A Face In The Darkness

As she turned off the highway and into the long winding drive she could feel the stress and tension start to ease. By the time she pulled up to the house all the muscles in her body seemed to have relaxed. This was it, she thought to herself, this was exactly what she needed.

It was a beautiful house. Perched high on top of the cliff overlooking the ocean it was hidden from the rarely used stretch of highway by a mile of untamed bushland. You didn't get much more secluded than this.

Hauling her bags from the trunk she looked over at the old tire swing hanging from a huge oak. Touching memories of childhood summers spent here came flooding back and brought a smile to her face.

As she set her bags down in the hall, below the huge mirror that almost covered the whole wall, she was comforted by the lack of change, the furniture although in pristine condition was just as she had remembered it from all those years ago. The old black and white photos she had always admired as a child still adorned the mantle above the huge stone fireplace.

Walking through the lounge into the kitchen she took in the sweeping views of the ocean, she threw open the glass doors and breathed in the salty air.

After unpacking her bag and the few additional comforts she had brought with her, the house had no television and no phone connected so she had packed her cellphone and laptop to not be completely cut off from the world, she headed back downstairs and poured herself a glass of wine, the sun hung lazy and low in the sky. She gathered a few candles and ran herself a bath, adding way more bubbles than were necessary.

She wasn't sure how long she had been soaking in the bath when a strange noise brought her back from her daydreaming but the water had started to turn cold. The noise almost like a scraping, scratching sound seemed to be considerably louder when she heard it for the second time, definitely some sort of scraping, a tree must be hanging over the roof or something, she thought to herself as she dried and pulled her dressing gown around her, she pushed it from her mind as she headed back downstairs.

Pouring herself another glass of wine she settled in on the plush cream colored sofa and watched the sky changing colors as the sun set below the horizon.

It was dark when she woke. That same sound had roused her. Somehow it seemed louder and sinister in the dark. She was being silly she told herself as she flicked on the lamp on the table next to her. As the light filled the room she could have sworn she saw something out the corner of her eye at the window next to the fire place, she payed it no attention and went about getting herself some dinner.

Engrossed in an old book having just finished a delicious pasta she had all but forgotten about the noises from earlier when there was a loud tapping sound, like something being thrown or hit against the glass windows with considerable force, then the scraping began again. Only now it was much louder and longer. It seemed to be coming from the side of the house, as if something was being dragged right down the length of it.

This time she couldn't explain it away as just a branch overhanging the house scratching in the wind. Her whole body shivered, she felt her skin prickle all over, as she broke out in goosebumps. Something was not right. She had a distinct feeling of foreboding as she walked slowly and silently towards the window. She glanced around outside but could see nothing. Turning her back to the window she was about to chastise herself for behaving like a child when she caught her reflection in the mirror in the hallway. When she saw it her veins turned to ice, reflected behind her, a face in the window.

Frozen in fear she stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear her eyes away from the mirror and the terrifying image it was reflecting back.

Like she had seen in almost every horror film she had ever watched, the face, titled slightly to one side as it became apparent, they too had seen what was reflected in the mirror, they knew she saw them.

This was no normal face, completely devoid of expression and palest white, it was some sort of mask, latex perhaps.

It was almost comical really, the typical formula for a standard everyday B grade horror. A young woman alone in secluded house, no contact with the outside world. Some psycho in a mask preying on her, tormenting her. She would have laughed had she not been so terrified.

She didn't know what to do. It was then the face smiled, an unnaturally wide, sinister smile that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and her stomach flip.

Frozen no more she raced upstairs to grab her cellphone.

It was gone, so was her laptop.

Jesus, he had been in the house. But how? Everything had been locked. There wasn't another house for miles, no neighbors, no passers by or spare keys left under the doormat. Who was he, where had he come from and how the hell had he gotten into her house.

She didn't know what to do. She couldn't get out of the house he was out there, somewhere waiting for her. She wasn't safe in the house either, he had gotten in once he could do it again. She was trapped.

The doors!

She raced down the stairs, skipping the last few she landed and nearly lost her footing racing to the back doors first she checked the locks, out of nowhere he appeared just standing there on the other side of the glass, knife in hand, head tilted to the side in that awful taunting manner. She stood staring at him, her heart beat pounding in her ears. It was a mask, it had to be, terrifying in its simplicity, she didn't get much time to take it in, slowly he raised his hand and pressed his palm flat against the glass. Something about the way he did it made her feel sick to her stomach, without hesitating any longer she ran to the windows, first in the kitchen then lounge the small sun room at the front then the front door. There he was again his face in the small glass panel next to the door, again he raised his hand and pressed it to the glass.

He was toying with her.

She headed down the hall to the mudroom off the side of the house, the moonlight shining in from outside gave the room and eirry glow, he was once again, standing on the other side of the door, no raised hand this time, just that tilted head, looking almost sympathetic he slowly shook his head.

She backed away from the door, not taking her eyes of him until she reached the bottom of the staircase, then she turned and retreated back upstairs, into her bedroom and locked the door swiftly behind her.

She heard the scraping again, louder faster, only this time it sounded like it was heading towards the front of the house. Before she had a chance to think she heard the front door opening. How? She hadn't time to think.

Quickly she scanned the room looking for a weapon, a place to hide, anything as she listened to the sound of his footsteps coming up the staircase.

Silently as she could she raced to the wardrobe and climbed in, hugging her knees to her chest she prayed he would not find her, that somehow this was all just a nightmare and she would wake any moment.

He seemed to know exactly where she was and headed straight for her.

Grabbing her by the hair he dragged her from the wardrobe and threw her onto the bed, he was on top of her in the blink of an eye and she struggled in vain against him.

A huge curved blade clutched in both hands he raised it above his head and as he brought it down to land right on her chest she screamed out and tried to roll free from him, grabbing his wrists she tried to fight him off, but he was much stronger than her. The shock of her screaming had been enough to throw him slightly and she had just managed to direct the knife slightly away at the last second. It glanced just under her eye and she felt the skin open up. Raising it again he brought it down swiftly she tried to roll free and the blade pierced through her flesh at her side just below her heart, she felt the heat of the blood and heard the cracking of ribs.

Something about this filled her with rage, every nerve, every muscle suddenly jolted to life, her instinct kicked in and she felt a surge of adrenaline course through her, she punched out as hard as she could catching him right in the throat. It was just enough. As he struggled to catch his breath she hit him again, scratching at his eyes and kicking out she somehow managed to struggle free, she rolled to the floor and started towards the door before she had even found her feet.

She raced towards the stairs and propelled herself down them towards the front door. He was right behind her, as she reached the bottom he lunged for her, catching her again, the force sending them both crashing to the ground. She thrashed wildly and barely felt it when he plunged the knife into her thigh, kneeing him straight in the face she heard what presumably was the sound of his nose breaking, he let out a grunt and grabbed at his face, she was up and out the door before she took another breath.

She raced to her car, all four tires were slashed. Panic gripped her again as she realized there was no one around for miles, no way of getting help, there was no escape.

She turned away from the house and started to run, blood pouring from the wound in her side and her leg she ran and ran oblivious to the pain, she was running for her life.

She could hear his footsteps on the gravel behind her, he was gaining on her, she kept running.

Glancing back one last time all she saw was the top floor , the bathroom, she could just see the faint glow of the candle in the window.