Shadows
By Harry Hotmann
Harsh knocks throbbed the ruined cottage door. She hesitated before opening. Her heart beat fast and sweat dampened her dry skin. Nightmares and hollow sounds kept Brenda awake for a late time last night. Even though of the trembling thunderstorm outside, the weary woman inspected the dark deep forest, but nobody was there. She locked slowly watching the teen girl in the wrought iron bed, avoiding any noise least of awaking Hilda. The teen examined the woman with shadowy looks. “Has he arrived?” she blurred her question.
“No, maybe it’s the wind.” The female at the door answered and added explaining, “He will come. I am sure. Snooze for a while and you’ll see him right here.” The girl listened negligently and turned with her face to the bolted window above the mattress. She scanned the dusky sight outside. Nothing was identifiable; Hilda could recognize only glooms and sounds of deep barks and hoots. Dreams of twilight and warmth didn’t prevent her ears from detecting the squeeze of the rotten wood floor. Brenda stepped gently towards the bed and sat on the nearby single chair. The desk, also, produced cracks that Hilda disregarded enjoying her fantasies about the new life with her biological father. Under the effect of drugs, she agreed to wait for his arrival from another universe as the woman persuaded her. Brenda checked, unobserved, if the girl was asleep, then she explored the only room in the cottage murmuring to herself: “I am sure it was built thousands of years ago. I hope the whole matter will finish soon. I can’t hold the smell.”
The teenager looked around in suspect. “What am I doing here!? How have I trusted this crazy woman!?” she hummed. Both females stared into each other eyes then deflect their sights watching around. The shattered walls admitted the wind and feeble glow to escape in. The semi-trembled roof revealed parts of the starry sky, which exhibited more lights than usual. They studied every piece of furniture, which was very little. It comprised a single bed, a wooden chair, one door closet and a small table holding a chandelier. Five of its six candleholders were empty for the lack of candles. The faint flame of the wax disclosed, indefinitely, most sections of the hut, while the details stayed shadowy.
The four eyes explored the other parts of the room with profound silence. Only a sound of an owl echoed outside. Brenda moved around inspecting the place in a try to kill the time. She moved from one corner to another when her voice vibrated. “Do you notice that portrait in the shadow of the cabinet?” She took the taper casting its fragile flames at the far corner. “Come and watch these strange faces. They are of the same features but of different colors. Come and look.” Brenda demanded eagerly.
The girl progressed hastily gazing directly into the image. “It’s amazing faces. They are attractive. Each is separated by a golden edge.” She explained and asked, “Are they males or females!? It’s not obvious. Isn’t it?”
“The edges are glowing. Aren’t they?” wondered the woman.
“Yes, aunt. They are.” the younger female assured.
“The golden edges are sparkling colorfully and wider. Do you see!?” the grown woman said in doubt.
“No, auntie. It’s the colorful lights of the sirens of the police cars.” Hilda shouted, “We are in great trouble now because of your wonderful advises.”
“Police!?” Brenda wondered. “How did they find us!?”
“Mom and her husband directed them here.” The girl concluded, “They know about this hut. I’ve told them you visit it from time to time. Now, you should do something to get us out of this thing. I was really stupid to agree to your advice.”
“I was trying to help you.” The adult female replied loudly, “I wanted to save you from your stepfather’s abuse as you threaten to run away or to kill yourself. Your rich bitch mother deserves no marvelous daughter like you. She cares only for her desires. I am waiting for your biological dad. He knows how to protect you. We’ll live the ultimate pleasures.”
The door throbbed under repetitive, solid hits. They stood in the middle indecisively for moments. “What can we do now!?” Brenda asked, wrapping her hands. “Let’s ignore them and make them conclude that nobody is inside.”
“You are something genius, auntie! They’ll break,” the girl smiled. “I’ll hide in the closet and you open the door. Tell them that I’ve run into the forest. Redirect them out of here.”
