Just the Wind

December 26, the Day after Christmas and the small town of River Valley was in the chilling throes of an assault of frost and negative temperatures as the ice storm of the century raged on like God's frigid gift to a putrid humanity that wallowed in its inequities.

Dora McIntosh was stuck inside babysitting her brother, the last place she wanted to be. She was almost a woman now she should be becoming more independent now that she was 17 but here she was stuck inside the confines of her house.

Her brother was occupied watching cartoons on one of several streaming networks her family could barely afford; that would at least keep him out her hair for a bit. It wasn't bad enough that the ice storm had prevented her from being able to take her driver's test for the past week it was also that today was the day after Christmas, her least favorite time of year.

Her mother worked as a nurse and her father was a policeman. At least yesterday Her mom had the holiday off but her father had not gotten off until later that night. Now both of them were working, leaving her to keep her younger sibling occupied while Old Man Winter pounded at their door.

She left her brother to his kiddie shows and slammed her bedroom door shut and began to write in the journal she'd received as a gift yesterday. As Dora jotted down her angst-y thoughts on the blue lines of the yellow paper a bipedal human predator was stalking through the frigid conditions. He could not feel the could only the savage instinct of the hunt. His black bearded face was devoid of all emotion and a demoniac fur blazed in his savage eyes. He'd escaped from the penitentiary and was being hunted like a dog by the cops including one Officer McIntosh, the father of a certain someone who was snuggled in her nice warm house.

The weather increased in intensity as the day progressed and by five o'clock PM a fresh onslaught of snow was blowing across the county. Dora was disturbed from her reading by the call of her brother, "DORAAA!"

She growled and slammed her dystopian novel shut. The incessant call came again and she walked into the living room. "What is it now, Joey?"

He pointed to the T.V. and said it was stuck. Sure enough a ring was spinning continuously on the screen. Dora looked down at her phone and saw the wifi was on the fritz. "The weather is messing with our reception she replied."

She stuck a DVD into the player and popped some chicken nuggets into the microwave for Joey. She didn't fix anything for herself; the post holiday blues left her without an appetite.

She snuggled onto the couch beside her brother and prepared to suffer through the movie with him. Then the power went out with no warning.

Officer McIntosh was on patrol with his partner,Brandon when the town went black. He grew uneasy. He set his jaw and said to his fellow lawman, "This all we need with that killer running loose."

"This hellacious weather certainly doesn't help matters!" said Bradly.

Silence for a moment then McIntosh said,"As soon as we get a chance I'm going to check on our house. My daughter's alone with our youngest."

Bradley looked over at him, "Do you always leave her to baby sit?"

"It's the best solution. My wife works at the hospital and you know how picky I am about babysitters."

"She's ok with that?"

"She's a grown woman almost; she can handle it."

The bestial man the hunted hunter creeped trough the snow into a cozy little neighborhood that promised to satiate his blood lust. His hellish footsteps made no noises as he trod through the snow toward his next kill.

Joey was nigh hysterical when his sister snappily ordered him to hush so she could think. A lantern that's what they needed. She turned on the flashlight on her phone and went down into the basement leaving Joey in the kitchen quivering and cringing. She returned promptly illuminated in the glow the battery operated camping lantern.

"OK, Joey bundle up we're braving the cold!"

"Wh-where are we going?"

"To check on the Templetons. I want to make sure they have everything they need to make it through this outage."

"Why do I gave to come with you? It's freezing outside, LITERALLY freezing!"

"Because," she said gruffly, "I'm not going to leave you in here in the dark by yourself to get hurt on something!"

There was no further argument and they made their way to the home of their elderly neighbors. It was slow going, for they had to tread carefully across the ice and this feat was complicated by a powerful and merciless wind! Even through three layers of thermal clothing the cold cut with the precision of a laser scalpel.

Three swift knocks upon the door brought know answers. The curtains were drawn blocking the view from within. "Mr. Templeton! Hello! It's Dora we wanted to check on you!" Three more knocks answered by silence.

"Come on, Joey! We can't stay out here all night. They must be gone into town or something!"

The return was just as slow as the arrival but the siblings returned to the house. They stripped off coats and sweat shirts. The house was beginning to chill down. So they put on light jackets.

As for the Templetons they could not answer because they lay butchered on the crimson stained floor of their kitchen. The bestial humanoid who had hacked them to pieces with a camping hatchet crept out the back door even as to people made they're way back to their own abode.

Inside the Macintosh house Joey and Dora heard a scrapping sound outside the younger sibling was frightened. "Shhh. It's probably just the wind." His sister told him.

But it's NEVER just the wind is it? She thought. Then was angry at herself for falling into such a cliché. That's the last time she would watch Black Christmas.

It didn't help that the house was quite as the grave with the only sound coming from the ticking clocks and the occasional passing car. Dora decided to try to reach on of her parents but the cell phone screen indicated a total lack of service.

"Blast the ice must have frozen the cell tower!"

There it was again the sounds they'd heard earlier and was that a shadow moving outside the window of the computer room? Just the wind she told herself. Never just the wind her brain yelled in rebuttal.

Her and her brother occupied themselves with playing cards. Meanwhile across town Officer McIntosh said, "I'm taking us through my neighborhood. I want to check on my kids and the cell service is shot from the weather."

His partner picked up on the edge in his voice. " What's up?"

"A feeling I have."

"Ok let's go. I'll let the station house know our location."

The card game was cut short by sounds at the door. The doorknob rattled. Dora was a policeman’s daughter. Her father had taught some very important things and she knew the sound of a door being Jimmied open. Someone who should not be here wanted in. Suddenly the rattling ceased and a hatched chopped it's way the door.

She slammed a hand over her brother's mouth and hurried him into her room and instructed him to crawl under the bed. Cold sweat dripped down her brow, the hairs on her neck stood up, and a Tom Tom drum in her chest was keeping rhythm with the ticking clocks!

The intruder had succeeded in making his way inside and his footfalls and animalistic breathing filled the graveyard silence. The siblings hardly dared to breath least they be heard. Then just the foot steps came closer the sound of a car pulling up was heard.

Officer McIntosh knew something was off immediately when he say the butchered door standing wide open and he went into the mode of protective father. He quietly got of the car and ordered his partner to get the shotgun out of the trunk.

From beneath the bed where the intruder had stopped they heard heavy footsteps and the grunt from the intruder that turned into some in human cry!

The officers saw the large beared demon charging them. The father took careful aim and unloaded into the raging bull but the bull kept coming with the bloody hatchet. There was a large explosion as a police shotgun sent the escaped killer and his head on seperate vacations.

Dora left Joey under the bed and carefully peeked out at the bloody aftermath. "Never just the wind. she repeated as her father comforted her even as the killer was being cleaned up by the other policemen.