The Night-Stalker

The only thing outside were the scarecrows scattered in the fields, towering over the crops of corn and wheat, like lookouts always at their posts. The closest ones to the house seemed to be watching it with their button eyes, silently watching over the house.

Scratch, scratch; that was what Annie woke up to. She blinked and she looked around her room, there was nothing to make any noise, but she could still hear something scratching and she heard the cows in the barn mooing. Annie sat up to get a better look around her room; it was dark, a little after midnight her clock said. She could see nothing in the room with her, she just shook her head and lied back down, she still had a lot of time before she had to get up and she wanted to sleep some more.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Annie sat up, she was still awake, and she knew that she heard it this time. It had sounded like something was at her window. Annie slid out of bed, slipping on her flip flops as she did, she walked over to the window and looked outside but she could not see anything. The only thing outside were the scarecrows scattered in the fields, towering over the crops of corn and wheat, like lookouts always at their posts. The closest ones to the house seemed to be watching it with their button eyes, silently watching over the house.

Annie sighed in relief as she walked back to her bed; she turned on her radio and soft music floated into her ears. Annie got back into bed and let the music take her back to her dreams. She did not hear the scratching that continued, the scratching only stopped when the sun started to come up.

Annie woke up again to banging on her window, a glance at her clock told her that it was seven o'clock. Annie yawned, reached over and turned the radio off before she got up. She could still hear banging and it was coming from her window. She walked over to it, smiling when she saw a familiar head of green hair, her brother's latest color. Annie opened her window and looked down at her brother.

"Bobby, why you banging on my window?" Annie questioned, her smile dropping when she saw his worried face.

"What the hell happened?" Bobby replied as he pointed to the windowsill and she looked down at the wood.

On the outside of her window were long scratches, deep gouges in the wood, and not from any sort of animal that she could identify; they were too deep to be from any animal from the area. It looked like something had tried to get into her room, it had tried to open the window, but it had failed. Bobby put a hand on the windowsill and spread his fingers, the marks did match except that there were only four fingers, and it was not a human that made the marks either.

"What the hell?" Annie asked, surprised at the deep scratch marks.

The scratches were not there last night before she went to bed, she had closed the window and would have saw them. The marks certainly were not there when the family went inside because of the rain. The scratches had to have appeared during the night after they had all gone inside, the wood was dry so the marks happened after the rain stopped, which narrowed the time down to after Annie fell asleep the first time.

"Did you hear anything last night?" Bobby asked, knowing that the scratches were new and only a few hours old.

"Some scratching after midnight, I didn't see anything, so I went back to bed and turned on the radio." Annie replied.

"Dad's coming. Pete got freaked out when he saw them."

"I'll be there in a moment." Annie told Bobby before she walked away from the window but closed the thick green curtains.

Annie quickly got dressed and went outside, she wanted a better look at the scratches, there was something strange about them, and she had to know what made them. She was also worried about what Pete knew that worried him, her oldest brother was like their father: scared of nothing. She got out and saw Bobby had been joined by their two older brothers and their father. Their father was looking at the deep scratches and shaking his head, he knew what made the scratches, and he was worried about whatever had made those scratches.

"Dad, what made those?" Annie asked and he looked at her.

Annie's father, George Tennis, was tanned from all the years in the sun; he was a strong man and his body showed the strength that he had from all the hard work, but now, he looked like he was scared. Annie and Bobby had never seen him like this before and it worried them; what could make a strong man, like their father, scared?

"Nothing, I'll take care of it. But I want you and Bobby to switch rooms for a couple days." He said, his voice gave no room to argue.

Annie and Bobby nodded and were sent on to do their morning chores. After their morning chores, they could have to move a couple things to their new rooms; just some things to make them comfortable until they could go back to their rooms. George watched his youngest children walk away before he turned to his two oldest children, his older sons, to give out very different orders.

"Pete, Sam, I want you to keep a rifle close to your bed. I don't want anything to happen to your sister." He told them and his sons nodded in silent understanding.

Pete and Sam were old enough that they knew what he was worried about; Bobby was only a year old the last time and their mother had just found out that Annie was going to be coming, but Pete and Sam could remember the last time that scratches had appeared on the windowsill. They could remember their aunt and what happened before she had disappeared.

The day passed without another word about the scratches, nothing more was sad, it was as if nothing had happened, until Annie was reminded that she was going to sleep in Bobby's room. Annie went to Bobby's room around eight thirty, much earlier then when she usually went to bed, the scratch marks had her shaken and confused; her father and older brothers were hiding something from her and from Bobby. Annie sat on the bed, staring at the open window as she tried to decide to close it or not, she got up and closed the window. She got back into the bed and rolled over, facing the wall, she did not want to see the window tonight. Annie tried to sleep but she kept waking up whenever she heard something moving inside, or outside, the house; she did finally fall into a sleep.

The farm was silent until something in the corn began to move, running fast, past the barn and towards the house. The animals in the barn started when something ran past the barn and the cows began to low, the chickens flapped around in the chicken coop, the two goats bleated, and the donkeys brayed. The thing ran to one window, the window with scratch marks, but it turned and ran to another window.

Scratch, scratch. Annie's eyes snapped open and she listened. Scratch, scratch, scratch. It was back. Annie sat up and looked at the window. All she could see was a something black staring at her from the window, it looked like a scarecrow, with big red eyes.

"Dad!" Annie screamed and she woke up the rest of her family.

The thing screeched and ran away from the window; dragging a large hand across the glass of the window, leaving large four-fingered scratches. George ran into the room with his shotgun aimed at the window. Annie's brothers were right behind him with the rifles, they saw the scratches on the window, and they knew that it was gone for now.

