Night Terrors Read online

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  EPILOGUE

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  NIGHT TERRORS

  A novel by

  MARK LUKENS

  Night Terrors – Copyright © 2011 by Mark Lukens

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this work may be reproduced without written permission by the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead (or in any other form), is entirely coincidental.

  As always, this book is dedicated to my wife, my son, and my family.

  Please check out these other books by the Author:

  ANCIENT ENEMY http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FD4SP8M

  THE SUMMONING http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HNEOHKU

  DESCENDANTS OF MAGIC http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FWYYYYC

  A DARK COLLECTION: 12 SCARY STORIES http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JENAGLC

  GHOST TOWN: A NOVELLA – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LEZRF7G

  DEVIL’S ISLAND – Coming Soon

  THE SUPERHUMAN GENE – Coming Soon

  CHAPTER ONE

  1.

  The Shadow Man waited in the darkness across the street, hidden in the brush and palmettos as he watched the house – it was a two-story home, constructed from block with a stucco finish which was painted a very light beige and trimmed in white. The house was two thousand one hundred and fifty square feet and was bought for two hundred and forty-five thousand dollars in 2005. There was a master bedroom downstairs and two other bedrooms upstairs. He had the layout of the home committed to memory – he had done all of the necessary research.

  The front porch light was on and it cast a cozy, yellowish glow across the front porch and a small area of the front yard. A white BMW 328i sat in the driveway. The landscaping around the house was lush and tropical, and it would provide plenty of cover.

  At the Shadow Man’s feet was a canvas duffel bag.

  2.

  Inside the house, seventeen year old Jen watched her mother and father as they got ready to go out for the night. Her father shrugged into his suit coat and studied himself in the mirror that hung on the wall near the front door; he turned this way and that way, smoothing out the coat with his hands.

  Jen smiled at her father. “You look fine, Dad.”

  He returned her smile and then looked at his wife who rummaged through her purse like she was making a last-minute inventory check.

  Jen’s father walked over to his daughter. “We’ll be back before midnight. You sure you’re going to be okay here by yourself?”

  Jen’s mother, satisfied that everything was in order inside her purse, placed a reassuring hand on her daughter’s shoulder and answered for her. “She’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah, Dad,” Jen added. “I’ll be okay. I’ve got a lot to do. I’ve got that report to finish for school.” Jen gently pushed her parents towards the front door. “Go on. Have a good time. Don’t worry about me.”

  Jen’s father kissed her on the forehead. “Okay. Keep all the doors locked. Don’t open the door for anyone. And no boys over.”

  Jen nodded – she’d heard this a thousand times.

  Jen’s parents opened the door and walked out into the warm and humid night air.

  “Bye!” Jen called out and waved to them as they walked to their BMW.

  As Jen watched her parents get into their car, something tugged at her mind for just a moment; a quick and fleeting feeling, like something sharp and dangerous. And for just a moment she was sure that somebody was watching her from the darkness. She looked across the street at the brush and the forest of scraggly pine trees, but she couldn’t see anyone.

  But he’s there, her mind whispered.

  And then as quickly as the feeling had come, it was gone. She pushed the momentary fear away; she was just having jitters about being home alone for the night – that was all.

  She waved one more time at her mother and father as they drove away, and then she hurried back inside the house. She shut the door and locked it.

  3.

  The Shadow Man watched Jen’s parents leave the house and get into their car. The car started. The headlights came on. The car eased out of the driveway and drove out onto the lonely neighborhood street, and then it sped away into the darkness.

  There were only a few houses on this road – all of them on the other side of the street. Each house sat on a two acre lot and Jen’s house in particular was isolated from the other homes, separated from them by densely wooded lots on each side.

  The Shadow Man smiled in the darkness. He made himself wait a few minutes longer; making sure that the parents weren’t going to double back because they’d forgotten something. He could stand to wait a few more moments; he’d been waiting a long time for this.

  He knew that the girl inside the house had sensed his presence in the darkness. Their minds had “connected” for a brief moment. But it didn’t matter because he was going to be one step ahead of her at every moment.

  The metal objects inside his duffel bag clinked together as he lifted it up and slung it over his shoulder. He hurried out of the trees and brush and then darted across the road like some kind of night animal.

  Night animal, he liked the thought of that. Night predator – even better.

  He raced across the dark lawn, careful to keep out of the splash of light from the front porch. He made it to the corner of the house and slipped in behind a group of Philodendrons. He crept around the corner to the back of the house.

  4.

  Jen made sure the front door was locked one more time and then she walked over to the coffee table and picked up the remote control for the television; she left the TV on, but she turned the volume all the way down. She bounced over to the stereo system and turned it on. She found a pop station and cranked up the music.

