You reach the front porch of your small suburban home. Glancing at your watch, it reads 11:55. Just before midnight.
With a small, relieved sigh, you grasp the handle of the front door to unlock it. However, to your dreaded surprise… It’s already unlocked.
Just as quickly as you ran from the monster, you rush into the house, knocking the door of its hinges as it hits the wall.
The hallway is absolutely silent. Not a single sound, not a breath from either yourself or your wife, no shuffling, nothing. You continue walking down the hall, the hairs on your neck standing straight, sensitive to the suffocating coldness. As you step forward, your footfalls sound deafening in the silence. Just the first creak of the floorboards makes you jump. You grit your teeth as sweat trickles down your brow, mingling with the scent of your terror. Something isn’t right. Your gut knows that and by God is it never wrong.
You keep your eyes peeled on the upcoming doorways, and from there, a scream echoes through the house. You immediately recognise it as Hannah’s and without a second thought, you sprint to your bedchambers, only for your eyes to widen with utter horror.
“Charlie–” Hannah’s scream is cut off as the creature’s gaping maw wraps around her head. You can faintly hear her cries as the monster’s teeth shred through her skin. Then comes the deathly silence, only broken by the gentle suckling of the creature as it feeds. Your eyes struggle to break through the darkness, but you can still faintly see the monster’s closed jaws around Hannah’s head and the delicate undulations of its gullet as it gorges on her flesh.
From where its teeth lock, a faint trickle of crimson runs down her pale chest, the ribs crushed under the weight of the behemoth.
You stay frozen in place, your hand resting delicately on the doorframe.