An Abnormal Christmas

4: A Walking Nightmare

COMET
hometown: center, NP
property of SC
11/16/13

The edges of Meghan's vision blurred. She leaned back against the wall as Carly happily took the baby fawn and placed it with Vixen. Gordon took her arm to sit her down in her chair. She ignored him and continued gazing at the wall.

She found another peculiar fawn. Some sort of figure was after her. What was it?

"Meghan," Gordon soothed, holding her hand firmly in his. "You're shaking. What happened?"

Meghan swallowed, her lip beginning to tremble as if she was on the verge of breaking down. She took a painful breath and moved her eyes to Gordon's concerned face. Ryder was by the fireplace, watching intently as Carly pet Comet and Vixen. Her daughter glanced up at her for a moment, though, looking a bit concerned for her wellbeing too.

"I-I just went out to take the t-trash to the curb," Meghan stuttered. "I saw the fawn and thought Vixen had gotten outside somehow. Right after I found him, everything seemed to go quiet." Meghan paused, feeling somewhat frightened to continue the story. Gordon sat on the chair beside hers and nodded for her to continue, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze. She looked at her children. Should she really say it in front of them?

Ryder seemed to read her thoughts. He frowned, shaking his head. "No, I am not leaving the room. I want to hear this."

"Your sister," Meghan mouthed to him, hoping he'd understand.

Ryder glanced down at Carly who was still sprawled on her stomach, her attention solely focused on the two baby deer. She seemed to sense the eyes because she looked up. She glanced between them before shaking her head. "I'm not leaving either. You can't keep anything huge a secret."

Meghan blinked, but gave in with a sigh. They did deserve to hear. She couldn't let them walk around and play outdoors feeling safe and secure when they might not be. She looked back at Gordon who gave her a curt nod. "Fine. So...so, everything went silent until a glass bottle rolled down the road. After that, a figure just-just walked around the corner and looked at me. Well, I think it did. I d-didn't see its face."

"Was it a person?" Gordon asked.

Meghan bit her lip. "I...don't know. No, it didn't seem like it. The arms were too long, and the way its body build was...it just seemed off. No piece of skin was visible either. It had it all hidden."

"Did it come after you?" Ryder asked quietly.

Meghan nodded reluctantly. "It started to walk in my direction even though it was all the way down the road. I quickly went back up the porch to get inside the house, but when I looked over my shoulder, it was right there behind me, reaching its arm out to grab me."

Meghan inhaled deeply after she finished speaking. Everyone remained silent for a moment, so she took that silence as a minute to steady her shaking hand, tucking it between her knees.

"Was it the one who left the note?" Carly finally asked, looking a bit pale.

Meghan held her arms out for her daughter who took up the offer and got up off of the floor, walking to her chair and hugging her tightly. Meghan rubbed her back.

"What note?" Ryder questioned.

"A note we found on the porch last night," Carly told him.

"And what? None of you were going to tell me?"

"Because we suspected maybe it was you trying to scare us," Gordon admitted.

"You mean just you," Meghan said sharply. "I knew it wasn't Ryder."