SOUNDS IN THE SHADOWS

[JERRY C]

SOUNDS IN THE SHADOWS

                Walking down the path, but pausing to inspect a distracting noise coming from somewhere in the darkness, some distance to the side, I heard a low, guttural growl.  But, somehow it also sounded softly feminine and alluring.

                In that moment, when I should have run, I hesitated, hearing, it seemed, my name called.  I spun around to locate the voice.  But, at the same time, my back stung from the razor cuts across my shoulder.  It was on me, snapping and snarling!   In confusion, I turned to see a beautiful smile; and, I impulsively kissed her, only to have my face gnawed off!  Nearly blind, I stumbled, with help from somewhere, back onto the path.  The fiend retreated into the darkness, snarling and pacing menacingly.



                I rolled over, startled awake, in a cold sweat.  Nightmare?  Insight?  Vision?  Warning?  I sometimes hear the howls, eerie and disconcerting, when the night train passes behind my place, its whistle awakening the pack.  But, I believe the other fiends are MORE real.  And, they are not warm-blooded.  I sometimes feel their cold breath.  And it is foul.

                The sounds in the shadows make me edgy.  But, who pulled me back onto the path?!  That question keeps me going.