SAMIR’S HOUSE
Samir had nodded off for no more than five minutes when a loud crash startled him back to consciousness. He was really feeling the mix of sleep deprivation and strong liquor pumping through his veins now. He looked around in surprise to see that Emma had gone, so wondered what the noise was that he just heard. He slowly lifted himself off of the couch and shuffled himself to his feet. Then there was another loud bang that seemed to be from a bedroom above him, so he figured Emma had gone upstairs, but had no idea why.
“Emma?” He shouted as he continued shuffling towards the stairs, gradually ascending them.
He heard no reply and so shouted her name again. This was met with a series of knocks and rapping's on the wall that seemed to be coming from the front bedroom. He walked towards the bedroom and swung the door open expecting to see her, but the room was empty. That was impossible he thought, he just heard noises from here. Suddenly a strange ethereal grunt rang out from behind him and he looked around confused. He was looking at the door to the back bedroom which appeared to be moving and pulsating. How was that possible? The door seemed to be giving off strange guttural shrieks and metallic growls that were both unnerving and captivating at the same time. He found himself transfixed by the sounds, almost hypnotized. In the corner of his eye he saw something else, another shadow figure darting from one corner of the hall to the other. This was enough to bring him back to the reality of what seemed to be happening. If he was imagining this then his imagination was much more vivid than he had ever realised. The shadow figure darted back to where he had first seen it, drifting close to Samir, all the while the guttural calls rhythmically pulsating from the back-bedroom door. He noticed the door begin slowly melting into something, and it also seemed to be moving closer to Samir.
Enough was enough, Samir thought, as he leapt down the stairs as quickly as he could. When he reached the bottom, he could still hear the metallic grunts oscillating around him and rapping's on all the walls around him continuing. The far wall started vibrating and blue string-like patterns began to emerge, as several shadow people seemed to spring to life in his peripheral vision. He grabbed his car keys, he had to get out of there immediately, he couldn't stay in this house for another moment. He turned and ran to the front door, panicked and noticed that the blue veins from behind him were swirling into some kind of form. Shadow figures gradually came into full view, partly translucent, blue pulses flickering through them. He opened the door and ran, leaving it wide open. He had no time to think and just ran to his car, jumping in and starting the engine. The car roared to life and he screeched away as quickly as he could.
He had no idea where he was going to go; he just had to get away. Was all this really in his head? It seemed far too real to him, he was convinced there had to be something going on. He put his foot on the pedal to go faster and nothing happened, with a sudden scream he realised that the car was starting to vibrate and flash with tiny specks of blue, as if mini super-nova's were happening all around him. He hit the brake and still nothing happened. He screamed at the top of his voice as he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open, his sounds echoing back at him wildly, like feedback. With that he jumped and hit the concrete road with a deafening thud. The car continued on its path, where it suddenly seemed to melt and fall apart into a throbbing pulsating mass, before it seemed to flicker in and out of his vision, eventually vanishing completely.
Samir couldn't understand what was happening. He quickly pulled himself to his feet and noticed his elbows and knees were streaming with blood from where he had slammed against the concrete. Suddenly a shadow figure flashed into existence next to him, its dark eyes catching Samir's, pulling him in closer to the nothingness that lay behind them. He managed to pull his eyes away in terror and once again started to run. His run was laboured due to his intoxication, but his adrenalin was keeping him going, as he desperately tried to get away from the shadow figures. He kept looking behind him to see more figures joining in the chase. They seemed to float behind him effortlessly, all the while their deep penetrating eyes trying to pull him back towards them. Behind them he saw something bigger coming towards him, something morphing and pulsating, taking every form yet no form, as if the whole of the landscape was trying
