Stranded

Nightfall

Face pressed against the pillow and eyes shut tight, Daniel tried his best to sleep. He pushed all thoughts out of his mind, trying to keep it blank. But, no matter how much he tried, Able's angry gaze filled his mind's eye. 

You did this...his mind whispered to him, almost sounding like Able's voice. He let out a huff through his nose, pressing his hand against the side of his exposed face. 

Blank, blank, blank. He thought to himself, one sheep, two sheep-

A door slammed shut, the sound echoing through the house. Daniel's eyes popped wide open, lifting his head up from the pillow and looked out into the darkened hallway. He quickly got up, walking swiftly towards the door to his bedroom, pulling it open. His gaze moved down the darkened hallway, taking a step outside of the bedroom to look farther down. His foot stepped in something wet and freezing cold. 

Daniel looked down at his feet, seeing that the one foot was standing in a puddle of something dark. He took off towards the far wall of the hallway, reaching blindly to flick on the light. His eyes throbbed when the sudden brightness filled the space, Daniel standing on one foot as he reached down to touch his wet foot. 

Dry. His foot was completely dry, his hand only feeling the rough skin on the bottom of his foot. He looked over towards the open door of his bedroom, seeing that there was no puddle of water. He blinked, hands shaking. 

Slowly, he turned his head back down the hall where he had heard the door slam shut. His son's old bedroom's door was open, the same way that Daniel had left it. 

Able's bedroom door was closed, which was also the way that Daniel and his wife had left it. His wife had taken all her belongings and packaged them up, all of them sitting in boxes behind that closed door. 

"We'll give up her clothes to free will," Megan had said as she placed a box on top of another one. 

"What?" Daniel had asked, eyes wide. "You want to give her things away? Why?"

"Dan. She's not coming back, you were the one who told her not to, remember?" 

Daniel frowned at the memory, his eyes still on the closed door. But, what was different from before was the light was on inside the room. The light filtering out from under the door, sending a shiver down Daniel's spine.

Someone was in there, possibly messing around with her stuff. Or maybe his wife had came back to take claim of her possessions. He sucked in a breath of air and walked towards the closed door, stopping outside the door. He placed his hand down on the knob, going to twist it and open the door. Hopefully catching who was in there, but something stopped him. The door knob was freezing cold, like the front door's knob felt like when it was in the dead of winter. 

It was wet, causing Daniel to pull his hand back slightly to look at his hand. The light caught the water on his hand, giving the palm of his hand a slimy appearance. He quickly wiped his hand on his shirt and twisted the door knob, opening the bedroom door. 

The room inside was still, nothing looked out of place. It didn't feel right, the room was eerily still. the hairs on the back of Daniel's neck rose slightly, feeling like someone was standing behind him and was breathing on his neck. He twisted around quickly, his eyes looking across the empty hallway and down the darkened stair well. 

He turned off the light and closed his daughter's bedroom door, going to head back to bed. Not that he would be able to sleep after this. He was halfway down the hall when the hallway light shut off, making him jump. He felt a force slip by him, Daniel turning to see a dark figure move quickly down the stairs. 

"Hey!" he shouted, walking after the person. He heard the sound of footsteps move quickly down the stairs. Daniel quickly headed down the stairs, stopping in his tracks when he saw the front door wide open. The porch light was on, though Daniel was certain that it was turned off when he went to bed. 

He walked towards the front door, stepping outside and looking around. 

Nobody.

Nobody had been there from what he could tell, there was no car or anything in the driveway, or anybody that he could see from the front porch. 

"God," Daniel whispered, looking around the front yard before walking back inside, flicking off the lights as he went. "Get a hold of yourself, man." 

He lay in bed with his eyes open the rest of the night, the house as still as death. 

--

Able's funeral was a closed casket, as Daniel had asked for it to be. His mother and father showed up, along with Megan's. It was a while before she and Daniel's son, Brad, had shown up. Megan looked at him with sad eyes that made Daniel want to yell at her. 

She had no right to feel sad, after what she had said about Able. How she wanted to get rid of all of her stuff, and was happy to disown her. Brad walked towards him, his brown hair was tousled. 

"Why is it closed casket?" he asked in a low voice as he watched his mother walk towards Able's casket. 

"Because I asked for it to be that way, Brad," Daniel said, looking down at his son. Brad raised his eyebrows. 

"She too mangled to be fixed up, or something?" Brad asked.

Daniel didn't give him an answer as he walked towards the front row of seats as the priest walked in. Brad watched his father, then looked at the casket.