The knocks accelerated with sounds of gasping and mumbling. “I could understand none of your words.” Brenda shouted as she flipped the door inside, but nobody was there. Only a huge Doberman dog was squeaking in the profound stillness of the forest. The hound sidled his body a few inches across the door as the woman was searching outside for any person, but only the reflections of shaking trees were there.
“Nobody appeared.” She declared, “Come out, stupid girl.”
As Hilda was getting out of the closet, the dog managed to put his head between the door and its frame. The girl screamed instantly, “Kick it out! It is insane. It has rabies. Don’t you observe its saliva?”
Brenda pushed the door against the body of the enraged animal contrary to its collar. The beast thrust his head between her thighs and roared harshly. The aunt couldn’t balance and fell down on the floor with her apart legs enforced compulsively, one pressing the brute shoulders and the other holding the door tightly. Hilda screamed frightfully and ran back to the closet.
“Come back and help me, naughty coward.” The woman on the floor shrieked, “Come back and hold the door, or it’ll cross in and peel the tiniest bone of your skinny corpse. Move your muscles or you’ll never use them again.”
The teen inverted her direction towards the trembling door pressing it rigorously. The dog groaned and thrust towards the room pinching the air around. Both women exerted more force till it retreated a little but insisted on keeping its head indoors.
“Release it a bit.” Brenda ordered and urged the hound head out by her leg. Hilda locked the door and sighed intensely. Together, hand in hand, they retreated to a corner near the fastened window. The beast barked desperately and thumped the semi damaged hut. Few minutes of horror passed slowly. Unexpected quietness conquered the area again.
“Where it has gone?” Wondered Hilda. “It Is running around the hut. Don’t you see it? There behind the huge oak tree. That one whose branches are touching the earth.” Answered her aunt.
“Do you observe the Hammer among the trees!?”, the girl observed, “there are two persons inside.”
The wind disturbed the wooden panels with the twigs around the matter, which added more obscurity to the backgrounds of the outlook.
“yes, a man and a woman. She looks like the devil’s witch with those two black buns.” The grown woman said.
“I don’t see any buns. It’s not clear if the other form is a female!” The girl remarked.
The two watched the breathless dog dashing towards the car. Both wiggled their palms in a worthless warning. However, the man, noticing the animal reaching the front door of the car, opened it with a long wrench in his hand. One blow by the jerk compelled the hound to crumple into the ground without any noise. The man descended from the Hammer pushing the animal by his leg behind the oak tree.
“What is he doing behind the stem!?” the girl examined the darkness with her squeezed eyes. “He is unbuttoning his jeans. The woman is dismounting. She also went behind the trunk.” Brenda illustrated, “Don’t you see what is occurring!? A thigh is glittering, and the guy is pushing.”
“I don’t see any female there. It’s only your relentless imagination that fabricates those scenes of excitement.” The girl analyzed, “It is only the wind blowing the branches of the tree.”
The wind wailed and moaned quivering the tiny sticks and leaves in a pitiless dance against the boards of the shed. The vision became very low that one couldn’t distinguish the real figures of objects. “Nothing is noticeable. Only moans and groans.” Brenda commented, “The woman’s voice, I think.”
“Maybe they are the dog’s or the wind.” Presumed the girl.
“Maybe. Let’s watch till the end.” Brenda uttered sluggishly.
The man erected his shoulders and his head standing a while under the massive tree.
“He is buttoning his trousers.” Brenda remarked.
“No, he is regulating the wrench or something in his hands.” Objected Hilda.
The man stepped back to the truck holding a tug in his left hand and a lump in his right. He started the car and departed swiftly. Delicate voices echo continued to catch the attention of the two spectators.
“He left the woman there, alone with the beast.” The aunt declared, “She is still moaning. We must save her.”
“You are always obsessed with the desire to save others.” The girl stated irritably, “It’s better for you to save the world at once and take a rest. It’s the mere sound of the wind or the dying dog.”
“I’ll go and help her.” The aunt confirmed striding towards the door.
“Hold it crazy. I won’t let you open it. It’s unsafe there. You won’t let me alone. Will you!?” the girl inquired holding her companion hands.
