A Watch in the Shadows

A soft scratching sound caught my ear from beneath the low wooden cabinet. I crept across the rug, two hands steady on my hilt, lowering my stance behind an overturned cable spool. Through the dim gap, a cricket emerged, twitching its long antennae at a speck of fallen paper. I kept still, holding position between the little wanderer and the open corridor until it retreated safely back into the dark recess. The room is quiet again.