Welcome to our The Storymatic’s very first Featured Artist: Sophia Echavarria. Sophia holds a BA in English and a certificate in African American studies from Princeton University. She has worked with authors Chang Rae Lee, Joyce Carol Oates, Edmund White, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Toni Morrison. Her senior thesis was a study of critical race issues in the works of Octavia E. Butler. She writes science fiction and realistic fiction. She hails from Washington, DC, and plans to continue her studies toward an MFA in Creative Writing.

FOOTSTEPS

“Cut that out!” Amanda shouted.

“Cut what out?” Dina asked.

Amanda’s eyebrows screwed together.

“How’d you get downstairs so fast? I didn’t even hear you come down the steps.”

Dina raised one eyebrow.

“I’ve been sitting in front of the television. It’s a Saturday.”

Amanda’s eyebrows refused to unknot themselves.

“Well then who’s upstairs? They’ve been pacing back and forth for the past ten minutes.”

“You must be losing it. No one else is here.”

“Please. This is another one of your pranks, isn’t it? Well “Ha Ha”. You got me. Now tell whoever’s up there to cut it out. I’m trying to work.”

“No you’re not,” Dina scoffed as she peered over Amanda’s shoulder. “You’re watching cartoons on your laptop.”

Amanda snapped her head around. “Well I WOULD be working if your friend wasn’t clomping around up there.”

“Amanda? Seriously? How would you be hearing things if there’s no one up there? Either the audio on your laptop is weird or you’re making it up. Either way, the television isn’t going to watch its self.”
“Ugh!” Amanda threw up her hands and headed for the staircase. “I hope your accomplice has insurance because I’m going to hit them in the face.”

Dina went back to the living room, rolling her eyes. She heard Amanda climb the steps, walk the length of the upstairs hall, then she heard Amanda go in to Dina’s room. Then the bathroom. Then back in to the hall. Then right back in the bathroom with the rattling noise of the shower curtain rings. Then back in to the hall and finally in to Amanda’s room in the back of the house.

“Told you!” Dina sung as Amanda walked defeated in to the living room.

“Okay, I give up. How’d you do it?”

“I didn’t do anything. You know, you’re really sticking to this fib. I’m kind of impressed.”

“No. Really. I’m not making this up and you know that because you rigged th floor boards or something. Please just make it stop.”

Dina swung her head around from the couch.

“No, I didn’t. Good guess, th-”

“Shh!” Amanda hissed. “Listen!” She hissed again.

Dina let her eyes wander until they suddenly grew huge with amazement at the sound.

The stairs were creaking.

“Well,” Dina shook her head, flustered, “it’s an old house. That’s natural.”

“No!” Amanda hissed again. “Keep listening!” With the television talking in the background, Dina and Amanda stared at each other as they heard the creaking reach the top of the stairs, and then turn itself into a soft shuffle over the floorboards in the upstairs hallway.

Dina’s eyes went wider than ever. She reached for the remote and turned the television off. The footsteps continued to pace the upstairs hall.

“Oh my god!” Dina whispered hoarsely. “What is that?!”

Amanda snapped back quietly, “It’s your rotten trick! Now tell whoever you’ve been hiding upstairs to stop it. It’s NOT funny!”

Dina shook her head so hard her short hair lifted away from her scalp.

“No, I swear, I’m not playing a trick. I promise. I promise!”

Amanda searched Dina’s eyes and decided she was really scared. But before she could apologize about accusing Dina, there was a hollow thump from overhead. The footsteps were in the bathroom.

The girls looked at each other, faces frozen wide eyed with gaping mouths, but their chests were heaving with busy breath. Amanda began to slowly tiptoe to the kitchen.

“Don’t leave me!” Dina cried and got up from the couch to follow her. Amanda opened a drawer at the counter and pulled out a giant chop knife. “What are you doing?” Dina whined.

“It could be a robber. Or a rapist! Or a robber rapist!” Amanda sputtered frantically as she gripped the knife. Dina looked at the glinting steel and then put her hand in the kitchen drawer. After a second of groping, she grabbed something and pulled it out. It was an eggbeater.

Amanda narrowed her eyes at Dina who gently placed the eggbeater on the counter and then grabbed the heavy iron skillet off the stove instead.

“Ugh!” Amanda groaned. “We cooked with that this morning. Remember?”

Dina eyed the grease shining in the pan.

“Does it matter? There’s someone in our house!”

Amanda sighed and headed for the staircase.

The two women stood for a while at the bottom of the stairs, brandishing cutlery and pan with the faint aroma of bacon and nervous sweat surrounding them. The footsteps were pacing the hall again.

“HEY!” Amanda shouted suddenly. “Who is that?! Show yourself!”

The footsteps stopped suddenly. For a few moments all the girls could hear was the sound of their under wires creaking as they gulped shallow breaths. But the footsteps started again. They were headed back to the bathroom.

“HEY!” Dina shouted this time, only also in Amanda’s ear who almost cut Dina’s face when she whipped around to give her the look of death.

“Sorry,” she whispered before continuing her tirade. “HEY! We’re armed! And we’ll come up there and beat the living crap out of you if you don’t show your face right now!”

The footsteps stopped again but were replaced by the sound of gently splashing water. Dina turned to Amanda.

“Is it…in the toilet?” she whispered.

“I don’t know!” Amanda shot back. Amanda started to slowly climb the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Dina fussed.

“To see what’s splashing in out toilet. Now come on, I might need back up.”

They slowly made their way up the stairs, trying to make them squeak as little as possible. The splashing from the bathroom continued. In what felt like forever, they ascended until they were on the landing. The splashing stopped and there was a hollow thump again. They could see a small shadow moving on the bit of tiled bathroom floor that was visible from the hall.

Dina started to hyperventilate. Whatever was in there was about to come out.

“Get ready,” Amanda ordered.

They suddenly heard the shower curtain rustle against the tub. It was most certainly headed back in to the hall. Dina, breathing harder than ever, raised the skillet with both hands over her sweating head. Amanda prepared to lop of pieces of whatever came at them, holding the knife up by her shoulder. The shadow moved closer. Closer. And suddenly, a pink nose and green eyes were staring at them from the bathroom doorway. The women screamed.

The green eyes hissed back at them.

“Oh god!” Dina sighed. “It’s a cat.” The green eyes and pink nose were in fact in a round little face with pointed ears and black fur.

Amanda gasped, catching her breath, “Oh! Oh, thank god!”

“Why is there a cat in our house?” Dina said as she leaned against the wall and mopped the sweat of her face with her free hand. Amanda sunk to her knees and put the knife on the floor before wiping her sweaty hands on her thighs.

“I think this is the neighbor’s cat. What’s its name? Butler? Here Butler, come here boy.” The cat came quickly and began to lick bacon grease from the pan.

The women rested on the landing and fanned themselves. Suddenly they both froze. Dina looked at Amanda. Amanda looked at Dina. Dina moved only her eyes in the direction of the stairs. Amanda shook her head, agreeing. There were footsteps in the kitchen.

“How many cats do the neighbor’s have?” She asked.

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I need me a Storymatic!