Can you hear them?
A short story for Halloween 2020 from Paul White
I have a small multi-tool. It is much like a penknife; a type of ‘Swiss Army’ knife for the handyman. I keep it in a small compartment in the top draw.
That compartment is its ‘home’. When it is not in use, it is where it ‘lives’.
Two weeks ago I needed this knife. It was not in the draw. I could not find it.
Today I was fetching another item and the knife was back in the draw, back in its small compartment. Back in its ‘home’.
This is not the first time some of my possessions have gone ‘missing’ or have moved; seemingly at will.
Sometimes things appear in my home. They may be objects I have lost, misplaced and… this is one of the strangest, items I have never purchased, ones I do not own.
Generally, these are small articles, inconsequential stuff, general household or personal belongings. The type of artefacts we all acquire during our lifetime.
I hear you saying ‘so what’? This happens to us all and you would be right, it does.
But, I ask you, how many times have you been certain the item in question was not where you left it?
I do not mean the times you may have been mistaken, but those times when you were totally and absolutely sure; times when you know your certainty is more than mere conviction?
I hear people say ‘we must have ghosts,’ or that ‘Mr Nobody’ must have moved it.
The fact is, when said and done, it is not too far from the truth. Only it was not a ‘Mr Nobody’, or a spectral entity who moved or misplaced your item.
It is something real.
Something which lives amongst us. Something which lives in all our homes, in our workplaces, our schools and colleges. Something which is with us at all times.
Even while we sleep.
Especially while we sleep.
It has been said, the best trick the Devil ever played was to make people believe he does not exist.
This is also true of the Gremlin.
I am not speaking of those cute(ish) furry characters portrayed in the film, but of the true Gremlin. Those tiny flitty little beasts.
The leathery-skinned ones with luminous green eyes and teeth like wild piranha.
I doubt if you have seen one, unless you are particularly susceptible to the spirit world, or you are a young innocent child.
Then you may have heard one scuttling under your bed, or in the closet, or outside your bedroom door in the darkness of the hallway.
You may have, on the odd occasion have glimpsed at one. That fractional shadow, the one which flicked past the corner of your eye yesterday.
The silhouette under the bathroom door, the one you see when you are home alone.
They are the Gremlin.
They watch you.
Constantly.
Hear a bang, the unexplainable crash from the room or upstairs. Like when the jar toppled over in your kitchen, or the picture fell from the wall.
All the tapping noises, those creaks and rasps you hear as you try to fall asleep at night.
What causes them?
Gremlin.
Gremlin love the night.
Gremlin love the darkness.
They are the creatures who moved your lip gloss from your handbag and hid it in the back of the bathroom cabinet.
The Gremlins took your car keys and tossed them into your sneakers, pushed them right down into the toe section so you could not find them.
The older the Gremlin get the more insidious their pranks. Messing with your machines. That is why your dishwasher rattles and your car now pulls to the left.
That accident you passed… it was no accident.
The Gremlin have been playing.
Trains crashes. Ships capsize. Planes disappear.
Gremlin.
They are in the machines. Your TV, your Vacuum cleaner, even the device your reading from now.
They are in the rear of your closet, the dark corner of your garage, and under your bed.
Turn your TV off. Turn the radio off.
Be quiet.
Be still for just a moment.
Listen… that noise… the faint noise…
Hold your breath and listen…Listen hard to the background noise, the constant drone which accompanies our lives.
Strain your ears.
You can hear it now, just there in the background… yes, that. It’s Gremlin going about their work.
Quickly look into the corner now, did you see it? In the shadow by the cabinet, shooting behind the sofa?
No?
Sneaky aren’t they.
Try again… use the corners of your eyes.
They are there. In your lounge, in your bedroom.
In the dryer, the car, your garden shed.
They are in the darkness at the top of the staircase, waiting in the loft, in the eaves of your roof.
They are watching you now, right now. Watching your every move.
Doggedly.
They are waiting for the right time, the right moment.
Trust me, I know.
Would you like to read more short stories with a little ‘spookiness’? Then download your copy of these Electric Eclectic Novella today…
North to Maynard, is a ‘ghost in the machine‘ story with and ending you will not expect. Download today.
Or how about a bit of fun?
Miriam’s Hex is a tale of greed and latent curses. This is light hearted black humor at its best.
Available to download now, or order as a Pocketbook Paperback
The Amulet is a ‘feel good’ tale of ancient magic in the modern world.
Download your copy, click here.
You are welcome to visit my website where you can find all my books, artworks & photography, http://bit.ly/paulswebsite
Electric Eclectic's Blog 