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“Your call cannot be completed as dialed. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please hang up and try your call again.” The impassive robotic voice repeated itself until Petie finally hung up the phone, slowly, trying to keep his hands from shaking.
Why didn’t I just go to movies? Petie thought grimly as he searched the shadows, every nook and cranny seeming to hold its own threat, every slight movement caught from the corner of his eye signaling potential danger. He could have gone with his parents. It was just down the street. He’d even sort of wanted to see the film, but a rebellious inner voice yearning for more independence won out, convincing him that staying home alone was an essential part of growing up. Feverishly peering into the dark recesses of the family room, trying to see if anything had snuck inside and was now lying in wait, Petie wished he’d just told that voice to mind its own business. Now he was alone, horribly, horribly alone in a house, with something or some things coming for him.
He’d heard the noise, the awful scampering just outside the front door about fifteen minutes after the rain had really started coming down. He’d been sitting back enjoying a violent TV show he wasn’t supposed to be watching when he’d first heard it, a scratching sound that had the ten year old boy’s imagination running wild. Then there were footsteps outside the window and deep squashing noises as mud was disturbed. Petie’s thin legs trembled when he’d heard that, becoming certain that something was definitely out there, his Mickey Mouse flannel pajamas fluttering as his knees creaked together and his stomach knotted. And by the third time he’d called his parent’s cell phones and was unable to get through, he was so scared he wanted to cry. Never before in his life had he missed the comforting grasp of his mother’s arms around him more than he did right now.
“Help me,” he whispered through chattering teeth. Heart heavy, Petie cautiously approached the window, mustering every ounce of his courage, figuring that doing something was better than just standing there and letting his mind draw its own conclusions. The shuttered white window frame stood like a portal into a world of danger, a thin barrier to the unknown. I’m the bravest kid in the world. I’m the bravest kid in the world. He repeated the thought over and over in his head, trying desperately to believe it. This time he couldn’t keep his hands from shaking as he cracked the shutters open, just a hair, and peered out.
The wind had taken on a feverish pitch, the storm transformed from a seasonal drizzle to torrential downpour. Petie couldn’t help but wonder, as he stared into the darkness trying to make out anything in the rain, just why his parents had left him here, alone in this storm. But a voice, one that sounded suspiciously like the voice which convinced him to stay home in the first place, spoke the truth, one Petie desperately didn’t want to hear. You brought this on yourself.
The boy breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with air that seemed suffocating. Petie didn’t realize, until it was too late, just what a mistake he was making, opening the shutter in a lit room so he could look out into the darkness when the only thing that would be seen was him. Petie still tried to squint and catch a glimpse of just what was out there, leaning closer and closer to the window, searching.
BANG!
Petie jumped back and the window shook violently as it was rapped upon, once, then twice, hard and fierce, a shattering thump so strong Petie thought the window might shatter. Then he heard the calls. It was difficult to make them out over the howl of the wind and rain, but the words, distorted as they sounded, were unmistakable, “PetieÉ PetieÉ Petie...”
His legs wouldn’t respond to his mind’s frantic commands, the whole time thinking, it knows my name. Then the voice spoke again, screaming, the wind whipping and cutting off the words, but the message was clear, “LET US INNNN....”
Finally Petie’s unresponsive limbs obeyed and he was off running, grabbing the cordless phone as he went. He desperately tried to press the buttons to summon help, as he raced through the house, praying his fingers hit the right ones.
The message was different than when he’d tried his parent’s cell phone, but equally disturbing. “All circuits are busy, please try your call again later.” A horrifying thought came to Petie as he ran, wondering if he’d remembered to lock the front door. His parents had latched it when they’d left, throwing the deadbolt, but Petie had gone outside when it first started raining to feel the cool wetness on his tongue. Now he wished he hadn’t. He knew he got careless sometimes and forgot to relock it. He desperately hoped that this wasn’t one of those times, so he headed in that direction to make sure.
It seemed as if luck was on his side because the door was locked. Petie breathed an expansive sigh of relief, but it was short lived. The voice came again, this time just beyond the door. “LET US IN PETIE!”
The boy’s teeth chattered, his eyes going wide as he saw the bolt turning, the door unlocking. Petie would’ve dropped the phone if his fingers hadn’t been so tightly clenched, and it wasn’t until he had punched in the entire number of his dad’s cell that he realized the line was dead.
The lock turned over and then the door was opening. Petie didn’t hesitate, tearing off down the hallway. He couldn’t hear anything except for the frantic beating of his heart, filling his ears with its rapid-fire thump. The intruder was close behind, the thing that knew his name, and it was coming for him. His mind blocked out everything except his room, and the sanctuary he thought it could provide. He couldn’t have looked back if he wanted to, the door just ahead, the thing just behind. Then his hand was on the knob and he was inside. He shuddered, realizing there was no latch as he slammed it shut, diving into his bed and crawling under the covers.
There was nothing else he could do, shivering in the same little fortress he’d made hundreds of times before to guard against imaginary monsters, hoping that somehow the thin layer of his comforter and sheets would magically protect him from this very real monster. He could hear the foot falls just beyond the door.
“PETIE...” The voice muffled, his mind unable to make sense of it. Why was it here? Why was it coming for him? But more importantly, the rebellious voice screaming at him, why didn’t you just listen to Mom and Dad?
He wished he had. The door was opening again. The footsteps drawing closer now. One, then another, plodding up to the bed. Through the covers he could almost see the hand reaching out for him, grasping the blanket and throwing it back. Exposed, Petie screamed as he had never screamed before, a passionate wail that a siren would envy.
His eyes were closed. But when moments passed, painfully tense moments where he expected any second to feel the sharp sting of claws digging into him and nothing happened, Petie opened his eyes.
Dimly, he realized he was being shaken. Waking from the waking nightmare that had become his life ever since his parents had left, Petie was astonished to find that he was in the arms of his mother, encircled just like he’d been praying for. She was saying things to him, and he could hear them and make sense of them, but it was a slow process. All Petie could feel was a palpable sense of relief, mixed with love, as the tears streamed down his cheeks. He hugged his mom tightly, not letting go, telling her again and again that he loved her.
After he’d calmed down a little, she told him just what had happened. How Dad had locked his keys in the car at the theater and how they had walked back in the rain. They’d tried to knock and call out to Petie but he hadn’t answered, and they’d figured he’d fallen asleep. Then his mom remembered the spare key tucked away for emergencies. But she still couldn’t understand why Petie was crying until he finally told her. She smiled, kissed him on the forehead and told him again and again that his parents wouldn’t ever allow anything to harm their precious little angel. Petie finally relaxed, it all making sense now, and his mom concluded by asking if he’d like to go to the movies with them next time.
Petie smiled through his tears, sweeter words never having been spoken and said, “I’d love too.”
