The Big Window
The Big Window
It was about 3:34am and I was lying in bed, it was one of those nights, the nights where every sound seems like it’s something horrible waiting in the shadows. I was just waiting, practically praying that I’d fall asleep. You see my bed is next to a big window. I’d usually look out into the night, but on this particular night I couldn’t dare to do so.
All night I’d been hearing rustling and bumping against that big window. I was freaking out. My breath left my body in short bursts. My eyes were wide open and I was covering every part of my body with my blanket, well all except my face, I had to be looking into my room, I had to see if something was there…if something was coming.
“What am I thinking?” I thought. These were all stupid thoughts. Nothing’s here to get me. I kept telling myself things like this, but I still couldn’t bring myself to look out that big window. I knew I had to end all of these stupid, childish ideas. I’m too old for this. I was sweating and shivering at the same time, this was getting ridiculous.
Then I heard another sound that I really didn’t want to hear. A series of loud thuds against my window shocked me and made me jump. Scratching noises followed all of this, as if someone was clawing at my window. “It’s just a tree, a big stupid fucking tree. That’s all it is”, I kept telling myself in my head, over and over, the same words, on a constant loop. Then it occurred to me, there was no big stupid tree next to that window, well no tree at all.
As I was lying there staring at the wall, my heart dropped as I noticed something moving on the dark wall. It was a shadow, the silhouette of a person. A head and shoulders, moving across my bedroom wall. I shivered as I watched the shape move across the wall, stopping at one point. Whatever’s casting that shadow is at the big window, the one behind me. The one that I just couldn’t look out.
I was trying to invent something for this shadow to be, something that wasn’t what I was so sure it was when I heard another noise, worse than any other I’d heard all night, this noise pretty much confirmed my fears. It was a loud grunt followed by three loud coughs, then a bump on the window. Right next to that big window, I had to look now. I just had to.
I finally managed to gather up the courage to look out into the night. I turned my head slowly and carefully, not wanting to see whatever was out there. When I looked out at first I saw nothing, I let out a long sigh of relief. Then a shape started to form in the dark, against the dim moonlight. It was the outline of a mans head. He was wearing a hooded jacket so his face was completely cast in shadows. I couldn’t see any of his facial features, but I knew he was watching.
I tried to pretend to sleep; maybe he’d leave if I were sleeping. I closed my eyes tight but I kept one open to check. The man was still staring. The dark shape was staring into my eyes. Never looking away, never moving.
Then the moon came out of the clouds more and engulfed the man in light, but the shadows still covered his face. He looked back into the moonlight, then hit the window four times, then dropped off the window. He was completely out of my sight. It was then I had a revelation that sent the coldest tingle up my spine, as if someone had dropped a very full bag of ice down my back. It had suddenly occurred to me that my room was on the 14th floor…
All night I’d been hearing rustling and bumping against that big window. I was freaking out. My breath left my body in short bursts. My eyes were wide open and I was covering every part of my body with my blanket, well all except my face, I had to be looking into my room, I had to see if something was there…if something was coming.
“What am I thinking?” I thought. These were all stupid thoughts. Nothing’s here to get me. I kept telling myself things like this, but I still couldn’t bring myself to look out that big window. I knew I had to end all of these stupid, childish ideas. I’m too old for this. I was sweating and shivering at the same time, this was getting ridiculous.
Then I heard another sound that I really didn’t want to hear. A series of loud thuds against my window shocked me and made me jump. Scratching noises followed all of this, as if someone was clawing at my window. “It’s just a tree, a big stupid fucking tree. That’s all it is”, I kept telling myself in my head, over and over, the same words, on a constant loop. Then it occurred to me, there was no big stupid tree next to that window, well no tree at all.
As I was lying there staring at the wall, my heart dropped as I noticed something moving on the dark wall. It was a shadow, the silhouette of a person. A head and shoulders, moving across my bedroom wall. I shivered as I watched the shape move across the wall, stopping at one point. Whatever’s casting that shadow is at the big window, the one behind me. The one that I just couldn’t look out.
I was trying to invent something for this shadow to be, something that wasn’t what I was so sure it was when I heard another noise, worse than any other I’d heard all night, this noise pretty much confirmed my fears. It was a loud grunt followed by three loud coughs, then a bump on the window. Right next to that big window, I had to look now. I just had to.
I finally managed to gather up the courage to look out into the night. I turned my head slowly and carefully, not wanting to see whatever was out there. When I looked out at first I saw nothing, I let out a long sigh of relief. Then a shape started to form in the dark, against the dim moonlight. It was the outline of a mans head. He was wearing a hooded jacket so his face was completely cast in shadows. I couldn’t see any of his facial features, but I knew he was watching.
I tried to pretend to sleep; maybe he’d leave if I were sleeping. I closed my eyes tight but I kept one open to check. The man was still staring. The dark shape was staring into my eyes. Never looking away, never moving.
Then the moon came out of the clouds more and engulfed the man in light, but the shadows still covered his face. He looked back into the moonlight, then hit the window four times, then dropped off the window. He was completely out of my sight. It was then I had a revelation that sent the coldest tingle up my spine, as if someone had dropped a very full bag of ice down my back. It had suddenly occurred to me that my room was on the 14th floor…