Mason

I know people always say not to look in stories like this, but when you're there, and something is on the other side of the door, it feels impossible not to.

Your brain keeps demanding information.

It keeps telling you that fear without facts is worse than fear with facts.

That's a lie, by the way.

Sometimes facts are worse.

The deer had turned to face the door.

I could see its long nose, the dark wet shine around its nostrils, and the pale gray-brown fur around its muzzle.

It looked like a doe at first, no antlers, thin face, big ears, but its eyes were wrong.

They reflected the porch light, which animal eyes do, but not like any deer I had ever seen.

They glowed yellow, not soft green or white, but bright yellow.

almost like two small bulbs behind the skull.

They didn't point away to the sides the way a deer's eyes should.

They looked forward, not fully like a human's but too close, close enough that I felt seen in a way I can't explain.

Then it raised one front leg.

I saw the hoof come up slowly into the peephole view.

It bent wrong at the joint.

i know deer legs are strange looking anyway if you stare at them but this was different it lifted that leg the way a person raises an arm with control and brought the hoof to the door knock knock knock i backed away and whispered nope no

no the deer lowered its leg its mouth opened i don't mean it bleated i don't mean it made a normal animal sound its jaw lowered and hung there and from inside it came a clicking noise quiet at first then faster it sounded like teeth tapping together

Only deer don't have front teeth on top.

I know that now because I looked it up afterward.