The Horrors of Our Mind [COMPLETED]

Wailing

Lainey stayed home everyday cleaning and cooking, while her husband John, went to work at the local bank, he was a teller. This was their daily life, her cooking, and cleaning for her husband, and him to come home from a long day of work to a nice hot meal and a clean house.

One day, while Lainey was cooking a tuna casserole for dinner, a small crying emitted from a room upstairs. This brought a small smile upon her face. The baby had woken up. Lainey set down the towel in her hand onto the counter, dusted herself off, and headed upstairs, where she saw her baby in the crib whaling out for attention, kicking fussily.

Lainey cooed at the small baby and swaddled him in his blanket and held him close, gently rocking him back and forth, silencing his cries. His cries quieted and were soon replaced with babbles and giggles. This brought a bigger smile upon her face, and she placed the baby back into his crib to go back downstairs to finish the dinner as John would have been home soon.

As soon as she placed the baby down into the crib, screams emitted from the baby's small mouth once again. With a huff, Laney picked the baby back up, which immediately quieted the cries. Walking back down the stairs and to the kitchen, Lainey tried cooking all the while holding the baby, which proved to be difficult. The baby babbled and cooed with his hand in his slobbery mouth not caring that he was making Lainey's task at hand to be harder than it needed to be.

Giving up on holding the child, she placed him down in the living room and walked back to the kitchen to place the casserole into the oven. As soon as she left the living room, though, the baby started fussing and crying once more. It was like this every day, the baby would always be fussy without being in her arms, and John never helped, he acted like the baby didn't even exist.

She left the baby to cry while she fixed up side dishes for dinner, green beans, and mashed potatoes. She saut�ed the green beans in butter and added cashews into the mix. As they were cooking, she muted out the sound of the wails of the upset child and started boiling potatoes. The beans quickly finished and she took the pan off the burner and to the side. The potatoes soon finished after and she poured out the steaming water down the sink then blanched the potatoes, making the skins come off easier.

As she mashed the skinless potatoes, the screaming from the baby got louder and louder, which seemed inhuman for someone so small. Getting frustrated, tears filled Lainey's eyes, and she slammed the masher onto the counter and made her way back into the living room, where the baby stopped crying at the sight of her. Lainey sniffled and scooped up the baby into her arms and coddled him, instantly the baby's mood lifted and he was babbling once again. She looked into the baby's eyes, and for a moment, she thought they didn't look human, but eviler. Lainey passed it off as her imagination.

She took the baby back to the kitchen with her once more and mashed the potatoes with only one hand, which was extremely difficult. It took a while, but she finished mashing the potatoes, and then placed the baby in his high chair and fed him some of the potatoes, which he happily ate. While feeding him, Lainey felt more and more depleted, her hard work finally getting to her. She noticed the baby's head to start bobbing in exhaustion, signaling that he was ready to sleep.

Lainey got up and made him a bottle, then lifted him up out of the high chair and cuddled him, then walked upstairs and to the room. By the time she placed him into his crib, he was fast asleep, little snores passing through his small lips. She smiled at him and then left the room only to see John walking in through the front door. Lainey greeted him with a smile and a kiss, then she took his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack by the door.

She pulled the casserole out of the oven and dished up his plate full of the tuna casserole, cashew green beans, and mashed potatoes. He sat down at the dinner table and waited to be served, and Lainey gladly did so, then made her own plate of food, but with less on it. They ate their meal in silence, as they did every night, and then both went upstairs to sleep, their bedroom just pass the baby's. They both brushed their teeth and went to bed, in a loveless sleep.

In the middle of the night, the baby woke up screaming and crying, causing Lainey to sit up in a half-asleep panic. She threw off the covers from herself and slid out of bed, and adjusted her nightgown. Her bare feet padded down the wooden floor to the baby's room where she opened the door to see him standing up in his crib crying, which he was too young to do.

The sight of the four-month-old baby standing put fear in Lainey and as she stood there, the baby's face darkened and twisted as the screaming and wailing got louder. Wanting the sound to stop before it woke up her husband, she scooped the baby up in her arms and coddled him, but the wailing didn't stop. Lainey felt as if her ears were bleeding it was so loud, she started screaming and yelled at the baby to stop. She started shaking him all the while still screaming.

All of a sudden, she felt a large hand on her shoulder. She turned around and it was her husband.

"What are you doing up screaming like a banshee?" he asked tiredly.

Lainey looked at him like he was wild. Did he not hear the screaming and crying from the baby?

She gestured to the baby who had calmed down, but when she looked down at her arms, the baby was gone, and so was everything that was once in the baby's room.