The Altered Strand pt. 1

The Altered Strand

by Joshua Pottorff

Outside of the bedroom there was another shatter, followed by a girl’s scream! The young man raced to the antique wardrobe at the foot of his bed, which was used instead of a closet. Inside the large wooden container, nestled under a pile of un-hung shirts, was a medium sized knife that was additionally wrapped in suede. Carefully he reached for the exposed handle. The blade’s weight brought comfort to the teen’s frayed nerves.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous gallop on the stairs down the hall, followed immediately by a pound at his door.

"Kelli! Unlock your door, now!"

It was Kelli’s sister, Amara. Her room was across the hall from his, and, as instructed by their father, Roland Frestburn, they were to stay in their rooms, behind locked doors until he returned.

"Kelli, hurry, someone’s coming down the hall! What is that?" Amara’s voice trailed off as Kelli dashed to the door.

Kelli undid the three locks that bound the door shut. Slowly he turned the knob and yanked it open. Amara smashed through the doorway as fast as she could. The force knocked Kelli to the floor, leaving the entrance wide open. Amara turned around and screamed.

"Kelli, shut the door. Now! It’s going to get in." His sister was starting to have a panic attack.

He got to his feet and started to shut the door, not slowly, but not quick enough for Amara. Right as the door was about to seal something on the other side slammed against it. Kelli was thrown off balance, but fortunately wasn’t knocked aside like before. A pungent stench engulfed the room like a gust of wind. Kelli recovered and slammed into the door with his shoulder, driving it into place. Amara, with almost unnatural speed, charged forward and engaged the locks.

Immediately, on the other side of the wooden door, a low gurgling sound could be heard. Both brother and sister slowly backed away, not sure of what to expect.

Kelli, without looking at her, said," Amara, what is that? It moved too fast to be normal."

"I don’t know, the lights were off, and the hall was dark. But, it looked like Mr. Baker." She answered, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

"The mail man?" Kelli squeaked, feeling rather foolish.

"Hey, I’m not sure. It was dark, okay?"

"Don’t get defensive. I just don’t see how it could..."

Kelli’s sentence was cut short as they heard the thing outside the door trot down the hall towards the stairs. Then, it stopped, and came back. This time, instead of stopping at the door, it kept going. It was headed for the rear stairs that lead to their father’s third floor suite. The footsteps faded into the house. Kelli looked at Amara and gave a big sigh before sitting down on the floor next to the wardrobe.

"What we’re you doing anyway?" Kelli questioned, trying to gather his thoughts.

"What are you talking about? I was trying to get in here, with you. I was just a little scared, you know!" Amara blurted, trying not to cry.

"It’s okay. We’re safe for now." Kelli paused, "And, I know that you were downstairs. I heard you scream from the kitchen."

Amara rolled her eyes, all trace of panic and fear gone, replaced by her usual demeanor.

"I was hungry, okay! I wanted something to eat, and so I went downstairs."

Kelli, trying not to push his sister, decided to let it go.

"Well, what happened then? What was that crashing sound?"

Amara walked over to the wardrobe and pulled the doors open. She looked through the clothes for a minute before answering.

"Like I said, I was hungry. I decided to go down to the kitchen and get something to eat. But, when I walked in, I saw someone outside of the den window. It scared me, so I grabbed a knife." She stopped. Carefully her hand went to a pair of shoes hidden at the back of the wardrobe.

"And? What then?" Kelli prodded.

"I realized that it was Mr. Baker. So, I went to see if he was hurt, and then he punched out the window. It didn’t even slow him, either. I don’t think he felt it. Anyway, that’s when I got scared. I asked him if he needed help or something, and he hissed at me. Hissed. I threw the knife at him and screamed. Apparently, I missed and it hit the second window pane. That’s when I ran up here, and decided that it would be safer with you."

She started combing through the clothes more carefully, stopping every so often to stare.

Kelli knew what she was doing. Anytime she was scared, she would rearrange things. It was known as OCD. Their mother had wanted to take her to a specialist, but their father had decided that a specialist would have been too expensive, and unnecessary. "My little girl is just fine," he would say. That was before the accident.

Amara tapped him on the shoulder. "Whatcha thinking about?" She asked.

Kelli shook his head and stood up, replying, "Nothing. I’m just wondering about Mr. Baker. I mean, what happened to him?"

"The same thing that happened to the people on the news, you know, the ones that were in the path of the first..." Her voice trailed to nothing.

