Cthulhu Sleeps

Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything and what I did post was just one thing that I was never able to keep up on. I wrote this short story some time back. Never did anything with it, while it isn't a Lovecraftian story, I thought it was a nifty little creature story. I've been over the story a couple times, but I am sure I missed something here and here. Either way I figured I would share.
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy.
SRM


The Thing Beyond the Window

“That thing is standing outside the window again,” Tom whispered from his top bunk. His head was dangling over the side, hair reaching down for the floor. “Hey, you hear me?”
“Yes,” timid voice squeaked from under a pile of blankets that were curled up in the corner of the bottom bunk and against the wall. “It showed up a little bit ago.”
“Go look,” Tom dared.
“No you go look.”
Their bedroom was very dark, the only light that they had came from a streetlight from across the street, which was now blocked by the thing in the window. For the past three nights the figure would show up a little bit after their parents went to bed. It would just stand there for an hour sometimes two, doing nothing. When they told their parents about it they got yelled at for being up late and were told that nothing could be standing outside their window on the overhang above the porch. Someone would have to climb up on the roof with a ladder making all kinds of noise which would alert someone in the house.
“Maybe we should go get dad this time?” Dave said, voice cracking. “Maybe he’ll believe us now.”
“I don’t want to go wake him up, not after that fight he had with mom over dinner.” Said Tom, Earlier that evening their father had come staggering home late from work with alcohol on his breath. Mom had made spaghetti for dinner which they ate without him. When he saw they had eaten without him, they promptly got into a fight that lasted most of the evening. The argument ended when their mother was in the bathroom crying and their dad in the living in front of the television. “What you want to do about it then?”
“Just close my eyes and hope it goes away, it worked the last few nights,” Dave said. “It just stands there.”
Click click click click
They both gasped. That was the first time that the shadow in the window did anything other than stand there. The curtains were drawn and a large silhouette moved slightly from side to side, a dark blotch against the streetlight outside. Did anyone see it standing on the roof outside? Tom thought that first night. Someone surely had to have seen it.
“Make it go away,” Dave said with a whimper. “Go get mom and dad.”
The shadow moved, lifting up what looked to be a large clawed hand.
Click click click click
It was trying to get their attention, the brothers went as still as death.
The thing continued to sway back and forth, their only protection was a thin layer of fabric that made up the curtain; it wouldn’t be enough if it decided to break in through the glass. But if it did that it would at least wake up their parents.
Tom quickly and quietly lowered himself down onto the floor, climbed onto the bottom bunk and curled up next to Dave; who was shaking more than he was. Dave had hidden himself in a ball of blankets in the corner. Tom put his arms around his brother and held him close as they kept their eyes on the shadow in case it made any sudden movements.
It continued its swaying; they could make out rough edges of what looked to be spiked hair or fur. Tom thought he could see two glowing orbs of light where its eyes might be. He wanted to scream and yell at it to leave, even if it woke their father.
Dave clutched at him, arms like a vice. Dave was trembling so bad that it was shaking the bed.
A clawed hand lifted up again.
Click click click click
It was beckoning them again, Tom could feel that it wanted him to open up the curtain, but he knew that if he did it would grab him through the window.
“Why won’t it go away?” Dave said with a harsh whisper. “I have to go pee.”
“I have to go pee also,” Tom said as he tried to reassure Dave. He didn’t have to go pee but felt that if he told his brother that he would remain calm.
“Maybe if I turn on the light it will go away.” Tom said, turning on the lights always made the monster in the movies go away. Maybe that will work here, it had to work. He made up his mind. “I’m going to go and turn the light on. I’ll be just a few feet away. Okay?”
Dave shook his head. “Don’t. It might decide to crash in and take you away.”
“I have to try and scare it away.”
“Please. Just stay here and wait, it will go away, like the last couple nights.”
“It can’t reach for me we are too far away.” There was at least ten feet between the bunk beds and the window. “I’ll climb over the end of the bed by the switch; it’s just a few feet away. It can’t reach me from that end. No way. Okay?”
Dave was silent; he clutched at the blankets then finally nodded. “Okay, but don’t leave me alone here for long.”
“I’ll turn the light on, wait a minute or two and turn it off. If it’s still there when I turn the light off…”He trailed off, not wanting to think about what would happen when he turned the light off. If anything, it might get the attention of their parents who slept in the room next to theirs.
