Don't turn out the lights

Amy

Don't Turn Out The Lights

29th of May, 1982

Amy was 8 years old and her mother was trying to put her to sleep, but every time she would turn out the lights, Amy would start crying and whimpering and screaming, "No! No, Please!" she would beg "Please don't turn out the lights!" then her mother would come over to comfort her, "Oh, it's ok honey." her mother would say while sitting next to her daughter and giving her comforting pats on the back, "Shhhh. It's ok, Amy, you're safe. You're safe." Amy's sobs began to quiet and her breathing began to stabilize. "Mommy?" Amy looked up at her mother's tired but comforting eyes "Please mommy." she said "Please don't turn out the lights." "Why don't you want me to turn out the lights?" her mother asked "Because, mommy." Amy paused "Because then the lady in white comes." "The lady in white?" her mother asked "Who is she?" "Oh, she comes and reads me stories and tells me jokes and smiles." said Amy "Oh?" said her mother slightly taken aback "If the lady in white is good, then why don't you want me to turn out the lights?" "Because, mommy."Amy said "Because then the man in red will follow her." "The man in red?" asked her mother "Who is he?" "He is mean, and the lady in white is scared of him. Whenever he comes she has to leave." Amy paused again. "But the lady comes back." another pause "But when she comes back, she isn't the same. She doesn't laugh as much and she doesn't smile as much. And she has marks on her." "Marks?" her mother questioned "What kind of marks?" "On her arms and face and her neck." there was a long pause "Mommy." "Yes, Amy?" "I think... I think the man in red hurts her... And I think she's scared he's gonna hurt me." "Why would he hurt you?" her mother asked "Because I know things."
"What things?"
There was no answer
"What things do you know, Amy?"
"Things about him."
"Like what?"
"Things the lady in white told me last time she was here."
"Like what, Amy?"
"Not much"
"What did she tell you, Amy?"
"She didn't finish telling me."
"Why not?"
"Because she had to go."
"Go where?"
"Away."
"Why did she have to go?"
"Because the man in red came early."
"Did she come back?"
"No."
As soon as the words passed her lips the lights flickered once. Then twice. Then a third time. Then they went out. Amy screamed, and her mother hugged her harder. There was another scream. But this time not from Amy. Then there was a third scream, louder this time, and more frantic. Then they heard footsteps. Two pairs of them. Running. There were more screams and shouts that were getting louder and louder and closer and closer.
Then the footsteps stopped and everything was quiet. After a few seconds of darkened silence, there was a thud against the closed door of Amy's room. Amy hugged her mother tighter. Then they heard a voice from outside the door. It was a woman's voice, strong and powerful, and it said "You are not welcome here." Then there was another thud, and this time it was accompanied by a shriek and promptly followed by spluttering coughs. Then another voice spoke, a man's voice, mean and loud, and at the sound of it, Amy's mother felt her hug her tighter and begin to cry silently, it said "Do you think I care?" then the man let out a malevolent laugh and bellowed "I HAVE COME FOR THE LITTLE GIRL WHICH YOU HOLD SO DEAR! AND WHEN I FIND HER, I WILL KILL HER!" he paused and let out another laugh that could scare even the likes of a god, then, Amy and her mother heard him pick something up that sounded like hair, and another shriek of pain was heard, and in a voice so low that they almost didn't hear, he said "How does that sound, Annalise?" he spat out the last word in a mocking tone oozing with true, revolting hatred, an indignant cry and sickening slapping noise followed and the woman spoke again "I will not let you hurt anyone else! NOW LEAVE THIS PLACE AND GO BACK TO THAT HELL HOLE FROM WHICH YOU CRAWLED OUT OF EVER SO LONG AGO!!" "YOU CRETINUS WENCH, HOW DARE YOU!! I'M GOING TO SCRAG YOU!" then there was a series of loud slams and bangs and crashes, and then there was the unmistakable noise of metal hitting flesh and and a shrill scream and a crash as if a person had been thrown against a wall. Then the door to Amy's room was thrown off its hinges and a man entered. Behind him, in the hall they could see the battered body of a woman dressed entirely in white who was crying hysterically and clutching at a quickly growing dark spot on her side. The man who entered stood there silently. Amy started trembling and sobbing hysterically and her mother fared no better, staring in shock at the woman in the hall who was mouthing the words "I'm sorry" the man was dressed in a red suit with a red tie and a red hat that covered his hair and most of his face the only facial feature that could be seen was