It’s Nothing

Her eyes snapped open. All she could see was white. After a moment, she noticed the rotation of her ceiling fan. She sat up in bed, scanning her room. She paused, squinting at the clothes piled on her chair, before moving on. Nothing seemed out of place, but something had woken her. She swung her legs, sitting on the edge of the bed. She shuffled her feet, trying to find her slippers. She could not. She sighed, bracing herself for the cold of the hardwood flooring. She stood, noticing that the floor was oddly warm, as if she had been standing in the spot for a while. She reached for the lamp on her bedside table, and turned it on. As her eyes adjusted, she spotted her slippers. They were neatly placed next to her closet door. ‘That’s odd’, she thought, ‘I never put my slippers there,’. She walked over to the window, opening the curtains to reveal a bright sun. As she looked out into the street, she saw a large, black, bird sitting on a car. The bird suddenly snapped its head in her direction, making solid eye contact. She stiffened. There was no way the bird could know she was watching it. A loud bark pierced the silence. She jumped, turning her head to look back into her room. Another, softer bark was heard. ‘Lassie probably saw a squirrel,’ she turned back to her window. Her eyes fell back onto the car, only the bird was gone. She looked around, not seeing a single trace it could have left. Only she still felt she was being watched. “Darling! Are you awake?” Her mother called from downstairs, shaking her from the pseudo trance she was in. She opened the door, looking over her shoulder one last time. She closed the door, her curtains swaying beside a now opened window. The fan had stopped spinning.

As she made her way down the stairs, she caught her mother rushing for the door. “Good morning,” she reached the bottom of the stairs, noticing her mother’s slightly frazzled appearance. Her mother spun around, a smile gracing her face. “Good morning sweetheart,” she cupped her daughter’s face and planted a quick kiss on her forehead. “I’m late for work, so you’ll have to make yourself breakfast. William has Lassie and your father is already at the office. He’ll be home late again., something about pests. I think he said there are birds in the ceilings.” She perked up at those words, her mother not noticing. “Well alright then, I’ll be back with dinner,” her mother gave her a right squeeze, before dashing towards the garage.

She stood there all alone. The house was understandably silent, but this time, it almost felt suffocating. She walked into the kitchen, opening the pantry. Reaching for the cereal, she stilled, the hairs on the back of her neck raising. There was something behind, she knew it, and now it was going to get her. She jerked around and kicked the pantry door open, slamming herself into the shelves. She stood there, looking around the kitchen wildly, bracing for anything to jump out at her. But there was nothing. Nothing at all. She let out a breath, and slowly stepped out of the pantry. She did her very best to memorize what it all looked like, incase this where to happen again. While keeping her eyes on the house, she reached back blindly for the cereal. After seeing the distance to the fridge, she decided she could do without milk.

That bird was really starting to mess with her. She chided herself for being so paranoid. ‘There is nothing there. You are home alone and it’s nothing.’ And yet, she couldn’t chase the feeling that she was being watched. She jumped at every sound and froze every time she saw a shadow. She sat on couch with her lunch in hand. As she turned on the TV, there was a knock at the door. She jumped, then sighed. She set her lunch down on the couch and scolded herself for being so skittish.“Hello?”, She opened the door and was met with a large gust of wind. After it had subsided, she opened her eyes. There was no one there. As she stepped onto the porch, she could feel a pair of eyes on her, yet there was no on there. She went back inside. ‘Someone probably realized they had the wrong house before I could answer,’ she reasoned. She was about to sit down when she noticed her lunch was missing. She looked around bewildered, only to spot it on the kitchen island. She carefully made her way over to it. ‘I’m pretty sure I left this on the couch,’ she gave her lunch a thorough inspiration. She looked at the outside of the sandwich, and in between each layer. After deeming it as edible, she took a bite. Yes, she had to admit she was quite the sandwich maker. She smiled to herself, taking a second bite. This time it was not a sandwich she bit into. She spat out the food and opened her eyes to see she was no longer holding her sandwich, but a long black feather. The windows burst open and hundreds of black birds flew into the house. She screamed as her vision turned black.

Her eyes snapped open. Something had woken her.