Don't Wait Up for Me

It was the middle of July, and Adriana Coleman and her parents had just moved in to a small house in San Diego, California. The house was situated near the town clock, which rang at midnight every night and every day at noon.

That night, Adriana woke up suddenly to the same clock in the square. She was startled and glanced at her clock. Sure enough, it was 12 o’clock. She was about to go back to sleep when she heard a crash coming from downstairs. She was too afraid to see what it was, so she told herself something had just fallen off of a shelf. She went to sleep waking up a few hours later because of nightmare.

The next morning, at around 8:30 Adriana walked downstairs and into the kitchen, where her parents were. Seeing no damage downstairs, she decided to confront her parents. “Hey Mom and Dad, did you hear anything, I don’t know, weird last night? Or see anything wrong this morning?”

Her mother, confused, answered, “No, or at least, I didn’t wake up. Why? Did you?”

“No, I was just wondering, I thought I heard something last night,” Adriana replied, not wanting to worry them over what she assumed was no big deal.

She spent the rest of the day wondering what could have happened and walking around her new town.

That night, at midnight, Adriana woke up to the clock chiming again. There was another crash from downstairs; this one sounding like it was closer to her room than last night. She decides to ignore it again, telling herself it was nothing and not a big deal, she goes back to sleep. She woke up a few hours later from the same nightmare she had had the night before. There was a black figure chasing her, while she had nowhere to run or hide.

That morning, she does not bother asking her parents anything because she had a feeling they were oblivious to all that was happening.

This continues for two nights, with the sounds getting closer to Adriana’s room each night. Her nightmare also continues, with the dark shadow figure getting increasingly closer to her.

It was now the fifth night in her new house and Adriana was extremely scared of what was in her house. She decided to stay up until midnight to see if she could figure out what was happening and if it just progressed through the house or if it was looking for something. Or someone.

It was 11:59 and Adriana was sitting in her room with all the lights on, reading to distract herself from the fear she was feeling. How her parents didn’t notice the light coming from their daughter’s room, she wouldn’t know, but she was ok with not going to sleep for now.

The clock chimed then, and all the lights in Adriana’s room shut off. She grabbed her comforter and wrapped it around her body. The light returns and she sees, in large, black writing, on the wall in front of her bed, ‘Don’t Wait Up!’ In the corner opposite her bed, there is a black, nondescript shape, similar to the one that has been in her dreams for the past four nights. She feels as though she is being pulled towards it and grips the blanket tighter. Her lights flicker, and in the second she cannot see, the writing disappears, along with the mysterious figure.

She attempts to go to sleep, surprised when she does not have a nightmare.

The next morning, Adriana confronted her parents again. “Did the power go out last night?”

“No, did you notice anything?” her father answered.

“Nope, just wondering because my clock reset, and it only does that if it’s been unplugged or the power’s gone out,” she lies, not wanting to sound like she was crazy.

The next night, Adriana decided to stay up until midnight again, because, although she would be more tired in the morning, she wanted to know if the black figure would move onto the next room or continue to visit hers. As the clock strikes midnight, she is startled when her windows fly open and slam shut. The black figure is closer, now standing at the edge of the bed and looking down on her. She feels a stronger tug towards this figure and scoots backwards. Again, the lights flicker and the figure disappears, but she still feels its presence.

She went to sleep and again did not have the nightmare. She was beginning to question the need for staying up so late, because the figure is getting closer to her with each night, and it stayed away when she had gone to sleep before midnight.

Adriana decided to stay up until midnight for one more night, and if it got any closer she would stop and go to bed at a regular time. If it stayed at the end of her bed, she would continue staying up late.

She was more prepared, seeing as this was her third night dealing with the figure in her room. The time passed by quickly and before long, it was midnight. The clock rang midnight and she braced herself for whatever might happen. The figure appeared again, though it was in the far corner, near the bedroom door. Adriana felt less of the pulling sensation toward whatever it was and was sure that it was the last night that this thing would be in her room.

Adriana did not bother her parents about it the next morning either, because she thought the figure was going to leave her room, maybe even the house if she was lucky, and did not want to cause added stress to the moving process.

That night was when her attitude towards the figure changed drastically. She stayed up until midnight, sticking to the compromise she had made earlier with herself. The almost-familiar and much-anticipated ringing of the clock at midnight didn’t scare Adriana anymore. That was, until the figure was standing next to her pillow. The pull she felt towards it was immense and she fought hard against it. When she saw arm-like appendages reaching out from the form, she screamed as she was pulled into it.

Mr. and Mrs. Coleman ran into their daughter’s room as soon as they heard her screaming. By the time they got there, however, she was nowhere to be found. They checked her windows, which were still locked, and all the doors to the house were locked. There was no way she could have been taken or snuck out. Or so they thought.

If they had been more observant, perhaps they would have listened to their daughter when she told them that there was something in the house, or seen the shadow figure standing in the corner of her room when they entered. They instead called the police and told them their child was missing.

The next morning, on the news all over the country, there were reports for a missing child from San Diego, California. There were pictures of her and numbers to call if you saw her.

But they did not know that Adriana was not missing, in fact, and had been there the entire time the police and her parents were in the room. She was the shadow figure now, eternally bound to that house to haunt whoever lived in it.

The Coleman’s moved out, not being able to live with the grief of their child gone missing. They never found Adriana, but they were always looking.

When the next family moved into the house, they also had a daughter. Adriana- or what was left of her- became excited for the chance to work her new power. This girl too, never learned that nightmares can sometimes be better than reality, for you can change a dream, but never what has already happened in your life.

Had to write a short story for school... decided to post it on here. Creepy enough?