Chapter 21

The Creatures’ Intelligence

The animals found the door quickly. This showed me they were smart. They were not just simple animals. I had first felt this when I saw one of them looking through my window. I realized then that it was something more than a normal animal, something different and dangerous to humans. It had a smart mind but was not human. The thought of these animals made me feel very bad.

Then I remembered my sister who had fallen in the hallway. I went to the small closet and got a bottle of drink and a glass. I brought these with a light to where I had left her. She was no longer in the chair but had fallen to the floor. I gently turned her over and raised her head slightly. I put a little drink into her mouth.After a moment, she moved a little. Then she took several deep breaths and opened her eyes. She looked at me with a confused look. When her eyes closed again, I gave her another small drink. She lay quietly for a minute, breathing quickly. Then her eyes suddenly opened wide with fear. Without warning, she sat up straight. I tried to help her, but she cried out loudly, jumped to her feet, and ran out of the room.

I stood there, surprised and confused. Was she afraid of me? That made no sense. I thought perhaps she was just very shocked by what had happened. I heard a door close hard upstairs. She had run to her bedroom.

Just then, I heard a noise at the back door. I walked quietly over to listen. It sounded like the animals were trying to pull at the handle, but the door was too strong for them. From outside came sounds like a pig makes. As I listened more carefully, I realized the noises had a way of talking. I began to believe they were communicating with each other in some kind of language.

In the dark of our old house, I could also hear the building itself making many different sounds from the walls and floors. These normal house noises seemed louder now in the quiet night. Usually, I would think nothing of these sounds. But tonight, with the animals outside, every small noise made me more worried. I had to listen carefully to tell which sounds came from the house itself and which might be from the animals trying to find a way in.