Friday 10 January 2014

#FridayFlash - Footsteps

Image by HBrinkman
I'm reading in bed when I hear footsteps on the stairs. I freeze, book in hand, listening hard. I hope it's just the house settling, floorboards getting used to the night time air, but no, I hear them again. Footsteps, but I'm the only one home. I wriggle further under the covers, as though a duvet will somehow protect me.

The footsteps stop on the landing, and head for the bathroom. Whoever it is hasn't made any effort to be quiet. I can hear the tap running, and what sounds like someone scrubbing their teeth. What? What intruder brushes their teeth?

I throw back the covers and get out of bed. I reach the door just as the tap stops in the bathroom. I look onto the landing in time to see the intruder open the door.

I watch myself leave the bathroom dressed in the clothes I was wearing before I got changed for bed. The other me crosses the landing and walks straight through me, as if I'm not standing here. I feel nothing but a breeze but the other me shivers. I remember shivering before I went to bed, making a mental note to turn up the heating.

The other me, the me that was, gets changed and slips into bed. I watch her start reading, engrossed in her book until she hears what I hear - footsteps on the stairs.

13 comments:

Angela Kulig said...

I'll be adding this to my irrational fears list...

Larry Kollar said...

Oh cool! Talk about deja vu. How many of her will there be?

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering the same as Larry - how many of her will there be? And will she next time see two of her, three, etc, etc? Creepy!

Shelli said...

I love it! Stuck in a never ending loop. Horrifying when you think about it.

Anonymous said...

Oh my. A recursive story - fantastic icy! Maybe she turned up the heat too much . . .

Stephen said...

Well, that has to be a weird feeling. You captured it very well, I must say.

Cat Russell said...

Oh dear, TIME LOOP! *shudders*

Steve Green said...

Let's hope she finally manages to get to sleep and the chain is broken. Thinking you've heard a noise inside the house at night is scary enough, finding an intruder on the landing would be terrifying, but finding yourself on the landing... ?

John Wiswell said...

Man, I'd enjoy that oddity! Of course, I live in a funny house that makes strange noises all the time, but a visitor of this sort doesn't seem spooky to me. Could just need a place to stay. I wonder if they like tea.

Helen A. Howell said...

Ooh a sort of time warp! Loved it Icy!

Tim VanSant Writes said...

Nice work, but now I have an old song stuck in my head:

Here we go loop de loop
Here we go loop de li
Here we go loop de loop
On a Saturday night

Unknown said...

Brilliant. Love the time loop. I'd freak out if I heard someone brushing their teeth in my home, probably more than footsteps.

Katherine Hajer said...

This actually reminded me of one of JB Ballard's time loop stories. I wonder if the shiver had anything to do with the passing-through effect!

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