THE WATCHER

THE WATCHER

Short Story by Franklin Campusano 

    When Jarold Burns suddenly wakes up in the middle of a windy night, he cannot help but to shake this instinctive feeling off of him. Sleeping in a cabin in the middle of nowhere is certainly not unusual for him. 

    What is unusual for him though is the instinctive feeling of being observed, observed by someone or something that he himself can't see. Of course, though, nighttime paranoia is a common thing that can happen to anyone, even the most veteran of the bunch, so Jarold decides to ignore this feeling and attempts to sleep again. 

    Keeping his eyes shut as the minutes go by proves to be quite a challenge to Jarold, I mean, he's a heavy sleeper after all, so, what could have possibly wake him off like this? 

    So Jarold shakes the blankets off of him and gets up from bed. The room and the whole cabin as a whole is pitch black. Nothing can be seen, only heard. The only light source being the occasional thunder coming from the clouds. 

    This cabin relies on solar power, so there's no electricity at the moment. Thankfully, Jarold has his trusty flashlight and his trusty lamp that although archaic, it still is a good source of light and a good source of warmth. 

    The feeling of being observed only seems to intensify as Jarold gets off of his bed as if, whatever is watching is aware of his movements. Jarold with the help of his flashlight, fills his trusty lamp with oil, and after lighting a match, he lights the up the lid. 

    Somehow. the warm light and warm feeling of the lamp provide a brief sense of relief to Jarold, but this brief relief is dwarfed by the sense of impending danger. 

        Jarold walks out if his room and heads to the kitchen, there a small cooler with drinks such as water, soda and coffee are found. Of course, it is too early to be messing with anything but water, so Jarold grabs a water bottle with is still fresh and proceeds to drink. 

    Suddenly, Jarold detects some movements, coming from outside. Something has swiftly adjusted it's location according to Jarold's. 

    Jarold concludes that whatever is observing him is coming from outside. I mean obviously, his cabin is too small for something or someone else to be inside of it without being noticed, so Jarold makes a brief survey of all his windows. Nothing, just darkness, pitch and thick darkness. 

    Anxiety suddenly starts to build inside of Jarold, he's not all that scared but the thought of someone or something being out there looking at him makes him tense, Jarold is under siege. 

    Jarold heads back into his room and grabs his trusty shotgun, there a no more live rounds inside of it, since he carelessly used them all in the previous day, while he was out hunting for deer, but having the weapon by his side provides comfort. 

    Jarold decides that he can no longer sleep, given the fact that there is a window in his room, he doesn't feel comfortable, especially with this eerie feeling engulfing him. 

    He knows something is out there, but where? 

    Jarold begins surveying his windows to see if he can perceive anything with his eyes. Nothing, only wind and darkness and the occasional rumbling accompanied by a brief bright flash, that only reveal trees being shaken back and forth. Jarold decides to survey the window in his living room, this is the largest window. 

    Nothing at all can be seen, but Jarold notices something, the swift and subtle sound of something or someone getting closer. Jarold pulls back, he certainly doesn't want to see whatever is out there face to face, specially from up close. 

    Jarold seats in the couch, now feeling scared. He doesn't know what to do. The cabin can only provide protection from the weather, if something like a large animal intents to barge in, or someone with ill intent is out there with the intention of breaking in, he can't stop it, neither the cabin. Because of this, Jarold must stay alert for any slightest sound. 

    And then he hears it: 

    BUM! 

    A very loud sound that came from the ceiling, something either fell on the ceiling or was thrown at it. 

Jarold pretends to load his gun as in to intimidate whatever is watching him outside, and suddenly he sees it. 

    Something in the darkness outside that appears darker than the darkness itself. Something large, but Jarold can't quite tell what it is. 

    It seems to be standing still, without making a slightest movement. Jarold remains stale looking at it, trying to discern what it is. Suddenly a brief flash, accompanied by a loud rumbling. 

    A brief flash that although lasted a second, it became engraved forever in Jarolds mind. This thing is huge. 

    It's a humanoid type of thing that is standing a couple of meters away from the cabin. Eight? Nine? Ten feet? And the whole thing is bent on it's upper back making it look like some sort of cane. 

    In it's upper part, which is facing down, there is a pale emotionless face with stale eyes, but the face is not facing down despite it's upper body being facing down due the vent. The thing looks like a massive cane looking at him. 

    If those tales of animals such a deer's and Mooses being found turned in half by apparently something, then Jarold by instinct knows what is waiting for him outside. Despite both the cabin and outside being engulfed in darkness, Jarold knows is there, no, not even a single diminutive movement has been made. 

    It is just watching, watching intently, studying him, the subject of his attention being Jarold. 

Jarold begins to panic, he begins to step back away from the window and as he does, he suddenly stumbles, hits his head and passes out. 

    Jarold wakes up again, now the sun is out and the birds are singing. His head still hurts from the fall and the lamp is completely spilled. The smell of oil is overwhelming, but that is not important. Jarold knows exactly what to do. 

    Jarold grabs his important things, his wallet, his hat, his shoes and his keys and without even thinking about it, he heads out of his cabin not without first looking around. 

    Jarold leaves his cabin in a hurry with the intent of never coming back. Jarold is determined not to be the next entry in the many stories of the forest of Maine, he is not going to fall in the hands of the Watcher. 

    A very wise pursuit indeed. Jarold gets to his pickup truck and drives off, perhaps that encounter was simply a friendly warning, who knows. According to the tales, nothing would have stopped that thing from getting in and doing away with him. 

    Perhaps out of a simple act of courtesy, the Watcher was letting Jarold know that one more night in that cabin would of merit a more personal and approximate encounter with the thing. Good thing he got the cue. 

`    Jarold left the forest to never return again, because in the end, better to die as a lonely old man than to be subjected to the Watcher. 

End Of Story