The Storm Lurcher

It was a terrible storm, worse than any hurricane that ever occured in our area. We had been having smaller storms almost every day for the past week. This one, was the worst we had ever experienced. The TV told everyone to stay inside for the remainder of the night and to stay away from windows and anything made of metal. The news showed videos of houses being ripped up from their frames, and roads being flooded with water.

It was hard to see the videos through the dark clouds that were blocking out the moon, meaning there was barely any light outside. My daughter Christie, my son Logan, and my wife Janet all had their eyes glued to the screen. I was sitting in the corner of the room, attempting to not look at the TV screen. I hated seeing all of the wreckage that was around us, and seeing the storm lay waste to our once beautiful town. We lucked out, the storm was still very bad here, but nothing compared to what the east side of town was going through. Instead of watching our town get demolished on TV, I looked out my window at the lush, green forest behind our house. It was sort of calming watching the mighty trees swaying in the wind. Albeit, it wasn't that calming when one of the giant trees collapsed and crashe on the ground.

As I was looking out the window, I heard thunder boom, and lightning strike, then everything became dark. My daughter screamed, I rushed over to her, telling her it was just a power outage. My son was only mad because he couldn't watch the news. Christie was still crying, and nothing would calm her down. Ah kids, ya gotta love em! After about a minute of total mayhem caused by Christie, my wife came over and sung her, her favorite lullabye. This eventually calmed christie down.

The house was pitch black, only illuminated by the lightning that surged through the sky. The only sound was the heavy pitter patter of the hard rain crashing against the roof. We had nothing to do, until Janet came up with the idea to play the classic game of, "What animal am I thinking of". I decided to sit this one out, I was never a fan of that game anyways. I spent my free time watching the trees through the window, although they were harder to see now, so I relied on lightning to be my light source.

I watched the trees for a good half an hour, the heavy rain was blurring my vision a bit, but I'd take what I could get. I began to dose off a little bit, until when one time lightning struck and I could have sworn I saw a figure inside of a crevice between the trees. I jolted up, and stared out the window, scanning the proximity with my eyes. In the dark I couldn't see anything, I had to wait for lightning to strike once more, so I could catch a glimpse of the figure.

15 minutes passed. No lightning to illuminate the room. I was so interested in finding whatever that figure was, that I unintentionally ignored what was being spoken about me by my family behind my back. Finally, after a few more minutes, lightning struck, illuminating the forest, letting me see if there truly was a figure out there. The lightning gave me just enough time to see some of the details of the figure. All I could see, was that he was a man, in a brown trenchcoat and fedora. He had glowing white eyes with what I assumed were red pupils. I also could see he had a grin on his face, but his grin seemed somewhat distorted and unnatural. I could also make out the fact that he was very short. I thought it was probably just some guy who got stuck out in the rain and was just chilling in our backyard, no harm done I guess. But even though I felt safe, something about his twisted grin was stuck in my head.

I decided to ignore him, and continue to watch the forest. Once again I began to doze off, until lightning struck once again, and I saw that the man was closer than before. I bounced up, the man was halfway across our backyard! There was no way in hell that he could have moved there from the forest to there in less than a minute. Lightning struck once more, letting me get a better look at the man. I noticed he had pale, greenish skin, with dark circles under his glowing eyes. I also saw that he was holding two things behind his back. I wondered what the hell they were, but before I could take a better look, the sky went back to pitch blackness.

This shot up major red flags, and I needed to see what he was holding behind his back. I waited, and waited, for lightning to strike. After about 10 minutes, I hit the jackpot! A lightning storm occured, lightning up the sky for a good 30 seconds. I was incredibly happy, until I looked out my window and saw what exactly was out there. My neighbor John, was hanging from one of our largest trees in a barbed wire noose. He also had a slash on his stomach, and some organs still falling out. Behind the man's back was a knife, coated in red, and a large amount of barbed wire. He had alsom moved to the front of our backyard, close enough, so that he could possibly climb in through our basement window.

I quickly bolted up and demanded that we boarded up the windows and lock them, also the doors too. I told them that there was no time to explain and judging by the sense of urgency in my voice, they knew something was up. I grabbed a lighter and headed to the basement to lock the window and board it up. When I got down the stairs and looked through the window I was horrified to see the man's face looking in at me through the window.

His menacing eyes were peircing through my soul as he just sat there and stared. I asked him what he was and he just let out an unhuman laugh, his face became straight and serious, he then told me, " I am the storm lurcher... I come to do the reaper's bidding... there is no hope for you now.... it is over..." His voice was eeire and strange. Every word he spoke made my toes curl up in my shoes. I became furious at the man and locked the window, glaring at him. As he watched me board up the window, he began to grin again, and then laughed a laugh so horrible words can barely describe. Just imagine a hyeena laughing as it is getting set on fire and you would be able to hear about 1/10 of how unnatural and off-putting it was.

I walked upstairs and checked on my wife and kids. They were fine, and all of the windows were locked. My daughter asked why we closed ourself in and I said, "Well honey, the rain is keeping me awake, and boarding the windows makes it softer!" Yes, I know that doesn't make sense but I'm sure a 5 year old wouldn't think twice about it. I then called my wife into the kitchen to tell them the horrifying truth. She couldn't believe it, but She believed me, I normally don't resort to getting the whole family to do something as extreme as boarding up windows and doors unless something was seriously wrong.

