L5B Perazo story: A Dim Spark

STORIES

A Dim Spark 

A tale of horror and imagination by Mathias Perazo

 Something! Something was there! I’m telling you that out my window it looked at me, and when I turned it quickly and swiftly ran away. But not quickly or swiftly enough for me not to see the shadowy figure flee. Not one night passed without it coming. As much as I feared it, I could not hold in my desire to see it. I wanted to know what it was.  No creature could, in their right mind, show such dedication over some person’s quiet time reading and smoking by the fireplace. What could possibly drive it to this precise routine?

And a precise routine it was, for every night at eleven I would feel its piercing gaze on my neck only for it to flee once again were I to look. From that night onwards, I would stop my reading at five to eleven, to stare at the window, at the dark of night, and sparing some blinking so not to lose its appearance. And it appeared. That night I didn’t light a fire and didn’t light the living room.

It was small, a small black creature that went into and out of my sight instantly when it realized I managed to catch a glimpse of it. As if it feared me! I laughed to myself for thinking so highly of a creature that feared me. As far as I knew it could have been a cat! I focused so much on the expectance of the creature’s emergence that I didn’t notice my thirst. I put down my cigarette and looked for a glass of water in the darkness of my kitchen -the lights there hadn’t worked for years, but my good eyesight usually was enough to see so I never thought of fixing them-, and it was there. It stared right at me from the kitchen’s window. But this time it was different; it didn’t flee. No, it didn’t just stay and look at me; it did so with a menacing aura, almost as if it was threatening me.

That was exactly when it dawned on me: it was hunting me, examining me for days and not letting me clearly see it, as a fox would a hare.

I began breathing as if there was not enough air for my lungs, I clutched my empty glass and threw it at the black lump. In my fear, I missed. The empty recipient resisted the bang against the wall, but was smashed into pieces after bouncing into the propane tank that I had yet to install in my oven. Its shards flew across the room. I checked on the tank, my eyes still locked onto the creature. It didn’t move. It kept so still during that ruckus that I became confident enough to check visually the propane tank -which I had bought for a bargain price on a second hand store (since it was a bit used)-. I feared it could have broken. And the torn handle lying next to it, instead of on top of it, led me to believe so. I noticed the gas’ smell started to fill the kitchen.

I heard a noise from the main entrance. As fast as I could, I checked on the now-empty space outside the kitchen window. My heart’s beating could be felt from the tips of my fingers and my breathing became even more irregular. It would make a move soon.

It became much noisier after that. I could hear it everywhere around me; inside the house. The scratching, the steps... The smell. Oh, the damned smell of propane gas was unbearable. I stayed in the kitchen. Sat down in the corner. My hands shaking, I reached my pockets and slowly took out its sole, metallic content. I did so clumsily, enough for the thing to fall off my hand, its shriek when colliding with the ground marking a finale to the creature’s teasing. Silence followed. The dim light coming from the living room made it very hard to make out my surroundings, but it was enough to let me see its shadowy figure peeking once again, this time from outside the kitchen door.

My trembling stopped; I now smiled while holding the lighter. I opened it. I could barely breathe, but I still managed to gather enough strength to speak.

“In what darkness are you going to hide now, Motherf-”

My words rudely interrupted by the anxious thumb that rolled the spark wheel.

For a split second, I’d swear I could see it in the newly made light. But then it became hot. It was hot, and then dark.