I didn’t notice him right away.
How long had he been watching me for?
I was on campus walking back to my dorm room when I spotted him. He seemed to linger in the shadows, just close enough to see him in my peripheral vision, yet too far away to discern any recognizable facial features. He wore a hoodie. That’s all I saw at first. His presence unsettled me.
The rain poured down in buckets as I fast-walked, soaking wet, into the safety of my dormitory. The warmth from the heater gave me goosebumps as I slipped into pajamas and brewed a hot cup of cocoa. The downpour outside was horrendous, the copious amounts of raindrops smeared my window. Yet I still saw him…
The creep.
Outside in the parking lot. His face was obscured by his hoodie, as if he was looking at his shoes.
Unease jolted my stomach. My fingers trembled against my mug as I hurriedly shut my blinds. I sat there, anxious, hoping he would leave. For an hour, I listened to the incessant raindrops and occasional thunder crashes. Time seemed to grind to a halt.
Eventually, as the sun began to set, and the gray storm clouds outside darkened into blackness, I nestled up the courage to sneak a peak.
Nothing.
Thank god.
Relived, I entered my bathroom and took a long, indulgent shower, allowing my stress and tension to dissolve with every bead of hot, steamy water. My muscles relaxed and I was able to breathe again.
Finally, I stepped out and dried off with a towel, eagerly anticipating some much needed sleep. I yawned as I stomped off to my bedroom. I parted my blinds once again, still seeing nothing. Convinced I was safe to sleep, I left the blinds parted, allowing moonlight to illuminate my bedroom.
I walked over to the bed and pulled back my covers.
The creep.
From outside.
He looked at me, his white blob of a face smiled at me. His hands were nestled under his chin like a child. The eyes were a solid, demonic black.
I backed away instinctly, but failed to scream. My throat was frozen, locked in the most primal, intense fear I have ever experienced. His eyes stared upwards, looking at the ceiling. A flash of lightning illuminated the room. He sat up in one fluid motion, as if doing a crunch. Its legs were still tucked underneath my bedsheets. It was at this moment that I realized, to my utmost horror, that whatever was in my bed…
Wasn’t human.
It slowly turned its head until the eyes locked onto me. It moved like an…
Alien.
In my retreat, I bumped my hip into my dresser, the crash sudden and emphatic. The sound caused it to stop smiling. I was close to my door now. I felt for the knob, found it, and turned it.
The knob let out an agonizingly loud squeak. The thing in my bed opened its mouth, wider than humanly possible, and folded over itself. Grotesque displays of flesh pulsated where it’s head used to be.
I screamed, finally unfrozen from my terror-induced trance, and ran down the hall, in an attempt to wake up the other girls in the dorm.
One girl poked her head out her door and asked me what was going on. In a panting, desperate plea, I told her there was a man in my dorm I didn’t know. She called campus security for me.
They found nothing of interest in the dorm and seemed annoyed at me for wasting their time. I couldn’t bear to go back into that dorm. But I had to.
I slowly crept back inside, and found it empty.
Well, except for the hoodie resting on my bedsheets. It didn’t belong to me.