Silhouette Man

Suzie, a little girl at the age of ten, gets ready for bed. She got to stay up a little later tonight as there was no school the next day so her mother allowed her to. As soon as Suzie was ready, she jumped in the bed that sat in the back of the room in the center of the wall and pulled the covers as moonlight barely made an impact through the window only giving an outlining of things around her room. The door was closed and not very much sound was made except for a few dogs barking outside somewhere off in the distance. Suzie had a night light on usually which didn’t put out that much light as it sat right next to the bed frame only allowing basically her bedside to be seen while the other side was almost completely empty of darkness. She began to close her eyes and start to drift away into the night.

Suzie was awoken by a sound. She fluttered her eyes open making them go wide and shallow trying to locate where she is and what time it is. Suzie looks at the clock. 11:40. She then looks up behind her to glance out the window from her bed. The moonlight still not penetrating through. As she started to drift back asleep, her closet next to the bedroom door started to slide open slowly. Suzie didn’t know what was happening and started to paralyze in sleep mode. That is, she only was in that mode until her night light crackled with sound as the fuse in the bulb started to burn out. Pop! The nightlight blew out and awoken Suzie to fright and she pulled the covers over to shield herself from the sound. Now starting to breathe heavily, her senses began to perk up. Sounds become louder in her ears and her vision began to see in the dark. With her hands clenched to the covers, she heard a low breathing sound, such as if a man was in there. She calmly whispered in terror of the possibility someone is in her room.

“Who’s there?” Expecting no one to be there thinking it was her imagination. Then out of surprise, “I’m here.” A whisper coming from her closet escaped into the room and filled the silent void. Suzie began to breathe in and was about to scream, but she was frightened to the point that she couldn’t let air out as she was appalled by what was happening. The whispers came back again, “Please don’t scream.” The voice said, “I just need your help.” a quick moment of silence lived in the air and then, “Will you help me?” The whisper sounded pretty sincere to her, and she swallowed ready to comment back, but still with terror in her shaky voice as Suzie laid under the covers, “What do you need?” as she started to see a faint silhouette from her closet emerge.
“I need you to tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“What do I look like?”
Suzie didn’t make a sound after he asked that question.
“Tell me, what do I like?...All you gotta do is pull the covers from your head, and look at me. The real me.”
Suzie responded from under the covers, “I can see you from here.” But she can only see the outlining of him and not his details.
The silhouette responded back with strange questions almost as if he was describing every aspect of a feature that would make a person who they are. “Do I have eyes? Am I something that can see what is going? What color would they be?”
Suzie told him, “Yes, you do.”
“What do they look like?”
Suzie, not able to see his eyes as she lied to him now adds onto it, “you have big eyes. They are somewhat bloodshot, but you have big black eyes with white surrounding it.” She tried to make it sound as if she did actually see his details and described it for him to be happy with any random answer that is given.
“I do?” he responded.
“Yes.”
To Suzies surprise, the silhouette man began to change. His face began to have two circles brighten and dimly glow as two eyes came to her vision. Suzie amazed and frightened as to what is happening didn’t say a word. She just stared at his big black bloodshot eyes which are staring at her through the covers.

The silhouette man now began to talk again with another question. “What does my nose look like?”
Suzie, not sure what to say now, says, “I’m not sure, I can’t see it that well.” Thinking that was the right thing to say to make this insanity stop.
“Well,” the silhouette man says, “How about you pull the covers away and see the real me.”
Suzie shook her head no. The silhouette man now said, “I’ll have you see it just fine then through the covers.” He started to lean in, inching his face closer and closer. Those big black bloodshot eyes are still staring into her eyes as he closes in. He reached about halfway to her across the room, yet staring at her without blinking. “Tell me now, can you see what my nose looks like?”

Suzie responded with a cry in her voice from terror, “yes.”
“What does it look like?” the silhouette man said in the same tone as always, that low volume whispering somewhat higher pitched voice.
“It looks like,” Suzie started to quiet her voice a little bit, “It is smaller. Sort of pointed like a witch's and has a long bridge.”
The silhouette man again said, “I do?”
Suzie again said, “yes.”
The silhouette man started to change, but turned around now not showing his eyes anymore and just faced towards the closet. After a few moments, he turned back around with a nose that was a perfect match as to what she had told him. Suzie now is questioning what is happening to extremes like, is there a God? Should I believe in this? Suzie still plays through this “game” with the silhouette man.
He, the silhouette, asks another question of the same style. “What does my hair look like?”
Suzie begins to finally grab her wits together, but still is scared of what this would all mean in the end of it. So she thought that if she didn’t say anything, he would go away. She tried to pull off this “response” by acting as if she had just fallen asleep or something of that nature.
The silhouette man responded, “I know you’re awake. I can see your open eyes.” His big, black, bloodshot eyes were staring at her still without blinking. “What does my hair look like?”
So she responds with her same shaky voice of fear with, “it is thin and black, long and shallow of waviness.”
The silhouette man responds once again, “I do?”
“Yes.”
He put his face down and covered his head with his long dark arms. Turning and twisting he did, and raised up his head to reveal long thin black hair that was pretty straight, but had bumps in it.

Another moment of silence came again as they both stared at each other. Suzie never dared to look away. The silhouette man asks another question, “what does my mouth look like?”
Suzie then again says in a lie, “you have thin lips if any. They are light in color grey and pale.”
The silhouette man adds onto what she has said, “Are my teeth long and sharp, many with jaggedness?”
Suzie responds, “I don’t know? Do you believe so?” hoping he would go along with it.
The silhouette man responds, “I’m not sure,” he begins to walk towards her bed, footsteps light on the floor, he reaches the bed sitting at the center of it next to her knees. “Take a closer look and tell me.”
Suzie stares at his face, his big, black, bloodshot eyes never left her eyes, his long thin black hair had very little sway to it and his long bridged witch’s nose inhaled. As the silhouette exhaled, Suzie knew it came from his mouth even though she couldn’t see it because a warm, wet sensation of the breath had drifted to her face.
Suzie responds by saying, “You do have teeth. Long sharp teeth with some jagged.” She didn’t want to say otherwise of what he has said about it as it may make him angry or find out she has been lying the whole time.
The silhouette man responds, “I do?”
“Yes.”
The silhouette man looked towards the ceiling having his face vanish. Sounds of something out of the ordinary was happening. Like as if there was fluid being pushed around in a surgery. He gave a low gasping sound as if he were in pain. He lowers his head to reveal grey pale lips with long, sharp, jagged teeth. So big and so many that he can’t shut his mouth properly, but can still whisper as he always did.

“Is this what I look like to you?” said the silhouette man.
“Yes.” Suzie says now with unexpected fear to be known of from this.
"Are you sure you don't want to pull the covers away and see the real me?"
"Yes, I am sure."
“Can I tell you something?” the silhouette man asks.
“S-sure.” Suzie voices with question.
The silhouette man leaned close to her with the covers just dividing them. His big, black, bloodshot eyes, small witch’s nose, long thin black hair and pale lips with long jagged teeth faced towards her and whispered, “the last person who didn’t look at the real me and just described what I look like through the sheets was murdered.” He smiled.

Author Notes: I know this is a slower story, but I hope you liked it. I also hope you understand what this is trying to say as a theme.

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