Night and death

~1~

I wake up to screaming and thunder. My own scream. The noise outside chants in time with the pitter-patter of the rain and the dissonance of my shrieks. My eyes fly open, scanning the darkness. By only the black surrounds me, and I am eaten by the monster that is the darkness. But I don't see the real monster from my nightmares; the man with the pale, twisted face with a sea of red gurgling from his mouth. His eyes were glazed, like a crispy cream donut, but I could make out two red pupils shining from beneath the haze. They reminded me of the lights shining in a thick fog.

"Hello, Anathalia," he said. He drew out my name, saying each and every syllable with such desire that you would think he loved me. An-a-th--l-ia, "You and I are going to have fun," he informed me. When he said fun blood sprayed from his mouth and dotted my face. I could feel the pure terror rumbling inside of me as he stuck me to the wall. I kicked and screamed and tried to escape this horrid fate. And I could still feel the knife split my skin...

Just a dream, I tell myself. I try and stop myself from reminiscing in the nightmare to little avail. Just a scary, very realistic dream.

Tears of relief roll down my cheeks as a sob escapes my mouth as I realize that I am safe and sound, with no monster around. My shoulders shake, and I drown in my darkness for minutes, hours even before I hear the faraway footsteps of two people approaching down the hall.

I loosen a breath I didn't know I was holding as my parents walk into the room. "Oh, my poor baby," mother croons upon entering the room, "did you have another nightmare?" I nod as more tears turn invisible when they touch the bed.

"Come here, my princess," My father says softly as he sweeps me up into his arms and kisses my hair, "It's ok, sweetie. Ok?" Tears leak from my eyes, like water from a tap. But I nod again. In silence, their footsteps the only noise in the black night, they take me to their room. My father places me on the bed, and they lay beside me, their breaths caressing my throat. "It's ok to be scared, princess," she says, "as long as you don't that fear overtake you."

I nod solemnly. "Happy birthday to me," I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

"My big thirteen years old girl, ready to face the world," Mother declares. She nudges my shoulder playfully, and I smile up at her delicate face. For my loving parents, I hold back the tears threatening to make another appearance.

"We love you very, very much Ana and we will never, ever, let anything hurt you as long as we live."

"Pinkie swear?" I whisper into the darkness.

"Pinkie swear," they say as one.