It was the night of the last big snow that Granite Falls would see for years to come. Randy was dreading another day in his fourth grade class as he stood dripping wet from the bath he’d just taken by the wood stove which served as the heat for the Old House. The Old House, as it were, was drafty, and even with the layer of plastic which had been fastened over the windows, still took a great deal of effort to warm up. The towel draped around his shoulders soon collected enough heat that the cloth began to sting his skin. Having grown up this way, he knew that it was time to turn over and cook his backside. As he stood basking in the warmth, he could hear his father and mother talking in the living room.
“It’s going to get colder than a well digger’s ass tonight,” Gene said as he sipped on a glass of Pepsi. “We’d better make sure that there’s plenty of wood in, and pack the stove full before bed.”
“I know it,” Edna replied with a hint of concern in her voice, “they’re calling for snow as far as Charlotte tonight; from eight to twelve inches is what they said on the radio.” She looked over the edges of her book as she regarded him. He sat in his usual spot by the dining room entryway watching the TV and soaking up the warmth from the living room stove. “Do you think we need to have Brigetta sleep downstairs tonight,” she inquired knowing that it would be too cold for anyone to sleep in the drafty halls and bedrooms that lay beyond the landing of the upstairs. As if to prompt an answer, a breeze shifted rattling the great curtain of plastic which had been put up to seal the windows?
Gene took a deep breath as he thought it over briefly. “Yeah, she’d better sleep downstairs tonight; it’ll be way too cold for her to stay up there in that room. She can stay in Randy’s room that way they’ll both be warm.” They discussed the issue further, but for the most part it was set, Randy’s older sister was going to be sharing the bed with him that night.
For Randy that meant sleeping in his favorite sweat suit, the self same that he used as his Ghostbusters’ Ensemble. It sure beat sleeping in long-handles; they were itchy- now if only he could get out of going to school the next day it would be better. While most little brothers would be crestfallen at having an older sibling, especially an older sister spending the night with them, Randy didn’t mind. He and Brigetta were rather close for the given circumstances. They would often hang out, and she would take him to see movies, or the arcade even though she herself didn’t play games like Karate Champ or Kicker. It was she who took Randy to see Ghostbusters in the theater a few years back and would often take him Christmas shopping at the mall. So having her stay in his room was almost like having a friend stay over, almost.
The night carried on and as the stoves gat loaded up with a solid mixture of dry cured oak and some green maple to ensure that the fire would burn hot all night long, everyone went to bed. Randy was out cold despite the wind that whistled just outside, the wind which would soon bury the countryside in a glistening blanket of satiny white.
The lights were out and Brigetta lay next to him glad to be warm but wishing that she was in her own bed rather than that of her younger brother. Despite the heavy rise and falls of Randy’s deathlike slumber, she could hear the roar of the fire in the dining room. Every so often there would be a mild shift that would shake the floor of the house as a log adjusted in one of the stoves. She lay there listening to the wind whispering its secrets to her from outside, and the rattle of the plastic which covered the windows of the living room, dining room and, kitchen, as it protested the churn of the icy cold wind. Every once in a while a singular breath would find its way through the cracks in the wall, or through the hole where the dryer exhaust pipe ran and remind her why she was downstairs on a night like this. While she didn’t know when it had happened, Brigetta drifted into the land of dreams as sleep crept into her form the way that a cat slips upon its prey.
The dreams were simple and enlightening as she dreamt of days at the beach with her aunt and uncle’s family. She dreamt of driving and of laughter. It was a moment of joy and wonder as she journeyed through the realms of slumber. It was in this realm she lived another life, as most people do. There was excitement, and fun, but most of all there was happiness…but that came all crashing to a screeching halt when the scene abruptly shifted from a sunny day on the beach to the outer view of herself and Randy laying in the bed. She felt a sense of urgency course through her very being and found it realized as a massive arm reached through the window and began strangling her against the red bed rails of Randy’s bed. Randy lay motionless, unaware of the plight she was in though she fought and flailed against the forceful arm of her attacker. Though she fought with all she had she could not prevail against the murderous grip of whoever held her pinned against the headboard. At the final moment when she knew the struggle to be about over, she snapped out of her dream and back into the waking world.
The room looked no different than it did in her dream. Even Randy was still on his side, dead to the world around him. Unable to shake the horrific feeling of being choked Brigetta turned to look outside. Snow had been falling for a little while, and goose feather flakes fell as pale shadows falling from the heavens casting the world aglow with twilit obscurity. For many such a scene of serene beauty would bring a simple pleasure to the mind, conjuring the most splendid of childhood memories. That could not be said with this night however, for amidst the ivory blanket that had cloaked the earth, Brigetta beheld a most unnerving sight for there in the snow were pointed boot prints, much like that made by cowboy boots. Someone had been standing at the window and probably left during the time she was dreaming of the attack. Immediately she began shaking Randy to see if he saw it them as well, and when he did not wake right away, she dribbled his head upon his pillow like one would a basketball, waking him immediately.
“Randy,” she hissed!
“Hmm,” Randy groaned at being woken from his hibernation?
“Look! Do you see them,” she inquired her whisper as harsh as metal scraping across concrete? “Do you see them?”
Randy rubbed his eyes and peered out the window, and immediately he was excited. It was snowing, and that meant the possibility of there being no school. “Yeah,” he exclaimed in a low voice that border lined a whisper and a vocal impression, “It’s snowing!”
“No,” Brigetta spat, “not the snow, look!” She pointed toward the ground.
Randy strained his eyes, and then it became clear. “Who was outside?”
“I don’t know,” she replied more than a little freaked” but I knew they were there because I had this dream that they were reaching through the window and choking me against the bed rails!”
At that moment Edna walked in wrapped in her nightgown. “What’s going on?”
Brigetta wasted no time in telling her the details concerning the dream and how she woke up to find the footsteps outside of the window. It was almost as if she picked up on some mental signal that revealed to her what was in the other person’s mind, however, that wasn’t where the craziness ended. It wasn’t until Gene went out and checked the prints that it became clear that something obviously had been overlooked. Something that was put into perspective after Gene had went back to bed.
The footprints started at the window and led away, in the snow. In other words, the footprints originated at the window, packing down the fresh fallen snow and then walked away, but from where did they come… that is an answer the family does not know to this very day…
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