creepshow (wattys2018)

The Scratching

"Talya!" Mrs. Anderson screeched her youngest daughters name. "Talya, you get down here right this second!"

The ten year old pranced down the wood staircase, her pink summer dress flowing as she did so. Once she reached the bottom, she was greeted with her mother tapping her foot impatiently, hands planted firmly on her slim hips. "Yes, mommy?"

"What is this?" The woman asked calmly, jutting her chin towards the short hallway where all eight pictures that had previously lined the walls lay smashed on the floor. "Talya, how many times do I have to tell you not to play ball in the house?"

Talya gaped at her mother, stuttering out a reply after a few moments of silence. " I- I didn't do that."

"Well, Emma is spending that night with her friend and Kate just got home, so that leaves you, and id be willing to bet they didn't fall that hard on their own." Mrs. Anderson glared the photos and then turned her attention back to her daughter. "The punishment won't be so bad if you just own up to it now."

"But I didn't do it!" Talya exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No?" Mrs. Anderson raised her eyebrows so high they nearly mixed with her hairline. "Okay. Well, if you didn't do it then who did?"

"It was daddy. He was playing with me again." She smiled and looked up at her mother hopefully.

Mrs. Anderson froze, staring back at her daughter before placing a hand on her temple and massaging it. "Honey, it's was not your- your father. Your father- he- your father is dead. You know that. He has been dead for almost a year. This needs to stop."

"But it was daddy! It was!" She cried, stomping her foot hard on the bottom step. "He plays with me every day! I can even hear him at night! He scratches on my wall and I do it back."

"Stop it!" Mrs. Anderson exclaimed, stepping away from her daughter. "Your grounded for two weeks for breaking the pictures and if you speak about this- imaginary friend one more time-" She trailed off, too emotionally exhausted from the thought of her husband playing with her daughter from beyond the grave.

Talya stood on the staircase, watching her mother scurry into the kitchen, for a few seconds before dashing back up the stairs. Once safely in her bedroom, she allowed the plump, salty tears to cascade down her cheeks and neck. She cried so hard she felt as though her stomach and head would burst, and she didnt stop until she fell asleep. 

***

The sound of someone or something scratching down her wall woke her up at exactly three fifteen in the morning. She sat up slowly, her face feeling stiff from the dried tears, and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She looked around and immediatly noticed that she was not in her bedroom anymore. 

She glanced around frantically, spotting the washing machine and drier in one corner and the rickety old stair case leading to the kitchen opposite of her position. Talyas breaths began to come out in heavy bursts as she made the decision to dash towards the staircase. She stumbled over her feet as she ran as fast as she could, gripping the banister and heaving herself up the stairs, taking them two at a time, until she reached the top. 

Talya grasped the door handle and tugged with all her might, but it was no use, the door was locked from the outside. "Hello?" She cried once she caught her breath. "Mommy?" She was met with silence on the other side of the door, and she slid down into a sitting position with her back against the door. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she rested her chin on them and looked around. After a few seconds of silence, a whisper rang out, sounding so close to her that she actually felt the ghost of a breath puff against her cheek, blowing her hair. 

She gasped, rising to her feet and stumbling back down the stairs. "Daddy? Is it you?" She heard the whisper again, still muffled enough so that she couldnt make out what it was saying. In her peripheral vision she spotted a black shadowy figure in the right corner of the room. With the dim light bulb swinging from the ceiling acting as her only source of light, she found the task of focusing on the figure to be incredibly difficult. 

She crept closer to the corner, now realizing the black mass had, what would be, its back to her. With each step she took her knees became more and more wobbly. Once she was close enough to make out every detail she whispered once more. "Daddy?"

The figure cocked its head to once side with a sickening snap that sent chills down her spine, and spun around the face her, its glowing red eyes wide. "Hes not here anymore!"

***

Talya jolted awake, feeling her furry pink comforter underneath her fingers. She panted heavily as she desperately tried to catch her breath, glancing around to assure herself that she was, in fact, in her room. She turned her attention to her clock that sat on the top of her dresser across the room and read the time aloud to herself, "Three ten a.m.." Realizing that everything was as it should be, she leaned back against her pillows slowly and closed her eyes once more. Exactly five minutes ticked by and Talya was well on her way back into the dream world, when all of a sudden that oh so familiar scratching noise sounded from just above her head.