Shadow in the Dark

Last week, things escalated. I installed a cheap security camera pointing at the

hallway because I was starting to lose sleep over it. The footage from

the first night showed Shadow staring as usual, but around 3:17 AM,

there's this faint scratching sound from behind the door. Like nails on wood,

slow and deliberate. Shadow didn't react beyond a slight ear twitch. The next night,

the scratching was louder, and I swear the door handle jiggled just a tiny bit.

I told myself it was the house settling, old pipes, whatever. Last night was the

worst. I couldn't sleep at all, so I was sitting in the living room