Silhouettes

 I was 11 years old at the time. I didn't have a father, but I did have a stepfather. My mother and I stayed in our two-room apartment, and he went on a business trip to another city. We went to bed, and that's when it all started...

I woke up in the middle of the night, I don't know exactly what time it was. I woke up terrified: there was a shadow over my bed. It was a human silhouette, slightly elongated, the head was oval, the shoulders were narrow, and the "silhouette" itself seemed to be slightly elongated. It stood motionless, but I could feel it staring at me. I was terribly scared, and I couldn't think of anything better than to hide under the covers. I wanted to scream and call my mother for help, but I thought she wouldn't believe me.

I don't know how much time has passed, but I decided to look out from under the covers. After removing the blanket from my face, I saw that the silhouette had disappeared somewhere. I still don't understand how I had the courage to go out into the hallway, but that's exactly what I did. In the dark, I groped for my toy vending machine (funny, but I thought it would help me), and decided to look into my mother's room. For some reason, it seemed to me that she was in danger.

Then there was something unimaginable. After taking a couple of steps down the hall (I didn't have the sense to turn on the light), I could already look into my mother's open room. I was probably too scared: there were already THREE such silhouettes above my mother's sofa. The "elongated" one, the second one — he had human legs, but his head was just huge, his toothy open mouth was visible... I don't even know what to call them... paws instead of front arms. And he bent over my mother. The third was sitting on all fours and was as motionless as the "stretched out" one.

I ran like a bullet to my room and jumped back under the covers, shaking like an aspen leaf. I was so scared that I decided to scream and call my mother for help. And I screamed. I called her several times, but she never came. After lying down for a while longer, I decided to go to her to check if everything was okay. But as soon as I got out from under the covers, I saw that THEY were standing next to my bed. The three creatures that were next to my mother were already near me, and as one, they stared at me. For the first time, this "elongated" one became animated. He started walking around the apartment. At first, he came a little closer to me and seemed to tilt his head, looking into my eyes, then he went out into the corridor and went to my mother, as I understood it. Then he came back and froze again. The other two just stood there and did nothing.

All this time I was watching what was happening. At some point, I thought that I was imagining it all, it was just a dream, and decided to turn away from them to the wall, covering myself with a blanket. I wish I hadn't done that... Turning to the wall, I saw my reflection on it — on a wall where there are no mirrors, just plain paper wallpaper, I saw myself! Only it wasn't me: when the reflection abruptly opened its eyes, I saw that they were yellow, like a cat's. It stared at me blankly, and then began to climb up somewhere. I squeezed my eyes shut and fell into oblivion.

I woke up at dawn, as if nothing had happened. The first thing I did was check on my mother—she was lying on her couch as if nothing had happened. Then he didn't tell her anything, because he thought she wouldn't believe him.