The Watcher

It was a new house, most of the area was, part of a big rejuvenation attempt from the local council, and yet something still felt off about the house. She had been told that the estate had a lot of residents in a short period of time, many of which just left, almost disappearing. Natalie let the feeling slip from her mind as she continued to unpack. It was getting dark and as she closed her curtains she thought she caught a glimpse of someone in one of the older buildings over the way. She looked again but there was no one to be seen. What a creep she thought to herself.

Tired and with most of the unpacking done she decided to go to sleep. As she lay there in the bed she couldn't help but feel that someone was watching her. Ignoring it she tried to sleep. From out of nowhere a slight creaking sound was heard, it's just the pipes she told herself, but the feeling of being watched was suddenly fresh in her mind. With the lights off Natalie peeked through the parting in her curtains to the old building over the way from earlier, once again she glimpsed a dark figure, but as quickly as she saw it the silhouette was gone. Feeling a bit on edge she moved her hand to the lamp switch, again she heard a creaking, no sooner had she turned the switch on and illuminated the room than the creaking stopped. It's just the heating she thought to herself. Exhausted she fell onto the bed and fell asleep, it's just the exhaustion from moving playing tricks with your mind Natalie thought to herself as she drifted off. Though sleep came it was not easy, she felt uncomfortable and agitated all night, her dreams haunted by the dark silhouette. In the morning feeling the warmth from the sun on her face she woke up feeling tired and restless.

A few days passed without incident, the creep had either given up, or worse, gotten better at it, a thought made more disturbing by the recent discovery that the building had been abandoned. As quickly as the thoughts came back into her mind they vanished. There! She caught it again, the ghastly figure was there over the way in the old building, and then it fled once more. She heard the pipes warping again, the creaking was getting louder by the day. If she was in her right mind Natalie would have gone over to the abandoned property, but the hour was late and she was tired. With an uneasy shudder running down her spine she drew the curtains and got into bed.

Natalie was woken suddenly by a loud creek, it sounded as if someone was in her room. She heard it again, opening her eyes slowly the noise appeared to be coming from right beside her bed, she snapped her eyes open but there was nothing there, just the stillness of the room. The clock on the bedside table flashed as the hour changed over and the sunrise bled through the curtains. Now wide awake she removed the covers from herself and was immediately hit by how cold the room was. The heaters were stone cold but the noise coming from the floor said otherwise. As she went down to check the boiler she noticed how cold the whole house was. The boiler was silent. Checking for a problem she noticed that it hadn't been turned on and thinking back Natalie realised that the heating had never been turned on. Returning to her room the thought of the creaking pipes started to nag at her consciousness. She opened the curtains, and it was there again, the ghostly figure, across the way hidden in the shadows. This time something was different. It lingered for a second longer then it evaporated into the sunlight.

With extreme determination Natalie put some clothes on and stormed out of the house, it was time to confront whoever, whatever, was watching her. As she crossed the road she came to a high wood board fence, there was a small gap just enough to squeeze through. Emerging on the other side of the fence she could see why the building had been abandoned, there had been some sort of fire, the window frames were charred, glass littered the floor around the base of the building and the doors were missing. She snuck into the building. With every cautious step she thought she was one step closer to apprehending the pervert. She could never have been more wrong, entering the structure the true extent of the damage was revealed. The walls were stained black, charred by super heated smoke and the upper floors were gone the ruins of which lay strewn around her feet. Three stories straight up and no floor, nowhere for anyone or anything to stand.

She shuddered and with haste abandoned the ruins. Glimpsing her house over the fence she could see her bedroom window, and there, for the briefest moment, she saw the haunting figure. Shocked and frightened Natalie tried to leave the grounds but failed, disorientated and confused she found herself back in the building, caught in the shadows, forever a prisoner to the malevolent shadow.