The Animal in the Walls

"There's something in the apartment....and I think it's going to kill me."

She didn't know which was more frightening - the scratch-scratch-scrape sounds that traveled from behind the wall of the linen closet, or the 40-something petite Asian woman who grabbed her arm and screamed at her "leave this place -- that creature lives there!" Melissa still recalled how desperate and fearful the woman's eyes appeared, even as her husband  and brother pulled her back into their SUV and drove off. The apartment management staff assured Melissa and Johnny that nothing was wrong with the apartment. The woman's hysterics made Melissa's blood run ice cold.

But still, this noisy scratch also came close to terrifying her. They came at night. Often the scratches started up when she moved, but ceased when she stood still to listen.  It was as if whatever caused the scratching knew she was there and played a game with her. So far she had talked to Johnny about it, although he made light of it as he took off for yet another business trip. She also mentioned it to the apartment complex resident services, but staff couldn't send anyone out until the following morning.

One night, the scraping sounded more intense, more angry, as it entered the hallway somewhere near the top. She stood now, still wrapped in a towel, having just taken a shower after a hard workout at the gym and a long day at work.  The noise moved upward, toward the ceiling, then stopped. She stared and held her breath, not sure if it, whatever it was, knew if she was there, or if this was coincidence. No, it wasn't it had to be something. A squirrel? This apartment complex was crawling brown and black ones when they moved in, although lately she hadn't seen any. Was it a bird? She saw some flapping around by the lake. Children? She once saw little kids running down the hall and older kids trying open the gated door to the roof.  But that's just it, the roof access door was gated shut.

Melissa prayed to Jesus that it wasn't anything serious, and she quickly switched on the TV to drown out the noise.  Maybe by the next day, when the resident services staff checked out the noise she'd find out.

Unfortunately, they moved her appointment to the following day.

She told her husband Johnny, who brushed it off as her being overly panicked. True. Melissa tended to overreact to things, like the time she thought freaked out about the car breaking down, fearing it was an alternator or fan belt. Turned out all she needed was a jump-start. Yeah her overreaction was a cursed-gift.
 "You find something wrong with everything," he joked with her.  
"No I don't," she said, although she did make a comment that she feared it could be rats. "When are you coming home?"
"Not til Friday, unfortunately. They're still having problems setting up the IT infrastructure. Come on, love, you'll be fine."
"Ok, maybe you're right," she said.

Later that night, she went to bed without the sound of scratching in her ears. Just silence. Maybe she was overreacting. She drifted off to sleep, finding herself in a nightmare about a snarling pit bull chasing after her and -  
BUMMP!
The noise jolted her straight up. Now she surveyed the dark room, wondering if that had been part of her dream, or if it had been real. And then she heard it, loudly -
scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape
Right above her head. She peered up, trembling.  
scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape-
It moved to her left, toward the corner of the bedroom. Melissa jumped out of bed, hitting the floor with her feet. When she did the noise stopped.
What? It knew she was there?
The noise started again, this time, a quick scampering noise, to the other side of the room
scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape- grunt.
Melissa gasped, clutching her chest in fear. Her heart pounded and she felt a little shaky. What was that thing. Now she darted over to the wall, just below the ceiling where the sound came from and pressed her ear agains the wall.
BUMP! BUMP! BUMP!
She jumped back, yelping. It was almost as if it knew she was there and purposely slammed the wall.
scratch-scratch-scrape=scratch-scratch-scrape-MMM-MMM-grunt-scratch-scratch-scrape
That was no rat. Rats didn't make that kind of noise.
Melissa hit the wall with her fist, twice.
scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape-MMMMRRRRR!
She jumped back again. No, not neighbor getting mad at her for making noise. That didn't sound like any animal she was familiar with.
Add then a flurry of scrapes and grunts ripped through the wall as the thing, whatever it, raced across the ceiling and out of the hall, followed by a loud "CREAK!"
"EEEEK!" she shrieked. Someone banged the wall from downstairs. Now that was a neighbor. It was 2 in the morning. Melissa stood, rooted in fear, as the noise suddenly stopped. She looked up at the ceiling and that's when she saw it.
A crack. One jagged and zig-zag, stretching across the far end of the ceiling, along the path where the thing had run. It hadn't been there before, but there it was, fresh and somewhat spit. pieces of ceiling lay on the carpet by her feet.
That thing almost crashed its way through.
It had wanted to crash through.

