Shadows

2

"Darcy, it's time to sleep stop playing" Mrs. Stevenson said as she walked in the room. Darcy was on the bed busy playing with her toy guitar gifted to her by one of her cousin brothers. She kept on pressing the colourful buttons on the fretboard of her small pink toy guitar. Each time she would press a button a nursery rhyme or the music of a random song would start playing.

"Honey, it's late" Mrs. Stevenson smiled and placed her hand on Darcy's cheek. Darcy pouted a little but gave the toy guitar to her mother. Mrs Stevenson took the guitar and kept it on the small table located on the side of the bed. She looked at Darcy already lying of the bed and smiled and covered her with a blanket.

The clock struck 12. It was midnight. Mrs. Stevenson looked towards the door. She heard footsteps approaching the room.

"Happy Birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to dear Darcy... Happy birthday to you..." the Stevenson sisters came in the room with their father, all singing the birthday song in unison.

Darcy got up and sat straight on the bed. Her happiness crossed it's limit, it was her birthday after all, everybody likes to celebrate their birthdays, be it a child or a person in his old age. Finally Darcy turned six.

Mrs. Stevenson stayed by the side of her little princess with her arm around Darcy. All her sisters wished her a happy birthday and left the room. Mr Stevenson played with Darcy a little before going to bed.

Since Darcy was still small she slept with her parents. However she had a weird habit, she would be lying straight while going to sleep but on waking up her position would change. Sometimes her head would be on her father's stomach and her legs would be on her mother's stomach and sometimes the opposite. And sometimes she would rotate 180 degrees and the position of her toes and her head on the bed would get interchanged.

Soon the trio were fast asleep, suddenly Darcy's eyes fluttered open. Still under the spell of the slumber she sat up on the bed and rubbed her eyes. The room was unusually dark. The dim light bulbs were out. It was a power cut. A little light penetrated through the windows. She looked at her mother, who was fast asleep. She needed to use the washroom. She shook her mother's hand, "Mommy" she called.

Mrs. Stevenson was a light sleeper, she immediately woke up, "yes dear" she said still lying on the bed.

"I need to pee" Darcy said. Mrs Stevenson sighed and got up.

"Ohkay, just wait" Seeing that the lights were out she tried searching for the torchlight on the side table where she had kept it earlier. The washroom was situated outside their room, downstairs, and since it was dark it would be risky to walk down the stairs.

"Mommy I can't hold it anymore" Darcy whined.

"It's dark darling wait a little" Mrs. Stevenson said in a sleepy voice. She checked the drawers but to her dismay it was nowhere to be found.

She looked at Darcy sitting in the dark trying hard to control herself. Unable to find it she sighed, "let's go dear" she said to Darcy, "hold Mommy's hand and walk carefully."

Darcy got down from the bed and held her mother's hand and they both carefully walked out of the room. The moment they stepped out of the room the dim lights on the stairway were lit, illuminating the area around with little brightness, enough to see the stairs.

Mrs Stevenson smiled and took Darcy downstairs to the washroom. She waited outside for the little one to come out. As soon as Darcy came out of the washroom, both of them walked back to the room.

Once on bed Mrs. Stevenson covered Darcy with the blanket and she herself, laid beside her. Suddenly she felt weird. She remembered she had kept the torchlight on the side table. She turned her face towards the table and she froze.

The torchlight was there on the side table placed perfectly the way she had kept it. She got up and sat straight. She outstretched her hand to pick it.

The moment she took it in her hand, a shiver ran down her spine. The torchlight felt warm against her touch as if someone had used it not long ago. She looked at Darcy, who had already fallen asleep. She kept the torchlight back at its place and laid down back on the bed. Her mind drifted back to what the neighbours had said. She glanced at the torchlight again, 'maybe I'm thinking too much' she thought.

She pulled the blanket up her chest and closed her eyes. A few moments passed, but she was not able to sleep. The event just kept on playing in her head. Her mind was full of chaos.

She looked towards the side table again when suddenly the 'Happy Birthday' song started playing on the toy guitar on its own. She gasped, her eyes widened and with a jerk she sat up straight on her bed.

She quickly grabbed the toy guitar and pressed the off button but it didn't work. Her heart was pounding fast against her chest, fear was evident on her face. She tried pressing all the buttons but it was of no use. The Happy Birthday song kept on repeating on its own. She was on the verge of crying, she immediately turned the toy around and took out all the batteries and it stopped.

She sat on the bed looking at the toy guitar in her hands, her hands were shaking, tears rolled down her eyes. Mrs. Stevenson was not able to believe what had just happened. She was too shocked to react. The toy guitar fell from her hands and hit the soft carpet on the ground making no sound at all. She buried her face in her palm.

She looked around the room, she could feel something strange, some kind of presence in the room. She looked at her sleeping daughter and husband and wished it was just a dream. She wanted to call them but her voice felt caught in her throat. She was not even able to move. It was just so unbelievable for her.

She sat there trying to calm herself, looking at the toy guitar and then at the torchlight, waiting for the dawn to break.

The rest of the night nothing happened. Soon it was light outside, she looked at the clock it was 4:00 in the morning. She sighed and got under the cover to get some sleep.

In the past minutes she had somehow managed to convince herself that it was some kind of technical problem with the toy and that maybe the torchlight was always there and she might have just missed it. However, she was not sure why it was warm to touch but she just shrugged it off.

But what she didn't knew was that, it was only the beginning.

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And one more thing... how many of you actually sang the birthday song for Darcy in tune cause I did😂😂😂

Thanks for reading. Hope you have a great day.