It didn't take long for the restlessness to settle in. A few hours after her parents had left, the mild party that Nori-as a self-respecting teenager-felt obligated to throw for herself had died down, leaving her with nothing but a half-eaten bowl of chips and a messy structure of pillows and blankets in the living room.
Lazing in the entryway of her pillow and blanket fort, idly crunching on some chips, Nori felt uneasy and increasingly lonesome. It had only been four hours since her parents left and already she didn't know what to do with herself. The oddity of her situation had left her clueless as to how she should spend her time, which was odd in itself. Most teenagers would leap at the opportunity of being solely in charge of a large house for a week while their parents were gone. But Nori clearly was either not as opportunistic as most or merely didn't have the means to take advantage of her situation. Most likely, the latter given the house's secluded surroundings.
She didn't even have a single responsibility to attend to. Her parents had asked nothing of her before they left other than cleaning up any messes she might make, which-other than the fort-there were none.
She realized that this may have been the first time in her life that the young woman had actually missed having school work to complete.
Nori had graduated high-school before they had moved here into the old family home in the mountains the year previous. But because of family complications and financial difficulties, she had postponed going to college until their situation had stabilized.
Clambering slowly out of her fort, the girl slouched to the window and peered outside at the dreary grey-lit forest surrounding her. As a child, Nori had often visited this place with her family and had explored the woods around her. But it had never looked so bleak as it did now, the branches of the trees turned black by the soaking rain and the limbs and leaves were drooping heavily.
Gazing out upon the dismal expanse of forest beyond the window, Nori was reminded of her past anxieties concerning her surroundings. When she had been younger and shortly after they had moved here, she had been plagued by paranoia and the feeling of being watched. Being in the company of her perfectly content parents, however, she had been forced to push those worries aside and comfort herself in the fact that her parents didn't seem to sense anything wrong. She attributed her anxiety to the move and the stress the family had recently undergone. The fears had gone away over the course of a few months.
Now that she was alone in an empty house, however, they all came rushing back.
Nevertheless, she was determined not to allow herself to be spooked. With a sigh of resignation, she set herself to the task of cleaning up her fort and putting away her snack, pondering what she would do next as she did so.
Perhaps this week would be an excellent opportunity to catch up on some reading.
So, that was what she did... For the next two days. Barring meals, sleeping, and toilet breaks, she spent her days and evenings curled up on the basement couch, pouring through novel after novel. So far, she had completed two and was deep into third.
Much to her surprise, she found that she was actually enjoying herself. Occasionally, she would fix a cup of camomile or echinacea tea for herself and relish in leisurely sipping it while fingering through her book. After a while, she found herself thinking that this vacation was exactly what she had been needing. All of her fears were gone.
One night, however, her surroundings took a sinister and eerie turn. As she lounged on the basement couch enjoying her novel, she contently blocked out the rest of the world with the music filling her ears as she listened to her iPod. The silence had quickly become too dense for her to remain at peace, so she had bought several new albums of music and was now enjoying them thoroughly. Because of this, however, she did not hear the distant rumbling thunder growing steadily nearer, nor did she hear the rain tapping against the sliding glass door across the room from her. The brittle-barked pines outside leaned with the wind, creaking and moaning as if their old limbs pained them, but that too went unheard.
The blackout got her attention, however. With a snap, every light in the house fell dark and, startled, Nori pulled out her earbuds and listened. Her heart beat heavily inside her chest. Upon hearing the sound of the wild storm outside, the girl shrank. Storms were not usually worrisome to her, but now that she was alone, in the dark, at the mercy of the elements, she suddenly felt quite small.
There was a flash of white light and a resounding crash of rolling thunder shook the house. She screamed and jumped to her feet, the novel falling forgotten to the floor. She reacted not to mother nature's sudden display of power, however, but at what the brief light illuminated just beyond the glass of the sliding door. On the other side of the thin sheet of glass, standing on the stone patio had been an impossibly tall figure. Though it could have been a trick of the lightning, it had appeared to be looming so tall that it had to bend over slightly to peer in at her. She hadn't been able to make out any features in the face, but she had caught a glimpse of a gaunt, pale, spidery hand resting against the glass.
A frigid tingle of horror ran up her spine as she came to the realization that whatever-or whomever- it was had been standing there for God knows how long, watching her read. Her eyes prickled with unbidden tears as terror froze her to her spot, staring at the now pitch black glass.
Another explosion of light and sound came a moment later. This time, she saw nothing as the stormy world outside was illuminated. There was no figure. They were gone. Nevertheless, Nori, dashed upstairs and locked herself in her parents room, closing the blinds to the window as she did so. Then, though she was a nearly full-grown woman, she held her machete close and crawled under the queen-sized bed. Needless to say, she kept vigilant that night and didn't sleep a wink. Just her in the dark, thunder crashing down around her, her knife, and her pounding heart.