From Through the Night by Stig Saeterbakken:
“And when I next gave a start, it was without having any idea how long I’d been standing like that; but what I did know, and with certainty, was that I had heard something, a sound, or several sounds, and that they had come from down on the first floor, that there was someone there, someone had entered the house while I was standing up there dozing.
I took the stairs straight down to the first floor. Rattling sounds were coming from somewhere, the kitchen I guessed. The rooms on the bottom floor seemed even darker than they had the first time I was there. The window above the kitchen bench hung there just as black, just as impervious, like a framed picture on the wall. But there wasn’t anyone there now either. Then I distinctly heard something from the living room, a creak, perhaps from the rocking chair. I lifted the curtain and looked in. then I thought something was moving behind me, and turned, my elbow raised, prepared to have to defend myself. Was my imagination beginning to get the better of me? Was I beginning to see things, since there was nothing else to see?”
– selected by Scott Esposito.
#VERYSCARY: For the month of October, we are featuring your favorite scary passages, lines from poems, horror lyrics, creepy writings, etc. Send your favorite to janice@entropymag.org.
