The Front Porch Light
I woke up sweaty and in a daze. Most nights this is normal for me but not tonight. Something about my bedroom was odd, something wasn’t right. I felt around next to me and grabbed my phone and checked the time – it’s midnight. Seven more hours of sleep before I gotta get up and get ready for work. I looked over to the open door and saw the faint yellow porch light that emanates through our cheap and slightly cracked blinds next to the front door. I dropped my phone back to its place and lay my head back down, letting out a heavy sigh and turning to my wife who’s sleeping soundly next to me, her back facing me. I gently run my fingers down her spine for comfort and try to get my sleep going once more. I woke up sweaty and in a daze again. I felt a cough coming in and did my best to suppress it so as to not wake up my wife but the dryness of my throat made it difficult. I stood and walked through the open door and into the kitchen. I didn’t bother to turn on any of the lights as the porch lights were enough to illuminate my way. Our apartment was small, only two bedrooms and one bath big and without having any children of our own, it was easy to navigate with my adjusted eyes. I grabbed a cup from the cabinet and poured myself some water. As I poured and listened to the sound of my cup being filled, I suddenly realized that the entire apartment was quiet. I stopped pouring and looked over to the window next to the front door. The light still penetrated through but a sense of suspicion all but forced me to take a peek through the blinds. I walked over and lifted a single blind. It was foggy. The cars normally parked out in front were invisible and I couldn’t make out a single thing except for some black asphalt maybe ten feet ahead. This fog was dense and looked stained from the porch’s light. I let the single blind drop back to its place and turned to the kitchen again. I took two steps when I saw a part of the light that shone on the floor be disturbed. Something ran past. Something I didn’t see or notice earlier. A single black line now broke the even light and it was clearly standing still now. I turned again and with my adrenaline now running I slowly but shakily check the doorknob and top lock, making sure they’re both secure. I stood still now as well, hoping that whatever stood behind my door left or at least gave me the ease of knowing that it’s actually something mundane. A minute passes and nothing changes. My eyes were still locked onto the black shadow on the floor and with keeping my peripheral vision on the window, I slowly and quietly went back into the room. At this point I had so much fear of breaking eye contact with the shadow, but I didn’t know what to do. I sat on the edge of my bed that gave me a perfect view of the shadow on the floor and used my left hand to reach over and feel for my wife. Thankfully she’s still asleep. I sat and watched for a long time. I don’t actually know how much time had passed but it was enough to tire me. My eyes were burning and each blink reminded me that I wasn’t going to last much longer like this. Blink.Yawn.Blink. I woke up sweaty and dazed. I immediately threw myself to my feet and looked around. My heart was beating fast and saw that the shadow on the floor was gone. I looked over to my wife and there she was, still asleep, peaceful and beautiful. I managed to get my heart rate down by breathing and thinking to myself how vivid and strange that nightmare was. I sat back on the bed and felt around for my phone and checked the time – it’s midnight. That can’t be right. Was it daylight savings? My throat was still dry, so I decided to grab some water from the kitchen. I passed the yellow light again and saw the same cup of water I had forgotten about in my nightmare sitting right there on the counter. Exactly where I had left it. Dread now washed over me and I began to sweat even more than I already was. Am I still in my nightmare? No, the sweat beading down my cheek and my irritating dry throat felt too real. If that’s the case… I closed my eyes shut and tightly held them together while my mind raced. This means that whatever stood on my front porch was probably still there. I didn’t want to open them and see its shadowy presence on the floor. Yet, if this is real, I need to make sure my wife is safe. I took a deep breath in and opened them. No shadow. I let my breath go and made my way back to the bedroom. I crawled onto bed and shook my wife’s shoulder and whispered her name. She didn’t respond. She had always been a heavy sleeper, so it was gonna take a little more than that, but I also didn’t want to scare her awake either. On my second attempt I heard knocking. It was faint but clear. I felt my heart drop and I closed my eyes again, leaving my hand hovering over my wife. Then it spoke. “Hello? Is anyone home?” The voice was feminine. It spoke with emotion, like a scared person asking if the killer was hiding in the basement in a horror movie. The words echoed throughout the apartment. I turned and slowly made my way back to the front door. If it wasn’t a nightmare then I know the locks are secure; yet the dread of doubting myself won and I started shaking with fear. I looked over to the lit floor and didn’t see the shadowy line that previously split the light. Instead, it was much smaller and contained itself to the top portion of the lit floor. I took some more deep breaths and calmed myself enough to say fuck it and check what was looming right outside my door. What I saw made no sense. Outside, where the dense fog remained, right on the edge of the black asphalt where my visibility ended, was a nude female body. It stood still and the porch light gave just enough to see that it was missing its head. I took a step back and made quite a bit of noise when I accidentally kicked the coffee table that was nearby. My breathing became more intense, and I now had a piercing headache, but I took another look to see if it wasn’t a mannequin. It wasn’t. I could see that there were dark streaks running down its breasts and down its naval. It looked like it stood perfectly still but noticed that it swayed ever so slightly. While examining it I tried to see if there was anything else out there that could make sense of what I was seeing but there was nothing. Before dropping the blind I heard very low humming. This was something I hadn’t noticed before – was it there the whole time? Or did it just now start? I scanned the surroundings again and when I looked further up, I saw its head. It was floating right above me, inches away from my front door and facing it. The mouth was agape and the eyes missing. Its hair flowed down and where the neck ends were the same black streaks as the body. I was frozen in place. Was this what was bothering me the whole time? Staring right at the floating head it began to speak again. “Hello? Could you come outside please?” No part of the head moved. Not even its mouth. At this point I didn’t care anymore. I ran back to the bed and shook my wife, yelling her name. I shook and I shook but there she remained, sleeping peacefully. I grabbed her by the chin and turned her to face me, she looked fine and was still breathing like normal. Good, at least I didn’t ha- BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. The sounds of the violent knocking rattled my headache again and I clasped my ears. I jumped out of bed and ran towards the window. I opened up the blinds wider and less inconspicuous this time to get a better look and saw that the feverishly stained fog had rolled back a little, along with a fleet of headless bodies. Instead of the single one they were now numerous. They varied in shapes and sizes and some clearly darker than others. Some stood on the ground and others floated above, some closer and some farther, some lower and some higher. They surrounded me in my now god-forsaken apartment. The floating head remained alone, still facing my front door. I stared at it and waited for it to do something. Soon, it started viciously slamming itself against the door then speaking again. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. “Hello? Can you please come outside? Please?” BANG. BANG. BANG. This time it came from behind me. I quickly turned and saw a figure standing outside my bedroom window, right next to where I sleep. Running towards the window I realized that there was a yellowish light that shone outside, same as the front porch. I stopped and checked the spare room – same light outside. Looking through the spare room window I saw a dark-skinned body floating, stiff as a board but floating, slowly and eerily towards the window. I ran back to my bedroom and my heart stopped for a second. Looking upon the bed I saw that my wife was missing. I cried and shouted for her name but received no answer. I ran through the apartment, but she wasn’t there. I sat on the bed and cried. I smacked my head a couple times out of frustration when the violent knocking came back again. This time it came from every window in the apartment. Every. Single. One. I screamed and covered my ears and shut my eyes tightly to try and drown out the horrifying sounds. Then I heard my wife. “Babe? Hello?” I opened my eyes and looked up, but I didn’t see her. “Babe, you sound distressed. Why don’t you come outside?” Credit: Urith Viktor Reddit Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.