Page 8 - WordSmyth VI Summer 2020

The Unknown
I heard the scratching sound again. This time it sounded like sharp finger-nails being scraped across the window-pane. I sat perfectly still, staring through the darkness to the murky, cracked window where a little bit of light from the streetlamp was able to wriggle in. The curtains were no more than dusty rags with great rips in them. Just beyond them the shaggy, bear-like fir tree leant again towards the house and tapped angrily on the window, trying to burst the cracked pane, trying to reach through to me. Darkness and draughts gusted around my rigid body.
The only thing that my body desired was water. Cold, crystal, thirst-quenching water. Struggling to swallow, I almost retched, feeling the acids of my body working away, dissolving and digesting my last precious morsels of food in my otherwise depleted stomach. I was the only person left in the household, the only glimmer of life in the empty building.
The scratching at the window intensified, it was as though there was someone or something outside, trying to get in. An invisible something, that still cast a dark shadow over the house. A storm was raging, the purple night sky becoming twisted and contorted with furious bolts of lightning. My mind however, was in a different world, a world of beasts and unearthly creations. Outside my window, Myrmourn Banshees were screaming, clawing at the window, desperate to find a way in.
The room was dark, lit only by the light of the sudden flashes of piercing lightning, the candle had burnt out long ago. I needed more light, there was a gas lamp downstairs, but I was afraid of the unknown awaiting me. I steadied myself, preparing to exit the room, I stood up, trembling and reached for the door handle. As I opened the door with a large, jarring creak, the window smashed.
I ran.
By Andrew Digby, Thomas Jennings, Aaryan Dassaur
WordSmyth VI Summer 2020
8|Page