Silhouette: A Short Excerpt

I stood in front of the door; it didn’t resemble the other doors in the home. It had a darker shade of wood than the others. The doorknob looked like one of those crazy Japanese dragons. It looked foreign, but familiar like I have seen it were before. For an unknown reason I opened it. The door screamed at me with a howl that was unnatural to man. The room itself was cold and dark even with the blinding light surrounding it. The bed was immaculately kept to the standards of a drill sergeant. However, the drawers were pulled out of the oak wood drawer. The clothes were thrown asunder.

Okay, this was a bad idea, I thought to myself as I picked up a small piece of fabric off the dusty floor.

“Kid, what the hell is taking you so long up there?” My brother, Craig, yelled up to me from downstairs. For the life of me I don’t understand why he persist on calling me “kid.”

“Give me a sec. It looks like this place was ransacked,” I call down to him putting clothes back in the drawers.

I hear footsteps rushing upstairs. “The hell you mean ‘ransacked?’” My brother stands at the doorway looking down at the mess. “You know you’re not supposed to be up here in the first place,” he says while helping me put away the clothes.

“Well good thing I did. Someone was looking for something.”

“Yeah, someone that walks by the jewelry boxes displayed in the hall, the brand-new television, and let’s not forget about the infinite amount of celebrity autographed memorabilia that’s everywhere downstairs,” he puts the last piece of clothing in the drawer and slammed it shut. “Because that’s what thieves do!”

He glared at me with such anger. I swear I could see fire in the bronze eyes of his.

“You’re right.” I started to walk towards the door. There was a chill in the air that stopped me in my tracks. I could tell my brother felt it too.

“Did you leave a window open?” He asked, his breath showed with every word.

“It’s 115 degrees out in the middle of summer. How will opening a window cause it to get cooler?” I growled.

I looked down across the hall to see a silhouette of a human-like figure. It just stood there staring at my brother and me.

I poked Craig on his side to get his attention, “Dude, did you leave the door open?” I asked.

“In this neighborhood? Are you kidding? Hell naw, kid.” I turned to look at me and saw the shock on my face. “Kid, what’s wrong?” He looks down the hall.

The silhouette, Craig and I had the most terrifying stare down of all time. No noise, just pure silence. Not even the wind or thunder could crack it.

Then the silhouette mumbled something to faint for my heart. It slowly cocked its head to get a better look at us. “Who are you?” The dark creep cocked his head even more.

My brother and I didn’t know how to answer him. I could hear the words bouncing around in my ears, but my brain wasn’t catching the meaning of the question.

It took a step forward. “Who are you?” His voice was soothing in a way that made me feel welcomed. “Answer me!” His voice got louder. The floors started to rumble.

“My name is Craig Freeman,” my brother’s voice cracked as he answered the monster.

The monster’s head went back to normal as he pointed his cold finger at me. “And who is this man?”

“This is my brother, D. J.” His voice cleared a little. “We answered that help wanted ad.” He took a step closer to him and moved in front of me.

“That room should never be open without my permission ever again, understood?”

“Yes,” Craig and I replied at the same time.

“Sir,” He corrected us. He took a step forward under the hall light. “You will reply with ‘sir’ whenever you converse with me gentlemen.” As he walked into the light, the silhouette was exactly what it was a silhouette. No facial features, no skin, no clothes, or anything to identify him. He was nothing but a walking and talking shadow.

“What the hell?” Craig shuttered.

The silhouette strolled past us with a slight limp to the room, “You’ll begin your duties tomorrow. Until then sleep, you’ll need the rest.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, uh sir,” I nervously said. “What will we be doing actually?”

He stood in his room; I think he turned his head towards me. “You both will be cleaning, Mister Douglas.” The door closed suddenly in my face.

My brother had a puzzling look on his face. He turned to me, “The hell was that? And how did he know your name?”

The chill in the hall lessened as I give Craig the only answer that could come to mind, “Oh, this gonna be fun."