The sky drew dark and thunder echoed down the street as Dakota approached the creepy old house that sat all alone at the dead end. Sweat trickled down her back and she tightened her grip on the straps of her backpack as Dakota's heart threatened to jump right out of her chest.
Dakota's breath caught in her throat as she watched the door of the old house slowly creak open and a large figure stepped out onto the porch. "Dakota get in here before you get caught in the rain!"
Dakota let out her breath with a large sigh as she picked up the pace then shuffled up the steps of the front porch to the creepy old house. Yes Dakota lives in this creepy old house; the one that the kids in her class always whispered ghost stories about at school. She used to join them in their whispered rumours about murders and disappearances until she ended up moving into the very house that was the cause of many a nightmare in the neighbourhood children.Â
Dakota moved into this house about six months ago after her so called guardian picked her up from school one day with the news that both of her parents had died in a train accident while they were on their way into the city to work. But that is a different story and one Dakota still had nightmares about almost every night.
Dakota sat at the dinner table pushing peas and mashed potatoes around her plate as she glanced up at Claude. He always ate his dinner like he was at a fancy dinner party or something and he scowled at his niece as he glanced down at her plate."How many times have I told you not to play with your food?" He sniffed as he raised his wine glass to his lips at took a sip of the dark red liquid.
"May I be excused?" Dakota sighed as she plopped the fork onto the plate.'
"Not until you have finished your dinner." Claude eyed the plate again. "You have barely eaten all week."
Dakota forced a couple bites of potato down. "There I ate. Can I go now?"
Claude look exasperated. "Fine but you get nothing until breakfast and you better be going to get your homework done."
Dakota wasn't pleased but she slid out of her chair and grabbed her book bag from the front hall before trudging up the stairs to her bedroom.
"Oh and Dakota…" The teenage girl turned to see Claude looking up at her from the bottom of the stairs. "You have practice tomorrow after school. Don't be late."
Dakota turned and grumbled as she continued up the stairs to her room.
"What was that? I didn't catch it." Claude called up the stairs.
"Yes sir." Dakota said before she closed her bedroom door and flung her heavy book bag onto her bed. Dakota then walked over to the large window on the other side of her room, pulled the heavy bright green curtains back and peered out at the gloom. There were already giant water splats on the sidewalk from the rain and in the distance she could hear a rumble of thunder signifying the fall storm that was about to come in. Dakota sighed. Because of the storm she would have to stay inside for the rest of the evening. She could have asked Claude if she could get some Internet time but Dakota wasn't in the mood to bargain away her weekend to chores just for a couple hours of social media time. Resigned, Dakota grabbed her school bag from where it landed on the bed and plopped down on the carpet in front of her Kotatsu table, which she tended to use more often then the desk that was sitting beside the window.
Dakota pulled out her homework and got started while listening to the storm that grew louder as the minutes ticked by. She was half way through her math homework when she heard a strange tapping noise. She paused for a moment with her pencil hovering over the page straining her ears waiting for the sound to happen again. When it didn't Dakota shrugged and continued on with her work. The tap-tap-tap was louder this time and made her jump as she dropped her pencil on the table. Dakota got to her feet and slowly inched over to her window. She heard the noise again as she was about to pull the curtains back and thought better of it. When Dakota dropped her hand she could hear the window slowly open.
Dakota stepped back with a gasp when she saw a small black gremlin like creature peek out from behind the green curtain. It was the size of a small dog but walked upright like a person. It smiled, razor sharp teeth showing as it looked up at the girl. Dakota took another step back towards her door as it continued to watch her with it's glowing green eyes.
"Stay away from me." Dakota whispered as she shuffled back farther.
The creature chattered then hissed at Dakota before whipping its rat like tail like an angry cat. It leapt at her with lightning speed and without thinking Dakota raised her arm to protect herself.
Dakota shrieked in pain as she felt needle like teeth sink into her arm. She tried to pry it off but it had an iron grip on her and sank it's teeth in deeper as Dakota tugged on it.
"LET GO!" She cried as she flailed her arm around, tears streaming from her eyes. Dakota then heard the door open with a bang behind her. She twirled around and for once was glad to see her guardian standing there."
What's going on here?!" Claude demanded as he looked around the bedroom.
"Help me!" Dakota sobbed as she thrust the arm out that still had the creature attached to it. Claude narrowed his eyes at the creature on Dakota's arm and yelled a strange language at it.
The creature finally let the girl's arm go and dropped down on to the floor, cowering before Claude. It replied in the same strange language before it backed away and faded into the shadows.
"Are you alright?" Claude asked as he glanced down at Dakota's arm to look at the bite mark left behind by the creature. It had started to swell and bleed. The edges of the bite marks had also started to turn a horrible black colour.
"I'm ok." Dakota stammered as tears stained her face.
"Come on we need to get that wound cleaned out." Claude led Dakota to the bathroom where he sat her down on a stool in front of the sink while he rummaged around for something to clean and dress her arm. He pulled out the first aid kit from one of the cupboards below the bathroom counter and opened it.
Claude rummaged through the kit and pulled out some gauze and some large bandages, placed them beside the sink then wet a cloth. Dakota winced as he dabbed the blood away from the teeth marks. His brow furrowed as he examined the wound closely.
"Continue cleaning that arm the best you can, I'll be right back." Claude passed his niece the damp cloth and walked out of the room.
Dakota heard him walk down the hall and then down the stairs. She took a deep breath before carefully tackling the mess that was her arm. It was starting to look worse as the bruising spread to look like a smear of black lipstick above and below the teeth marks. There was still some blood oozing out of some of the holes but Dakota had most of the dried blood cleaned up by the time Claude came back with some jars and a bowl full of steaming liquid.
Dakota looked at them curiously, wondering what they were. Claude opened the jars and sprinkled some of the contents of each jar into the bowl, which produced a bitter smell that Dakota made a face at.
"I know it smells bad but it will help." Claude assured her as he got a clean cloth and dunked it in the smelly solution in the bowl then placed it on her arm. The cloth was very warm on Dakota's skin and whatever was in the bowl made it tingle and itch. She started to squirm on the stool as the itching and burning sensation got worse.
"What was that thing?" She asked as she tried to keep her mind off of her arm.
"It's called a Darkling." Claude replied as he took the cloth off of Dakota's arm and examined the bite before he dunked the cloth in the bowl and replaced it.
"A Darkling?" Dakota looked up at her guardian confused. "What is a Darkling?"
"It's a creature that is born from the shadows and its bite can be deadly to both people and animals." Claude explained.
Dakota paled at the remark and glanced down at her cloth-covered arm.
"Don't worry Dakota, I've treated Darkling bites before. You will be fine once I finish cleaning the poison from the wound."
"That doesn't really make me feel any better." Dakota said flatly.
"There we are." Claude announced as he finished wrapping the wound. "Now it will hurt for a bit." Clause warned. "But it's not getting you out of practice tomorrow."
Dakota groaned as she slid off the stool.
"Now finish up your homework and get to bed. You will need your rest." Claude shooed the girl off to her room then turned to clean up the bathroom counter.
Dakota made her way down the hall to her room and took a deep breath as she slowly peeked around the door and surveyed the area. It was quiet and as it should have been. There was nothing creeping in the shadows and her homework was on the table where she had left it.
Dakota let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding with a whoosh then walked back over to her homework and placed it all back in her book bag. There wasn't really anything due tomorrow anyway and Dakota was too tired to finish it up tonight anyway.
She flopped onto the pink canopy bed she had since she was five and snuggled down into the warmth of her favourite bright green comforter and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.