  She grabbed her laptop out of her book bag and plopped down on the couch. She flipped the laptop open, powered it up, and found the file for her school report. She had just started reading what she had written so far when she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  Someone was banging on the sliding glass door!

  Jen turned so quickly she almost knocked the laptop off of her lap. Her eyes were on the vertical blinds that covered the sliding glass door that led out to the pool deck in the backyard.

  She stood up, her heart thudding in her chest, her mouth going dry, her mind beginning to buzz with panic.

  Something evil is out there, she thought.

  Jen walked to the vertical blinds and stood in front of them. She was about to pull them aside, but she stopped. She flipped the light switch up and the yellowish l
ight from outside shined around the edges of the blinds. She glanced back at her cell phone on the coffee table – maybe she should have it with her.

  She turned back to the blinds, took a deep breath, and ripped them aside.

  Right on the other side of the glass, only inches away from her, was a person dressed in dark clothing.

  Jen breathed out a sigh of relief as she unlocked the sliding glass door and pushed it open.

  “God, Kevin,” she said, “You scared the shit out of me.”

  Kevin, eighteen years old with an athletic body and a lopsided smile, entered the home. He grinned at her. “Who’d you think I was, the Boogeyman?”

  He tried to kiss Jen, but she pushed him away and closed the sliding glass door.

  “What the hell?” she said. “You didn’t have to pound on the door like that.”

  Kevin smiled and then gave her a mock frown. “If you don’t want me here, I can leave.”

  She smiled and kissed him. “No, I want you to stay.” And then she pushed him away again. “But you scared the hell out of me.”

  Kevin smiled and headed for the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and rummaged around. “Your dad got any beers hidden in here?”

  Jen didn’t answer; she went back to the couch and her laptop.

  “Here we go!” Kevin shouted as he found four bottles of beer behind a gallon of milk. He grabbed one of the beers, opened it and drank a third of it down. He sauntered back into the living room with the beer in his hand.

  Jen stared at him. “What am I supposed to tell my dad when he sees that his beers are gone?”

  “He’ll be drinking enough tonight. He’ll probably think he drank them. You could tell him that he blacked out.”

  Kevin plopped down on the couch right beside Jen as she pretended to read her report on the laptop. She scooted away from him.

  He scooted closer to her and took another sip of his beer. He smiled as he watched her. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

  Jen ignored him.

  “Come on, Jen.”

  Jen couldn’t help smiling. She turned and looked at Kevin – she’d already forgiven him.

  Kevin scooted closer to Jen as she set her laptop on the coffee table by her phone. They kissed; Kevin forced his tongue into her mouth right away.

  Jen pulled away. “Your breath smells like beer.”

  “You know you like it,” Kevin said, still smiling at her, but there was a hungry look in his eyes. He stood up and set his beer down next to her laptop on the coffee table. Then he walked towards the door at the other end of the living room and looked back at her. “Come on, let’s go to the bedroom.”

  “That’s my parents’ bedroom.”

  “I know,” Kevin said and smirked, and then he entered the dark bedroom, leaving the door open for her, inviting her in.

  Jen hesitated. She really wanted to make out with Kevin – she always wanted to do that – but right now that feeling of dread still tugged at her. And for the second time that night she pushed the tingling feeling of fear away. She felt a little safer now that Kevin was here with her. She got up and rushed to the bedroom.

  She entered the bedroom and closed the door. The room was totally dark; the only light came from the crack underneath the door.

  “Where are you?” Jen whispered as she walked towards the bed, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.

  No answer from Kevin.

  “Come on, Kevin. Don’t play around.”

  “Down here on the bed,” Kevin whispered.

  Jen lay down on the bed and Kevin slid closer to her. It was quieter in the bedroom, but Jen could still hear the music thumping from the living room.

  Kevin reached for her in the darkness, his hands groping at her body. He kissed her; a longer, more passionate kiss this time. And she started to forget about her fear for a moment; she wanted to let herself surrender to Kevin. He moved his hand down her arm to the bottom of her shirt, his fingers wiggled underneath her shirt, slowly working their way up …

  Jen pulled away.

  Kevin breathed out an annoyed sigh.

  “I … I don’t know if I’m ready yet.”

  “Come on, we’ve been going out for six months now.”

  “I know. I just want it to be the right time.”

  “It never seems like the right time for you.”

  Jen sat up and hugged her arms like she was cold. She glanced around the dark bedroom. She couldn’t shake the nervous feeling. No, nervous wasn’t the right word. She was afraid. That presence she’d felt earlier, that evil and that darkness, it was back now and much stronger than before. A buzzing panic was building up inside of her. Something very bad was outside her house; she knew that it didn’t make any sense, she knew that it wasn’t reasonable – but she knew it was true.

