Free Broken Promises by Terri Reid Page B

deep breath, she turned off the light in the bathroom and made her way into her bedroom. The noise from the television was comforting. She even got enough nerve to walk to the closet door and test it; to be sure it was shut.
    She released a sigh of relief when the door was firm, and began to walk to her bed when she heard a slight click. Did something just turn the knob?
    She turned quickly and faced the door, her heart pounding. She stared at the door, willing it to open, but praying it would not.
    After a few moments, she moved back, away from the door towards her bed. Pausing halfway across the room, she walked over to her chaise lounge. Moving behind it, she pushed it across the room until it was in front of the closet door. She pushed it further, so it was jammed up against the door. “That ought to keep the door closed,” she said, brushing her hands together.
    She didn’t turn off the overhead light until she had flipped on the lamp on her nightstand. Then she walked across the room to turn it off. The room was still fairly bright with the pictures from the television program, but the lamp made her feel even more secure.
    Climbing into bed, the television and the lamp still on, she slid underneath the blankets. Her night mask stayed on the night stand, unused. She didn’t want to be that vulnerable. Purposely positioning herself away from the closet, she pulled the blankets up as high as she could, cocooning herself inside them.
    Lying in bed, listening to the sounds of her house, she tensed at every creak and bump. Finally, after about twenty minutes, she allowed herself to relax. Her eyes began to drift shut and the tension began to slowly slip away. She could feel herself being drawn into sleep and she welcomed it. Just as she was drifting away, she heard the knob on the closet turn.
    Immediately awake, her heart beating in her throat, she listened as the chaise lounge was pushed forward on the floor. She couldn’t move. Almost couldn’t breathe. She was paralyzed with fear. She gripped the blankets tightly until her knuckles where white and waited. The television turned off and the light on the nightstand darkened. Then she felt the bed give way and knew that something was beside her on the bed.
    She felt nausea roll in her stomach and her heart pounded in her chest. She could feel the darkness of whatever was in the room with her. Her legs were numb; her voice was dry in her throat. She couldn’t even scream. She felt it move closer to her in the bed.
    Pressing her eyes together, she gripped the blankets even tighter and did the only thing she could think of. She prayed. “Dear God, Please help me. I’m so frightened. Please make this thing go away.”
    She felt the mattress shift, felt the presence lift away from her and finally, after a few moments, heard the closet door close. After what seemed to be an eternity, she could lower the blanket. Her bedroom was back the way it had been before she had gone to bed. The chaise was still against the closet door. The television was still running and the lamp was still on.
    Biting her lower lip, she slowly shook her head. No, she hadn’t imagined it. There was something in her room. Something on her bed. Finally, she glanced down to the side of her bed and trembled when she saw the depression in the blankets next to her. Wordlessly, her breath coming out in short gasps, she slid from under the covers. She ran across her room and into her living room. Grabbing her coat, she slipped it on as she grabbed her purse and her keys. There was no way she was going to spend another night in that house.

Chapter Fourteen
    Stanley sat in the dark, a high powered flashlight in his lap, and waited to see if any nocturnal visitors were going to pay him a call. “Come on, you lily-livered coward,” he whispered, “show yourself.”
    The clock in the living room clicked with each passing second, echoing in the stillness of the night. He slowly scanned his house, from his