The Watcher in the Dark

CHARACTERS :

1. The protagonist: The narrator of the story, who is afraid of the dark and experiences a traumatic encounter with a mysterious figure.
2. The mysterious figure: A tall, thin man with a gaunt face and long bony fingers, who is first seen by the protagonist during a stormy night. He is wearing a tattered black coat and his hair is wild and unkempt. He claims to have been watching the protagonist for a long time and warns them that they cannot escape him.
3. The storm: A powerful storm that serves as a backdrop to the protagonist's encounter with the mysterious figure. The sound of the rain and wind add to the tension and suspense of the story.

It was a aphotic and bitter night. The rain was advancing bottomward in sheets, anguish adjoin the windows and drowning out all added sounds. I was all abandoned in my old, age-old house, aggravating to avoid the activity that I was actuality watched.

I had consistently been abashed of the dark. As a child, I acclimated to brainstorm all sorts of monsters ambuscade in the shadows, cat-and-mouse to grab me and annoyance me abroad to their lair. As I got older, I anticipation I had outgrown these fears, but now I was starting to anticipate that maybe I was wrong.

I approved to focus on the book I was reading, but the words kept abashing together, my apperception too absent with the sounds of the storm. Suddenly, I heard a loud crepitate from upstairs. I froze, my affection anguish in my chest.

I hesitated for a moment, aggravating to argue myself that it was aloof the wind or the old abode settling. But afresh I heard it again, this time followed by footsteps. They were apathetic and deliberate, advancing afterpiece and closer.

I accolade out of my armchair and backed away, my duke afraid as I accomplished for the lamp on the table. I angry it on, calamity the allowance with light. And that's aback I saw him.

He was continuing in the doorway, his eyes aglow in the dark. He was alpine and thin, with a angular face and long, awkward fingers. He was cutting a decrepit atramentous coat, and his beard was agrarian and unkempt.

I screamed and stumbled backwards, benumbed over my own anxiety and falling to the floor. The amount avant-garde on me, a bad-natured smile overextension beyond his face. I was bedridden with fear, clumsy to move as he approached.

And afresh he spoke, his articulation a abrasion whisper. "I've been watching you," he said. "For a actual continued time. You can't escape me, no amount how adamantine you try."

I approved to scream, but no complete came out. I was trapped, absolutely at his mercy. And then, aloof as aback as he had appeared, he was gone. The allowance was empty, the storm still angry outside.

I was abandoned again, but I was far from relieved. I knew that he was still out there, watching me, cat-and-mouse for his abutting adventitious to strike. And I additionally knew that I could never go aback to the way things were before.

From that day on, I was never absolutely alone. I could feel his attendance everywhere, consistently ambuscade in the shadows, consistently cat-and-mouse for me. I was apparitional by his voice, his smile, and the ability that he was consistently watching me.

Years went by, and I anticipation I had assuredly managed to escape him. I had confused to a new city, started a new life. But then, one day, I accustomed a letter in the mail. It was from him, I aloof knew it.

I opened the envelope with afraid hands, my affection anguish in my chest. And there it was, a distinct allotment of cardboard with aloof two words accounting in a familiar, scrawling script: "I'm back."

I angry to run, but he was already there, continuing abaft me with a adverse smile on his face. And afresh I woke up, decrepit in diaphoresis and abashed with fear.

But alike as I lay there in my bed, I knew that it was alone a amount of time afore he begin me again. He was consistently watching, consistently waiting, and there was boilerplate I could go to escape him.