Page 44 of Solivagant

“J-Jim?” I dared to speak.

Silence for a moment, the banging and scratching halting. Then a reply. “Yes. Let me inside.”

Not a fucking chance. I didn’t have to see to know that the hairs on my arms were raised, and a shiver rippled down my spine the way I’d only ever experienced when I was around something other.

“Let me in,” the creature demanded.

I’d killed them before, with Tash. Though it were much harder to kill one on my own, I probably could have taken it. But I couldn’t see out there. I couldn’t be sure if there was only one waiting for me, or maybe even something worse.

The banging started again. “Let me in. Let me in. Let me in.” The voice grew louder and more distorted as the door shook and trembled with every hit.

Whatever those fucking mimics were, I was fortunate that they weren’t all that smart. This one didn’t even try the door handle. Didn’t go for the broken window either. It just continued to scratch and bang at the front door.

At least I knew now what had happened to Jim.

“LET ME IN!”

Wood cracked and splintered as I readied myself for the monster to break through.

Then I heard the howl.

So loud.

So close.

The monster at the door fell silent. The pair of footsteps changing to claws as it scurried away off the front porch. But my heart rate only escalated. Because whatever beast made that sound was probably far bigger and far more dangerous.

I waited.

Listening for every sound out there in the darkness, unsure if it would come from the window, or the door, or maybe somewhere else I couldn’t see in the shadows.

It didn’t come.

The light of dawn gradually brightened the room I was standing in, giving colors to the shapes. The eerie silence was slowly replaced by the songs of birds greeting a new day.

I still had no idea where I was, and yet this room felt so familiar.

Plants had broken through the floor, and vines climbed the walls of the old home. The floorboards that weren’t broken were covered in leaves and dirt.

Whoever lived here had been gone a long time. Yet I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been here before.

The home was in ruins, but I could see it, as it were meant to be. Could smell the ghost of a home-cooked meal, and the echo of the person preparing it.

I’d seen him in my dream. In fact, I’d seen this whole house, only in a much better condition than it was currently in.

My chest ached with a twisted sense of nostalgia. I didn’t understand it. Didn’t know why seeing the ruins this house had become filled with me with something akin to heartbreak.

I needed to leave.

It would be bright enough outside now to find my way back home and not be surprised by any more beasts, but I kept my knife firmly in hand, just in case, as I made for the front door.

There were deep gouges on the other side where that thing pretending to be Jim had left its mark, but there was no sign of it elsewhere, and they rarely showed up in the daylight.

Whatever path had once led to the house was overgrown now, replaced by a garden of wild chamomile. Mighty trees stood where saplings should have been, the forest reclaiming the abandoned land.

Twisted déjà vu.

I know this place.