Eloise, his voice rang, little pet noises emitting from his lips as the sound of scratching ensued.
It felt like my head was on fire and the whole world was burning while I was forced to burn with it. The dark abided no comfort or sense of security despite being enclosed behind doors, a sliver of light creeping through the cracked closet door. I held my breath, hand censoring any urge to expel my cries—my tongue nearly bled from how hard I clenched it against my teeth. I could smell the raw rusts of blood, fumes delegating on my emotions, seeing if I'll break.
He was counting on that.
For a moment, when the whole house grew quiet, I thought he had finally given up. For a moment, just a moment, a stifled weep left my lips unconsciously when I stared numbly at my dad's pale limp body, only perceptible by his head where something dark and foreboding curled around him like his own poison of death. I couldn't see him fully, but it was enough to know he wasn't moving.
He wasn't breathing either.
A gasp tore from my lips when the doors suddenly ripped open, and there, standing like a preying predator that's finally found it's meal smiled sadistically as he curled his fingers in eagerness and yanked me from the safety of the closet's confines. I let out a desperate shuddered breath, too paralyzed to scream or move as the man inhaled me like I was some sweet ambrosia he could sample.
Everything felt cold and dismal.
I never felt more horrified.
Red eyes swallowed my gaze, meticulously absorbing every little startled facet and instantly relished in the sight.
"Found you," he grinned wickedly, and just as he closed in to end my life, with my eyes glazed over and my dead dad's body limply askew to the side, the world went blank.
And I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing erratically before I immediately reached for my lamp side to make the shadow monsters go away.
The room swept me up in a blissful white glow and the walls were empty of any foreboding presence I imagined would be there. Haunting me.
I exhaled—fingers wringing through my hair, trying to gravitate a sense of calm.
