"Talon" by Deborah Van Norden

[Deborah_Van_Norden]

Talon

I will never forget that night. It was one of the most horrible nights of my life.
It was midnight and I was sitting on the couch in my living room. The fire in the fireplace warmed the room perfectly. With my German Shepherd, Max, by my side, I was content.
Suddenly, I heard a tapping on the window of my second story apartment. I started. I listened but heard nothing for several moments. Then, tap tap. I looked toward the window. How odd, I thought to myself, that something should be tapping on my second story window. No trees stood close to the window and there was no way for anyone to climb up the building. Tap tap. And then a loud screeeeeeech, like claws being drawn harshly down the glass. Max, who had been sleeping, turned his toward the window and woofed. Screeeeeech! Max barked, then growled menacingly.
“What in the world….” I said.
Something was out there.
I got up from my couch and walked slowly to the window. The blind was down and I knew I wouldn’t be able to see what was out there with the lamp on beside the window so I turned it off. Screeeeech! I gulped. Then, in one swift movement, I grabbed the string and yanked the blind up.
“Aah!” I cried out, and stepped backwards.
Before me was the most hideous sight I had ever seen. A bird-like creature stared hard at me through the window. It was huge and black with a sort of hunched back. Its beak was terrible, curved downward and sharp. Its eyes were a strange green color and the stared at me coldly. It raised its foot and ghastly claws screeeeeeched across the window.
I was petrified. I couldn’t move but I knew I had to take some kind of action. Quickly, I ran to the window and yanked the cord. The blind once again covered the window and the monstrosity that was somehow perched there. I backed away from the window and stood in the middle of my living room, shaking.
The thing was still there. I couldn’t see it but I knew it was there. Scared, and not knowing what else to do, I picked up the phone and dialed the number for emergency.
“Hello, dispatch. What is your emergence?” came the voice over the phone line.
“Uh, there’s a…a…a thing…on my window. It’s big and black and its claws…”
“Are you okay, sir? Do you need assistance?”
“Um…yeah. That’s why I called.”
“What is your address, sir?”
I gave the dispatcher my address and upon being promised that assistance was on the way, I hung up the phone.
I looked around the room for Max but he was nowhere to be found. I didn’t know what else to do so I sat on the couch in front of the fire and waited for help to arrive. I was still shaking and I felt cold.
After what seemed like an eternity, I heard sirens and eventually, a knock on my door. I rose and walked quickly to the door and opened it.
Outside stood three police officers.
“Good morning, sir,” said one. “You called for assistance.”
“Yes,” I replied nervously. “It’s in here, outside, on the window.”
“What’s on the window?” the police officer asked.
“The um…thing.”
“The thing? What thing?” The officer was eyeing me suspiously.
Suddenly, it dawned on me. He probably thinks I’m crazy.
“Come in. Please,” I said, and stood back so the officers could enter my small apartment.
The officers looked at me warily. The one who had spoken placed his hand on his gun. The three officers walked inside and I shut the door.
“It’s this way,” I said, and gestured for them to follow me.
I led them to the living room and stared nervously at the window. The officers were staring at me.
“Um…just…prepare yourself,” I warned. I walked to the window, took hold of the cord and slowly raised the blind.
The beast was still there.
The officers cried out in unison and jumped back.
Except for one.
That one walked bravely forward. His morbid curiosity was about to get the better of him. He stood close to the window and stared in wonder. Suddenly, with an ear-jarring scream that sounded nothing like any bird should sound, the thing’s head came through the window and the creature opened its huge beak, revealing a cavernous mouth. Then, as if all the air was sucked from the room, the curious man with it. I heard a horrible screaming as the man disappeared inside that enormous mouth.
The beast withdrew its dreadful head and I saw that the window was still intact. How the hell…I thought to myself. But I dared not approach the window.
The thing began to speak to me, not in words, but through my thoughts.
“My name is Talon. I am going to destroy you.”
The voice was the most evil-sounding voice I had ever heard. My blood went cold.
I don’t remember the police officers leaving but they must have because when I looked around the room, they were gone. I looked back toward the window. The beast was staring at me. Its direct gaze was ice cold. I had no doubt that it meant what it had whispered into my head.
It was somehow going to destroy me.
It was now later in the morning and the sun was beginning to rise. The evil beast took one long last look at me, as if to say, I won’t forget you, and then it lifted its dreadful wings, turned toward the sunrise, and flew away.
But I knew it would be back…at midnight.

[portia-shakespeare]

nice story, i reallly like the anticapation at the end