Embrace

"No, mom, please don't make me. I-I can't... She's there... and I-" My mother cut me off with a sharp flick, stinging my forehead. Her disapproval darkened her green eyes and her mouth was a thin line, lips pressed together with worry.

"Don't you start this again, Audrey, I'm having enough trouble keeping your father off my back without you pestering me with this nonsense. Go to bed, now, or so help me your phone goes away for good," she said, piercing eyes seeing straight through me.

I bowed my head in shame. Not only was my father convinced I was crazy, now my mother thought me a liar. I stumbled as she roughly pushed me toward my bedroom, darkness spilling from the slightly ajar door. It wasn't the darkness that scared me; no, the darkness was fine, welcome even. It was the creature inside the darkness that terrified me-- even the mere thought of it had my legs melting into jello and my heart racing, my lungs desperately sucking in dry air that burned my throat. I couldn't go back in there; she was waiting for me, stalking me in the shadowed corners of my room. She was everywhere, everything: the whispers in my ears, the cold breeze sweeping my curtains across panes of cool glass, the tears streaming down my face as the shouts of my parents sliced through the still air. I could see her in my mother, my father, and when I looked in the mirror, in myself.

I halted three feet from the door, my nerves over taking all sense of reason. I could feel my mother's icy glare piercing my back, waiting for me to step into the room. Step to my death. A stuttering gasp escaped my body as I felt my mother come up behind me, her patience worn thin. Her rough, callused hands scraped my back as she shoved me forward, past the doorway and into the inky black that was my room. She slammed the door shut as I stumbled inside, leaving me completely surrounded by darkness. My fingers fumbled for the lightswitch, grasping for it as I tried to navigate my room. I sighed in relief as I felt the cool plastic, flipping it up. Light flooded the room, stunning my eyes. I blinked, blinded by the glare.

My hands found the warm blankets on my bed as my eyes adjusted and I threw my PJ's on before sinking into the smooth sheets. It was so comfortable I had to fight to stay awake. I couldn't afford to fall asleep; not when I could already feel her presence. My body ignored my pleas as sleep began to wrap me in it's gentle embrace. I sighed as I flipped the light off, sliding down into the inviting darkness. My traitorous eyes closed as my mind began to finally settle, fatigue dulling it's sharp edges.

"Help...me...Somebody...help...ME!" I jolted awake as a raspy, somewhat female voice breathed in my ear, shivers slithering down my spine. A spindly hand grasped my wrist, my body shaking violently as I realised she was behind me. I slammed my eyes shut and shifted my hands underneath me, rotating slowly toward her. Don't look don't look don't look don't look a voice frantically whispered in my ear as I cracked open an eye, my heart pounding. I should've listened.

A horrible, grotesque face peered back at me, grinning. It seemed female, but with the decay it was hard to tell. Her yellow, cracked teeth were worn down to stubs that dripped with a dark substance smelling of iron. Rotted lips split in a grin so wide the corners of her mouth touched her ears. Her matted black hair hung in loose clumps around a hollowed face, and her yellow eyes were sunken into her skull like they were retreating from the light.

It was her, the thing that had been torturing me in my nightmares for weeks. She had finally come for me. A scream ripped through my throat, the sound so animalistic I began to shake. It was the cry of a cornered deer, the squeal of a pig before the slaughter.

Her gnarled hands closed around my throat, crushing my windpipe. Long, jagged nails tore through my skin as I struggled, clawing weakly at her arms.

"It'll...be over... soon." I couldn't tell if she was speaking or if it was my own voice but her hands her hands were squeezing crushing hurting me and I couldn't breathe breathe breathe and

"Help...me...Somebody...help...ME!"

7 hours later...

"Audrey? It's time to wake up! Come on, let's go!" Audrey's mom, Rachel, pounded on the door, impatience rolling off her with every thud. Sighing, she grasped the door handle, the cold metal biting into her pale skin. It rattled but did not turn; it was locked. Her impatience morphed into anger as she once more grabbed the doorknob and shook it violently, banging on the door with her other fist.

"Audrey Kent! This is your last warning! Get your butt up off your bed before I break this freaking door down!" She cried, releasing the knob. When silence leaked from the cracks in the door she huffed, turning away. I swear, someday that child will push me too far. I can't believe she had the nerve to run away... she shook her head as she stormed off, unaware that her daughter was indeed inside her bedroom, sleeping in death's embrace.