I didn’t move from my spot. I remained on my knees, holding Killie. My heart rate managed to drop to a more manageable beat, but my cheeks were still wet. Time had passed, but without me aware. I simply remained, waiting. The fence wasn’t complete. My sanity was below seventy-five percent. I wouldn’t survive this night. I didn’t know what would happen to me, but it did not help my heart rate at all. I remained on the ground, frozen.

The child laughed again. I closed my eyes, taking a breath. Killie kept purring, and considering shadows weren’t wiggling or making faces, Killie must have heard that. Perhaps Killie only reacted to the ghosts that were dangerous. Despite how creepy that child’s laughter was, Killie did not see it as anything to be afraid of.

I still found it frightening, though. Despite how much Killie remained happily purring in my lap, my sanity lost another sliver.

With a mental capacity that I didn’t know I had, I began to analyze why that happened. My sanity dropped, even though Killie was perfectly content in my lap. Sanity was reflected on my own fear. There was a good chance this game was simply trying to scare me. It was doing an excellent job, but what would happen if I could train myself to not be afraid?

The terrified part of me wanted to laugh hysterically. Me? Never be afraid? The likelihood of that happening was slim. About as slim as the sliver of sanity I just lost because a ghost child started giggling upstairs.

Yeah, that was terrifying, actually. I should be glad I didn’t lose anymore.

The child giggled again, and I heard their footsteps running out of whatever room was upstairs. My sanity shivered, threatening to take more.

“Just a child,” I said. “Killie’s not afraid. If Killie’s not afraid, then I shouldn’t be afraid.”

Killie turned at the sound of her name. She was calm, so I forced calm into myself, too. Just a child. A child giggling upstairs. Why does children giggling in the night frighten me so badly?

Because you’ve literally only sensed the child at night, and they’re most likely a ghost, and ghosts terrify you.

A deep, throaty growl echoed through the woods. I heard a yelp close to the living room window, before the wolf leapt over the fence and scurried away from the house. My back arched as my sanity took a hit. They were here. The wolf ran away, leaving no bait for them. Also the wolf was able to jump the fence. I needed to make it taller.

I struggled to my feet, pulling out my newly updated axe. This would have to be enough. I felt tricked. Betrayed. The bricks took too long. I wasn’t ready. Even though I knew well in advance that they were coming, I didn’t have enough time. And now I was here, upgraded axe in the air, terrified. Farming games didn’t often have creatures to battle. That was for other games. I had the option of building a fence, and when the game gives you an option to make a defense, it usually means the offence won’t be enough.

The growl echoed again through the forest. I closed my eyes, tears spilling down my cheeks. My sanity hit fifty percent. It was the second growl, and my sanity was halfway gone. This did not bode well.

Don’t think about that. You can do this. You can. I believe in you. Killie’s here to protect you.

I cracked an eye open to see Killie on the recliner, her back arched, fur sticking straight up. Her pupils were wide, and there was no doubt she felt the same primal terror as they gave another growl.

My sweaty palms were slick against the axe handle. I would be able to do this. It didn’t matter that the fence wasn’t upgraded. My axe was. This would work. It had to.

They gave a bellow before I heard a crack. I jumped, trying to keep my grip on the axe. Another crack sounded, almost like the sound of ice breaking. My fence. They were cracking it. And it sounded like they were successful.

The silence was torture. Sweat formed on my forehead as I tried to think of all the different ways I could use my axe. Whatever creature was there, it no doubt had a weakness. I could do this. I could be strong.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

A squelching noise got closer to the front door, and I did my best to function without breathing. The growling came back, so much closer. The realization of how close it got made my sanity take another chunk. They got through the fence. They were on the front porch.

A darkness appeared under the door. I strangled my gasp, backing away as the darkness grew. It seemed like a shadow, until it started leaking. A thin blackness pooled at the doorway before it trickled in through the small cracks.

I backed away, still holding my axe. I was grateful there was no clutter on the ground to trip over, but it didn’t stop me from stumbling over my own feet. I was imagining something like the wolf or lion. A creature I could easily hurt with my axe. But as the blackness pooled at the bottom of the door, leaking through the cracks, I wondered how useful an axe really was. If this was nothing but liquid, this would be like cutting water.

