At this moment, the atmosphere appears almost surreal...With a raven-black, starless night sky providing the canvas for a waning, pale moon; with its already dim illumination being further obscured by billowing banks of translucent-like clouds...
And a deaf-like silence and unsettling stillness abounds the air throughout the entire woods...
As a copiously dense 'sea of trees' seems to envelop a secluded summer cabin, whose sole inhabitant is a slumbering, six-year-old little girl.
************
The ablaze pinewood possesses a glowing, fiery-red surface, as the pockets of sap underneath within the burning wood heats to their boiling points, then volatilely explode and project tiny, sparking embers into the air; thus creating the crackling fire currently centered within the huge, stone-built fireplace. Its erratically dancing flames emit flickering rays of light that haphazardly beam amid the first floor of the cabin; casting off eerie shadows throughout the entire area.
Comfortably resting upon the plush cushions of a Chesterfield sofa in the center of the cabin's living room area, the little girl remains in a deep sleep; unaware of the malevolent presence lingering within the cabin.
An ethereal entity, in the form of a childlike-sized shadowy figure, sinisterly lurks about within the confines of the shadows as it stealthily moves in upon the slumbering child.
Once positioned behind the sofa ... concealed within the large shadow resting along the sofa's back ... the entity stretches its shadowy arm down towards the oblivious little girl, then ominously runs its shadowy palm and fingers repeatedly along the girl's facial contours; meticulously outlining each intricate, delicate feature of her countenance.
After a couple of minutes of this, the ethereal entity slowly draws its shadowy arm back into the large shadow cast above the sofa; then retreats back into the shadows along the wall behind it.
That same deaf-like silence and unsettling stillness which abounds the air in the woods outside now permeates the atmosphere within the cabin as well.
The slumbering child is still unaware of its presence.
Moments of nothing pass ... but then the old-fashioned, wooden rocking chair sitting catty-cornered across from the sofa begins to slowly rock back and forth; with the aging, warped, loosened floorbards softly creaking under the gentle swaying movement of the chair's curved rockers. And though it's quiet enough as to not fully awaken the child, it does cause her to stir a little in her sleep.
Soon, the rocking ceases ... and the nothingness returns.
And then, all of a sudden, a strong gust of wind emanates from out of nowhere within the cabin. The wind instantly extinguishes the blazing flames within the fireplace; while also abruptly awakening the slumbering child.
The six-year-old instantly shoots up, tensely rigid from the sudden shock, and instinctively presses her petite frame into the sofa's cushions. She gingerly moves the auburn locks of hair ... which were disheveled from the gust of wind ... away from in front of her eyes, and nervously looks about her surroundings; which now, due to the extinguished fire, is totally darkened. And, since she can barely make anything out in the now nearly pitch-black cabin, she begins calling out...
"Hello ... is anybody here? Mommy? Daddy? Grandma? Are you here?"
No answer. She calls out again...
"Hello ... are you here? Mommy? Daddy? Grandma? Is anybody here? Where are you?"
Again, no answer.
The little girl is overcome by an overwhelming sensation of trepidation. Her body tenses up further, becoming even more rigid than before. Her breaths become deeper and more rapid; not quite hyperventilating yet, but nearly on the verge of it.
But with her labored breathing aside ... that deaf-like silence and unsettling stillness still permeates the cabin's atmosphere.
A few moments of nothing pass ... then suddenly...
A thunderous pounding begins resounding from the other side of the cabin's front door; sounding as if something was being repeatedly smacked onto the porch's wooden plank flooring.
The terrified six-year-old stiffens up even more, pressing back further into the back of the sofa while deeply digging her curling fingers into the cushion she's sitting on; applying a clenching, vise-like grip that causes her knuckles to quickly turn white ... as her breathing rapidly draws closer to the point of hyperventilation.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the pounding ceases; and that deaf-like silence and unsettling stillness returns.
A few moments pass ... though seemingly like an eternity to her ... and still nothing.
Her breathing finally begins to slower and return to normal; and she's now able to loosen her grip from the sofa's cushion. That sensation of trepidation is still there, but is gradually becoming overshadowed by her growing curiosity...
Where is everybody? And more concerningly ... what was that noise?
Suddenly, another strong gust of wind emanates from seemingly out of nowhere from within the cabin; this time a gust strong enough not only to dishevel her hair once again but also push her down to her side as well. And this time, the gust reignites the fire; with its erratically dancing flames once again dimly illuminating the cabin's first floor ... once again casting off those eerie shadows throughout the cabin.
And once again, that childlike-sized ethereal entity sinisterly lurks about within those shadows; intensely watching the little girl with scrutinizing eyes ... stealthily eyeing her like a jungle cat menacingly sizing up its prey.
Shortly, her curiosity finally overtakes her trepidation, and the six-year-old slowly stands up and begins to head for the front door; leaving behind the 'safety' of the sofa.
Once reaching the front door, the girl takes a firm grip on the doorknob with one hand, then takes in a deep breath and uses her other hand to slowly turn the latch to unlock the door. She takes in another deep breath, then hesitantly begins to slowly open the door to an ajar position. She warily leans forward and peeks out the narrow space between the door and its frame to see what's waiting on the other side.
