling up in the little boy's eyes as he unrelentingly continued to pound and stare.

The door flung open and the boy fell forward. A petite woman with long, curly, reddish locks bent down to scoop up the boy. Her face, puzzled and slightly frightened.

"Carson? What is the matter with you?" she quizzed gently.

"G-ghost Mama... I see Ghost!" he responded, not removing his eyes off of Carter.

She stared back at the boy, almost ready to cry herself. Not really understanding what was happening. She stepped toward the mother and boy to ask what they were doing in her home and try to assist in calming him down and sorting this all out, but as she approached the boy howled.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO," he cried desperately as he waved his hands frantically in her direction.

The woman looked up in Carter's direction, and straight through her.

"What is it Carson?" her face frowning and still fairly puzzled. "There are no ghosts here."

"Right there!" he pointed fiercely toward Carter, who had stopped moving again.

Just then, Carter could feel her heart sinking. And as the mother pulled her son to stand and walked him back down the hallway, completely walking right through Carter, her heart broke. She watched the boy's head turn back in her direction. He watched her without budging, to make sure she didn't do anything. Carter lowered her head, overcome by grief. She couldn't remember much from the night before, only that something weird had occurred.

She returned to her bedroom and slowly lowered herself to the bed, noticing that there was a newspaper on the nightstand, she picked it up. The date was November 2016. This couldn't be right, it was 2015 - must be a typo. She noticed a laptop atop a small black dresser on the other side of the room. It was a MAC book, but she owned a Sony Vaio. None of this looked familiar and as she observed the comforter she sat on top of, she realized it wasn't hers. She made her way to the laptop and opened the computer to view the home screen of 3 smiling faces. It was the redheaded woman with the piercing green eyes and bright smile, the strawberry blonde boy looking merry and a man who she didn't recognize.

Carter felt extremely sad. She was in her home, but suddenly felt she didn't belong. Something was very wrong. She pulled up Safari and googled her name: Carter Elizabeth Park. Nothing could have prepared her for what came up.

She sat there, pouring over endless headlines and articles that came up. She settled on one that she recognized, produced by her town's newspaper. It was dated November 13, 2015 and written by someone named, Shane Dell. It went on to say that Carter was discovered in the middle of the road outside her home, dead. It revealed that it appeared as though she'd been attacked by a wild animal, with claw marks leaving her skin ripped open. It detailed her estimated time of death and the neighbor who found her. The rest of the article speculated on potential causes outside of an animal attack and that the case was still open. But the only word that really registered and rang through her head like church bells through a village was: dead.