It was nice to get away from it all from time to time, and that was exactly the way Taehyung intended to spend his next week. No cell phones, no television - just him, the woods, and his great-uncle’s cabin, which the latter had generously loaned to Taehyung for a short but much needed vacation.

The day he arrived, Taehyung was surprised to discover that the structure was actually quite modern, and was more than large enough for an entire family to stay in - let alone a single person. He counted at least close to one dozen large, plate glass windows on the front of the wood paneled house, and he was sure that there would be more around back. Taehyung slammed the trunk of his little car as he got out his one paltry suitcase, and slung a half-full messenger bag over his shoulder while he gazed upward at the two-story building.

“Guess I’ll have my choice of the bedrooms,” he mused.

His husky voice sounded oddly quiet in the large surrounding meadow, which was fenced in on all sides by pine trees and bushes.

“Now, where’d I put the keys?”

Taehyung let himself in, breathing in the plethora of musky spring scents before he crossed the gleaming threshold. The interior of the house was decorated like any other - barely cabin-like in aesthetic at all - but Taehyung didn’t mind the lack of traditional atmosphere as long as he got to have a relaxing week. Away from the stresses of work, school, and friends, the young man hoped to spend hours upon hours doing absolutely nothing. He set his luggage down in the bright, open floor-plan kitchen before leaving to explore the rest of the house.

❧

After touring the premises, Taehyung decided on a second-story bedroom at the back of the house, with a spacious balcony that faced the thick treeline. He made himself a big cup of hot chocolate - even though it was humid and muggy out - and settled into one of the chairs outside. There were crickets chirping and animals rustling in the dense bushes beyond the property, and these soft noises made Taehyung feel calm and at ease.

“This is just what I needed,” the boy sighed, speaking only to the forest as he took a timid sip of his drink.

The sun had just set when Taehyung drifted off, but when he awoke some hours later, the moon was high and full in the sky, beaming down on his cheeks as they glistened with sweat. Taehyung glanced over at his hot chocolate, which had gone bitter and lukewarm in the time he had slept. He gathered his things, and was prepared to go in, when he stopped with his hand poised in front of the sliding glass doors.

That’s odd. Where did the crickets go?

It was indeed silent as Taehyung stood frozen next to the transparent entryway, his ears at attention as he listened for any hint of noise coming from the now-quiet bushes. The forest stayed hushed, however, and Taehyung shrugged it off as he went inside to get ready for bed.

Despite his unplanned little nap, Taehyung was exhausted from driving all day to reach his remote destination, so he had no trouble falling right back to sleep after he’d cleaned his mug and brushed his teeth. The double-wide bed was cozy but not suffocating as Taehyung pulled the light blanket up to his shoulders, and he snuggled back into a restful slumber as the nightlight in the hallway cast a shadow across his door.

❧

Taehyung awoke for seemingly no reason when it was still the middle of the seemingly-endless night, and rubbed at his eyes as he sat up in bed, curious about what could have possibly disturbed him on such a peaceful evening. The house was still empty, and there were no other lights on aside from the one still shining in the hall.

The young man glanced over to the see-through glass doors that led to the balcony he’d napped on earlier. In his half-asleep state, Taehyung had failed to close the blinds that were meant to cover the gliding double doors, which allowed the dark night to look in on the young man while he slept. There was nobody out there to watch him per se, but Taehyung still found himself unsettled by the intrusion. He got up to close the thick curtains so he could hopefully get back to sleep and stay there, but was stopped halfway to the curtains by a light rustling sound.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

It sounded like it was coming from the roof, but Taehyung quickly recovered his calm by telling himself that it was probably just a bird of some sort, nesting in the rafters. He stood in front of the large doorway, unable to see through the thick, charcoal air.

Taehyung’s hand hovered over the tie that held the first curtain as he noticed he hadn’t locked the doors. He turned the forgotten latch with a click as he felt the tension build in his chest. It wasn’t as if there was a real need to do that, as he was completely alone in the woods, but Taehyung always felt better when he knew he was safe, sound, and secure. The young man hurriedly closed the rough drapes, and sighed before crawling back into bed. He was paranoid - he knew it - yet there was something alarming about the way he couldn’t see out those windows.

Pushing these thoughts out of the forefront of his mind, Taehyung was eventually able to fall back asleep - although this time he felt much more restless than before.

❧

It was hardly fifteen minutes later, judging by the clock on his bedside table, when Taehyung was again yanked out of his slumber. This time, however, he knew exactly why he had woken up - as the last few trailing notes of claws against glass still lingered in the room as he opened his eyes wide.

