Chapter 6
“ W hen’s your next night off? I wanna hang. Maybe see a movie.” Jenna’s voice was nonchalant through the phone.
I hesitated. “Uh. In a few days. I have to go run some errands though.” What I didn’t say was that the errand in question was going back to the woods to try to see my creature again. I fully embraced referring to it as mine because it did save me after all.
“Errands at night? Can’t you do those during the day?” Her voice grew suspicious.
“Oh yeah, I have to clean the house during the day. Groceries and such after.”
Jenna sighed. “Damn, you could just say you don’t want to hang out with me.”
“Jen, you know it’s not that. I just have some stuff to do.
We’ll go see a movie soon.” I shifted the conversation.
“Why not do something with Alex? Are things better in that department? You haven’t mentioned him since our coffee date so I assumed things were better.
You’ve been so up his ass the whole time you’ve been together. ”
Now it was Jenna’s time to dodge. “He’s…busy,” she said as she rushed to change the subject back to me. “Listen, I just miss my best friend,” she said. “I admit, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Alex over the last few months, but I want to be with you too.”
I laughed to lighten the mood. “I promise I’m still the same irritating popcorn hogger as always. I’ll text you tomorrow. Goodnight.”
We said our goodbyes as I pulled into work.
I felt bad for blowing Jenna off. The increased requests to do things together and more frequent phone calls further told me things weren’t going so well with Alex.
We texted everyday but talked on the phone less often because of our different schedules.
Lately though, Jenna had been calling me almost every night on my way to the hotel.
She always wanted more of my attention when she wasn’t seeing anyone.
We’d been friends forever so I was used to it, but it still made me feel some type of way sometimes.
Neither of us had much family and I hadn’t dated for a few years so when Alex got Jenna’s attention I’d seen less of her ever since. Until a few weeks ago.
My existence without Jenna’s attention consisted of work and my art.
It suited me fine, but I was glad to have an occasional dinner or movie with my best friend.
Guilt pulsed in my gut. I had missed Jenna more recently and I just turned down time with her for what?
To catch a glimpse of something paranormal I saw in the woods?
It was all absurd. I believed in occult things, but I’d never experienced anything this significant.
If I ever told Jenna about how I was seemingly attracted to the creature, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
She might believe in a spirit sighting with some convincing but that would get me laughed out of the room.
I didn’t really believe in those things either, but I believed in whatever this thing was.
It was real, and I wanted to understand it.
As I dropped my bag in the staff only break room at work, my thoughts traveled to the dreams. In the few nights since the creature reappeared, I’d dreamt of it again and again. It wasn’t always the same, but it aroused me nonetheless.
In one dream, the creature’s long fingers had caressed my face before I woke up. In another, it hovered over me with its hood inches away. While I’d stared into the blackness, I felt its fingers trailing up my thigh.
I always woke before the creature touched me that way, but every time I wished it had. Maybe I just needed to get laid, but the thought of being with anyone else was unappealing. It was ridiculous, but I just wanted the creature. Whatever it was.
It was fucked up, but I didn’t care. I wanted that tongue and those fingers on me again—needed them on me again. Somewhere other than lapping blood from my hand. Although that was great by itself.
“Fuck.”
When I glanced at the clock later it read three and I hadn’t done any of my nightly tasks yet.
I daydreamed the entire night. My panties were damp and my nipples hard.
I wanted to slip into the closet and get myself off, but I had to double time to get finished with everything before my shift ended.
Later, I walked out of work as the sun brightened the sky, I wondered if the creature only appeared at night.
I assumed so, but I had half a mind to go to the woods and demand it fuck me in the daylight so I could sleep.
Maybe it had a big dick too. Although, dicks weren’t my favorite thing to be fucked by.
Instead of going to the woods which would have been quite useless on all accounts, I sped home. When I got there, I took out my art supplies and set aside the half-finished painting I hadn’t touched for two weeks. With a blank canvas perched on the easel, I set to work.
The light streamed in the guest room of my apartment which meant it was nearly noon when I looked up from the painting. I hadn’t been so lost in my art for months and satisfaction thrummed in my veins at what I’d accomplished that morning.
I should have gone to bed when I’d gotten home since I had to work again that night, but I needed an outlet. My arousal and need wouldn’t be tamed by a few orgasms. It would’ve helped, but I’d have lain awake unable to sleep anyway.
Thick black strokes marred the canvas, and I smiled as I scrutinized their placement. The work was shaping up to be better than anything I’d done in years. It was haunting, alluring, and when it was finished I would hang it above my bed. There was no way I could sell it.
With stiff limbs, I padded to the bedroom and shed my clothes.
In the shower with droplets of hot water all over my body, I felt a coldness at my back.
When I turned around, there was nothing.
A thrill shot through me at the possibility this was the same coldness from the woods. It was daytime, but it felt the same.
I didn’t feel the hands specifically, but the coldness lingered until I stepped from the shower. When I slid in bed, there was nothing except warmth and for the first time since I was attacked, I slept without dreaming.