his mouth. It was contorted into a wicked sneer with yellowed teeth and horrid brownish-red stains in between, and he seemed to be taking pleasure out of the deep-seated fear that he was striking in Amy. And it was in that moment that the knife that he was carrying was noticed and Amy let out a scream that caused everyone in the room to jump in surprize. Then Amy stood up on her bed and puffed out her chest and said in a voice that no one would have expected to come from a little girl in a time like this "YOU!" she shouted at the man in red whose sneer had been wiped off his face when Amy had stood "YOU HURT HER!! YOU HURT HER!!" she spoke with an urgency like she might not get a chance to finish "HOW DARE YOU HURT HER!! SHE'S NEVER DONE A THING TO DESERVE THIS AND THEN YOU KILLED HER!! YOU'VE KILLED HER, YOU BASTARD!! YOU'VE KILLED HER!" Amy's mother gasped at Amy's sudden use of profanity, and almost scolded her until she saw her face. The little girl had somehow contorted her face into an expression of pure rage and hatred. Amy's mother looked over to the lady in white who hadn't quite died yet but was well on her way. By now she had stopped crying and had gone limp she was just barely breathing and her once white dress was now thoroughly drenched in blood. Then Amy spoke again "YOU WICKED, WASTE OF HUMAN FLESH, GO TO HELL!!" the man in red said nothing and walked over to the lady in white, bent over her limp, pale, nearly dead body and promptly stabbed her seven more times, all the while, looking directly at Amy and smirking. "YOU MONSTER!!" cried Amy who now had a dumbfounded look of sheer terror plastered onto her face. "YOU HORRID, HORRID MONSTER!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!" Amy's face had turned back into that of rage. Then the man stood and began to walk back and before Amy could continue he spoke "You stupid girl" he laughed "Soon you will meet the same fate as Annalise!" he laughed again "And the-" he was cut off by Amy "YOU BASTARD!!" she shouted "YOU'LL NEVER HURT ME!!" He laughed and his sneer returned "You foolish girl. I will kill you just as I have Annalise. You are wrong. You could never beat me, ye know why?" "WHY NOT!" she yelled "Because," he answered calmly "I'm big you're small, I'm smart you're dumb, I'm right you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it." Amy stared at him for a moment then spoke in a voice not her own "I wouldn't bet on that." and with that she leaped at him, clutching a metal post from the bed frame, and screaming all the while. He stepped to the side and she missed landing on the floor with a thud. She was quick but the man in red was quicker, he grabbed Amy's mother and held the knife he used to kill the lady in white up to her throat and said "Surrender yourself child, or I kill her." he held the knife up to Amy's mother's throat menacingly "YOU UGLY CRETIN!" Amy cried but she put down the metal post. The man then turned Amy's mother around to face Amy and stabbed her in the neck. She tried to scream but instead she coughed up a mouthful of blood, she began choking and spluttering and coughing up blood everywhere. "YOU TRAITOROUS ARSE WOUND!!" Amy shrieked. The man in red began howling with laughter after dropping Amy's mother on her head. Amy crawled over to her mother and began screaming and crying and sobbing and trembling with rage. She looked up at the man in red with pure hatred in her eyes only to find that he wasn't where he was ten seconds ago and she couldn't hear his wicked, cackling, laughter anymore either the lights were still off accept for the light of the full moon shining through the windows. She could still see the lady in white's mutilated body soaked in blood lying in the hall illuminated by moonlight shining in from the skylight. Then she heard a noise from downstairs. Like great big footsteps. She hugged her mother's body one last time, grabbed the post and ran into her closet. Then she heard more footsteps coming up the stairs, they turned at the top and headed down the hallway towards Amy's room. The stopped at the door, and she heard someone staggering back probably from the sight of Amy's mother, lying dead on the floor, surrounded in blood, throat slashed. Then she heard a woman's voice not the lady in white's voice but someone else's say "Hello? Is anyone there?" "I'm here! I'm here!" shouted Amy as she pounded on the door and walls leaving a bloody handprint on the back wall of the otherwise white closet. The closet door opened and Amy saw a woman standing there in a police uniform with a wide brimmed hat covering her hair and most of her face. She was smiling down at Amy with awful yellow stained teeth and horrid brownish-red stains in between them, then she said "I found you." and with that she pulled out a bloody knife and stabbed Amy in the heart.