Flash Fiction | WE PAW bloggers | Mystery
It Happened, It Really Did
I was the postman!
The snow lay flat, a trackless expanse, but for the indentations leading to or from the log cabin, its timber roof hidden under the wet wintry weight.
In the distance, a forest of pines and beyond, a night sky full of stars and a horned moon.
Silence is everywhere. Except…
I heard the howl. Fuck, what the hell was that? Thinking as I tried running, but stumbling, plunging my way through the fresh powder toward the cabin, with my lungs beating against my ribs, taking in the cold air, releasing the vapor, in a breathless minute, I recalled the times she’d told me, the times I answered it was no more than the wind. No, she would insist. It comes closer each time.
What I heard was no wind; it was inhuman, not a wolf. And, I remembered the story she told me. But, she was not a believer in the supernatural. Still, she could not put aside the Indian legends she had heard… a creature, half human, half beast, roamed the hills and vales.
I reached the cabin, the rocker on the porch, rocking. The door was open. A chill breeze reached for me. Inside, the place was tidy; through the window, the snow-covered pines were glowing in the moonlight.
Then, with a rousing sensation of prickly horror, I knew it was here…
I crossed the floor to the gun cabinet, taking out the shotgun. I heard a thump in the bedroom. Cautiously, holding the shotgun, I crept toward the bedroom door. A small lamp glowed dimly on the nightstand.
It was here! I saw its reflection in the vanity mirror. A scream buried in its throat. It was too horrible! It was beyond belief. I was gazing into the very heart of evil.
I raised the barrel of the shotgun and squeezed the triggers simultaneously.
Postscript: The next day, the postman found the cabin door open, tracks disappearing into the forest beyond. Inside, he found a shotgun lying on the bedroom floor, still loaded.
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