The next day Melissa worked from home to talk with the service technician. He showed up, an older  slightly chubby man in blue overalls and an iPhone sticking on his belt. He slipped on white cotton footies around his work boots (to not track dirt in the house) and brought in a tool box. She explained everything to him, and even showed him the newly-formed crack. He told her there wasn't much he could do in terms of getting someone in there, but that he could bring someone in to look over head in an hour. That was fine. he came back just as he said he did, with another guy - a skinny Latino who loved to talk.  While they checked around the Latino asked, "Hey did you know you have an attic?"
"I do?" she thought apartments didn't have attics.
"You do -- it's not much of one. It's more of a small crawlspace, no more than two or three feet, but you definitely have one. A lot of the apartments here have these - "
"Mario -" chubby man seemed annoyed.
"Look, you could store things up here if you wanted -- " Mario interrupted and motioned for her to come over. The crawlspace was just above the hallway linen closet, where she originally heard the noise. He had a step stool and had her stand on it so she could peek her head up into the crawl space. Inside there was a musty, dusty smell and the wonderful look of old papers and cobwebs. To the far end of the tiny crawl space there was a hole. It had to be about a foot long and a foot wide, with jagged edges, but it was a hole into...
"Where does that go?" she asked, ducking down.
"It could go into the rest o the apartment, there are smaller openings along the walls of these apartments. Not all of them, you may noticed how thin the ceiling is in terms of next door neighbors, but there is enough crawlspace between the ceilings of the floors and on the sides that there are openings for animals to get in...." he paused and looked down.
Chubby man piped up "Yeah, sometimes squirrels get in, although we've sealed off the outside from the roof down to ensure no squirrels get in, and we don't have a problem with rats in this area. "
"Well, there as that one -"
"Mario, please. Miss, I don't know what it is, but it may have been a squirrel that got in."
"Don, there hasn't been a lot of squirrels around here lately. You know that."
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Melissa said.
"This was a squirrel," Don said flatly.
"A squirrel? OK how big was it -- it put a crack in the bedroom."
"Did you say a crack?" Mario asked. He hadn't seen it, but now he walked into the bedroom.
"Mrs. Connors, I don't think this is nothing to be alarmed about. This squirrel has made his home in there, but he'll come out." Don assured.
""Can't you get it out?"
"Most likely he won't come back."
"But it's been making those scarping noise almost every night, and it's getting worse. Can't you call call pest control or something? Or set traps?"
"That's something you need to do as the tenant. We don't have the tools for that. Now I won't be able to return to fix the crack onto Friday, but you won't be charged for that.""
"Great," Melissa grumbled. "You're suppose to be resident services."
"I'm sorry that's all I can do."
She sighed and returned to her computer laptop as the guys closed the crawlspace. She watched as they checked to see everything was in order and left the apartment. So she was back to square one, and with little help from them. Maybe she should just drink some tea to calm down.
When she went into the kitchen she heard two men outside her apartment mumbling.
Well, it sounded like a harsh mumbling -- maybe arguing.
The voices were familiar -- it was the service technicians.
"She needs to know."
"Knock it off Mario -"
"You can't just keep quiet about that. It's happened before."
"Don't you bring up that crazy lady-"
"She wasn't crazy man. She saw it."
"Knock it off. We need to go to our next appointment."
She told Johnny about it that night. He loved to call her every night, and he did just that. of course he agreed with Don the technician.
"See, I told you it was nothing. Just a squirrel."
"This is not a squirrel Johnny! The other guy doesn't think so. He said it's happened before. And  this thing made a crack! Squirrels don't do that!"
"You bang around loud and hard enough, even if you're a  squirrel. Come on Mel, I know you're scared, but there's nothing to worry about."