Taehyung lay awake for several moments, not willing to take his eyes off of the dim ceiling even though the house was silent again. The sounds had been coming from directly outside his window, and now the scraping on the roof was back, making a small ruckus as the young man tried to block it out.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Goddamn birds.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Taehyung attempted to fall back asleep, but the scratching was making it difficult. He didn’t know what kind of bird was able to scratch on a vertical pane of double thick glass, but whatever had been making the noise at his door was now on the roof. The continued, the harsh sound vibrating unpleasantly in Taehyung’s ears as he covered them with a pillow, desperate to get away from the noise.

“Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!” he yelled.

The noises stopped. There was nothing; no chirp, no flapping of wings, and no more scratching. Taehyung settled back under the covers, stressed and disturbed, but quite thankful that the annoying disruption had at least gone away.

The young man stayed up momentarily to see if the sounds would return, but when nothing else happened, he closed his tired eyes, ready to get back to the dream he had been enjoying. To Taehyung’s dismay, however, he discovered that - try as he might - he was totally unable to drift off. The window was bothering him, and even if he couldn’t see it behind the blinds, he had the feeling that something was watching him - though how anything would be able to all the way out here was beyond his comprehension.

❧

Taehyung leapt up as he piled the covers in a small heap next to the bed. If he couldn’t get to sleep, there was no use in heating up as he lay awake, waiting for something more to happen in the dark, sticky heat. It had grown hotter rather than cooler as the night had worn on, and now Taehyung was almost drowning in the sea of damp blankets that pooled at his feet.

Absolutely no creature stirred as he tiptoed over to the door, placing his hand on the edge of the curtains as he hesitated to open them. Suppose something was out there? That thought was ridiculous, though, because no one could possibly know where the cabin was - aside from Taehyung’s uncle, of course. But he would have used his key if he were dropping by. Besides, it was a totally unreasonable hour of the night to have any visitors - expected or otherwise - and Taehyung felt certain that whatever had been on the roof was also been the thing that was now at his door.

He pulled back the thick curtains, peering out onto the inky balcony and thickly-settled pines beyond as the fabric brushed the floor. The grassy ground was somewhere far beneath the deck, but Taehyung couldn’t see it as he scanned from one end of the wooden platform to the other, his eyes made dizzy by moving too quickly between the slots in the railings. It was hard to see very much, in fact - and he was about to give up when something grabbed hold of the boy internally, and told him to step outside in order to get a better look.

Unlocking the doors with a click, and rolling them open with a low rumble, Taehyung crept out into the humid night air with a timid step onto the balcony. His feet were bare, and the world was still oddly quiet as the young man took another few tense steps away from the door. His rational mind told him that there was nothing to be worried about, but somewhere in the back of Taehyung’s baffled head was a little voice telling him that that simply wasn’t true.

Have a look around, see that it’s nothing, and then get back to bed.

Taehyung hadn’t realized just how little he had been able to observe from behind the window. Out here, in the open space of the balcony, he could see clearly into the forest as the world was illuminated by the soft glow of the moon, which shone off of Taehyung’s slender face as he glanced around the platform. It was empty, and so was the roof from what he could manage to see. Wondering if it had all been a dream, Taehyung slank slowly back toward the door, hunching over as he checked from side to side while he walked.

He was about to slip all the way back inside when something reflected in the dark glass caught Taehyung’s eye as he placed his foot through the half-open door.

There was something in the trees.

It looked almost like an owl, but this was very clearly no average bird. Taehyung stared at the reflection of the gigantic, feathered thing in the blackness of the window, still hovering half-in and half-out of the safety of his house. It was crouching, he realized, and had bipedal legs almost but not quite like those of a human. The thing’s texture was unmistakably bird-like, though, in that it had feathers jutting out of its rounded head, which ended in a sharp, pointed beak.

Taehyung tripped into the bedroom, and slammed the door shut. He drew the curtains tightly after making absolutely sure he had secured the latch, and plastered his eyes to the blank wall across the room as his heart burst against his heaving chest.

❧

The thing’s huge eyes had been focused on him, and Taehyung felt sure that whatever it was, it had seen him. How long had it watched him from the trees as he had inspected the porch? It looked like it had wings, so why hadn’t it swooped down and captured him while it had the perfect chance?

Taehyung’s hands were shaking hopelessly, so he held them to his mouth as he tried to think of what to do next. Was whatever that thing was dangerous? Would it stay there until morning? And then what would happen if it did?

These frenzied questions about the mysterious creature remained unanswered as something came crashing suddenly into the glass behind Taehyung, knocking him forward out of pure shock as the window buzzed under the stress. The doors hadn’t broken, but the silence that followed was ringing in Taehyung’s ears as he clambered up off the floor and into his bed.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

The noise nearly drove the isolated man mad, and he cried as he prayed for the creature to go away. This was all some terrible nightmare; it had to be, because nothing like that was supposed to exist. Taehyung wasn’t even sure what it was, but he knew that the creature he’d seen was impossible, and not even looking at it with his own eyes was enough to convince him otherwise.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

That’s not real. I’m dreaming. I’m having a nightmare.

