THE BROWNS

CHAPTER 4

Later that night, the mother was awoken by a voice. When she stretched her arm out to tap her husband to go and check it out, she found his side of the bed empty. That fully woke her up, and the coldness of his side of the bed signified that he had been gone for some time. It was 3 a.m.; where was her husband? And who was talking outside her room at this hour?

She slowly got out of bed and made her way to the door, which she found partially open—perhaps that was why she was hearing voices. She slipped out of the room as silently as she could and crept to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop. She could only hear bits and pieces of the one-sided conversation: “Yeah...see you...miss...more...”

“Who is he talking to at this time?” she mumbled to herself as she slowly descended the stairs to hear the conversation better.

“I can’t wait to see you too...my wife? Oh, she’s still asleep in the room...I know...god, I wish you were here. I could think of a million things we could be doing besides sleeping...remember Cassie’s birthday?” he said, laughing loudly.

“Who is Cassie? And what happened on his birthday?” she thought. But before she could confront him and seek answers, she heard a voice calling her. At first, it was faint, but it came closer, asking for help. She thought the voice was coming from upstairs, but when she reached the landing, she saw a shadow moving toward the kitchen area. Upon reaching the kitchen, she didn't see anyone but heard the back door close. She went outside, thinking he was there.

The outside was dark, and even with the outdoor lights on, it still looked ominous. She saw moving shadows everywhere. The voice started calling out to her again, louder this time, so loud that it surrounded her. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw something move with red eyes and a sinister smile showcasing its fangs coming toward her. She took off running back to the house, but it was faster and grabbed her leg, pulling it from under her. She fell and hit her head on the pavement, passing out.

She woke up with a start the next morning, but she wasn’t on the floor or in the hospital; she was in her room, on her bed. That made her wonder how she got there because the only thing she could remember was falling as she was trying to get away from that creature. She heard her bedroom door open and looked up to find her husband standing there, looking at her. After a while, he smiled.

“Good morning, sleepyhead. You're still asleep at this time? I hope the sleep was worth it,” he said as he walked toward her. When he reached her side of the bed, he sat down and brushed her hair away from her face, then leaned in. “How was your night, my love?” he asked while kissing her forehead.

She was confused about what had happened last night. She came downstairs, ended up unconscious outside at 3 a.m., and now he was acting like all was well.

“What the actual F**k? Jerry, what happened last night? How am I here? What happened to Miracle?”

He looked at her with a tilt of his head, trying to mask his confusion. “Mimi is fine. He’s still sleeping. His attending nurse just left, so everything is okay. But what do you mean, what happened last night?”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, don't play with me. I heard a voice downstairs, then I went to see who it was. On getting downstairs, I heard Mimi crying, so I went to look for him. I thought I saw him go outside, so I followed him. Then I saw something outside that didn't look right. I tried running, but I tripped and hit my head. So, I'm just confused as to what happened and how I came back to bed.”

He sighed. “You must've had one of those lucid dreams. Because you heard me talking while I was on the phone, you subconsciously factored it into your dream. From my point of view, I went out to take a call which took less than 20 minutes. Then I came up and saw you sleeping. I went back to sleep.”