Enemy Within

Write a short opening chapter of the novel called ‘The Enemy Within’. In your writing create a sense of danger and tension.

The Enemy Within

I walked down the street as ghostly as possible, trying not to show any possible signs of me being ever there. The frequently occurring uneven patches made me lose my balance over and over. I had to keep all my focus and concentration at the path. The sidewalk was broken and cracked and seemed to move with the wind. There was hardly any habitation in the area. The limited number of houses, which were there, looked like half-built and abandoned. Shadowy street lights were dispersed along the lane, few bent and broken, rest old and rusty. Although handful in number, the radiance they gave off was eerie and supernatural and barely managing to keep themselves alive. Abnormal shadows and foreign voices echoed off the walls, sending a chill down the spines of anyone who dared to enter.

At the end of the street there laid a mailbox. It was set in the ground at a jaunty angle, although perhaps twenty years ago it had been upright. The seasonal rain of spring, baking of summer, rain of fall and freezing of winter had clearly taken its toll. The post looked as rotten as a cow's luck in the slaughter house. On top of the post sat a metal box, domed at the top, paint peeling, with a little metal door on rusted hinges.

The metal flap with rusted hinges resembled the door of its owner’s. Dust lay over every surface my eyes could discover, not a foot print anywhere, free papers piled up to the letter box and gushed all the way to the foot of the rough wooden stairs, dust covered mirrors, stale air, channels of light bursting through gaps in the lodged window, absolute silence only to be broken by the hum of the refrigerator. This hum, this tiniest of noise was the only proof of that there was life inside this so looked abandoned house.

I moved towards the door. There was nothing left of the word door in it. It seemed like it was going to shatter on