It looks like nothing's there ... at least, nothing that she can see. The girl slowly opens the door, opening it inch by inch at a creeping pace; then apprehensively, and ever so cautiously, steps out onto the screen-enclosed porch.
She nervously looks around, first quickly looking about the immediate area of the porch; then peering out into the darkened woods, which seem to be intimidatingly encroaching in upon the secluded summer cabin.
She doesn't see anything ... at least not at first. But then she notices it ... off to her left, down on the porch's wooden plank flooring ... a bloodied hammer.
The little girl immediately gasps, throwing her hands over her mouth, while reactively jumping back; all done simultaneously in a single movement.
She quickly scans the area again; but again, doesn't see anything.
Once she regains her composure somewhat, the girl bends down at her knees and hesitantly reaches down towards the bloodied hammer; then apprehensively takes hold of the bloodied hammer and picks it up in her trembling hand.
The little girl rushes back inside, slamming the door shut and quickly locking it. She then hurries back over to the sofa, nearly stumbling over her feet in the process, and plops back down onto the cushion. She carefully places the bloodied hammer down on the glass surface of the coffee table beside the sofa ... then, with a far-off gaze look embedded in her eyes, intensely stares at it; seemingly falling off into a trancelike state.
The childlike-sized, ethereal entity stealthily moves within the shadows, ominously approaching the now immobilized child. And once behind the sofa, the shadowy figure menacingly leans over and softly whispers in the little girl's ear...
"Beth."
************
Beth Lazinski is suddenly abruptly startled from her sleep, causing her to shoot up into a tensely rigid sitting position; with her pajamas soaked from her profusely sweating body. Her breathing's labored, as she pants heavily taking in quick, deep breaths. And her body is trembling uncontrollably.
Momentarily dazed and confused, Beth is unaware of her surroundings, with everything feeling almost surreal-like. But when she finally comes to her senses and realizes what's happening to her, she mutters under her breath...
"Whew ... just another nightmare, Beth. Relax. Calm down."
Once regaining her composure, she looks down off to her side and sees Martin, her husband, lying right beside her; asleep as usual. Beth lets out a short, quiet laugh as she quips...
"Glad to see at least one of us is able to get some sleep."
Trying not to wake her husband up, Beth carefully folds her side of the covers off of her, and gingerly moves as she shifts herself over to sit up at the edge of her side of the bed.
Beth looks over to her nightstand and peruses over the labels on the array of bottles set atop it. Natural supplements such as Melatonin ... St. John's Wort ... Gabba ... Kava Root ... and Valerian. And those not-so-natural sleep aids such as Trazadone ... Amitriptyline ... Doxepin; and of course, for those really desperate times, the 'big guns' Mirtazapine and Paroxetine.
Ever since childhood, Beth has always suffered from some form of anxiety; though most of the time usually mild in nature, there have been some pretty severe bouts which she struggled through. Although those occurred more often when she was younger. Now, at twenty-eight, her anxiety seems to be less severe and occur less frequently; but still happens from time to time.
In fact, part of the reason for them moving was to help Beth control her occasional feelings of anxiety. Martin figured that moving to a more rural-type area with a relaxed and laidback pace of life would be more beneficial for Beth by making her feel calmer and less pressured. But unfortunately, this isn't the case.
It's been a little over three weeks, and Beth hasn't been able to have a single, good night's sleep. She's been constantly haunted by these recurring nightmares; disturbing dreams and visions which, as strangely bizarre as they may be, oddly enough feel somewhat familiar to her.
And even though these nightmares keep sporadically waking Beth up at night ... preventing her from getting a full night's sleep ... these aren't the only things troubling Beth.
Ever since moving into this house, Beth has been plagued with an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness and trepidation ... at times reaching the point of utter fear ... which she can't seem to shake off. And sometimes, Beth swears as if she can sense a malevolent presence in the house ... lingering about the entire property actually ... and it's like they're being watched by something with a festering, seething malice; something that for some reason wants to cause them harm.
Of course, there are those moments when Beth wonders if it could all be in her head; just her anxiety playing tricks on her mind. This seems like the more rational and more to be the true cause of her constant fear.
Regardless, Beth is still finding it nearly impossible to feel at ease in this house. And, just like now, the nightmares continue to keep waking her up throughout the night.
As for now, Beth decides that a combination of Kava Root and Valerian maybe just the 'cocktail' to relax her enough so she could fall back asleep. She picks up the pitcher on the nightstand and pours herself a glass of water, then washes down a couple of each of the sleep-inducing supplements.
While waiting for them to kick in ... Beth realizes that the effects won't take place that quickly ... she heads over to the private bathroom in their master bedroom to wipe down and wash away the sweat from her body; then after drying off, changes into a fresh pair of pajamas.
Once done, Beth heads back to their bed and carefully gets back under the covers so as not to wake up a still sound sleeping Martin.
She turns off the lamp on her nightstand, then lays her head down on her pillow, closing her eyes while trying to relax enough to drift back off to sleep.
Meanwhile ... in the corner of their bedroom ... a childlike- sized, ethereal entity watches them from within the shadows.