Suddenly Kelli shivered. He turned and saw that he’d forgotten to close the window. Gingerly, he climbed onto his bed and reached for the window. At first he thought he was seeing things, and then realized that he wasn’t. Outside on their front lawn was a massive animal. Kelli wasn’t sure what it was; its body was covered in thick blood-matted fur.

"Amara, what is that?" Kelli whispered, his voice cracking in fear.

Amara looked up from the clothes and froze. She knew, by instinct really, that when her older brother was scared, then she should be terrified. Mustering all of her courage, she tip-toed to the bed and crawled up to the window. She nearly toppled backwards when she saw it. Kelli squeezed her hand to comfort her, but she was at wit’s end.

"What is it? It’s huge!" Amara squealed, louder than she had intended.

Kelli immediately put his hand over her mouth, and carefully peered out. The beast was looking right at him. Slowly Kelli pulled away from the window. At that moment the bedroom door jolted, shaking the wall. Amara screamed and flew to the wardrobe. She quickly opened it and climbed inside, knocking down all of the neatly hung clothes. The door jolted again, this time followed by a moaning sound. Kelli looked out the window in time to see the monster head for the front door.

Immediately Kelli picked up the knife, which he had set on the floor, and pounded on the wardrobe.

"Amara, come on. We’ve got to get out of here. That thing outside is trying to get in."

"No duh, stupid!" Amara screamed, her voice muffled by the thick wood.

"No, Amara, I mean the animal outside of the house, is trying to get in!"

The bedroom door jolted a third time, jarring loose one of the three locks. Kelli turned in a panic. He scoured his room for anything that might help them to escape. He had another knife in a compartment under his bed, but it was locked and the key was lost somewhere in the wardrobe. There was a baseball bat in a corner of the room, next to a soccer ball, and a tennis racket. Beside them was a small dresser with various odds and ends. Immediately he ran to the bat, and snatched it up with his left hand.

There was a loud smashing sound that rose above the moaning in the hall: the monster was trying to get through the front door. The bedroom door jolted again, and the second locked snapped and fell free. Kelli tripped and fell into the dresser, knocking a book to the floor. As it fell, a small photograph landed beside him. Suddenly, Kelli knew what to do.

"Amara, come on! We’re going upstairs!" Kelli yelled, trying not to lose his patience.

"No, we’re not! I’m staying right here!"

Kelli grabbed the photo, stuck it in his pocket and stomped to the wardrobe. Without hesitation he ripped the door open, causing Amara to scream at the top of her lungs.

"Look!" He said, while digging for the photo and then handing it to her.

A small smile crept to her lips, exposing her white teeth. She looked at him, and then back at the picture. And then, slowly she said, "You know, we just might survive until Daddy gets back!"

The door jolted one last time and, as the final lock broke free, the door burst open, revealing Mr. Baker, the mail man. His flesh had taken on a grayish green color, and he reeked of decay. His eyes were almost all white, covered by a milky substance. Long strands of acrid drool fell from his lips, a large reservoir pooling behind his teeth. In a flash he was waddling towards Kelli.

Kelli handed Amara the knife and grasped the bat with both hands. At the last second, as Mr. Baker reached for Kelli’s throat, the bat whistled through the air and smashed into the monster’s jaw, a dull thud resounding. The corpse man fell to the floor, his jaw bone shattered into a hundred gooey fragments. Amara jumped up and ran to the door.

"Hurry. I think that big thing is almost in the house." Amara ran off into the hall, her voice fading behind her.

Kelli was stunned at what was happening. The poor old mailman that had lived across the street for countless years was now a heap of goo and puss in the middle of his bedroom floor. His father was somewhere trying to help anyway that he could, and now an animal the size of a car was trying to break into their house. Amara’s rapid footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Kelli, hurry. It’s almost in. I can’t believe it hasn’t busted the whole house down yet."

The older brother turned and ran after his sister, trying not to think about what would happen if they weren’t quick enough. All they had to do was reach their father’s vault and then....Suddenly the floor under him shook. Immediately he stumbled into Amara, knocking them both onto the back stairwell. Kelli jumped to his feet and tried to collect his thoughts. Amara recoiled at something and scrambled up the stairs, trying to stifle a scream.

Suddenly, he felt it. A surge in the floor. A rhythmic thump that grew in intensity. The monster had entered the house.