The rain pounds on the window with a fevered intensity, as if it is trying to escape what lurks outside. I huddle next to the front door, shivering, cold, soaking wet, praying to make it through the night. Outside, I hear footsteps. Or is it still the rain? It is difficult to tell.

I suddenly reach a horrific revelation: I am still wearing the clothes I wore as I ran into the house, pelted by the rain. I shudder. Then I sniffle.

I recoil in horror at the realization of what I have done. It is too late.

Someone... something is banging on the door furiously. I try to slow my frantic breathing to mask my sound. The banging on the door grows louder and more intense. Then the door is smashed open, a hand groping through the jagged opening, the splintered wood slicing small incisions into its vinyl glove.

"LET ME CHECK YOUR TEMPERATURE," a groaning, guttural voice calls from the other side. I see a sunken eye peer through the door. I crawl back to the other side of the room, grabbing the only thing I can find to defend myself, a poker from the fireplace. The crack in the door opens further, and the full figure of the monster shambles into the room toward me, its torn white coat-trailing scraps of cloth behind it, its rubber shoes squeaking on the wooden floor.

I jab the poker into its chest as it approaches, but the weapon sinks into the beast's flesh without causing it any pain. It simply keeps moving, the metal rod in its torso swinging wildly with its every move.

"ARE YOU SEXUALLY ACTIVE?" the voice crows, and I begin to realize there is no God to save me. The monster shuffles forward, now intent on securing me as its next victim, its steps growing quicker each time its foot hits the floor.

It is upon me. It opens its decayed, rotten maw...and suddenly, something small and round hits it in the head, dropping to the floor and rolling next to my trembling hand.

I see the figure of my husband from the top of the stairs, his eyes illuminated by a flash of lightning.

The creature stares at the small object on the floor, then recoils in horror with a wretched scream. I watch as it throws its head back and its entire body glows with a blinding light, so bright indeed that it illuminates the entire room. The scream of the beast continues as its limbs begin to crack and fall off, crumbling to dust as they hit the floor.

Finally, the blinding light and agonizing screams reach a fevered pitch, and the room is dark once more. The creature is gone without a trace.

I stare, bewildered, at my husband. I look down at the object next to me. A shiny, red apple, slightly bruised from the impact.

"You...h-how did you know to-" I stammer, too overwhelmed to choke out a sentence.

"Cass, it's okay. Really, it's gone." Rushing to my side, he runs his fingers through my hair as I sob into his shoulder. Finally, when I can bear to break from his embrace, he holds the apple in his hand and looks at it, turning it around and around.

"So...it is true," he says. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."