Short Horror Stories (Original Works, Mostly)

The Sneak 2

I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, I’ve always been naturally sneaky. Without putting any effort into the endeavor, I was always scaring people, or at the very least making them jump. Sometimes even when I approached from the front, people wouldn’t notice me until I was right upon them. Then they would gasp and flinch, and ask me why I snuck up on them. I guess I’m just naturally quiet and unobtrusive.

I remember walking into anatomy class one day 20 minutes late, and the teacher never even noticed. Neither did most of the students. And I didn’t even try. I was late. Oh well. Wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last. I just walked in the door, set my books down and sat in my seat.

It was around then that I began to actually practice this peculiar ability.

I returned home after work one night, exasperated. Nevertheless, I settled down and prepared to actually get some things done. Seeing as how there was a full load in the laundry basket, I grabbed it and headed for the basement where the washer and dryer were located.

When I got to the bottom step, I froze. Since I had made absolutely no noise on the way down, it was easy for me to recognize odd sounds coming from the basement, just around the corner, to the right. Nothing loud and over powering, just a low, gruff sort of grunting. There were other noises as well, accompanying the grunting; a soft kind of scraping maybe.

The weird sort of grunting became a vocalization of a different sort, and louder. I was too preoccupied with my fear to realize something.

This was no animal.

There was a person in my basement. All fear aside, I simply had to see what was happening in my basement on the other side of the wall. And so, I exhaled as quietly as I could, drew in another deep breath, and noiselessly, slowly began to lean forward.

Little by little, more and more of the basement was slowly revealed to my personal panorama. I saw something.

As quickly and silently as a ninja’s ghost, I re-straightened my spine, standing upright and stock still.

I had seen it. I had seen what was speaking in that unnerving voice, in my basement. But what exactly had I seen? It was humanoid, bipedal, and crouched down near the ground. I didn’t get too good of a look at it since I shot straight back out of sight before IT saw ME.

Seems my odd skill did come in handy, because if it heard me, or detected my presence in any way, it did not display it. Although I couldn’t see it, the monstrous chanting never slowed, stopped, or even broke cadence, leading me to believe it hadn’t noticed my sweating, shaking presence.

Listening closer to what it was saying, it was clear these were definitely words, and not just some strange guttural groans, or random atypical vocalizations. This thing was speaking with purpose; with a defined goal on its mind that it was seeking to accomplish. But of course that inspired the questions: Who was it speaking to, (if anyone), and what did it want?

Almost instinctively, I began to slowly lean forward again. I was pretty positive this thing wasn’t ordering a pizza or lilting one of its favorite tunes. If I wanted any hope of determining what this thing wanted. It had had its back to me when I peaked the first time so that I couldn’t see the face, or any details about its front. I hadn’t leaned out far enough the first time to even see its head anyway. Slowly, inch by inch, and silent as the grave, I again leaned out past the wall.

Bad mistake.

Suggested to me by _Spritzz_!!

Thanks for the suggestion, _Spritzz_!!