I kept a grip on my axe, because at the moment, it was the only weapon afforded me. Killie was so terrified she remained on the recliner, mute.

My heart pounded in my chest as I raised the axe. The reddish black liquid had formed right at the base of the door, and with a faint growl that pierced my soul, it started to move. My sanity dropped past thirty percent, and even though the growl was faint, it was here. In the same room I was in.

I pulled out the flashlight, hoping that maybe it was sensitive to the light. I clicked it on, pointing it at the slime. The reddish black slime moved from the light, and for that one instant I had hope. Light could defeat it. Light made it not as terrifying.

The liquid moved together, gurgling before splitting off into five pillars of sludge. Then all five of them turned as one toward me.

I screamed. I thought the light would help me, that it would somehow let me see the true creature it was, but instead I got a full view of the mounds of fangs in each sludge. They weren’t even teeth placed in what I thought would be where teeth went. They were random collections of teeth in the sludges, and even chunks of hair stuck inside it. It was a small part of a bigger whole, and they did not care to place the teeth in any sort of mouth cavity. It was simply a part of them.

The sludge mounds raced toward me, and I scrambled onto one of the couches, dropping my flashlight. It didn’t matter. It was almost better to not look at them. I swiped at them with my axe as soon as my feet were off the ground.

“Get away. Get away. Get away.” It came out as a murmur, even though I wanted to scream it. The flashlight had fallen, the beam showing the trail of sludge that was feeding the creatures.

My sanity had dropped to less than twenty. I had to try something, or else I would figure out what happened if my sanity dropped to zero. With a scream that was not heroic at all, I leapt over the five little sludge monsters and slammed my axe against the trail of sludge giving them life.

At least, that’s what I thought. The axe stopped some of the sludge, but it still dripped life into the five sludge monsters, who turned toward me.

“No. No.” I slammed my axe into the trail of sludge, but it reacted like water. It would have been easier to stop the river from running with my axe. “No, you’ve got to die. You have to die.”

What if it was unkillable? Every job I had, every task, was toward defending myself against something I clearly couldn’t kill. The creature ignored Killie, so maybe it, too, was impossible to kill.

The creatures lunged at me, the first one slamming into my leg. I gasped, then my gasp was cut off. I no longer had the energy to gasp. It began sucking like a leech, and my energy went with it. Another creature slammed into me, then another. My body turned cold, my knees weak. My sliver of sanity disappeared, and the last thing I saw was the ground rushing up to meet me.

***

My eyes were closed, but I heard two people talking. I wanted to open my eyes, but I had no strength left. I was cushioned, somehow, in a warm bed as soft as clouds. Possibly clouds, considering how weird my life was right now.

“… too hard. She didn’t have enough time.”

It was a female voice, and I struggled again to open my eyes. Were these the people responsible for why I was here? That female voice sounded familiar. Was she the one speaking on the phone?

“Very well. We will not ask her this time.”

That was a male voice. There was something weird about their voices. They almost didn’t sound human. It was like my mind was translating them from… some other language. Alien, perhaps? It was the only thing that made sense.

“She’s waking up,” the female said. “Don’t open your eyes, Quinn. It will cause you to go insane.”

I wanted to open my mouth to ask questions, but whatever those creatures were, they sapped every ounce of strength from my body.

“She can’t open her eyes. We made sure of that,” the male said.

“There are some aspects of human nature that I cannot predict,” the female said. “Specifically, what they do when in a situation they are not prepared for and feel they are in danger of.”

The male chuckled. “That is my favorite part of human nature.”

“We will send you back, Quinn. This was a miscalculation on both our parts.”

“Why.” It took every amount of strength to part my lips and say that one word.

“You will get your answers. Just play the game,” the male said.

I heard something that sounded an awful lot like the snapping of a finger before all strength returned to me.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up with a jolt. It was only after I did that, I remembered the warning that if I opened my eyes, I might go insane. What I saw was the red dawn light fill the bedroom. I glanced around, my sanity to fifty percent, my stamina back to one hundred. I blinked, then collapsed back on the bed. I already felt like I was going insane.