Click click click…CRACK
Both boys went still. Tom’s heart was jumping around in his chest. Did it crack the window? Would it come into the room and take them away.
Dave wrapped his arms around Tom crushing him. “Don’t go,” he cried.
“I have to,” Tom said voice quavering, “I have to turn the light on. This always works in the movies. Monsters don’t like the light and it will leave. Besides, I will only be a few feet away.”
Tom pried Dave’s arms off of him, Dave then hurriedly crawled back to the corner of the bunk drawing the blanket up around him like a protective shield. Tom moved to the foot of the bed where the ladder that led up to the top bunk came down and met the floor. There was only few feet between the ladder and the wall, large enough for him to climb through.
He climbed over the end, and made his way quickly over to the light switch. He didn’t take his eyes off the shadow in the window. He reached out and in one simple flick and click the light in the room flared on, blinding them both.
“Ok,” Tom said as relief flooded over him. “We’ll wait a few minutes and then I will turn the light off to see if it’s gone.” He could hear his dad’s snoring from the room next to theirs. He hoped that the light might be enough to stir him awake.
Click click click…CRACK
Tom’s eyes widened. It was still there. It shouldn’t be. Monsters were afraid of the light. It was cracking the window, trying to get in. It couldn’t come in, not with the light on. No way could it come into their room.
“Tom,” Dave cried. “It’s still there.”
“Come on,” Tom whispered,” Go away, please. This has to work. Please be afraid of the light.” He had this urge to run to his parent’s room to get their dad. He took a step towards the hallway.
“Don’t leave me here,” Dave cried. “Don’t leave me alone, you promised.”
“Ok, I won’t leave, but I’ll turn off the light in a few more minutes, it has to leave. That’s the rules. Light scares them away.”
Dave nodded, he balled himself up even tighter in the corner trying once more to become one with the wall, and he positioned his pillow for further protection.
Tom waited, taking steady breaths, counting. Just a few minutes, that’s all it should take. His father’s snoring stuttered; maybe having the light on in here was starting to wake him. He would rather face his father than the creature standing outside. He counted silently to himself, hand over the switch trembling. He had never been this scared of anything before in his life, each night that the thing showed up it seemed to get worse for him. He just wanted it to go away, he hoped that the light would do the trick; it always did in the movies. It was the rules.
“Okay,” Tom said after what he thought was enough time, he wasn’t sure exactly but it must have been close to five minutes. Long enough to scare it away. “I’m turning off the light. Ready?”
Dave shook his head. “No,” he squeaked.
Tom took a deep breath and switched off the light. Darkness engulfed the room. Blinking he willed his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Was it still there there? He couldn’t tell at first and then he saw that the silhouette was still there, his heart skipped pounding stones at chest.
Click click…CRACK…CRACK
“Tom…” Dave said meekly.
“I see it!”
“It didn’t leave.”
“I know!”
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Go get dad.”
Tom took a step, he would run to get their dad, yelling and screaming be damned, but instead of stepping into the hallway, he stepped further into the room, he found himself standing between the window and the bunk beds. The shadow loomed there behind the curtain and glass.
“What are you doing?” Dave cried. “Go get dad!”
“I don’t want to be scared anymore, I want to see what this thing is, and I want to tell it to go away.”
“No Tom, don’t. Please, go get dad.”
Tom took two defiant steps forward, he now stood before the window and slowly he reached out, hand trembling.
“Please,” Dave whispered, “Go get dad.”
He grabbed the curtain and gave it a mighty yank, the curtain and rod fell to the floor.
“GO AWAY!” Tom screamed.
The window had three large spider web cracks in it, standing less than a foot away on the other side of a cracked window was a large hunched over furred figure. It was grinning at him with long razor sharp teeth that were dripping a clear liquid, its eyes aglow with a golden inner light, it had a clawed hand on the spot where a large crack in the glass had formed. It was pressed up against the glass, its breath fogging it up and quickly disappearing.
Behind him Dave screamed.
The thing screeched as it shattered the glass with its claws, bathing Tom with shards that cut into his skin on his face, arms and chest. One had caught him in the eye but before he could react the two claws grabbed him by the shoulders digging deep into his skin and muscles. Searing pain cut though him as he screamed out. The thing growled as it pulled him out of the bedroom into the night, two large bat-like wings spread out as it jumped into the air with Tom clutched in its talons. He felt as though he was floating in air as the as the world disappeared beneath him. The last thing he heard was that of his bother screaming as he was carried off into the night.