“I can’t leave a human suffering out there.” Brenda proclaimed.
“Oh. Wow, you humanitarian or something like that.” the girl insulted her aunt enhancing her hint. “The history of your humans is full of war and killing.”
“But they have never stopped helping each other.” The grown woman confirmed, “we must go out and help her whatever the result was.”
Brenda pulled the girl behind her and went out ordering her to lock the door keeping the key in her pocket. Hilda locked the door and followed the woman cautiously.
Both, holding each other’s hands, rushed till the oak tree. But nobody was there except the wounded dog. “There’s no any woman.” The girl said.
“What was the man doing!?” Brenda thought in a loud voice.
“I think he urinated. Can’t you smell well?” Hilda resolved.
“Maybe it’s the urine of the dog.” The grown woman suggested, “I think the woman is hiding behind some of those trees.”
The wind howled in the far. The trees swung tracing shadows here and there. The girl held the shoulders of her aunt with her trembling hands hissing with interrupting voice “There are no women here except you and me. Let’s go in. Something unusual is taking place right now.”
They embraced each other and strode back. An airstream whistled over their heads shuddering the shack left and right. Sounds of howling and moaning mixed together generating a strange echo they have never heard.
“I hear steps behind. Don’t you?” the girl slurred her words.
“Dazzling lights and grunting gasps are what I sense.” Brenda puffed as they arrived at the cottage door. The door was wide opened, and the air was curling and puffing inside.
“Haven’t you bolted the door?” asked Brenda inserting her head inside inspecting the dusky corners.
“I have. The key is still in my jeans. Maybe the wind has flung it in.” the girl assured.
“Nobody is in. Come in quick and secure it well.” The aunt commanded throwing herself on the chair while the young one was reviewing the locked gate.
The wind blew stronger. The girl explored the whole room before she stared horribly behind her relative and shouted that the closet was swinging right and left. “Something is inside.”
“Open the door quickly and push it with me outside.” the terrified aunt shrieked too.
The two women tossed the closet outdoor in one push and shut immediately.
“Are you sure of what you have seen?” the grown woman asked. “Sometimes illusions may control the mind. We may have lost the closet for an elusive decision.”
“If you consider it so valuable, watch through the cracks to secure it then go and get it back.” the girl suggested. “By the way, we haven’t used it at all and I believe we’ll never.”
Brenda peeped cautiously through the fractures of the wooden boards, but she could see nothing except the wind flipping the closet door on both sides. For a long moment, nothing appeared. “It’s empty, I think.” She stated.
The banging noise was becoming unbearable. She had to gather up some courage and face up her fear. Creeping up to the wrecked wall, Brenda held her breath as she peeped through a splintered gap in the dark wood. Squishing her body up as close as she could, she rolled her hazel eye quickly, trying to ascertain the origin of the relentless banging. Heart pounding and sweat trickling down the back of her neck, she braced herself for what it might be. Nobody was around the yard, and relief flooded through her as she realized it was only the wind flapping loose doors out of the shed. Laughing at herself, Brenda leaned back, pleased it wasn’t a burglar.
“Where are you going!?” the girl shouted jumping from the bed.
“I’ll pull it back inside.” The mature woman responded as she stepped out of the door, “come and help me.”
“Leave it, Aunt. You won’t use it in a million years.” The girl ensured.
“The wind is wriggling it. The clatter is banging inside my head. Come and give me a hand before I lose my brain.” The adult female roared rambling outside as the wind blasted up her skirt.
Hilda peeped out of the half-opened door inspecting her old relative slogging with the wrecked wardrobe. She spun the pupils of her wide-opened eyes around the whole area. Nobody appeared nearby. The wind stirred the branches up and down as agitated dark spirits checking the unstable movements of the woman whose hair and dress are jiggling over her skull.
“Devilish witch? Has she charmed my mind!?” Hilda asked herself in silence. “How I believed this senseless creature! I consider myself a modish educated teen, how could she deceive and bring me here? My biological father has passed ten years ago, how could he come back? That’s total craziness. Even, she persuaded me to push my mother’s expensive car into the valley with all my money, phone, identity and all my objects inside. She is a full foolish. I shouldn’t believe any of her trashes. I must leave as soon as possible.”
