Monster Behind the Wall

The rain fell with rhythmic cadence on the windows of the car. I waited for the door of her house to open. The yellow of the porch light cast long shadows over the old concrete driveway. Without that light, it was pitch black outside. I drummed my thumbs on the steering wheel as I waited. God, I could go for a cigarette right now, I thought. Two years off the stuff but it never got any easier.

As I sat waiting, I heard the hooting call of an owl as it dove for its prey. I was surprised I was able to hear it over the noise of the rain until the owl landed on the front of my car. It was a barn owl from the look of its face. It held a squirming mouse in its beak, but didn’t seem to notice the dying animal. Instead, the barn owl turned its flat face toward me and seemed to stare right at me. I held its gaze, mesmerized by the beauty in its black eyes. A vague memory of a story from my childhood touched my thoughts and distracted me from my task. Something about an owl and a baby. Or was it a goblin? The owl’s spell broke the moment the door opened, and a beautiful woman stepped outside. The creature’s wings sprang out, and it took off into the night.

I shook my head slightly and looked back at the woman as she stood on her porch. She was tall and slender, with a wide brimmed hat fixed on her long blonde hair. The light from her porch lamp revealed the uncertainty on her face. I could tell she didn’t want to get in my car. I didn’t blame her.

She only hesitated for a moment before she ran the short distance from her house to my car, quickly climbing in and slamming the door with a shudder. It was a cold rain. The kind that hurt as it hit you. She seemed to have brought a chill into the car and I suppressed a shudder of my own.

“It’s about time, Miss Decker,” I told her, my voice even. I didn’t look at her. Instead, I put the car in reverse, backed out of her driveway and started driving north. I waited for her to explain with my eyes fixed on the road. I didn’t need to look at her to know her own eyes were locked on me.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Detective,” she finally said. I squeezed the steering wheel, listening to the leather scrunch between my hands.

“Miss Decker –”

“Please, call me Eleanor,” she said. Her voice was sweet and sensual. I ignored her.

“This has been the fifth disappearance in two months, Miss Decker,” I continued. “You were the last person seen with each victim.”

“Where are we going, Detective Jackson?” she asked as we passed the local police station.

“There is something fishy going on in this town and you are at the center of it,” I replied.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insisted. I chuckled.

“You will,” I told her. We sat in silence for a while as I drove us away from the built-up area of town and toward the tree line that surrounded it. It wasn’t until she saw the wall that she realized where we were going. I could hear her breathing quicken. I glanced over and saw the panic in her deep brown eyes, though she kept her posture composed. There was a slight dip to her plump red lips as she frowned and under any other circumstances, I might have found myself wanting to kiss her. My eyes shifted back to the road, wondering not for the first time how such as beautiful woman could be caught up in so many disappearances.

“I’m going to figure out what you’re doing out here, Miss Decker,” I said. She gave a nervous little laugh as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. She gave me a seductive smile and fluttered her lashes.

“I’ve told you, Mr. Jackson. Call me Eleanor,” she insisted. I chuckled when she laid her hand gently on my shoulder. After I slowed the car to a stop, I turned to look at her.

“I have a job to do, Miss Decker,” I said, making it clear in my tone that she couldn’t sway me from finding the truth. "And you're making it particularly hard."

"I know something else I could –” I held up a hand to cut her off. Her smile faded and I flicked my eyes to the windshield. She followed my gaze and sat up a little straighter when her eyes landed on the massive concrete wall that separated the forest from the town. The rain was coming down harder now, pounding on the roof of the car.

It was my first time seeing the wall, even though I was told about it upon my arrival. It was as tall as a three-story building, with lights along the top and aimed at the ground. The lights were so bright it could have been daylight outside.

“We shouldn’t be here,” she whispered. I took my eyes off the wall and looked at her face. It was painted with pure terror, and she wasn’t trying to hide it.

“Get out of the car,” I ordered. She looked at me in disbelief, and water pooled at the corners of her eyes.

“What?” she asked, and I heard a crack in her voice.

“Get out of the car. Right now.”

“No, Charles–” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Now, Eleanor.”

Tears flowed freely from her eyes. “You don’t understand. You aren’t from here. This town…” I reached across her and opened her door. As soon as the door opened, I heard it. A scream that pierced the night. High and cold and definitely female. It was the kind you can feel, though you know you aren’t the one screaming. The kind you hear years later, in your dreams.

“What was that, Eleanor?” I asked. I watched her makeup bleed from the tears spilling down her face. I didn’t think she would answer me.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she whispered. She gasped and looked at me as if truly seeing me for the first time. “You shouldn’t be here.”

I flung my door open as another scream rang out.

“Charles, no!” Eleanor yelled from the car. She tried to grab my arm but wasn’t fast enough. She got out and took a step toward me. “Please! Get back in the car.”

At once all of the lights around us went out in the blink of an eye. The only light left came from the headlights of my car. The rain beat down on my shoulders, soaking me through in seconds. The woman screamed again, and chills crept over my body when the scream was cut short. I turned to Eleanor for an explanation.

Before she could give me one, she pointed a shaking finger at the wall behind me and let out a long, horrible scream of her own. From the other side of the wall, a large arm appeared at the top of the concrete. It pulled the rest of its body over the wall and the breath I had been holding slipped from my lips as my jaw dropped.

The creature the arm was attached to was entirely pitch-black, like the color of the darkest depths of space. Light seemed to glisten off its body until it was sucked into the creature completely. The monster moved in jolting movements. It lurched and jerked its way down the wall with incredible speed. I watched, frozen in horror, as I realized it was a man. Or used to be a man. All of the skin was missing, exposing the creature’s muscles and bones. In one hand it carried the severed head of a red-haired woman. Fresh blood ran down its front as it took painful steps toward the car.

When I looked at Eleanor, she had forgotten me. She was staring at the creature with her hands stretched out in front of her as if to surrender. Her crying was hysterical and I was rooted to the spot as I watched her beg.

“Please, I did what you asked! I brought you the outsiders! Don’t do this!” Eleanor pleaded with the monster. She screamed as the monster took hold of her hair and pulled. Her screams died when her head separated from her body.

It was as if someone punched me in the stomach. I spun around and sprinted back to my car. As the monster feasted on Eleanor’s body, I drove as fast as I could out of that town and never looked back.