Cottage Creep - Chapter 10
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Tom stood on the porch and waved goodbye to them all as they
drove off the property. He turned back to the house, and now stood
staring at the front door for several minutes. When he finally
entered, he didn't expect to see his dream lover standing in the
middle of the living room floor. But then, this house had been full
of surprises, and he should have been prepared for more. But seeing
her there was almost more than he could handle. Yet, there she stood,
arms crossed over her chest. She silently stared before turning away
and walking.. no, gliding through the doorway into the back of the
house.
Tom rubbed his eyes and looked again. Seeing nothing unusual,
he quickly concluded that he had been working too hard, and that
today's conversation had done a serious number on his state of mental
stability. When his thoughts turned to an early bedtime, there was a
faint rise of fear that crept up his spine. Now more than he had
allowed himself to think before, he felt the house was.. well..
occupied. And not just by himself. He felt very strongly that he was
not alone here, even now with the family gone. Yet, he also felt no
threat. He was bothered only by the unlikeliness of it all.
After a brief lunch, Tom launched himself back into the
efforts to insulate and rock all the exterior walls. He expected this
effort to continue for another 3 weeks at least. As evening
approached, he was very tired. He showered to remove as much of the
glass fibers as he could and went down to the kitchen. He found a
sandwich and cold milk on the table. The sandwich could be explained,
surely his mom has laid it out, and he had not noticed it during
lunch. But the cold milk, that was another matter.
Tom smelled the milk and tentatively tasted it. It was fine.
Then he did the same with the sandwich, and it too was fine. He
looked around the room half expecting to see his dream lover standing
behind him, but there was no one around. There were no sounds of any
other presence, and he had no sense of anyone else being here.
Yet, he knew this was not normal. He knew sandwiches didn't
lay themselves out, and milk did not remain cold and fresh out in the
open. Tom lost his appetite and laid everything back on the table.
He felt great discomfort in the pit of his stomach. For the first
time, he admitted to himself, that he was not alone here. For the
first time he allowed himself to admit that there was a presence here
that he could not see or hear, and that this presence knew his every
move, and perhaps his every thought. Tom was feeling very tired,
almost as if he had been drugged.
He drug himself upstairs and barely reached the bed before
falling into a deep sleep. And he dreamed. He dreamed unlike any of
his previous dreams. Oh, she was there, that much was like any other
dream he had had over he past months, but that's where any similarity
stopped.