That's some creepy-*ss cover art. It fits the story well.
I'm sure this was a good story for its type, but I wish I'd paid more attention to the
Horror tag and not listened.
I hate horror stories. 95% of them just leave me angry and/or squicked and have no release or redeeming qualities. I get murderous if cheats, such as ignoring what ordinary people would do, are used. (The literary sister of the tight camera angle that tries to hide the fact that not a single person on the planet would really fail to see that thing sneaking up.)
This story at least seemed honest. The only iffy part was