"Are you okay?" Pete asked.

Annie nodded as she watched her father walk to the window and he looked out; George turned his head trying see it, but it was nowhere in sight, the only thing that he could see was one of the scarecrows in the field and they were not moving.

"Dad, what the hell was that?" Bobby asked and George shook his head.

"Not here, let's get some coffee." He replied and he led his children to the kitchen and started the coffee.

It was only an hour before they had to get up so they might as well stay up. Their father sat down in his big old recliner with a cup of steaming coffee while his four children sat in their favorite seats. Annie and Bobby looked at the rest of their family and waited for answers, none came immediately, the family sat in silence until Annie broke the silence.

"Dad, what was that thing? What do you know?"

"What did it look like?" George asked as he stared into his coffee mug.

"A scarecrow with red eyes."

"It's called a night-stalker, for some reason, but it stalks and abducts people and it mostly targets women."

"It took Aunt Tonya." Sam said, adjusting his glasses.

"Aunt Tonya?" Annie and Bobby echoed; they had never heard of her or met her.

"Dad's little sister; she was taken when Bobby was two and you weren't even born yet." Pete explained to the two youngest siblings.

"Tonya was staying with us and she found scratches on her windowsill, we didn't think much of it until she saw it, like Annie just did. She was scared but we didn't know what to do." George told his two youngest children.

"One night, we heard Aunt Tonya scream and we all ran to her room. She was gone and her window was open." Sam said, his eyes hidden behind his hair and glasses.

"We all ran out to try to find her but we never did. We saw claw marks on the inside of the window and we figure that it managed to open the window and carried her off." Pete said, finishing the story.

"Why would you hide something like this?" Annie yelled and her brothers flinched at her raised voice, she rarely yelled.

"We didn't want you two to be scared." Pete told her.

"Then why didn't you tell me when you saw the scratches by my window, why didn't you tell me about this thing?"

"I thought we could handle it. I didn't think that it would find you in Bobby's room." George told his only daughter, the spitting image of his sister.

"Then what do we do now?" Bobby asked, trying to turn the conversation.

"When the sun comes up, we're going to nail Annie's window shut and board it up, it won't get through that. Sam and Bobby will work on Annie's window while we go the chores." George told his kids.

Annie opened her mouth to protest but he raised a hand and she closed her mouth, waiting for him to speak again.

"Think of it as an animal. We don't want your scent on the window, we might be able to confuse it, so you stay with me and Pete today." George told her and Annie nodded.

"Fine." Annie said, trying not to blow up again.

"We are also going to take down the scarecrows, it looks like one so we'll take them down. The sun is going to be up in a little while, go and get dressed, then we'll get to work." George ordered and they went to their respective rooms to change before they started for the day.

The day was filled with chores and the sounds of hammers and saws; Annie was ordered to stay inside the barn, she was not even allowed to handle the tools or the wood that Sam and Booby were using; she was only allowed to do the barn chores and take care of the animals. She was told that she could not help take down the scarecrows either. Annie was angry that all she was allowed to do was feed the animals and clean their pens; she wanted to help but she was not allowed. Her father and brothers did not want the night-stalker to find her with her scent and follow it back to her, they were trying to treat it like an animal. Annie had hunted animals before and she understood about using scent to their advantage, how to hide one's scent or to use a scent to lure in an animal, but that did not mean that she liked it. She felt like she was useless.

Annie was not allowed to do any of the night chores, she was ordered to stay inside when sun started to go down, but she was allowed to sleep in her own room. Annie sat on her bed trying to make sense of it all; she was being hunted by some creature, a night-stalker, and she could not do everything that she wanted to or that she usually did every day. She looked at her window and saw the boards that were nailed over the window, they blocked any light from coming through, the window was nailed to the frame and she was sure that nothing could get in; she would be safe. Annie hoped.

She went to bed, confident that the night-stalker would not find her, and that it could not get into the house to get her. She fell asleep quickly, feeling safe, confident that she was not going to disappear like her Aunt Tonya. Annie was the first one to go to sleep, her brothers followed soon after in their own rooms as they thought that their sister was safe, George was the last one to go to sleep; he stayed up longer, hoping that Annie would be safe and that the night-stalker did not find her tonight, it was more active this time and he could only hope that it did not find her. He did fall asleep, it was just before midnight when he fell asleep, but it would not be long before he was up again.

Annie woke up when she heard the scratching again, then the sound of wood breaking, and she sat up in bed, looking at the window and she could see moonlight coming through the boards. Crack! Annie looks at the window and sees one of the wooden boards being torn off the window.

"Dad!" Annie screamed as the light was blocked by the creature and she saw the red eyes.

Annie screamed as the night-stalker reached into her room and she got off the bed to run to the door. She felt claws dig into her skin, long fingers grip her ankle, and she fell against her carpet.

"Dad!" Annie screamed again when she heard the running footsteps but she was being pulled towards the window.

It was too late; Annie had already been dragged out of the window by the time George got to her door. He looked at the creature as it ran into the fields and he ran out with one of the shotguns. His sons saw him running through the house with the shotgun and they followed him outside; they all ran into the field, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature's back or Annie so they could rescue Annie, they did not want to lose her.

"Annie!" They all yelled as they tried to find her.

Their only answer was a single scream from Annie and a roar from the night-stalker, then the fields were silent. The only sounds that were heard was the sound of the corn brushing against the other stalks and the men as they ran.

They searched the fields until after dawn; they came back from the fields empty handed and heartbroken. The only thing in the fields were the corn and the posts for the scarecrows.