  She looked back at Kevin. “Maybe we should go out somewhere.”

  “Go somewhere? Why? We’ve got the house to ourselves.”

  “I don’t know. I just want to go somewhere.”

  Jen jumped from a soft thumping sound from out in the living room. She looked at Kevin with wide eyes. “Did you hear that?”

  Kevin stood up, even more annoyed now. He listened for a moment, and then shook his head. “I don’t hear anything.”

  He exhaled a deep breath and then stomped out of the bedroom and left the door wide open.

  Jen hopped off the bed and hurried after him.

  In the living room, Kevin grabbed his beer from the coffee table and chugged the rest of it down.

  “I said I was sorry for scaring you,” Kevin said after finishing the beer. “God, if I knew it was going to make you act like this …”

  “It’s not that -”

  They both jumped from a loud clanging noise in the kitchen. Jen let out a short scream as she grabbed on to Kevin’s arm, and both of them stared into the kitchen.

  “What was that?” Jen whispered.

  Kevin tore his arm away from Jen’s hands and took off for the kitchen.

  “Kevin, wait.”

  “I’m going to see what it was,” Kevin said over his shoulder, still clearly annoyed at these interruptions to his sexual conquest.

  Jen followed Kevin into the kitchen. They stared at a few pots and pans that had fallen out of one of the bottom cabinets.

  “It’s just some pots and pans,” Kevin said.

  Jen walked past Kevin and shoved the pots and pans back inside the cabinet. She didn’t see how they could’ve just fallen out like that. They were usually stacked neatly – her mom kept the kitchen very organized.

  She stood up and looked around the kitchen as she rubbed her arms again. She looked right at Kevin. “Let’s just go somewhere.”

  Kevin didn’t answer her as he grabbed another beer out of the refrigerator and headed back to the living room.

  Jen followed him. “Something doesn’t feel right. I don’t know how to explain it.” She’d never told Kevin about the “feelings” she got sometimes; she didn’t need to give him something else to make fun of her about. She’d never really told anyone about these feelings except her lifelong friend Kelly.

  Kevin was on his way back to the couch when he stopped in his tracks. He stared at the vertical blinds – they swayed back and forth slightly, like a breeze outside was moving them.

  “You shut the sliding glass door, right?” Kevin asked Jen.

  Jen nodded as she stared at the blinds. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure I did.”

  Both of them jumped as a blast of static erupted from the stereo. Jen glanced at the stereo, but then she focused on Kevin. “Listen to me, something’s wrong here. I’m not kidding.”

  Jen hurried over to the stereo and turned down the music which was distorted by static. She looked back at Kevin who stood in front of the vertical blinds. He pushed the blinds aside.

  “Kevin, what are you doing?” she hissed.

  The sliding glass door was open slightly. He slid the door open all the way and looked out at the pool deck and
fenced-in backyard. The back porch light only illuminated so much and a lot of the backyard was still hidden in shadows.

  Kevin was about to step outside when Jen grabbed his shoulder. He turned and stared into her wide eyes.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  Kevin snorted out a laugh. “I’m gonna check it out.”

  “No, don’t. Just stay in here. Someone’s out there. I can feel it.”

  Kevin smirked at her. “What do you mean, you can feel it?”

  Jen sighed; she really didn’t feel like going into a long explanation right now.

  Kevin smiled again at her and pushed a lock of hair out of her face. He seemed like he was relishing her fear, loving to play the hero for her. “I’ll be fine. I just want to have a look around. Besides, I’ve got a weapon with me.” Kevin lifted the beer bottle – indicating his weapon.

  Jen exhaled a shudder of a breath.

  “Don’t worry,” Kevin told Jen. “Just shut the door and lock it. I’ll knock three times so you’ll know it’s me and not a psycho killer.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  Kevin kissed Jen and went outside.

  Jen shut the sliding glass door and locked it. She walked back to the stereo. Static still hissed from the speakers. She tuned in another station. More static. The static meant something, she was sure of it.

  She walked back to the sliding glass door and looked out at the back porch and the pool. The shrubs and fence beyond the pool were just black shapes in the darkness. She couldn’t see Kevin anywhere.

  She unlocked the door and opened it. She listened for any sounds from Kevin. The night was silent; she didn’t even hear the usual buzzing of insects so common at night in Florida.

  “Kevin,” she whispered.

  No answer.

  “Kevin? Where are you? Come back inside.”

  Still no answer.

  Something crashed through the bushes at the back fence, something large. She couldn’t see who it was, but she was sure it wasn’t Kevin. She hurried back inside, slid the door shut, and locked it. She slid the vertical blinds shut. She stood there for a moment, watching the vertical blinds sway, the plastic blinds tapping at each other as their pendulum dance slowed down to stillness.