Abnormal

The Incubus

        The sun was shining brightly as the car traveled down the narrow road, an excited three year old in the back seat. This was the first time they were going on a trip to the nature around them. The mother in the front seat was consistently checking the mirror to see the child in the woods, she pulled the car over and got the picnic basket out and set up. They ate by a small pond. After eating, the young mother decided to play a game.

        "Let's play hide and seek. You count to ten then come find me ok? But don't look until you say ten, once you say ten then you can turn around ok" The mother told her child. However the child knew it was pointless to count because once he finally made it to four he heard the car start up. He looked right into his mother's eyes as she pulled away leaving him there in the middle of the clearing in unfamiliar woods. The young child knew it was coming, as his mother never seemed to give him lots of love to begin with. So the child started to walk around on very unsteady legs. He could see a path near the pond leading towards what he hoped was people.

        After about a day of wondering he came across a gate near a house. He could see a man with five children around him outside by the side of the house. So the young child called out to him. The man welcomed him in asking how he got there, and once the child told him the man knew he couldn't abandon the child again. So he offered the child a safe place to call home and others to call family. The man asked what his name was so he could introduce him to the others, and the only thing the child could say was, Ten , because he no longer had to wait to look for his family because they were right in front of him.