Short Stories Can Be Fun and Depressing

Her Pleas 2/17/2021

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The demon came in at night and whisked her away, her pleas haunt me at night, her shrieks deafening, her disheveled hair and clothing as if she was slung like a child bounces a ball, she told me to stay in my room for a chance of living, I didn't. My fingers clutched into the grooves of the door, my knuckles blanching, as I peered out into the long hallway, her room was only a few feet away but it seemed like it was outstretched before my eyes. Maybe it was, there's so much I don't remember.

Stay in your room! My Mother's voice rang in my ears. But I had to see it unfold. My pajamas were caked in sweat, my body trembling as I crept to her door. The floorboards squeaked underneath my weight competing with my heartbeat and her screams for who's loudest. In the end the howling wind won, for it protested against the demonic presence in the house.

Her door was cracked open, an eight-foot beast stood before her. I could only see so much, remember so much. Her brows furrowed, jaw clenched, eyes filled with hatred. And it. A slither of its body showed, thousands of teeth filled its mouth, no eyes, tongue slinking out like a slippery snake, acidic salvia hissing as it drips. She pushed herself back against the wall the sound reaching out to me its tendrils wiggling into my ears. Blocking out the sound I focused my eyes, wanting to see more.

Her hand clutched a dagger she didn't dare raise. Focusing my eyes I knew the white slick skull on its pommel, the granite tip so shiny you could see its reflection.
With one thrust in its chest, it would be dead. She's capable of doing it, she's the best in her field. But she only held it. I let my mind stretch out before me, as father taught me, searching for her conscious, which wasn't hard, it's easier to slip into someone's mind when they're emotional, they have less control.
Hers stood out like the abate trees due to harsh climate. At least he's safe. He can't have him. I won't let it happen. I pull back, her mind too frantic for me. Her terror over driving my senses, my fingernails left blood moon crescents appearing,

    "Where is he?" Its voice came out thousands of different voices overlapping sending shivers down my spine. It clenched its knuckles black goo seeping from his exposed skin, it was pulled tight in some areas and loose and shaggy in others.

    "He's gone. Long gone. Dead even," my Mother said, her words encased with venom. I didn't know whether she meant my father or me. My father was long gone, his soul snuffed out when the lid was blown off. When he made the Switch.

    The demon leaned his face-or what appeared to be a face-closer, sensing her lies. "I can feel him, he's alive," he said his voice as a low growl. Is he? It can't be.

    "Take me instead," she said quietly, clutching the dagger even tighter in her hand as if in protest. She should've killed him by now, she's breaking protocol.

    "It won't buy him much time," it said, "perhaps ten to fifteen years."

    "Take me instead," she said quietly. When she pushed her hair out of her face, she looked towards the door as did it.

    It shoved her out the way, the bed tumbling across the room slamming the door shut. I focused my eyes seeing what I couldn't. she flailed her arms crying out, her pleas going in vain. It stalked towards me, tossing the bed ripping the door of its hinges, his massive strength apparent. I pumped my legs, racing down the stairs, his laugh reverberated as if he thought this was a game of hide and seek.

    I knocked over the lamp that rested on the nightstand near the couch, the rustic television emitting an eerie glow throughout the room. Running through the arch way into the kitchen, I hid in the crawl space cupping my hand over my mouth, trying to calm myself. Bile threatened to rise as I protested against it, the world whispered as he neared closer, its nails tearing into the wall.

    "I can hear you breathing," it said, "there is no use of hiding." I could see its shadow through the cracks, its breathing heavy as I held my own. It ripped open the cabinet doors, grabbing my full body in one hand. My breathing seized as my soul and spirit danced before my eyes. My Mother rushed through the gap in the arch way, falling to her knees pleading. Shocked overflowed me, I can't recall a single moment where she begged. Where she displayed such dishonor. Its tongue ventured across my face like a wet slippery snake, it's teeth like shards sticking through its gums, it had no eyes-only hollow holes where they should be. It placed me down, taking my mother by her hair dragging her.

    "No!" I screamed out as I raced towards her, it went through the gap it made through the arch way. He's been tainted. He lost who he really was at heart. As it walked out the broken door, it disappeared into the howling wind, its body disappeared, but I could hear his foot steps crunch through the snow with my ears, could hear my mother's pleas. I slap my face commanding myself to wake up, to realize it is all a dream, and she would wake up beside me with a glass of warm milk. He didn't take her; father would never do such a thing. But its not my father. Not anymore. Its a hollow shell of what he used to be, following protocol, taking her to her death for her act of treason.

    When the sun rose I still haven't woken up from the living nightmare. Her pleas reverberating in my mind. I began counting down the years I'll see it again. For I too, will be collected.