What if you knew that horrific events were coming and you figured out a way to protect your home and the ones you love, would you do it?
Yes? Then come along and read When Worlds Collide.
Cracking open another soda, Heather pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and typed "werewolf" on her laptop computer. "Okay, just for fun, let's see what comes up." While the radio played on low in the background, she took a quick sip of cola and got straight to work.
"So, what do you have for me..." Trying to find an explanation for what her cousin had encountered, she scrolled through the listed items. "Folklore... no. Movies... no. Hmm. What's this?"
Hovering over the link, she read the title, "Top 10 Werewolf Caught On Camera & Spotted In Real Life," then added, "okay, mister-bad-grammar, whatcha got?" She cringed and clicked on the link. Sipping on her drink, she watched the ten-minute video with a mostly incredulous look on her face. "Well," she sighed when it was over, "that was useless."
As an Aerosmith song started, she reached back to turn up the volume a little. Then, bopping in her chair, she continued her search.
While briefly checking out a few more titles, only to be disappointed again, she felt something on the back of her right shoulder. At first, she brushed it off, but then realized it felt like a touch. No, a tap, she thought, like when someone is trying to get your attention. So she turned around, but no one was there. "Of course," she muttered, a little indignant.
She was actually getting used to stuff like this. Paranormal activity in her new old home had been quite steady over the past months and seemed to be increasing since the end of the summer. It wasn't terrifying, at least not to her, but it could be unnerving at times.
Turning back to her laptop, she began to scroll, looking for a promising new video.
It did it again. Tap, tap.
But this time, instead of turning to look behind her, Heather's eye caught sight of something interesting in the side menu on the screen. "Dogman," she read aloud, while the radio played:
"Walk this way,
Talk this way,
Walk this way,
Walk this way..."
"What's a dogman?" Intrigued, she browsed through the suggested videos until one title grabbed her attention. Dogman Howl! (Dogman Encounters Episode 184). The creature in the thumbnail image fit Stacey's description of a large wolf with a muscular chest, shoulders, and arms. So, she followed the link and read the blurb:
"In Upstate New York, there’s a road called Coffee Rd. Unlike most roads, Coffee Rd. doesn’t have farmland or houses on it. The only thing you see, while driving down Coffee Rd. is woods.
Last August, tonight’s guest, Dave, had 2 encounters on Coffee Rd. During one of those encounters, he recorded the second-best Dogman howl I’ve heard. Not only will Dave talk about the 2 encounters he had last August, I’m also going to play the howl he recorded for you."
"Upstate New York... Okay, that's close by." So she clicked play to give it a chance. Impressed by the eerie introduction music, she kept listening. Then, her eyes grew wide as the show's guest introduced himself, revealing that he worked as a fisheries technician on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation.
"Holy crap!" she blurted out, cola nearly coming out of her nose. "That's just across the river here. Wait," she paused the video. "I bet this is what she saw then. I want to be ready for this." Heather got up and made her way to the kitchen. Quickly grabbing a glass full of ice and a box of Halloween candy, she returned to her desk in the living room and sat back down.
After dumping the contents of the box into the large orange bowl beside her computer, she poured the rest of her cola over the ice and guzzled about half of it. "Ah, that's good." Enjoying the prickling bubbles at the back of her throat, she got comfortable and put her hand over the mouse. "Now I'm ready," she clicked play to resume the hour-long video and tossed a mini chocolate bar into her mouth.
Heather listened intently as a man named Dave told the story of his enounters with a dogman on a secluded woodland road. Pausing the video to scribble some notes, she stopped to look up. The familiar sound of the floor creaking with footsteps came from the dark hallway, but she just shrugged and said, "hello."
That was a normal feature there, so she learned to mitigate her fear by casually talking to it. She chuckled a little nervously and turned back to finish her notes, but then a muffled bang sounded from upstairs. "That... sounds like my closet," she whispered, and then heard it again. "Great," she said flatly, before returning to the video.
Then, about forty five minutes in, right as she finished listening to the part where they played the captured howl repeatedly, a familiar feeling came over her. Heather felt like she was being watched.
She didn't normally get so creeped out and would just look down the darkened hallway or to the archway between the living room and dinning room when this happened. But this time, she glanced towards her front window. The combination of the dogman stories and Halloween were adding to the fright factor tonight, she thought.
