Hound

Cecilia

Hail town

West of creeper’s woods

8 p.m.

She breathed in deeply. Cecilia could hear it. She stole a quick gaze above the wooden desk to catch the sharp shadow being spawned through the window. It moved again and she crouched down in terror. The lights were turned off. Her heart hammered against her chest as fear consumed her in its horrible depths. Someone was trying to break into the house. There was another relentless heart beating beside her sounding fainter than her own. Her eyes trailed below the edges of the desk to meet the unclear form of her son, Samuel. His four-year-old eyes now retained a gleam of fear as he looked up meeting his mother`s eyes.

The shadow stood still behind the window pane outside, examining his way in. he walked to the door and assessed the locks. His shadow crept below the door giving them notice of his presence. Her eyes flicked with despair. She needed to call 911 and fast. A memory flashed and she remembered where she placed her phone. “stay here” she whispered below her breath. Samuel nodded with unwilling obedience. She crawled to the living room sofa and groped for her phone on the seat. It took an awful amount of willpower to keep her breathing at ease.

Hopefully the burglar wasn’t aware anyone was in the house.

“911 what`s your emergency?” an operator responded immediately.

“Please send help, someone is trying to break into our house” she whispered underneath her breath.

“What`s your address?”

“Hail street, house W203”

“We`ll send police officers right away. Stay with me on the line-”

Her voice went down a level trying to catch the sound of the intrusion. Suddenly it was quiet, disturbingly quiet. She peeked from the side of the couch and the living room floor was empty of the shadow that laid there. She swallowed hard as she prepped herself to reel to her feet. Breathing heavily, she wiped the dampness off her temple with the sleeves of her shirt. The last thing she wanted was sweat obscuring her view. “Ma’am, are you there?” the voice from the phone.

“I think he is gone” she whispered abruptly, paying little attention to the phone and how far she was holding it from her ear. She had her fingers crossed. Her heart kept pounding in her chest.

Eyes were wide open in a manner that could have been amusing in a different situation. Suddenly an earth quaking knock on the door. Her heartbeats skyrocketed. She felt herself jump a little but she couldn’t tell whether it was the fear for her life or her son`s. she dove to the floor face first hoping not to be seen. She looked back at the dining table assuring herself of her son`s presence.

“Cecilia, it`s me, Victor, open up” voice from the front door. He tried the door but it was locked. He moved to the window and peaked from the blinds. “Hello! Is anybody in there?!” He held his hand against his brows adjusting his eyes for the view through the window.

“Cecilia, it`s me. Open up” he thought he heard something move inside. Clatters of hurrying steps came to the front door. He heard the door keys jingle, right before the door squeaked open.

“Victor you scared me. I thought it was a burglar” she called from the front door. He met her on the door. She couldn’t see him clearly but she could tell from his heavy breathing that something wasn’t right. “Where`s Sam, is he ok?”

“Yes, he`s fine. Is everything alright?”

He stomped into the house uninvited. He took out a flashlight and searched the house. She trailed behind him fearfully demanding answers.

“Has Jason called you today?” his voice settled in beats. “We spoke this morning after he left for work.” “what did he tell you?” he asked.

“nothing much, he just told me that he would take me out for dinner,” she paused. “Victor you`re scaring me. Is Jason alright?”

He swung around garnering her attention with his silence. His flash light hardly gave light but she could see something like sweat streaming from his brown curly hair.

“Has anything strange……. happened to you today?”

“No, not that I can tell.”

He walked to her, he drew in a lungful of air and swallowed. “Cecilia, your husband won`t be coming home today.”