The Eyes in the Dark
“Some monsters don’t hunt their prey… they protect it.”
⸻
The rain had been falling for hours.
It beat relentlessly against the roof of the small wooden house at the edge of Blackthorn Village, where nineteen-year-old Nita sat curled beneath a blanket, pretending to read a novel she hadn’t turned the page of in nearly thirty minutes.
Her grandmother’s words echoed in her mind.
“Never look into the forest after midnight.”
“Why?” she had asked as a child.
“Because something might be looking back.”
Nita had laughed then.
Now, she wasn’t laughing.
The old grandfather clock in the living room chimed.
Dong…
Dong…
Dong…
Twelve times.
Midnight.
A cold wind slipped through the cracks in the window, sending a shiver down her spine. The lights flickered once.
Then twice.
The house fell silent.
Too silent.
No insects.
No frogs.
Not even the rain.
It was as if the entire world had stopped breathing.
A strange feeling settled in her chest.
Someone was watching her.
She slowly turned toward the bedroom window.
Nothing.
Only darkness and the outline of the towering pine trees beyond the garden.
She forced herself to look away.
“It’s just your imagination,” she whispered.
Then—
Scratch…
A sharp sound dragged across the glass.
Nita froze.
Another scratch.
Long.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Her heart pounded against her ribs.
She reached for her phone, but there was no signal.
The lights flickered again.
When they steadied, she looked toward the window.
Two glowing golden eyes stared directly at her from the darkness.
She couldn’t move.
The eyes didn’t blink.
Didn’t shift.
They simply watched.
Her breath caught in her throat as a massive black figure stepped out from behind the trees.
It was enormous.
Far larger than any wolf she had ever seen.
Its thick black fur shimmered under the pale moonlight, and its amber eyes burned like fire.
Fear took over.
She screamed.
The creature vanished into the forest.
Panting, Nita rushed to the window and slammed it shut, locking it with trembling hands.
She pulled the curtains closed.
“It’s gone,” she whispered to herself.
“It was just an animal.”
Trying to calm her racing heart, she backed away from the window.
Then…
Knock.
She froze.
Knock.
Her blood ran cold.
Knock.
Three slow knocks.
On the outside of the second-floor window.
Impossible.
No one could reach that window.
Gathering every ounce of courage she had, Nita pulled the curtain aside.
No one was there.
Only the moonlight…
And a single crimson handprint smeared across the glass.
Written beneath it, in dripping blood, were four chilling words:
HE HAS FOUND YOU.
Nita staggered backward, her scream echoing through the empty house.
Far away, deep within Blackthorn Forest…
A lone wolf lifted its head toward the moon and howled.
And somewhere in the darkness, a man’s voice whispered,
“I’m too late…”