Taehyung rocked back and forth as the tears continued to fall, staining the bedsheets that he pulled off of the floor and hid under. The scratching was replaced with a faint clicking sound as the floor was tapped by talons.

Wake up, wake up, wake up.

The young man squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to get out of the hell in which he now found himself trapped. He heard a whoosh as something moved quickly and smoothly outside the glass doors, but Taehyung knew that he wouldn’t have been able to see anyway because of the curtains. He could hear something moving in the mud below his balcony, and although he didn’t have an accurate name for it, he was certain he knew what that something was.

❧

His thoughts blurred together as Taehyung became faint, his consciousness slowly slipping away as he out from fear. When he awoke, it was morning, and the birds were singing steadily as sunlight filtered through the space between the blinds.

Taehyung got up - lifting himself from where he had tumbled partially off the bed after passing out last night. The sing-songy voices of chickadees and songbirds did little to comfort the young man as he made his way down to the kitchen, still remembering the huge, impossible bird monster thing that had haunted him last night. The dining space was almost directly below his balcony, and Taehyung peered out through the identical double-wide glass doors that sat past the head of the small table and led out to a ground-level porch on the lawn.

The creature was nowhere, from what he could see, but Taehyung had no intentions of hanging around until it came back. He had no idea if what he had seen was some sort of monstrous owl or not, but he could only pray that the thing was nocturnal as he stuffed his sparse belongings into his suitcase and messenger bag, far too frantic to think about breakfast.

Suitcase in the trunk and keys in the ignition, Taehyung hesitated before pulling out of the dirt driveway. Was he overreacting? Hallucinating, even? It had all seemed so real, but he supposed it was still possible that he could have simply been dreaming. He grabbed his keys as he exited the car, marching around to the backyard of the house.

The pines stood tall, but thankfully empty, all around Taehyung as he surveyed the ground. He had heard the soft padding of the animal’s footsteps after it had glided down from the balcony, and he wondered if perhaps it had left any trace. Something to show the nervous man that whatever he’d seen was not merely his mind playing tricks on him. Of course, what Taehyung was really hoping was that he would find nothing, and then hopefully be able to convince himself that the giant bird had been nothing more than a dream. When he got to the wet earth next to the kitchen patio, however, Taehyung nearly fell over as he glimpsed the impressions in the mud.

❧

Scattered about, arranged in no meaningful pattern as they zig-zagged from one end of the muck to the other, were a series of human-like footprints. The size and shape were both about right, but there was something odd about the fresh tracks. At the end of each toe was a deep, circular imprint - one that looked like it might have been made by a claw or sharp talon. Taehyung stumbled backwards as he felt a gasp catch in his throat, and noticed a brown feather flutter down in front of him and settle into the thick mud.

He didn’t look back. He ran to the car and started the engine, slamming the accelerator down to the floor in an explosion of dust as he left the footprints and the house far, far behind him. Taehyung felt his hands shake weakly on the steering wheel as he thought of the eyes that had glared at him from the pine trees.

I think that sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones that watch you, but don’t attack you. You’re just waiting for them to do something; to threaten the character so you can decide if they really even are a danger or not - but they never do. There’s something so inherently unsettling about being watched and having your privacy invaded without your knowledge that I almost feel like the creature doesn’t even have to do anything else to be considered menacing.

The weird- owl creature was inspired by a story I read online once (which I cannot find a link to to save my life - which is unfortunate because it’s really good). Anyway, it’s basically about a guy who takes his dog to a vacation home in the middle of the woods and hears tapping at the window to his room, the dog freaks out, he finds nothing amiss the next day, but then the following night there is a strange half-bird half-something creature watching him from the trees next to his house. Pretty creepy stuff, if you ask me!

Side note: I have to say I am so sorry for not updating this for several… okay, many months. But I have not forgotten about this! If anyone who used to read these stories is still around: welcome back, and I am kind of surprised you’re here, lol. But very happy that you are ^_^ If you’re new, then welcome, and don’t worry - I will be paying more attention to this fic than I have been lately. Life got in the way for a little bit, but now I should have more time to spend doing stuff like writing - which I still love. I may not update this as frequently as I used to, but I promise you will not wait months between stories either!

Basically, right now I have a small backlog of one-shot stories I had written for this but never posted, so I am at least going to finish releasing those. After they’re gone, we will see if this series continues with any regularity (i.e., weekly/biweekly/monthly updates). It depends on how much time and inspiration I have. I also want to start and/or keep working on some longer fics right now, so fair warning that I may be devoting more energy toward those. But the stories I have already written will definitely be posted. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy : )