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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another great story by Fetid SirDidy. It’s entitled
“The home on Spectral Peaks”
Background music by Smartsound

“It was a dark and stormy night.”

In the candlelight Liam looked at the page while his left eye twitched madly – something had gotten in his damned eye. He rubbed at it, knuckling it deeply. He tried to focus on the words written on the page, but they were obfuscated by a veil of blurriness.

Crumpling the page, he tossed it aside, laid out a fresh one, and began again.
Or at least he tried.

The wind howled outside and the shutters on his window shook in brief intermittent spasms.
Clack, clack. Clack, clack.

Liam caught himself chewing on his thumb nail;
His mind had wandered again.

He licked the feathered pen in his hand and dipped it into the ink pot that sat on his desk. Holding the pen above the fresh parchment, he pondered for a moment and then brought it down. But he did not write.

Ink began to spread out in a circle where he held pen to paper.
The pen did not move.
Liam did not move.

A noise outside had caused Liam to utterly freeze. The sound came from something foreign, something strange, something terrifying.

Something Liam could not fathom was outside. He was certain it was there. And that certainty scared him into the paralytic stupor he found himself in.

Clack, clack. Clack, clack.
The noise came again, and Liam began to whimper.
Clack, clack. Clack, clack.

Liam remained still but his eyes darted toward the door.
He thought he heard scratches.

Clack, clack. Clack, clack.
The shutters shook with more intensity. The latch finally gave way and the shutters burst inward, and along with them a bout of frigid air.

Then, suddenly, the wind died down and the shutters on the windows settled, then lay still.

Liam let go of the pen. It lay, still spreading its ink on the paper. He took a deep breath. His heartbeat slowed. And then he let out a laugh; a full belly laugh. God, he hadn’t laughed like that in ages.

All was quiet while moments passed.
His mind had wandered again like it always had.

Walking to the window, Liam looked outside.
All he saw was dark. But the dark did not frighten him.

He moved to his bedside, pulled down his trousers and got into bed.
Leaning over, he snuffed out the candle on his bedside table, and closed his eyes.

While in a deep sleep, large brown spidery arms pieced the window shutters and a multitude of beady eyes stared at Liam as he slept.

In his dreams, while horrors consumed his waking body, Liam heard the shutters.
Clack, clack. Clack clack.

Echoes From the Caverns