Phantasmagoria: Cascade

Rain had beat down all morning.

Stacey sat at her writing desk and looked out the window. Cascading from the roof past one side of the pane, partially obscuring her view, a deluge drummed down without pause.

The house had been built on a small rise, so she felt no danger from flooding, but the stubborn murkiness outside the glass spooked her. The storm cast the scenery in ghostly shadow. Vague shrubbery and an indistinct shed performed a magical disappearing act.

Stacey abruptly rose from the austere hardback chair. Sliding her feet into fur-lined slippers, she stepped across her study, opened the sliding door, then stood outside. Beneath the canopied deck, the onslaught of the rain nearly deafened her.

Across the backlot yard, something moved.

Unsure, Stacey strained to focus on the spot where the perhaps only imagined movement had occurred. What would be there now? She had no pets. Surely any wild animal outside would have found shelter hours ago. On the other side of her property, a vacant waterfront house would have been the first choice for sheltering beasts. Some nights she heard the yips and howls of coyotes on the hunt, but she’d never seen one.

She tried to recall exactly what she’d seen. Something larger than a dog? Yes, it would have to be…