"Why do I always do this crap to myself so late at night?" she asked herself, shaking her head. "Oh no," she continued, "can't wait until day time. No, gotta look up the scary stuff in the wee hours, while everyone else out there is asleep," she mocked herself, and then paused. Getting exasperated, she threw her arms up and yelled, "and you're all alone in a freaking haunted house!"
Yes, it was late, and she was getting tired. She had been doing research for quite a while now, pretty much since the afternoon, even working through supper with her plate at her desk in front of the computer. You can do stuff like that when you live alone, she mused.
"What time is it anyways?" she wondered, popping a mini chocolate bar into her mouth. Then right on cue, Eric Clapton answered from the radio:
She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Yep, it is after midnight." Weirded out a little, she stared at the radio with narrowed eyes and cocked her head to the side. "Okay, that was strange... again."
Grabbing another Halloween chocolate from the bowl, she unwrapped it and stuffed it into her mouth, then mumbled, "so, it's officially Halloween."
The moment she spoke those words, the wind suddenly picked up outside. And again, the radio replied:
"We're going to cause talk and suspicion,
We're going to give an exhibition,
We're going to find out what it is all about,
After midnight, we're going to let it all hang down."
Heavy rain began to pound on the roof and hit the windows. As the curtains billowed from the wind, Heather remembered that she had left a window open a crack that afternoon. She noticed that the floor was starting to get wet, so she jumped up to go close it. Next, a bright flash of lightning lit the house. "Great, and now there's a storm. Perfect. Just perfect," she complained, as she walked across the living room. "Really universe? How freaking cliché can you get?"
Heather closed the window, as thunder rolled overhead. She stood there for a moment listening to it rumble and looking out at the storm, when lightning flashed again. There, across the street, next to a tree, it illuminated a large shadowy figure.
Through the driving rain, she could make out a shape that closely matched the images she had just seen of a dogman. So she stared, trying to discern if she was indeed seeing what she thought she was.
A loud crack of thunder then startled her.
Heather's body tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut tight. When the rumble passed, she relaxed and checked again for the shadow across the street. But the figure was gone. "Uhm, okay. I didn't just see that then."
"Yes, you did." A deep voice spoke, nearly making Heather jump out of her skin. But she wasn't sure if she heard it in the room or in her head. So she dismissed it, denying that she had even heard anything at all. I'm going crazy, she thought, turning away from the window.
She still had the heebie-jeebies though. So she made the rounds, checking that everything was locked and secured, before sitting back down at her desk. As she scrolled through the list of videos trying to decide what to choose next, Enter Sandman by Metallica came on the radio.
"Yes! Just what I need to shake off these jitters." Heather turned the volume up a little more and started head-banging to it. She laughed, but then yawned. "Alright, one more," she said, clicking play on a new encounter story.
Despite being fuelled with chocolate and caffeine, Heather's eyes grew heavy and she became very drowsy. She tried to pay attention to the interview, but her head banging turned into head bobbing.
"Something's wrong, shut the light, heavy thoughts tonight..." the radio played on.
The rain continued to pour down, as more flashes of lightening and rolls of thunder assaulted the region. Just then, another bang came from upstairs, jolting Heather upright with eyes wide. She tried to perk back up, but drowsiness overtook her again.
"Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
And never mind that noise you heard..."
Heather kept drifting in and out of consciousness while the radio, the video, and the storm all vied for her attention.
More footsteps scurried along the creaking floor boards as the lights flickered. Then, through crashing thunder and battering rain, she thought she heard a howl in the wind - a low and moaning howl, similar to the dogman one she had heard ealier in the video. She didn't get a chance to worry though, as sleep pressed heavily on her consciousness.
Ignoring the lamp and the radio, she took off her glasses and closed her laptop, then headed for the stairs. She was far too sleepy to bother with anything else.
"It's just the beasts under your bed,
In your closet, in your head..."
Fighting to stay awake, she held onto the railing and climbed up the stairs. Just making it to her bed, Heather plopped down still dressed and instantly fell into deep sleep.
"Take my hand,
We're off to Never Neverland."
As bright lightning lit up the room, the sound of several footsteps hurried about the place. Raging overhead, the storm intensified. Then a loud boom suddenly rattled the house and the lights flickered one last time before going out across the whole region.
© 2021 by Linda Casselman
Last: Call a Friend
Next: The Secret Door
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Did You Hear The Call?
Become a Shield Warrior-in-Training
