Spencer looked up from his laptop and stared into the darkness of his room. He shifted to sit cross-legged on the bed, but that only helped for a few minutes. “Dammit.” Spencer swung his laptop to the side and kicked off the covers. If he was completely honest, it wasn’t just the edginess that was frustrating him. He was also hearing things. Jeez, imagine how his mother, or his father for that matter, would react if he dropped that bombshell. The sound was like when you held a seashell against your ear. Except this sound had elements that were—how could he describe it—purposeful, maybe, like someone murmuring way far away. On top of all this was a clicking similar to what he heard in his head when the dentist tapped his teeth with one of those metal instruments. Spencer got out of bed and walked to the window. He had to be careful not to make any noise for fear of waking up his parents. (Spencer? What are you doing?) His room was a pit, a veritable obstacle course that could easily trip him up in the dark. Piles of jeans, T-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, and underwear—both clean and dirty—lay on the floor like topographical maps of rarely explored territory. This geological landscape was subject to frequent tectonic plate action as additional clothing was added or subtracted, not to mention the forceful invasion of textbooks, backpacks, novels, and human feet. The sound was definitely coming from outside. Inexplicably, he wanted to investigate, almost as if it were his duty. The urge to check it out, now that he was aware of it, nagged him like a mosquito bite. He cracked open the bedroom door—not too far because it had a tendency to squeak—and squeezed into the hallway. Thankfully, the stairs were carpeted, so the rest of his trek to the front door was a piece of cake. As he stepped outside, the sound was still faint, almost like an insect buzz, but it seemed clearer. There were no competing noises, which seemed odd. No cars or leaves blowing in the cold October breeze. His bare feet started to get cold. It felt kind of mysterious, being the only one outside. Then Spencer realized he wasn’t. Something was slinking in the shadows across the street. The sound seemed to be coming from it. Spencer couldn’t get a good look because the figure was dressed in black, but it was disproportionally large for the adroit way in which it moved. He also could have sworn he saw large breasts swaying with the motion. Spencer had an uneasy feeling that he was seeing something … monstrous. He smirked, but he couldn’t shake the thought. In an instant, the figure was gone. It dashed around a house and went out of sight. Grab your copy! Available digitally or in print. Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sweet-Aswang-Anthony-Hains-ebook/dp/B073KSRFGL/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Aswang-Anthony-Hains-ebook/dp/B073KSRFGL/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Add it to your Goodreads! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35613292-sweet-aswang?ac=1&from_search=true |