>>94870583In the late hour of the night, you turn off your computer after browsing the boards. There's some hope you'll get enough sleep tonight. You turn the lights off and close the curtains. Dying to sleep you lay in bed.
As silence falls on your home, a low creak stirs the quiet hallway. You look at the bedroom door. Did you leave it open? Assured it was nothing, you fall to sleep.
Another creak lurches into the night. This time you rise, startled by a shadow in the hallway. However, it is a mere reflection shown in a painting hanging there. Was there always a portrait there?
Nevertheless, you attempt to rest again. This must be an old house.
Suddenly, a murmur sounds from the hallway. It could have been garbled speech, but the noise is too abstract to tell. You shout to anyone there, warning them. Rising from your bed you notice something in the painting at the end of the hall, but darkness obscures the inage too much to tell.
You get up from bed, and walk toward the door. The murmurs and creaks rouse into a dull roar.
"I ..OL... ...U ..T T.. T...CH ..T..."
You approach the painting, ignoring what could be words. As you tread lightly down the hallway, the shadows from the painting disperse, as if fleeing in fear.
"I... T..LD Y... NO... T..T...T...."
You can make out the painting, but the image doesn't register. Heart pounding you step ever closer...
"I TOLD YOU...."
As if all at once, the portrait becomes clear! It was the very aardvark you claimed you could beat in an internet forum. But where did this painting come from? As your fingers go for the glass...
"NOT TO TOUCH IT!"
A shrill scream bellows from behind you! IT'S HIM! THE AARDVARK! HIS FIST IS RAISED, POISED FOR A DEADLY BLOW! HE WAITS FOR YOU TO HIT HIM! THE CREATURE IS DYING FOR YOU TO HIT HIM! YOUR KNEES BUCKLE AS YOU COLLAPSE TO THE ICE COLD FLOOR, AS IF THE GRIPS OF THE REAPER HAVE COME TO TAKE YOU! DO YOU FIGHT BACK? CAN YOU TAKE HIM LIKE YOU CLAIMED?