Wide opening the screeching door, striding in broad paces, Hilda swung her aunt’s arm raising her voice against the windblast, “Leave it. It’s useless. Leave it and come in, you’ll hurt yourself.”
“Nine and never.” Brenda shrieked, “Help or yelp. I’ll never abandon it here. I have to post in the accurate position.”
Hilda turned to the opposite edge and started to push violently. Nodding her face down, she observed that the soil was crumpling up around the closet borders, since it had no back cover. “Let’s hold it. The mud is overloading the scrap.”
The teenage girl tossed the wooden shell in the middle of the room as they came in.
“No. No. We must keep it against that long crack at the wall. They’ll slink through. I’ve met them here many times. They will explore your body first with their glowing hands to prepare you for the transformation. Their touches have enjoyable healing powers.” Brenda explained pushing the board behind the wall. “Sit and wait for the bright light.”
The girl sat on the bed shaking her legs supporting her chin with both fists. Impatience and excitement were clear in her anxious glimpses. The woman stood in the corner inspecting the closet flap. Deep silence and twitchy quietness prevailed for long moments. Imprecise roars ruined the stillness as sharp beams deviated from the fractures of the chinked wardrobe.
“You see. They have arrived. Prepare yourself.” The adult female ordered.
“Stop your hallucinations. It’s the hammer man. He returned. I think he observed our existence here. These are the lights of his vehicle passing through the crack into your trash closet.” Hilda started sliding her foot in the boot looking through the window where the strange man parked his Hammer. “I’ll ask him to carry me into the nearest town. I’ll call Mom. She knows how to deal with your insane. How could I follow a sucker like you!? Am I a fool?”
“You will never leave except with them. They are nearby. Very soon, you’ll be in their safe hands.” Brenda insisted.
“It’s no more of your business. I am a free creature, not a slave of yours!” the girl mumbled tying the shoelace of her left boot. As the teenager raised her head, preparing herself to stand up, she glanced at a thick wooden chair leg slumping over her right rear head.
The girl fell on the floor like a lump. The woman threw the heavy seat aside, kneeling with her head under the bed murmuring, “Where is the rope? I’ve hidden it here last time.” She pulled the long cord from a box under the couch. Throwing it over her shoulders, she began to drag up the unconscious adolescent over the white sheets. Brenda coiled the jeans and the pink t-shirt twisting the girl’s body with hands and the legs into the footboard and iron legs of the wrought bed. “She’ll move neither a finger nor a toe. That’s perfect.” Brenda thought dropping herself tired and sleepy over her victim’s chest, “She owns a warm, lean frame. That’s perfect. That’s perfect. Tha … proffer… fa … fa”
Brenda half-opened one eye, kept noticing the closet and the girl most of the night. Waiting for the daybreak. Brenda took naps every while. She enfolded her trembling body with the white sheets of the wrought iron bed. Relaxing as the lazy moments progressed until the first gloomy rays of the dawn penetrated the dusty window panes. She looked around checking every detail. The dull room was calm and cold. Gently, she tapped her palm on the opposite part of the mattress. A human body warmth delighted her aching skin. She passed her arm massaging the warmness beneath, but nobody was there. Only the traces of the hotness of a human who had just left were under her hand. She twitched up her trunk wide opening her eyes. The astonished woman failed to look around as a flux of bright light flooded inside the cottage through the fractures of the locked door and the flipped open closet. She turned her head again to the other side of the bed. Only, Hilda’s inflections embodied on the soft mattress with blue jeans and a pink t-shirt were thrown on its side. Brenda struggled towards the sealed door, but the blazes of the bright flames compelled her to retreat to the window. Horrified, across the mist accumulated on the glass, she spotted hazy shadows surrounding the cottage and two corpses behind the huge oak tree, one of a Doberman dog and the other of a naked female.
