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Quiet Storm
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Quiet Storm |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA 
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( I just had this short story accepted for publication, so I thought I'd share it...I posted it a long time ago here in segments) Quiet Storm Things just did not seem right to Susan as she slipped her shoes on to look outside. John had only been gone for twenty-five minutes or so and already she missed him. She had tried to engross her self in a romance novel with a picture of Fabio on the cover, but just could not keep her mind occupied on it. The noise outside was barely audible, but she knew that nobody would be out in these parts at this time of night. “**** ,” she said to herself. “I should have let John talk me into going to San Francisco with him. Oh well, too late now,” she muttered. Slipping her coat on she quietly opened the door. “Who’s there,” she said to no one in particular, not really expecting an answer. The night suddenly seemed too quiet. “Maybe I’m hearing things. Why do I always do this to myself? ” She reprimanded herself for worrying too much as usual. A cool eastern breeze blew off the ocean causing goose bumps on her skin. She pulled her coat a little tighter to keep out the chill before realizing that it came from inside not outside. “Quit being silly,” she remarked. “It was just the wind,” but for some reason she wasn’t convinced. She brushed a strand of long auburn hair from her heart shaped face and slowly turned to go inside. As she opened the front door, Susan was met by a large, golden ball of fur with a tail wagging at the sped of light. “Hey brave heart, where have you been hiding out. Don’t you know you’re the one that’s supposed to be chasing bad guys and not me?” She laughed as Sam her golden retriever answered by placing his paws on her shoulders and licking her in the face. “Get off me you mutt,” she said with a smile “what good are you anyway.” With that he jumped down and trotted over to his favorite resting-place under the table. He plopped down with a bang and resumed his doggy nap once more. Susan took off her coat and decided to busy herself in the kitchen, it was close to dinner and she was beginning to get hungry. “What shall it be tonight Sam, chicken or beef?” The huge dog didn’t even acknowledge her question as he chased rabbits in his dreams. “Once more, thanks for the help big guy.” She took a chicken breast from the refrigerator along with some vegetables and began chopping them at the counter. Bang! The noise arose from outside, louder this time than before. Sam raised his head and whined as if to say “how dare you disturb my sleep.” “Damn,” Susan muttered “I know I heard it this time.” Susan carefully strolled over to the window above the sink, pulled back the pale, blue lace curtains, and looked out into the yard. The night was dark, and with the fog coming off the ocean, the visibility was very poor. She searched the yard for something amiss, but was unable to see anything. “Sam, come here boy,” she called to the retriever under the table. He slowly stood, arching his back and stretching out from his nap. Once more she grabbed her fall jacket and opened the door to step outside. She was immediately met by a slap of cold air on her face; the night was going to prove to be a cool one. “Let’s go boy,” she urged the big dog out in front of her. Sam hesitated for just a moment looking out into the darkness and stepped off the threshold. Susan listened quietly, trying to hear the sound again, but the night was once more still. “Geez…am I going crazy or what?” Susan asked herself, but she knew the sounds were real, not imagined. “What exactly am I doing out here by myself anyway. I’ve watched enough horror films to know that how the leading ladies always get into trouble,” she muttered. Even at times like this her sense of humor never failed her. John always said that was one of the first things that attracted him to her. God, how she wished he was here, he’d know exactly what to do and he always had a way of making her feel safe. She jumped as she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. “Man, you are going to drive yourself nuts if you’re not already,” she commented when she saw it was only a rabbit come to raid what was left of her garden. Sam noticed it too and took flight after it as he and the rabbit both disappeared into the darkened woods behind the house. “Thanks for your help,” Susan called out to him as he disappeared out of sight. Now standing alone in the quiet of the night she felt rather silly. The wind was strong tonight and that’s probably all she heard she reasoned to herself. Susan turned to go back into the house and had almost reached the door when she heard one short muffled woof followed by a yelp, then silence. “Sam?” she called. “Sam, come here boy.” Nothing, no rustle in the trees, no bark, no Sam. “Sam?” Susan was now becoming more frightened by the minute. Her heart was racing so fast it felt like it could explode through her chest at any minute. She quickly covered the last few steps to the door, rushed inside and locked the door behind her. “The phone,” she thought to herself. “I need to call the cops, but what am I going to say, I heard a noise and now my dogs missing? Yes, exactly, so what if they think I’m crazy, better they come and check it out and it be nothing.” She reached to the phone on the wall, picked up the receiver, held it to her ear and all she heard was silence. Susan could hear her heart pounding inside her chest, it’s rhythmic pattern like a false busy signal in her ear to which the phone was raised. Her hand opened up its grasp on the handset and the phone dropped against the wall with a clang. “Now what? Think Susan,” she commented aloud to herself. Never in her life could she remember being so frightened. A thousand thoughts ran through her head and not one of them good. Had she locked the other door for the night after John left? Were all the windows locked? Was she going to die here alone? “Get a grip,” she shouted to herself in her mind, trying to block out the flood of thoughts. “Now is not the time to go soft.” All her life Susan had been respected for keeping