The Carvings

The Shadows

      The next morning, I woke up before Dan and Joan. I looked around the room and noticed it was a little dark out so I layed back down and tried to sleep. My eyes drooped slowly. I was ready to just drift off to sleep until I felt the blankets lift and move a bit. I looked over and saw Dan sitting up in bed. He stared off into nothing. Stared straight ahead at our wall blankly.

"Dan? Dan what are you doing?" I asked in a whisper voice. He turned and looked at me, but I couldn't tell if he was really looking at me.

"Don't stay." He whispered. "It's not safe here." He whispered again. Then I heard that scream. The woman's scream. It came from the balcony. It rang through the house. I looked back at Dan.

"It's starting." He said, then fell back on the bed. His eyes closed slowly. I got up quickly.

"Did you hear that?" Joan whispered in a panicked voice. I only nodded. I motioned for her to follow me. "What about him?" She asked pointing to Dan. I quickly shook my head no which got me a confused look from Joan. We walked slowly out into the hall. We heard the scream again, it was so close it sent chills down my spine. Joan, moved closer to me. She held my shoulders and  I felt her hand shaking with fear. The scream had come from the balcony. We opened the glass doors that led out to the balcony. The night sky as beautiful as ever, but not as comforting. We looked around. Nothing, no one. No one on the ground, no signs that showed anyone was up here. I turned to go back in and saw a big carving on the outside wall. It was a letter M in a circle.

"Joan look." I said staring at the M. She came over and stared at it.

"M? M for what? Murder? Maple?" She asked.

"Yeah or M for Martha." I said quickly. Joan didn't say anything after that. She only stared at the M. A loud howl in the distance made us turn quickly. Birds flew away from the trees quickly indicating something was wrong. We turned back and the M was gone. Did I imagine that? No I couldn't have because Joan saw it too. So then... what? We looked at each other confused. We walked back to the room but stopped in the hallway when we saw a man standing there. I couldn't see his face because it was so dark. He was tall and buff. It grew deathly quiet. All I could hear was mine and Joan's heartbeat.

"Martha?" The man called. "Martha dear, come back to me." He said in a desperate voice. He walked towards us, my breath caught in my throat. I grabbed Joan's hand and pulled her backwards. We walked backwards but the man walked much faster. He got closer, closer, until he ghosted through us. Joan squeezed my hand tighter. We turned and saw the man walk to the balcony. "Martha!" He screamed. When he realized Martha wasn't coming, his face grew darker and his eyes became black. He looked evil. He looked at Joan, then me. Finally, he charged at us. We screamed and ran to my room. He seemed like he was close as ever. His low growl growing louder and louder. He grabbed my foot and pulled me. I fell on the ground and the room grew darker.

I jolted out of bed, sweat pouring down my face. I gasped for breath. I looked over and saw Dan sleeping soundly, and Joan next to him sleeping as well. The sun came poured through my window. Somehow the sunlight on my floor made an M in a circle. I moved my blinds and the M turned into lines. Good. I thought to myself. I climbed out of bed and Joan got up slowly.

"I just had a weird nightmare." She said.

"Not as weird as mine." I said as I grabbed my brush.

"Probably worse. See, I woke up in the middle of the night for some reason and Dan was like possessed or something. Then we heard a woman scream so we went to check it out. We found nothing but an M with-"

"With a circle around it?" I asked cutting her off.

"Yes! How did you know that?" She asked as her eyes grew wide.

"I had the same dream. Did some crazy guy looking for Martha chase us down the hall?" I asked.

"Yes! Holy cow!" Joan screamed.

Dan threw a pillow at us. "Shut up." He said then turned on his side.

Joan and I looked at each other and I knew, we had to find out more about this house.