Attic Monsters

It's Back

"What happened?" My husband asks as he is bandaging my hand.

"I-" My voice stutters. "I was making Mara a sandwich wha- when I dropped the glass and..." My body leans against his and I bury my head against his chest. Tears escape my eyes and a sob leaves my chest.

"Shh- it's okay sweetheart." His kisses my forehead kindly before holding me in his arms for a few more seconds.

As I'm pulling away from his warm embrace he looks at me with a questioning glance. "Speaking of which, where is she?"

"I sent her to her room to work on her homework while I got her snack done."

"Hmm that's strange." He whispers to himself. "She normally rushes down to greet me as I open the door." His kind graze meets my eyes. "Will you be okay if I go to check on her?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I say trying to keep the panic out of my voice. He is going to go to her room and find that she is not there.

My eyes follow his every move as he walks out of the room. My brain has decided it wants to be a race car driver. It's spinning in circles and just when something formed it would take a sharp turn in the wrong direction.

"Mara!" I hear his voice yell faintly from upstairs. How could I possibly describe what happened? Suddenly an idea comes to my mind. Before I can stop it an exclaim of excitement escapes my mouth. My hand flies to my mouth covering it and I go silent.

Hesitantly, my gaze hits the doorway and I wait to see if my husband heard me. When he doesn't appear I sigh in relief. With the time alone, I set out a plan in my brain.

Finally, I hear his footsteps descend down the stairs and I hide the smile that forms on my face.

His body makes it to the room and he questions me on where I think she could have gone. I looked at him shocked and put on my best frantic face.

"What do you mean! She's not in her room!" I scream distraught.

"I-I don't know, I searched the whole house for her. "

"It can't be!" I yell before rushing up the stairs. I slam open the door to see my daughters empty room. Just like I thought it would be. Putting up a show, I throw back the blankets of the bed, slam open the closet doors, and check under her bed...frantically, desperately.

"MARA!" I shout on the top of my lungs even though I know that she won't answer.

I feel my husband's rough hand grab me before I tear the whole house down. He pulls my body against his chest.

"It's okay, we'll find her." He whispers soothingly in my ear.

"You don't think she ran away, do you?" I choke out before breaking into a sob.

My husband runs his hands through my hair stroking at my scalp to try and calm me down. "I don't know, but we can't rule anything out.

"...Why would she." I ramble. "...I'm a good mother aren't I? I've done nothing wrong, but love her. W-We have always been there for her."

"I know and I'm sure she has a plausible reason. Besides she can't be far."

I hiccup. "Okay, why don't you check outside and I'll do another sweep of the house, okay?"

He looks at me questionably. "You sure you don't want to stick together? We'll be able to see more clues with two pairs of eyes instead of just one."

I act like I'm thinking it through. "Im sure... I want to make sure she isn't hiding in the house first."

"Okay sweety. Call me when you're done so we can meet up."

"Okay...please find her.." I beg to him.

"Don't worry, we will. Just let me grab a few things from downstairs first and then I'll head out."

I watch as my husband leaves the room and rushes down stairs. I wait until I'm no longer able to hear his footsteps anymore before going to her closet. I open the doors as quietly as I can. My eyes meet her small purple backpack and I grin before picking it up. As quick as I can I pace the room grabbing everything that I feel like she would have taken. Lastly, I grab her favorite book off the shelf and her stuffed animal off the bed. I include these objects to the top of her bag.

Looking out of my daughters door, I make sure that I don't see my husband. When I don't see him, I rush to my room to hid her bag. I'll be able to stash it somewhere in the bushes later. Make it look she got kidnapped. But for now it being hidden in here will have to do.

After I throw her bag in the closet, I listen for what's downstairs. I could still faintly hear the shuffling of his feet. I have to tell him the news.

"Honey!" I call with desperation and panic in my voice. "Her bag is--"

As I get down the stairs I see my husband hugging our daughter tightly in his arms. It looked like neither of them heard me.

"What's wrong daddy?" She asks still in his grasp.

"I'm so glad you're safe." My husband whispers in her ear. I stood in the doorway in shock. She is dead. I killed her. It's the demon! She is tricking my husband! If I didn't kill her now she will kill him. I couldn't let that happen.

Quietly, I sneak to the kitchen and look around. Finally my eyes land on it. The butcher knife that my husband bought me for Christmas last year. Its familiar handle wraps itself under my grasp. Holding it tightly, I go to back to see they are still hugging.

"Mara!" I yell, shocking them both. They both look up at me and I rush to my daughter like I'm going to hug her. As I get closer I move up the knife. It stabs her in her chest and goes through. Shock is in her expression and I hear her let off a cough. I let go of the knife and her body falls back.

"What have you done!" My husband yells at me.

My eyes watch her body as it gets picked up and held in my husbands arms.

"I saved your life! She's a demon. She would've killed you." The last part almost comes out as a whisper. She looked so real... but she looked real last time too. This was the demon. My daughter was in the attic.

"That's our daughter your talking about! She would have done no such thing!" My husband shouts at me as he pulls out his phone to call 911. " Hang in their Mara." I hear him whisper to her softly.

My body is in the same place paralysed. My eyes are watching as her life trickles away from her body.