her calm when it seemed like the rest of the world was falling apart. She couldn’t stand to lose that ability now. She ran to the other door, found it locked and began a systematic search to be sure all the windows also were. Satisfied that they were, she began to pull her resources. She scolded herself for adamantly refusing Johns offer to buy her a handgun to keep at the house while he was away on business trips. “We live five miles from the nearest house, who’s going to come here,” she had told him with a smirk. Now she found herself eating her words and regretting that choice along with the one to move here to begin with. The house by the ocean seemed a perfect backdrop for her to write her books and the distance from the nearest neighbor afforded her the peace and quiet she needed. Now that distance seemed more of a threat than a comfort. “Okay, no gun, what can I use for a weapon?” Her eyes caught the large set of knives given to her and John four years ago for their wedding. Fifteen knives in a butcher-block holder, they had never looked so good to her as they did then. “There you go, about time that big butcher knife came in handy for something.” Her attempt at humor failed even herself at this moment. She had nearly reached the counter when she heard a very distinguishable sound. “Oh God!” The words left her lips in muffled tones. She knew what she was hearing and the thought frightened her to death. It was the sound of someone jiggling something in the lock of the other door. Susan was frozen in fright. As much as she wanted to move, she was helpless to do anything but stand there and watch as the doorknob began to turn and the door slowly swung open. A thousand thoughts all raced through her head at once as fear choked off her breathing. “I’m going to die here,” she thought; and death almost seemed welcome compared to what she worried might take place before hand. The door swung inward, more now and the sight beyond the threshold was enough to make her feel faint. Standing in the doorway was none other than John in all his glory. Waves of relief washed over her and she ran into his arms. “Wow!” He smiled and said, “ what ever did I do to deserve a greeting like that?” “What are you doing back, never mind, I don’t even care. I have never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life,” Susan ratted off. “Whoa, slow down a minute and breathe,” John said, grabbing her arm and leading her over to the couch. “What’s going on?” Susan explained every detail from the noises and the phone being dead, to Sam’s whine and him not coming back. The fright in her words quite evident and John patiently waited for her to finish before he spoke. “In case you didn’t notice, we are getting quite the storm out there. I’m sure the noises you heard were just the wind blowing the patio furniture off. I noticed it when I came home. The telephone has been off nearly since I left; the storm must have blown down a line somewhere. I tried to call to let you know I was coming back, I forgot something for my presentation tomorrow. If I know Sam, he slipped into a rabbit hole somewhere and is too ashamed to come home. I’ll be willing to bet he’ll be standing on the front porch tomorrow morning with his tail between his legs. See there’s nothing to worry about. Do you want to go with me to San Francisco?” Susan felt foolish, as tempting as the offer was, she couldn’t let John see how worried she really was. Besides, she had writing that needed finished and was actually looking forward to some time alone to get it done. “No, I think I’ll just stay here, you’re right, I just let my imagination get carried away. You know what an imagination I have,” she said as she winked at him. “I’ll tell you what, I still have a little time, how about I get you a sleeping pill to help you rest and stay here with you until you fall asleep?” He walked over to the kitchen counter, took out a bottle of pills, offering her one and a glass of water. Susan swallowed the tiny green pill and took his arm and led him upstairs. She snuggled under the covers while he lay beside her on top of the bed. The experiences of the night had taken their toll and his words, almost whispered, lulled her off to sleep. She never moved half an hour later when John rose from the bed. He smiled as he looked back and closed the bedroom door slightly. He gathered his papers he needed and his coat and locked the door behind him. Running late, he hurried off in his car, the house lights reflecting in his rearview mirror. John hadn’t been gone more than an hour or so when from the depths of her drug induced sleep Susan heard a jingling of something in the lock. She listened as the door opened and followed soft footsteps up the stairs. She smiled from the recesses of her dreams somewhere and thought to herself,” I wonder what he forgot this time” as she drifted back into oblivion. “Flight 509 to San Francisco, boarding at gate 9.” John hurried through the airport to catch his flight wishing he could get over the sinking feeling that he had left something else at home he should have taken with him. “Oh well,” he thought to himself. “I’ll just pick it up there. This is going to be a great trip.” He smiled as he handed the flight attendant his ticket and boarded the plane. The End [This message has been edited by hoot_owl_rn (03-17-2003 08:50 PM).] |
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| © Copyright 2003 Ruth Kephart - All Rights Reserved | |||
Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
Ruth, Excellent write. But...I don't do fear! Sorry.  If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. |
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LoveBug
Moderator
Member Elite
since 2000-01-08
Posts 4697 |
Only one reply? No! That won't do! I really enjoyed this.. you did the suspence and you developed your characters rather well for a short story. I think this should have a few more people reading it!!  Oh, make me Thine forever |
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rodger_jr Junior Member
since 2000-05-16
Posts 37Glen Hope, PA |
Larry...thanks for the read, what can I say, different strokes for different folks Love Bug...thanks for reading and thanks for your comment |
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