She stands beyond the doorway and watches through windows.
Her breath fogs the pane at night. Her feet make the floorboards creak in the hall when you think you’re the only one home.
She’s the smudge in the reflection, observing from the other side of the glass. And she’s the shadow that moves at the corner of your eye.
She prowls around your house and stalks through your garden, always putting walls between herself and the living.
She stays at the edge, patrolling the boundary but never crossing it, never daring to approach your flickering warmth.
She stays outside.
If you invited her inside…she’d have to kill you.
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Marc Nash says
Liminal!
Icy Sedgwick says
I do have a fascination with borders and boundaries!
Larry Kollar says
It’s nice that she’s so thoughtful! 🙂 Brrrr…
Icy Sedgwick says
She does make an effort!
D. Paul Angel says
I’m going with “Outdoor Cat.” 🙂 Nicely done, and an odd thought that there is something always on the edge of your life that would kill you if you got to close. Nicely done 🙂
Icy Sedgwick says
Thanks!
Russell says
Brilliant. Thanks
Helen A. Howell says
Oh love that last line! Chilling Icy!
Chuck Allen says
I hope she continues to respect those boundaries! Creepy!
Katherine Hajer says
I have a couple of ideas as to who She could be (drawn from traditional mythology), but She does remind me of The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your House from Welcome to Night Vale. You might like that podcast, actually.
Jon Jefferson says
Sounds like my cat, always plotting to kill me and always out of reach.
~Tim says
Poetically creepy! Nice work.