Inkling 2022 - Flipbook - Page 16
Copy cat
by Yousif Mahmood
The sound of low, desperate scratches
pulled me out of my sleep, now a daily
occurrence. I’d assumed that it was a cat at
first, but the consistency frightened me unnatural. The clawing continued, inching
me closer to insanity. I jumped and tore
my blinds open. Through the darkness, I
should’ve seen something, but there was
nothing.
As soon as I did that, the scratches halted.
Whatever waited outside reacted to me. I
could no longer say it’s a tree branch.
Something living caused this.
I sat motionless on my bed, my mind far
too tired to make a rationale for this.
Something hard collided with the glass,
almost making it shatter. I jolted and, like a
child, pulled the blanket over my body.
The window creaked open. My blood froze
in my veins. Something moved. Slender
fingers pressed down on me, the body of
the thing entering my room. I couldn’t
move. I couldn’t even scream. The bitter
coldness of its body hurt me more than
the pressure.
My breath caught in my throat. I figured I
was suffocating because of the noise
coming out of my mouth, but I realized the
sound wasn’t coming from me. Its vocal
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cords splintered while attempting to
speak. It was trying to communicate
something to me, I just didn’t know what. A
hand reached out, fingertips caressing my
cheek.
A painful mixture of cold and wet spread
across my face.
