Ding Dong. The sound is faint and distant, perhaps reaching her from another world. Maybe even another universe. Ding Dong. This time it was louder, closer. Ding dong. Right next to her.
Kendall sat upright in bed, awoken from her slumber. Torn out of her dreams. Disrupted by the recessive sound of the doorbell ding donging from the front door. She looked to her bedroom door that stood slightly ajar. Nothing could be seen beyond, only darkness.
Ding dong. Kendall grunted and swung her legs over the edge of her bed. She did this automatically, not even registering her own consciousness. Because sometimes the body performs in funny ways. Ways that you would not if it was really you in control.
For example, if Kendall really was in control of herself, she would have sat up, checked the time, seen that it was nearly three in the morning, and go back to bed. But instead, she was up and in per suit of whoever so urgently needed to press her doorbell.
Kendall pushed open her bedroom door absentmindedly, not really knowing what she was doing. She took a left turn and started down the hall. All was dark, far too dark to see where she was going, but she found her way seamlessly.
Arriving in her foyer, where the only light in the house was still on, she turned to the front door. As if another example is needed, Kendall perhaps would have checked through the blinds to see what lay beyond her door rather than immediately opening it. But of course she didn't; she wasn't in her right mind.
Rather than being cautious, she reached a hand out and turned the door handle. The heavy front door swung open, exposing herself to whatever might pursue her in the midnight hour.
But rather than finding herself face to face with another person (or perhaps something inhuman, something with no face at all) all she saw was an empty front porch and an empty street that faded into darkness beyond that. She took this in without really understanding and shut the door, not bothering to lock it behind her as she began back to bed.
She walked back through the darkness of night, a journey that few of us will dare to take. That we take in fear of monsters grabbing our ankles, ghouls leaping out at us, faces appearing inches in front of ours, or even wild dark beasts howling and charging at us from behind. No, not many of us take this dark path. But perhaps that's what makes it so special. Because for those of us who do, we can say we have survived these things. We survived the ghosts. The beasts. The ghouls. We survived the monsters. But then again, perhaps nothing was really there at all?
No perhaps not. Just as the source of the dinging was not found, neither were the monsters that lurk in the darkness beyond sight. But that doesn't mean that they aren't there.
Kendall reached the end of the hall where she began to slide into her bedroom when the doorbell began ringing again. Ding dong. Kendall blinked but showed no sign of interest. However despite the lack of curiosity, she still turned and began walking back down the hall.
It was a warm night. A light breeze blew her shorts back gently along with her faded concert Tshirt. But she was not capable of noticing these things. No, not yet. She had not resurfaced into consciousness quite yet. But then again, some people never do.
She reached the door and immediately the singing stopped. She opened the door once again, letting in a fresh breeze. And a new presence.
The thing sitting before her what caused her to resurface. Rather than gradually climbing back to conciseness, the creature before her instead hooked into her and yanked her out, exposing her to the madness that was now a reality.
All at once the glossy look in Kendall's eyes vanished. She screamed and stumbled backward and fell, landing with a thud onto the carpet. The door stood wide open yet the monster that stood on her front porch did not advance. Evil presences hardly do when offered the opportunity.
No, rather than leaping onto her and proceeding to rip out her throat, the creature just sat there. And it watched her. It watched as she fell. As she as grabbed at her head. As she squeezed her eyes shut in, screaming in pain. Yes it watched the whole time.
It laughed coldly in the dark night air as Kendall squeezed her head in pain, not understanding the situation or even how she got here. But what she did know was pain. Yes, the feeling of inflation as well as the contamination of her own mind became more unbearable by the second. She felt as if any second her head might burst.
She was not aware of her own screaming, she could not truly hear any outside noises. Only the ones on the inside.
Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong. The sound of her doorbell repeatedly rolled through her head, echoing and bouncing around all the while. And just barely evident, just barely out of reach, was the cold soulless sound dark laughter.
And as the dinging was slowly replaced by growing laughter from evil unknown forces, and as the pressure from within her skull grew, Kendall tossed and turned, thrashing at the sound of the dark madness. At the sound of evil laughter. It was all she could hear.
That is until the pressure became too much. Then she heard no more.