Just started a round table story. Jump in and add a paragraph. It's on my Facebook page and my blog. You can post a paragraph and I'll add it to the main body with a credit to the author. Only G or PG-rated contributions please. :D
When Jane closed her bedroom door and turned out the light, the farrigans were always waiting for her. Every night, without fail. They weren’t particularly scary, but rather they were creepy and eerie—unsettling. Invariably, they made her skin crawl and the hairs on her arms and the back of neck stand up straight as toy soldiers. If she listened closely she could hear their whispers in her ears, though never a full tone. Not enough that she could detect the difference between the males or females if indeed their voices varied with their sex. All together, their soft murmurs were like the sound of the ocean in a conch shell, but on occasion she could pick out a single voice from the others. Only then could she decipher any actual words. She had come to accept their presence in her room. At first she had been terrified and fought against the prickling sensations that came with the awareness of their company. She had tried keeping a candle burning to dispel the darkness that seemed to draw them out of whatever hiding place they found in daylight. But her room would become unusually drafty, and the windy currents would whip through the room to snuff out the flame. And then they would come, just as before. So finally, they had developed a kind of armistice, an unspoken agreement to coexist. She felt rather than heard that they would not harm her or interfere with her sleep or invade her personal space. And eventually, she began to find a certain comfort in the knowledge that she was never quite alone in the darkness, even on the moonless nights when her room was black as pitch. Their gentle sighs would lull her to a peaceful sleep, knowing they were keeping watch. And keeping watch, they were. For on one such moonless night, long after her eyelids had closed and her mind had drifted into a deep sleep, she was abruptly awakened by a whistling word spoken in her ear. “Danger!” Her eyes flew open and she lay still, suddenly awake and aware, holding her breath to listen. She struggled to peer through the darkness. The silence was disconcerting. Not a single farrigan’s voice in the lightless bedroom. Her hand slid stealthily under her pillow and clasped the handle of a small sheathed blade. Her habit of sleeping with the knife began when she first noticed the farrigans, but she had continued the custom even after she’d convinced herself they were no threat. Now she felt her palm sweating against the smooth bone grip as she drew it out. The shadows moved across the room as her bedroom door began to inch open. Jane stared at the door, her pupils fully dilated, frantically trying to plan her escape while her heart pounded in her chest. Perhaps, if she threw her knife at the intruder, he or she or it would be injured or at least distracted enough that she could escape through the low window near her bed. The seconds stretched as hours while she waited, straining to see the creature that was entering the room in the blackness. Then she saw something. Or rather she saw nothing. A form that could only be described as a lack of light moved through the doorway. A blackness made blacker. A heavy, opaque darkness. A void. It was as if a black hole had taken the form of a man and stepped into her bedroom. And with it came a fog of cold vacuum that drew every bit of energy from her body. Her pulse began to drag as the blade slipped from her slack fingers. She watched helplessly as the void moved toward her, no light and no sound penetrating it’s aura. Abruptly, the room was alive with whispering farrigans, their quiet voices as loud to Jane as screaming cicadas. The electricity of their song, which raised gooseflesh on her skin, also roused her dampened nerve endings and broke her paralysis of lethargy. The lightless creature drew back at the assault of energy in the room. Almost, it seemed to hold up voided shapeless hands as if shielding itself from some bright light. And then, as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.
http://tamiedearen.weebly.com/blog--a...
https://www.facebook.com/authortamie....
When Jane closed her bedroom door and turned out the light, the farrigans were always waiting for her. Every night, without fail. They weren’t particularly scary, but rather they were creepy and eerie—unsettling. Invariably, they made her skin crawl and the hairs on her arms and the back of neck stand up straight as toy soldiers. If she listened closely she could hear their whispers in her ears, though never a full tone. Not enough that she could detect the difference between the males or females if indeed their voices varied with their sex. All together, their soft murmurs were like the sound of the ocean in a conch shell, but on occasion she could pick out a single voice from the others. Only then could she decipher any actual words.
She had come to accept their presence in her room. At first she had been terrified and fought against the prickling sensations that came with the awareness of their company. She had tried keeping a candle burning to dispel the darkness that seemed to draw them out of whatever hiding place they found in daylight. But her room would become unusually drafty, and the windy currents would whip through the room to snuff out the flame. And then they would come, just as before.
So finally, they had developed a kind of armistice, an unspoken agreement to coexist. She felt rather than heard that they would not harm her or interfere with her sleep or invade her personal space. And eventually, she began to find a certain comfort in the knowledge that she was never quite alone in the darkness, even on the moonless nights when her room was black as pitch. Their gentle sighs would lull her to a peaceful sleep, knowing they were keeping watch.
And keeping watch, they were. For on one such moonless night, long after her eyelids had closed and her mind had drifted into a deep sleep, she was abruptly awakened by a whistling word spoken in her ear. “Danger!”
Her eyes flew open and she lay still, suddenly awake and aware, holding her breath to listen. She struggled to peer through the darkness. The silence was disconcerting. Not a single farrigan’s voice in the lightless bedroom. Her hand slid stealthily under her pillow and clasped the handle of a small sheathed blade. Her habit of sleeping with the knife began when she first noticed the farrigans, but she had continued the custom even after she’d convinced herself they were no threat. Now she felt her palm sweating against the smooth bone grip as she drew it out.
The shadows moved across the room as her bedroom door began to inch open. Jane stared at the door, her pupils fully dilated, frantically trying to plan her escape while her heart pounded in her chest. Perhaps, if she threw her knife at the intruder, he or she or it would be injured or at least distracted enough that she could escape through the low window near her bed. The seconds stretched as hours while she waited, straining to see the creature that was entering the room in the blackness. Then she saw something. Or rather she saw nothing. A form that could only be described as a lack of light moved through the doorway. A blackness made blacker. A heavy, opaque darkness. A void. It was as if a black hole had taken the form of a man and stepped into her bedroom. And with it came a fog of cold vacuum that drew every bit of energy from her body. Her pulse began to drag as the blade slipped from her slack fingers. She watched helplessly as the void moved toward her, no light and no sound penetrating it’s aura.
Abruptly, the room was alive with whispering farrigans, their quiet voices as loud to Jane as screaming cicadas. The electricity of their song, which raised gooseflesh on her skin, also roused her dampened nerve endings and broke her paralysis of lethargy. The lightless creature drew back at the assault of energy in the room. Almost, it seemed to hold up voided shapeless hands as if shielding itself from some bright light. And then, as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.