I told my wife to keep the kids distracted while I go and get my pistol from our room. She agreed and I went upstairs. I snatched the pistol and bolted down the stairs, I needed to make sure that everyone was ok. Thank god, they were. My lighter ran out and we were stuck in the dark. The kids were whining about how now they couldn't see anything and how they were tired. I yelled at them to stop, and they instantly did. The room was barely lit up by the lightning shining through the cracks in the boarded up windows. I told everyone to just remain silent and still, as I didn't want that man outside to know where we were, just in case he came back in the morning. One time, lightning struck incredibly brightly next to our house, and what I saw made my blood turn cold.

Inside the corner of our kitchen, stood the "Storm Lurcher", grinning at me. The lightning stopped, leaving us in the dark. I whispered for my wife to slowly and cautiously get the kids upstairs. She stared at me confused, until lightning struck once more. She saw him and gasped. "H-he-he's inside of our house!" She whispered to me. I whispered to her, "Yes... now get the kids upstairs first, then you, then me... I'll tell them what is happening when I get upstairs. She nodded to me and made her way up slowly with the kids. I followed soon after.

I sat us all in a circle in my son's room. My daughter asked, "Daddy, why are we up here?" I told her I would tell her in a minute. I told everyone to be quiet and pay close attention. I said to them, "Kids, I can't tell you just how important it is that you stay quiet, even though what I am about to say may shock you. There is a man downstairs....a very dangerous man, he has a weapon, and if you see him, you must slowly walk over to me and tell me. If he sees you- the best you can do is run, and make as much noise as you can, so that you can alert me and your mother. I already tried calling 911, but the phone lines are down, so there's no point." As I said that, I noticed that they both began to cry softly. I reminded them that I would protect them at all costs. That seemed to calm them down a bit.

"D-daddy, why does the bad man want to hurt us?" My daughter asked. "I don't know sweetheart, I just don't know..." I responded. We sat in the room, silent. The entire time I was pondering about how the hell the man got into the house. I checked and all windows he could have possibly gotten through were blocked. As I was thinking, my wife broke the silence and exclaimed she had to go to the bathroom. I warned her not to, but she disregarded my warnings and headed in. Reminding me that the man was downstairs and the only way for him to get up, was the stairs, which if he did do, I could shoot him. I still did not feel safe. I knew that this "man" wasn't human. Sure, he had the body and shape of one, but that smile and inhuman speed just are dead giveaways that whatever the storm lurcher was, it wasn't human.

About 20 minutes passed and my wife still hadn't returned from the bathroom. I alerted the kids to stay put while I was gone. I walked into the bathroom with my gun drawn, and what I saw shocked me. The window in the bathroom was shattered, and boards were snapped in half and all over the floor. I looked out the window, lightning struck. I saw my wife in a barbed wire noose, hanging on the tree, with a hole where her heart should be. The Storm Lurcher just stared at me with a smile that completely stretched across his face. The sky returned to darkness. Lightning struck again. He wasn't in our backyard now.

I ran into my son's room, my daughter was sitting there shaking. I asked her what happened. She responded, "D-Daddy- Logan... Logan went to go searching for you." "Damnit... I should have told you guys where exactly I was going.... I told him to stay put.... god damn...." I said. I then sprinted down the stairs faster than ever before. I walked downstairs, and saw my son in the kitchen searching for me. I felt relieved and grabbed him. I scolded him, but I was so relieved I couldn't scream at him. I hugged him and was overjoyed... that is until I remembered I left Christie upstairs. We both ran up the stairs into Logan's room.

I dropped to my knees in sadness. A trail of blood led to a Shattered window in Logan's room. I looked out, Christie was hanging on the noose, she had no eyes. I was so distrought I just lied on my knees and cried. The Storm Lurcher was outside laughing, mocking me. Darkness took the sky once more. The Storm Lurcher was unable to be seen. LIghtning struck again. He was in the same room as me and Logan. Logan screamed and was paralyzed with fear. I lay there on my knees. The Storm Lurcher grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and lifted me up with ease.

"It's your turn now..." The Storm Lurcher said. He looked down at me. His eyes turned pitch black and his greenish skin turned glowing white. He said a phrase, and then everything went black. When I opened my eyes, I had a barbed wire noose around my neck. My son was hanging from a tree next to me, he had his throat slit. The Storm Lurcher walked up to meand took out his knife. "Time to meet your maker" he said, his grin larger than ever. Just before he plunged his knife into my stomache, the clouds cleared up. The Storm Lurcher gasped, and ran into the forest. I stood there and cried.

The police interrogated me and found that I had no part in the hangings. My DNA also wasn't found on any of them. It was ruled a homicide dby an unknowwn assailant. I have spent almost my entire life since then, trying to track down the Lurcher, but to no avail. I interviewed some people and a lot said that they had seen a man like him running through the forest when it rained. One woman was shocked when I brought up his name, as she claimed that when her husband was murdered during one of the last hurricanes, the last words he said to her were, "The Storm Lurcher.... Don't.... Let HIm... Take You..." I also got some people saying that they knew people who have seen him. Nobody really knows who or what The Storm Lurcher is, but they do know he is incredibly dangerous.

If you are ever looking out your window during a storm, and see an unfamilliar person standing by some trees, evacuate your house immediatly. Go sleep in a hotel or something until the storm has passed. We cannot let that monster take any more lives...