Silent Nights
Felicity clung to her books as she ascended the stairs to the old house. Each step creaked under her weight, sending shivers up her spine. She questioned whether this was the right house. She was there to watch after it for the night as the owner had to spend the night in the hospital. With a turn of the key, the door clicked, letting her inside. She made her way to the sitting room and set down her books, figuring this would be the perfect place to do some silent reading away from her busy life and noisy roommates.


Felicity located the kitchen to look around. Finding a tea kettle, she sighed with relief as she put a pot on, thinking it would calm her nerves being in a new place. She decided to check out some of the other rooms as she waited for the kettle to whistle. She opened the doors to peek in as she wandered down the hall back to the sitting room. One door was a storage closet, and the next was the stairs to the basement. She quickly shut that one, not wanting to know what an older lady would have in this old house. She shook her head and continued. Once at the base of the stairs near the front door, Felicity heard a board squeak from upstairs, as if someone was walking around.


"Hello?" she called up. "I am Felicity, here to watch the house... Is someone there?" Her voice started to trail off, knowing that she was supposed to be alone. She placed a hand on the railing, taking a step up just as the teapot screamed from the kitchen. She jumped at the noise and then took off to the kitchen, forgetting the sound from upstairs. "It is an old house," she muttered to herself.


Once Felicity's tea was ready, she sat on the floral ornate couch that centered the room. Picking up her first book, "Love or Lust," a saucy romance novel others liked to pick on her for, she got comfortable on the couch, curling up with her legs, and started to read.


After a couple of hours, Felicity yawned, feeling the call of sleep. She remembered seeing some blankets folded up in the storage closet. It might be more comfortable for her to sleep down there than to find a bedroom upstairs. She stopped at the base of the stairs, looking up and listening for that noise again. Holding tight to the blanket, she went into the sitting room to make herself a nest for the night. Once bundled up, it didn't take her long to drift off.


The sound of footsteps on the stairs woke her. She shot up, looking through the archway that led into the hall, the footsteps getting closer. Felicity felt as if she should be able to see anyone that made the noise as the creaking stopped right outside the sitting room. She pulled the blanket up to her nose, hiding her face from the unknown.


As Felicity held her breath, her eyes wide with fear, she saw a shadowy figure materialize in the doorway. It was tall and eerily still, its form seeming to shift and waver in the dim light. The temperature in the room plummeted, and Felicity's breath came out in visible puffs of mist. The figure took a step forward, and as it did, Felicity heard a raspy whisper that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once: "You're in my house now." The floorboards creaked, but the figure's feet never touched the ground. As it glided towards her, Felicity tried to scream, but no sound escaped her throat. The last thing she saw before darkness engulfed her was a pair of glowing, otherworldly eyes fixed upon her trembling form.


She shot up from the couch and looked around, was she dreaming?