Kyle Doesn't Wear Dresses

"Mother?" Abby asks her mother as she lifts the sheets just under her chin.

"Yes Abby dearest?" Her mother runs her fingers through Abby's hair.

"What does it mean when someone goes 'missing'?" Abby asks confused.

"Are you talking about what was said on the news this afternoon?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it means that someone just cannot be found like they normally would." Abby's mother replies, she sighs at a heavy thought that suddenly hit her.

"I think Kyle is missing." Abby says, letting out a small yawn.
Her mother just giggles at the comment, "Who is Kyle?"

Abby doesn't laugh, she can barely keep her eyes open she is exhausted from her day at the park. She lifts her hand slowly to point underneath her bed. "Kyle isn't there any more."

Abby falls into an instant sleep with her hand hanging off the bed, her index finger still faintly pointing at the ground.
Abby's mother smiles at her imaginative child. I bet that is the name of the teddy bear her father gave her. She thinks, lifting Abby's hand slowly to tuck it under the quilt. She does so and Abby remains deeply asleep.

Abby's mother stands quietly, making little to no noise getting off the mattress. She turns on the nightlight by Abby's night stand and is halfway out of the door when the thought of 'Kyle' ways heavy on her mind. She pauses, hand on the doorknob, then quickly she walks over to Abby's bed and checks underneath it.

There is absolutely nothing there, nothing but darkness from bedpost to bedpost. She sighs, almost in relief at the fact that there was nothing there. She sits there in the quiet room for a moment then suddenly hears a quick sound of movement. It almost sounded like Chubs (their 3 legged feline companion) moving about in the room. Abby's mother then looks under the bed again to be face-to-face with a stuffed animal.

It was a teddy bear.

She gasps, and jolts backwards bumping her head in the process. She rubs the now pounding area in her head. She pulls the little bear out from under the bed and stares at it in confusion. She blames the suddenly appearing bear on lack of sleep and prescriptions.
With bear in hand she stands and continues to observe the bear. I don't remember buying this bear for Abby. She ponders running her fingers against the little black bear's fur. It had scarlet eyes that looked to glisten like diamonds because of Abby's nightstand night light.

Abby's mother shrugs, that noise must have been the cat. She places the bear next to Abby's face, and as if by routine Abby moves a hand around the bear and lets out a small smile.

Abby's mother closed the door to Abby's room and walked down the hall to her bedroom. She closes her bedroom door and suddenly hears scratching noises from the bathroom. Approaching the bathroom cautiously, she opens the door to let Chubs into her bedroom. The three-legged feline rushes through the door and collides with the mother's legs falling on it's side.
"Chubs? How long have you been in the bathroom?" She asks the cat inanely as she helps him regain his balance. "I don't think I ever let you in here."

The Next Morning

Abby woke up by 8 a.m. and finished her morning routine. Bored out of her mind she went in search of her mother. She finds her mother at the dinner table surrounded by paperwork.

"Mommy," Abby tugs at her mother's elbow sleeve.

Abby's mother doesn't respond.

Abby sighs, climbs the chair next to her mother in attempts to get her attention, accidentally knocking over a bunch of papers.

"Abby! What did I tell you?! If you see me working with papers at the table just leave me alone! Look at what you did!" She became enraged, grabbing all the papers from the floor. "Why don't you go play dress up or something."

Abby gets off of the chair, with her eyes focused to the ground. "Please don't tell me to do that Mommy. Kyle likes to play dress up and I don't like playing dress up with Kyle."

Abby's mother looks at Abby who has tears in her eyes and is holding a brown bear with scarlet eyes. She doesn't realize that isn't the bear she found under the bed. She doesn't realize it wasn't a bear that she had seen before. Blinded by frustration Abby's mother snaps. "Oh yeah? Why don't you like playing dress up with this 'Kyle'?"

Abby stares at her mother, using the teddy bear's hands to dry her tears. "Kyle doesn't wear dresses."

Abby's mother sighs, "Just go do something Abbs, I need to finish here."

Abby whispers something into the teddy bear's ears and nods, "Okay Mommy, I'm sorry."

Abby dresses herself in a cute fairy costume she had for a play she was in, and she grabs the little teddy bear--now orange with scarlet eyes-- and tries to place a doll's outfit on it.

Abby's mother gets her thoughts together and goes to check on Abby since she is very quiet. As Abby's mother walks up to Abby's door she hears Abby scream.

She opens the door to see Abby crying with strange bite marks on her arms.

"Oh my-- What happened Abby? Was it Chubs? Did Chubs bite you?" She rushes to her side.

"N-no M-m-mommy," Abby has difficulty talking in and out of inhales and tears. She points to her dresser side table and there Abby's mother sees Chubs' tail sticking out. She notices there is a pool of blood where their beloved cat is lying down.

Abby's mother covers her mouth in horror. "Wh-who did this, Abby?"

"I told you before," Abby said in a different almost demented tone, "Kyle doesn't wear dresses."

Abby's eyes became bloodshot and her bed started to shake, the darkness from underneath started to pour out into the room and made a solid shadow form with scarlet eyes. It's body hunched over because it was too tall for the low ceiling, it did not have hands but blades in their place. It had a mouth full of fangs and a black and white striped snake-like tongue.

Once Kyle's body became fully exposed from under the bed, a putrid odor attacked the mother's nose. She said nothing, she was in shock of Kyle's presence. Then she realized the true horror behind the putrid smell.

A pile of skin. A pile of human skin. All the people that had been missing were now Kyle's dress up costumes. The smell was so strong that it burned Abby's mother's eyes shut, she was now blind and as she screamed she re-opened them to see that she was screaming in her room.

She was in her bedroom. Clothed in her nightgown, all of the lights out, she was in her room. It was all a dream? She sat up, her heart racing. It all seemed so real.

She noticed that Chubs was resting at her feet. She became emotional and grabbed the three-legged cat and nearly choked him out of love.

"What a horrible dream!" She laughs hugging the cat.

"Mommy," Abby stands in the doorway.
"Y-yes sweetie? Did you have a nightmare?" She asks Abby.

Abby shakes her head, "I can't sleep. Can you tuck me in again?"

Abby's mother smiles, "Sure honey, come on."

They both return to Abby's room and Abby hops into bed like she did before. "Mommy?"

"Yes Abby?"

"Can you give me Kyle?" Abby points to the bottom of the bed.

Abby's mother hesitates a moment, "S-sure."

She bends down, checks under the bed to see nothing there, she looks back to Abby who is suddenly sound asleep, there is a quick movement in the room, and Abby's mother froze.

Her heart started racing. The only sound in her head was the pounding beats of her frightened heart.

She looks under the bed, to be face-to-face with a black furred, scarlet eyed bear with fangs.

Fin