That night the scraping returned.
scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape-scratch-scratch-scrape
This time it traveled back and forth from the bedroom to the hallway, and it continued  for a solid hour. Melissa couldn't sleep, but sat up, terrified. This was not good!
scratch-scratch-scrape
Couldn't anyone see this wasn't a squirrel? Why wouldn't any one believe -
EEEEEKEEKEEEEEEE
She jumped up, realizing that noise wasn't her own.
It came from above, from the creature. it has shrieked, a half high-pitched, low terrifying scream.
She heard pop open in the direction of the hallway linen closet.
The crawl space?
What if the creature breaks through the crawl space?
That's it. She wasn't sleeping in here at all. Melissa grabbed her blanket, her car keys, and went down into the parking lot to sleep in her car.
She woke up  early the next morning to muffled frantic voices.
Oh, she felt cramped and she had to get to work, but who was the grief-stricken old lady 100 feet from her? Two maintenance workers and an apartment security officer stood with the old woman.
Melissa got up and walked over.
"You need to find who did this -" the lady protested, tears in her eyes. She pointed to the small white heap of sheet on the ground.
"Ma'am, we don't know what did this."
"Not what who!"
"What happened?" Melissa asked.
"My beloved Fifi is dead!" the elderly lady exclaimed about her dead pet. "Her blood's been drained dry!"
"What?"
"You need to calm down," the technician told her. He turned to Melissa. "We'll take care of this."
So they were still being vague and evasive huh? Great. Terrific. In frustration Melissa returned to her apartment to get ready for work.
And when she got there, she was mortified.
There were pieces of toilet paper scattered down the hall and into the living room. The pantry looked like it had been invaded, with cereal boxes tipped over, spilled contents on the floor. the closet door was opened, with pieces of wood splintered off around the edges. At the top of the linen closet  the door to the crawlspace was opened.
The animal had been in her apartment.
She shrieked.

