“What the fuck is that?” she thought to herself, no longer able to hide the look of terror on her face. The sounds continued to grow louder as they moved in and out of earshot. Howling and whipping and whistling sounding like it was right outside the door one moment, yet miles away the next.
“She still doesn’t know.” remarked a voice from behind her with a slight chuckle.
The voice was recognizable but still unsettling to hear, and stumbling back it became obvious that she hadn’t been able to keep her thoughts to herself this time. She turned around to see both of them now laughing with each other.
“No one knows what it is,” said the same voice “it just does… that… whenever it feels like. Random. Chaotic.”
The second one jumped in. “We’ve heard that it’s called ‘The Bastard’ but no one knows what it is, what it looks like, or even what it’s doing. No one has ever dared go out there to find out.”
She sat in a moment of stunned silence.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she barked.
“I go out there every day. We’ve lived together long enough surely you’ve noticed by now.”
They just stared back at her, before the second one shrugged and rudely pointed out that they don’t really pay attention to what she does. Another minute passes as the sounds continue to roar and things begin lightly shaking.
“Tell us what it’s like out there!”
The pair of them appeared excited now, their eyes wide as they leaned in ready to learn even the smallest detail. They’ve never met anyone who had ventured out beyond the door, or maybe they have and couldn’t remember, or maybe they just didn’t care enough to realize that she’s been out there and back and could tell them everything they’ve always wanted to know.
The shaking intensified as the sound grew louder still. Scanning around the room you could tell it wouldn’t be long before things came crashing to the floor, but just as it seemed to reach a breaking point – everything stopped. Now there was nothing but complete silence in the room while the three of them looked around from face to face and began wondering what was going to happen next.
“Well?” they asked, still waiting for her to tell them.
After taking a moment to compose herself she tried to open her mouth and tell them what she knew about the place beyond the door, but just as she was about to speak, there it was again. The sounds were back. The shaking was back. This time everything was louder, it felt more violent, and it was seemingly closer than it ever had been before.
“It’s fiiiiine.”
They tried reassuring her, still curious and hoping to hear what she had to say but as the commotion continued to grow they found themselves naturally moving closer together in an attempt to comfort each other. Now it was obvious to her that their calm demeanor had all been an act, and their attempts to brush off the seriousness of the situation were simply a way to cope with the fear. Come to think of it, she didn’t even know if this was a situation or if it was particularly serious. After all, up to this point it had just been noise and lord knows she’d experienced noise in the past. This was different though and she knew it from the first moment she heard it.
The group sat in silence, listening as The Bastard continued to make its commotion. Whips, howls, whines, whistles. In and out, moving closing and further away. No one was comfortable but things were at least tolerable, if such a thing was possible, and finally it occurred to everyone that maybe it would be a wise idea to move further away from the door. They shared a look of understanding and moved together.
After reaching what eventually felt like a safe distance away from the door everyone sat down. This isn’t the first time they’ve been left alone in here but it might be the first time that she had felt accepted as part of the group, and sitting like little kids around the campfire it was finally time to tell a ghost story.
The only problem was that to her the story wasn’t scary. Sure she had been out beyond the door before, many times in fact, but she had never encountered anything even remotely resembling what they called The Bastard. To her it was just another place to be when she was lucky enough to visit.
She began to describe it to them as the ratting continued in the background.
She described the other sounds that exist out there – the occasional ding, the faint footsteps, the chatter from creatures that couldn’t be seen, all of which were tame in comparison and none of which seemed to satisfy the curiosity of the others.
“Come on,” they prodded. “there’s gotta be more than that!”
She went on to describe the smells – some of them were bad, some were good, some were irresistable.
“Okay okay but what do you see?” they asked.
“Well, nothing really. Normal stuff. You see other people, you see other creatures. But everything out there is just.. normal. For the most part the people you see are friendly or mind their own business.”
Now they just seemed disappointed, sharing a look with each other that went unnoticed to her. She had become distracted as a dreadful thought began settling in her mind: Can she ever head back out there? Never before had she been afraid to go out and explore, it was her nature and it brought her joy, but how could she work up the courage to head back out there now that she knew of The Bastard?
Everyone sat in silence as interest in the conversation began to fade away, and in unison they all came to the same thought – now would be a good time for a nap. The sounds and the shaking continued in the background but at a level that was easy to ignore, and it wasn’t long before they had all fallen asleep.
Suddenly though they were jolted awake. Now there was a new noise, only this one was… familiar. Common. A sort of “jingling” that they all recognized immediately and as it grew louder their faces whipped back around towards the door.
“Is that?” she said, unable to keep the excitement from her voice as her tail started to wag.
“I think it is!”
The jingling stopped and the three of them perked up in anticipation watching the door swing open.
“This goddamn wind is such a bastard!” he said while walking inside.
Their human had returned.
Inspired by my dog, my two cats, and the wind – which is truly a bastard.