Stephany Petite Michaels was anything but tiny.  She never figured out why her mother had to name her that.  At six feet she could handle most things.   Tonight she smiled walking up the narrow path through the redwood forest to her new home.   She loved the ferns growing thickly under the redwoods and the smell of the trees.   There were few private cabins on this  mountainside.
 
  A new home!  A new start for me!  Hopefully, I’m far enough away from my ex, Eddie.   He won’t find me this time.   It’s the third time I’ve moved and tried to start a new life.   She smiled to herself as she unlocked the door.  Dropping her backpack on the chair, she turned looking out across the clearing at the dark churning mass of clouds that filled the sky.
 
 “ A storm building!  Glad it’s Friday night. ”  She shook her head, “A storm on Halloween… poor kids.”   Steph latched the door behind her as she moved into the kitchen.  Lifting the lid of the crock pot she sniffed the spaghetti sauce she had put on before work. Hmmm!  Perfect!!  Putting a pot of water on to boil she headed out for a quick shower and her comfy clothes.
 
 Dinner was long over, when she curled up in her reading chair with a paranormal romance novel.   A fire burned in the fireplace against the chill of the night, she began to read.  The heroine, Kasey, was camping on a lonely mountain side.  Scratch!  Scratch!  The sounds of the storm driven brush and trees around the house seemed to echo with the story.  
 
 She read, ‘Kasey peeked through the flaps of her tent at the scratching sounds and…footsteps?’  Stephany shivered raising her head to stare at the dark window across the room hearing the storm.   
 
 What was that?  Setting the book aside she moved to the window.  Shutting the storm out, she thought, drawing the curtains.  She jumped as lightning flashed
through the redwoods outside.  For an instant a dark figure stood under the trees.  Stephany froze staring out the narrow gap in the curtains.  Another flash lit up her clearing.  Nothing…perhaps it was another resident heading home up the mountain.   There were other cabins higher on this side of the mountain.  She didn’t remember the path up the mountain was on the other side the house.   
 
 With a shrug, Stephany moved back to the comfortable chair.  She picked up her book.  Another flash of lightening startled her, this time close enough to rattle the windows of her tiny house.  The wind picked up the branches hitting the roof and sides of the house violently.  The room around her plunged into darkness only the fire light remained.   Grabbing a candle off the mantel she lit it from the fireplace.  Stephany headed back to her chair this time pulling an afghan across her lap as she began to read again.
 
  ‘Kasey lay in her tent trying to sleep as wolves howled in the distance…slowly…moving…closer.’  The gusting wind past the eves made Steph shiver sounding too much like a lonely wolf howling at the moon.  She shivered moving her book closer to the candle to read the words. ‘Kasey cowered in her sleeping bag listening to the sounds of the night.  “I wish I never came camping alone.”  She muttered softly. The end of her tent ripped open…’
 
 Bam!    BAM!  BAM!!   Stephany dove off her chair.   She crouched in front of the couch, her feet tangled in the afghan.  Steph raised up peering over the couch back toward the front door.   The knocking came again louder.   Backdoor?  
 
 It must be Rosalie. She let the breath out, she had been unconsciously holding.   Only Rosie comes to the back door.   She was the only neighbor uphill Steph had met so far.  Stephany giggled nervously kicking the afghan away.  Grabbing the candle, she moved toward the kitchen door.
 
 Stephany struggled with the two older deadbolts on the back door.  “Just give me a sec, Rosalie.  I’ll have this open.  Are you without power too?”
 
 The second bolt snapped free.  The door burst open to bang against the wall.    Eddie charged in waving a hunting knife.      “You’re mine Steph!  I”LL never let you go!”  He threw her against the wall.  The knife held at her throat.   
 Steph could smell liquor on him.    Dutch courage!  She struggled to shove the sharp knife away.  Even trying the famous knee move that worked in all her romances failed.  He laughed as he blocked the knee to the groin.  The knife nicked her neck.  Blood began to stream down disappearing under the shirt.  Levering her arms around, she pushed against his chest as hard as she could.  Her muscles screaming in pain, she gained scant inches. He laughed manically in her face.  His breath smelling like rancid meat.
 
 A figure moved in the corner of her vision.  HELP??  Her head snapped around as the figure stepped into the light of her doorway.   Eyes widening, her heart skipped a beat.  The air froze in her chest as muscles refused to work.  She opened her mouth to scream.  No sound came out.   
 
 A high pitched little girly scream tore at her ears as she stared at the grinning figure in her door way.  The knife was gone from her throat.  Still Steph couldn’t pull her eyes from the Spector at her door.  Dimly she heard the front door bang open and closed.
 
 A skeleton in a dark blue cloak held a glass of wine out to her.  In a voice that reminded her of warm velvet he asked, “Can I interest you in some wine and…” He raised his other hand.  “A rose?”
 
 “A-a-are you the Grim Reaper?”
 “No…he’s my antisocial cousin.  I’m Howard.”  His grin seemed to widen.
 “You saved me.” Steph smiled weakly.
 “He wasn’t much to scare off.”  The skull shook dismissively.
 “Would you like to come in…out of the rain?”
 
 
              Word Count 990    
 
I felt inspired by the theme of the challenge.  While I was working on my image the story behind the picture came to me.  Who said ‘things that go bump in the night’ always must be dangerous?   So you see in the image and the story this time the ‘thing’ in the night was benevolent.