A few hours later Melissa tracked down Mario on the apartment complex premises. That morning had been frantic, with Melissa calling resident services and security, complaining to the management team, and learning about the series of squirrel disappearances around the complex. She learned people's pets had gone missing or were found dead - like the lady's dog. Now Melissa caught up to Mario, around the corner of the community recreation building.
He looked at her and leaned forward. "They don't like these issues to get out of hand. They don't want to loose tenants, but they don't want to believe that something is terribly wrong, and I don't know why that is," he paused. "All I know is they keep getting complaints about it."
"About it?"
He looked around and leaned in further. "The creature. The thing in your place. It's real. You're not imagining it."
She looked at him and he continued. "It's not a squirrel or a rat." He paused. "The lady who lived here - she was your building. She saw it. Animals have disappeared from this apartment, their blood drained. It happens every  three or so months. That's how it eats, in cycles - "
"What is it?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  he said.
"Try me," she said. "What is the animal?'
Mario looked around again and then at her. "Chupacabra."
"Chupa-what?"
"Chupacabra," he repeated.
"What's that? A dog?"
"No, not a dog. It's of....the unknown. Unknown animal."
She stared at him and shook her head, chuckling. "You know what, this isn't funny. I don't like being treated like I'm an idiot."
"No, miss, I mean it. No one knows what kind of animal it is, and few have seen it.  My uncle owned a ranch in Guatemala, and often we visited when I was a child. Sometimes some of his chickens went missing. One time, his horse was found dead. It wasn't a coyote, it was the chupacabra. My uncle saw it, briefly, but he saw it, and here, that lady saw it, " he looked around. "No one working here wants people to know some unknown animal is here. It's bad for business. It is a family-owned apartment complex. They own several of these around the country, and it's bad if people know."  He looked down. "The chupacabra is supposed to be legend. Few people, like my uncle and that lady have seen it. All that is known is it sucks the blood out of animals.
That made Melissa shiver. "It lives on blood?"
"Yes, like a vampire."
"Could....could it go after humans?" she thought of how the creature seemed to taunt her willingly with its noises.
"My uncle's horse was nearly drained of blood. I think that if it's hungry enough, it may try to go after humans."
Melissa hugged herself more, but shook her head more. "No...that can't be."
"I saw that crack, that is scary. You said the thing is in your apartment?"
Melissa explained what she found.
"Be careful, lady. Be careful. Maybe it's best you don't come back. Wait until it gets hungry and moves along somewhere else."
Melissa heard him, but she still didn't want to believe this.
Chupacabra. She never heard of this. She thought of this as she went to the gym and then to Starbucks with her laptop, all in an attempt to stay out of the apartment.
She did some research of her own. Chupacabra meant "goat sucker" in Spanish. There had been sightings of this creature in the southwestern part of the United states, and even in other parts of the world. It was described as one having a thirst for livestock,  which were found stripped of hair, or blood and with fang bite marks. some videos were posted, ones believed to have captured the creature, although these looked more like dogs. Maybe it's body resembled a dog. Or maybe a cross between wolverine and a dog  with ferocious teeth. No one knew. Some speculated the chupacabra were extra terrestrial. She somehow sensed that this wasn't the case. She did more searches and learned that it came out at night, that some thought the creature was maybe 3 or 4 feet tall at most and on four legs, but could run on two. She found one story where one person claimed to have been attacked by it. She was still at Starbucks when Johnny called. It was Thursday late night and cafe place was getting ready to close. Johnny began talking fast, telling her to e-mail something that was job related.
"If you look in the file on top of the computer desk, you'll see a series of numbers -there a set of old codes to the previous system.  we haven't been able to get it up and running without dismantling the old one. We need those numbers."
Did she have to go back there. She asked if there was any way they could retrieve those codes another way.
"We haven't been able to reach the old IT crew. I've left messages, e-mails, but no answer. You have to get his or else I'm not going to be able to come home tomorrow and I really want to see you."
"I can't go back there, Johnny."
"Why?"
"Because that thing is there -"
"Come on, I need this."
"I can't. That chupacabra-thing is there - "
"The what?" Johnny interrupted, frustrated. "Look, I'm really getting tired of this drama. I love you but this is ridiculous! This is my job I'm talking about. I need you to e-mail those codes!"
"Alright, alright."
Reluctantly, she returned to the apartment. It was cold in here, and she smelled that mustiness that was in the crawl space --was that the creature? had it been in here again?
"You can't come tonight?" she spoke in the phone.
"I wish I could," she could hear other guys in the background talking about computer issues. "Can you give me the codes."
She found the file Johnny was talking about, right where he said it would be. As she did she heard violent scratching in the walls.
Oh no.
"Melissa? the codes? Can you e-mail them?'
She sat down at the computer, opened up her e-mail and typed in the information to e-mail him.  Just do it quick and you can get out of here. She pressed the send button and the e-mail went through and she -
scratch-scratch-scrape
scratch-scratch-scrape -EEEEK.
She jumped.
It didn't sound like that was in the wall. it sounded like that was in the room down the hall.
"Johnny - " she began, her voice quivering.
"I got it," Johnny said, elated. "Yes, we're in business. These codes will work.Thank you so much - "
"Johnny it's in here."
"What's in there?"
She stood up, still holding her cell phone.
"Melissa, are you still there?"
scratch-scratch-scrapescratch-scratch-scrapescratch-scratch-scrapescratch-scratch-scrapescratch-scratch-scrapescratch-scratch-scrape
"Melissa" Johnny sounded scared now. "Melissa, what's going on?"
It scampered across the floor.
The floor.
GRUNTGRUNT -
She yelped, jumped up and headed for the door -
and that's when she thought she saw something, something knee high, but blurry, running quickly across the front door, quick and scampering into the kitchen.-
CRASH!!!!
She heard the sounds of pots and pans falling out of the cupboards -
CRASH! RATTLE!
Melissa jumped away and ran into the living room, her heart pounding once more.
"Melissa what was that?" Johnny was still on the other end. She clutched her phone tightly.
Now she clasped a hand over her mouth. She had only turned on the living room light, but all else was dark, including the kitchen and the foyer in front of the living room. all she knew was that it was in the kitchen, and the kitchen was right by the front door.
"Melissa?"
"Call, the police," she whispered in a horse, shaky voice. "It's in here."
"What's in there?"  Johnny began, now sounding slightly scared himself. "Melissa, are you OK?"
"It's in the apartment, it's in the apartment - " she whispered, her voice trembling.
No response.
"Johnny?"
No response. Melissa looked at the cell phone.
Oh no!  The phone had dropped the call!
She dialed his number. It automatically went  to voicemail. Darn it!
She dialed 911 now, not sure what else to do. Please let this call go through. Please!
 What if it attacked her if she made a run for the door? She could hear it now, scraping and grunting as it rummaged through the cupboards and snarling angrily. It knew she was there. It knew -
"911 what's your emergency."
She got through!
"There's something in my apartment." she recited the address quickly as she inched toward the front door. '"Please hurry!"
"Is it a man, miss? do you see him?"
"It's..." she inched closer now. BANG, CLATTER!
Scratch-scratch-scrape stop.
Melissa stood by the wall, the one bordering the kitchen to the foyer of the apartment, the front door right in front of her.
HUFHUFHUFGRUNT =
It's voice sounded hideous, high-pitched and low gutteral moaning all at once. It sounded like it was by the wall on the other side, listening for her, waiting for her, hissing for her.
HUFHUFHUFHUFHUFHF
It knew she was there.
"Miss? Miss?"
It waited for her to move. Why didn't it just pop out from around the corner? She remained frozen.
"Miss? Miss? are you OK?"
Yes, she sensed it waited for her to move - to move before it moved -- to attack her? She heard it growling now, not like a dog, but something else, more sinister, more horrifying.
It's sounded inhuman.
Make a break for the door. Just make a break for it.
She stared at it, knowing very well she had a few second to be successful in reaching it.
"Miss? are you there? Are you safe."
She raised the phone to her ear and spoke low.
"Please come" she whispered. "I think it's going to kill me."
"What's about to kill you?'
She said nothing more, but prepared herself for a sprint.
"Miss? Miss?"
She counted backwards from three, ready to dash to the door and fling the door open.
"Miss, are you there?"
And she made a dash for it.
RUFRFROAARRORRRRRR
It charged after her swiftly.
She screamed, grabbing the doorknob and yanking the door open and letting in light from the hallway -
Something yanked her feet out from underneath her and she suddenly slammed against the door, her hand slipping from the knob - she crashed to the floor, and the phone flew out of her hand.
Melissa screamed again.
"Miss?! Miss!" the dispatcher cried through the receiving line. "Miss -w -"
RARROARRUF-RRRRRR
and something sharp pierced her leg, yanking her back.
Panic seized her now and she frantically grabbed the door frame, as the thing the creature, the chupacabra, whatever you call it, pounced on her legs and buttocks, slamming her down, weight, strangely heavy.
And then its claws sank into her skin as it ran up her back toward the back of her head and neck.
 She flung around, trying to throw it off of her, and that's when she saw it.
The creature. It's red eyes, it's sharp teeth, ugly looking part-dog, part-rat, part-gargoyle snarling creature with sharp teeth and a look of hideous hunger as it yanked her yanked her back.
she released a blood curdling, bone chilling scream that vibrated apartment walls. It's the last noise she made before the creature jammed it's teeth into the back of her neck.
 And then everything went black.

In that stream of consciousness, there is a sense of dream, like floating on a boat or in a waterless blue ocean, the sun fuzzy yellow and inviting. Maybe you hear someone calling your name, the voices, someone call your name. That's what she heard, her name, Melissa, Melissa, over again. A man's voice, a woman's voice, and shapes, she saw shapes, fuzzy and out of focus, with light. Light? Was she dead? Maybe she was on her way to meet Jesus. Or was this person  wearing a stethoscope? The muffling became clear, more clear,
and then she heard it
 -scratch-scratch-scrape
Melissa tried to scream and sat up, flailing her arms.
Oh the pain! Pain ripping through her arms and strangely, her stomach, and no sound came out. Why did no sound come out?
But the scratching, she heard it no! It was back. She tried to scream again, no sound came out. She moved frantically.
"Hold her, hold her!" someone shouted. A nurse to her left. she pushed Melissa down. "Stop, stop, calm down. You're going to hurt yourself. Just calm down."
Full focus now. Melissa realizes two things, she was in the hospital and her body, from her neck right down to her stomach and legs, hurt like heck. She looked down at her legs and arms, covered in bandages. Her neck was in a brace, one used to cover wounds, and tubes stuck in her arms. one of them, dripping blood.
"Just lay still, You have some serious stitches in your neck and arms, and you don't want to rip these out." A doctor to her right. Melissa looked at him.
What happened? she tried to say, but no sound came out. Now she looked at him in fear.
"It's OK," the doctor said. "You're in a lot of pain because we had to give you precautionary shots for rabies and typhus,  and you can't speak because your larynx was cut. But it will heal in time, you'll be able to speak again." He paused. "You're very lucky to make it. The injury to your neck was pretty bad. there were deep cuts into the tissue, You're lucky your arteries are still in tact in the neck. That would have been fatal. As it it you lost  a lot of blood. We had to give you a transfusion..." he looked up and over. 'Look who's here."
She looked to her left and saw a man standing by the nurse, his face crestfallen and full of worry.
Johnny.
 He came up to her, stroking her dark hair.
"Oh baby, baby, I didn't   -"
Anger suddenly seized her and she began hitting him, tears falling. Doctor pulled her down again.
"Melissa, stop! Nurse, check to make sure the stitches are in tact."
The nurse checked her bandages. 'They're still good."
Johnny began to cry. ""I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry." he took her hand and she grabbed his arms now, wanting to hug him. He put his head on her chest and wrapped his arms around her, albeit tentatively. "I should have listen to you. I should have listen to you, please forgive me."
She couldn't stay angry at him, she hugged him and he did her, as much as they could with her laying in the hospital.  He held her tentatively as he apologized over again about his disbelief in her. Even though she could make no noise, she let the tears fall like a river. Johnny held her. After a few minutes they broke apart.
"You're going to be OK," Johnny whispered. "I'll make sure of it."
"Mrs. Connors, do you remember anything at all?"
Melissa nodded.
"These injuries, are definitely characteristic of an animal, but I don't know what kind.  I mean, maybe it was a dog, but these injuries.....these are canine. That's why we had to take precautions and give you those shots. " he paused.  "When I say you lost blood, I don't mean you were bleeding heavily I mean.... I mean - "he looked at Johnny and the nurse. "You were missing blood. Like it attempted to drain you of it."
"They said ..." Johnny began. "They said tenants rushed over when they hear you scream. they found you on the floor,.... " he paused. "I should have never accused you of overreacting - "
The doctor patted Johnny's shoulder. "Melissa. Did you see what attacked you?
she nodded.
"what was it? What was it exactly?"
She gestured for a pen and paper. The doctor had one handy and gave one to her.
She wrote, "chupacabra."
"What?"
Everyone looked at the note and the nurse gasped.
She wrote this two more times with fierceness. Johnny and the doctor stared at her, shocked.
Then she wrote -
"I won't go back to apartment. Don't make me go back."  More tears came when she wrote this and underlined  this.
"No of course not. Never We won't. We're moving, OK? Never. I will listen to you. I don't know what a chupacabra is, but we're not going back, and I"m going to have a serious showdown with the management -"
"It means goat sucker in Spanish," the nurse piped up. she looked at Melissa now with wide eyes. "You saw one?"
"I've never heard of this."
"It's an urban legend. The chupacabra. It's supposed to be a fierce creature that drains the blood of animals. Papa told me about it," she turned to Melissa "You actually saw one? You saw this?" Melissa nodded. "Papa said it was legend. But if what you saw --- that mean it is true."

Of course  the apartment management denied such a creature, even when Johnny angrily told them what happened to his wife and presented evidence - remnants of the crack ceiling, pictures of her injuries, and the like. Mario, unfortunately was fired, for unrelated reasons, management said, but Johnny and Melissa had their suspicions. They figured he was fired because he dared to talk about something that management wanted to push under the rug. But how long could management hid the fact that residents' pets had disappeared and that tenants had been complaining about scratches and noises behind their walls for sometime now -- maybe two or three years, and that the apartment building Johnny and Melissa had moved into had had a quick turnover rate. Families had come and gone quickly, just as they had, just as the Asian lady and her husband had. He learned of this later.
The best management did was return the couples' security deposit and first month's rent, which allowed them to find  another apartment quickly. It wasn't as gorgeous  as this one, but it was a quaint two bedroom that they both liked. Melissa, still couldn't talk much -- although she could whisper now, but she suffered nightmares about the creature, something Johnny had to calm her from at night. He stopped being so ornery about her concerns, and insisted on getting a position that allowed him to stay home more.  He didn't want anything else happening to her with him gone.  She would return to work eventually once she regained her strength.
Johnny took charge in getting movers to come in. He and family members packed up everything. Melissa never set foot in the apartment again.
On the day they collected their deposit and first months rent, Melissa sat in the car in the leasing parking lot. It was there she overheard a couple talking about the excitement of moving in, and she deduced they were about to move into her apartment. By now everything had been refurnished so that it looked as if nothing had happened. But Melissa knew, and so she tried to talk to them, even though she didn't have her voice fully back yet. She gestured toward the young black woman and her white husband, a young couple full of life and newly married. She tried to write it out - "Find another apartment. Bad thing, chupacabra live there. The young woman looked at her strangely, but before she could ask anything, Johnny came and led Melissa back to their car gently.  She had taken the Asian woman's shoes.

The apartment complex management sent a notice saying they were spraying for rodents and that the problem had been eliminated.
Mario received severance pay.
Inside the walls of the apartment, the chupacabra lived, ready to sleep before it's next period of feasting on animals and any unsuspecting human.
And within the apartment, the new tenants - the young woman and her husband - happily arranged furniture spoke excitedly about their future here.  It was quite a steal, this apartment. Who knew what surprises awaited them?

Author's Note

Tell me what you think guys - is it scary, or should there be more work to it?

Reviews

[Simon S.]

This was a good read, it was very suspenseful and spooky. I like stories where the world is against you and thinks you mad when you are quite sane. I say this story is fine the way it is. By the way would you mind if i took the idea of an animal in the walls as a prompt? I really found it captivating.

[Joanna Johnson]

Sure be my guest. I'm glad you liked it!