31 Days of Halloween

Day Twenty-Seven: My Daughter Saw the Devil

Maya was asleep in her bed and Jon and I were on the sofa watching a movie, some war documentary that he was more interested in than me. I curled up against his side, my eyes flickering as I tried to stay awake; Jon was bound to ask her all sorts of questions when it was over. But he was so comfortable, and I'd had a rough day at work. Sleep sounded heavenly.

"Charity? Are you tired?" Jon's warm hand rubbed my cheek in slow circles, making me relax more against him.

"A little but we should finish the movie. It's almost over anyway." Jon chuckled and turned his attention back to the screen, spilling popcorn on my face. I swatted playfully at him and grabbed a handful for myself.

"Mommy? Daddy?" I looked to the stairs and Maya was at the top, her footie pajamas ruffled and Mr. Bear skimming the floor. She rubbed her eyes a minute and then came down a few steps, hand white on the railing.

"Can you hear it breathing? I can." Maya looked back upstairs, tilting her head like a dog listening to a television.

I stood from the couch, scooping up her little body and setting her on Jon's lap who automatically wrapped his arms tight around her. "Hear what breathing, baby? Did you hear the TV?"

Maya shook her head, cuddling Mr. Bear closer. In a tiny voice she said, "No, the breathing in my closet. It's really loud."

Jon gave me a knowing look and he handed her to me, getting the house shut down for the night. "You must have had a scary dream. Mommy will tuck you in."

I carried Maya upstairs, grunting a little because she's too old to be carried anymore, and tucked her into her bed. "What was your dream about, Maya?"

Maya narrowed her eyes, a signal she was getting into tantrum mode. "It wasn't a dream, mommy, it was real. Something is breathing in my closet."

I made a big show of opening her closet and sweeping back the clothes, showing her a blank wall and empty floor. "There's nothing here now. Maybe I scared it away when I brought you up. Monsters are terrified of parents, like Superman's weakness is kryptonite."

Maya giggled. Superheroes were her new favorite thing, evidenced with the full-size poster of Clark Kent/Superman on her wall above her bed. I tapped the poster with my fingers, looking down at her. "He will protect you. Nothing will ever get past him or mommy and daddy."

Maya sat up and put both hands beside mine. "You promise?"

I ran my fingers through her hair and kissed her smooth forehead, re-tucking the blankets. "I promise. Get some sleep, Maya. I love you."

Maya yawned, her arms encircling Mr. Bear. "Love you more."

I fell asleep fast that night but awoke to Maya shaking me violently. I sat up and grabbed my clock, seeing the red lights blink three a.m. Maya, undeterred, stood on my bed and continued to shake me, her eyes glassy and unfocused. I shook Jon and took Maya in my arms, shushing her.

"Maya, it's okay, honey. It's just a dream, honey open your eyes." Jon wrapped himself around us, rubbing her back.

"The breathing, mommy. The breathing has a face." Maya was practically screaming, her whole body writhing like she was trying to escape and crawl into my skin at the same time.

"Jon, go check out her room. Make sure there's nothing in there." My mind instantly said rats or mice, something where the scuffling could sound like breathing. We laid out traps the other day but one or two may have gotten lucky.

Jon slipped his feet into slippers and went to Maya's room. I heard him shuffling clothes and the clack of hangers and then nothing. I waited, waited...then a loud thump. Loaded silence poured from Maya's room and then she started thrashing again, screaming about breathing.

I left her on the bed, unable to hold her while she fought me, and checked for Jon. "Jon? Was there something in there?"

No answer. I peek into Maya's room and see Jon's slippers sitting by her toy trunk. Feeling curious, I enter the room and see nothing out of place. I don't see any rodents outright, but I turn to Maya's closet and see Jon lying on the floor facedown. I rush to him and flip him over, screaming when I saw the blood coating his face. Or where his face should be but all I could see was a skull.

I scooted back away from him, sobbing, and then I hear it. It was a guttural breathing, like someone who needed an oxygen tank all the time, and it came from Maya's closet. Long grimy fingers peeled her clothes back, exposing goat hooves and a hairy lower body. The face was human but framed by thick, coarse hair and curled horns sitting next to flicking ears. Jon's face was clasped in the other hand.

I screamed and bolted for my bedroom, slamming the lock home and taking Maya in my arms; she was sitting serenely on the covers now, confused as why she's in my room. I sobbed against the top of her head, cowering by the headboard.

Hooves clomped slowly down the hall and stop in front of my door, the shadows stretching under the door. It was quiet a minute and then it pounded against the door so hard I was afraid it would split. The handle jiggled and the door shook on its hinges but still it didn't open. The creature bleated in anger, words mixed in that I couldn't understand.

Maya grinned, laughing. "It's okay, mommy. He just wants to play with us, can't we play mommy?"

I ignore her question, gripping her tighter until she yelped in anger. "Let me go, I want to play mommy!"

The goat thing stopped its assault on the door, letting it slowly fall away and open. I gaped in terror; that door should not have opened so easily. It slowly walked inside, its human yellow eyes scanning over me and Maya. "I want to play."

The voice chilled me to my bones. If goats could talk, it would sound deep and gravelly with a goat's bleat mixed in. It was the most horrible sound I could've ever imagined and it's coming from this creature standing before me.

Maya struggled in my arms again, her hands reaching out to the monster. It came closer and lifted Maya from my arms despite my tight hold, my daughter giggling and playing with its horns. It waggled its clawed fingers at me as if waving goodbye and then swiped those nails across my throat. Blood seeped onto my nightgown and as I fell onto the bed and gasped my final breaths, I watched the devil himself walk away with Maya in tow. My daughter grinned up at the monster and then waved goodbye to me.

"See you soon, mommy! I love you."