Lobster Man stared back at me with his dull black eyes. His expression seemed questioning, curious. I can only guess that he wondered why I didn't jerk my head back from the keyhole when he looked up. I wonder about that myself now but I can tell you that it must have been a mixture of shock and horror. First to see this hideous creature and then, believing myself hidden, to have it raise its head in acknowledgement of me. It was simply too much and I just froze for a moment. But only a moment.

The monster cocked his head to the side as if to say, "Well now, if you're not going to move..." Then his faced disappeared from view as he stood up and began walking toward the closet door. Thud! Slop! The sickening sound of the creature dragging one leg and pounding the floor with the other broke my dazed state.

Desperate and terrified I looked around for something, anything... I don't really know what I was looking for. What I found was hanging coats and old shoes and shoe boxes, and it all carried a thin coat of dust. No one had used this storage in quite some time. I wish they had left a loaded shotgun or sword hanging in there.

The thing was at the door and I realized I was out of time. I should have swung the door open and ran as soon as it started towards the closet but fear had held me in place. Now I was trapped and there was no escape.

I began to back away from the door in my panic, reaching behind me for the wall, melting back into the coats and hanging scarfs. Then I tripped over one of those damned boxes and it sent me careening backwards, crashing through the wall.

I sat there on the floor of this new room, looking dumbly up at where I had come from. Slowly I realized, I hadn't crashed through the wall, it was a door connecting the bedroom and the hallway closet. What a strange floorplan. I thought to myself. That's when I noticed that the door joining the closet to the hallway was starting to open.

Without waiting to see the beast step into the closet, I kicked the door closed from my prone position. There was just a little light shining into the room from somewhere above and behind me but it was enough to illuminate the fact that the closet door had no lock. However, there was a dresser next to the door.

Leaping to my feet and rushing to the side of the tall dresser, I pushed hard and toppled it over in front of the closet door. It landed on its side with a crash so hard that I worried the dresser would explode into splinters and leave the demon's way unimpeded into the room.

Demon... I remember thinking that at that moment. That still makes the most sense to me, I think they are demons.

Anyway, the dresser hadn't exploded in to a puff of sawdust as I feared it might. It was a large, heavy thing. It must have been made of oak or something because even with all the noise it seemed to have lost none of its shape or strength. But now, the door began to creak as the demon pushed slowly in.

It didn't seem to be in a hurry. On the contrary, it seemed to be either confident that it would capture me in its own time or simply single minded enough not to rush through the task at hand.

Slowly the door began to push open, the heavy dresser scratching loudly across the wood floor. The creature's lobster claw showed through the opening first then disappeared from view. The gray, heart shaped head appeared in place of the claw. When the demon saw me, his head tilted quizzically to the side. He must have been thinking "I can't believe you are waiting for me. You know I am going to eat you right?"

Lobster man pushed hard on the door and I knew he was moments from entering. I also knew instinctively that there was a door behind me. I turned and ran for the unseen exit just as the closet door slid the rest of the way open. I heard the demon's first foot thud into the room and prayed the door before me wasn't locked.