The Smallest Coffins.

1

"Daddy! Daddy!" Juliet had called that night as she ran down the stairs. Justin smiled and picked up the six year old. The girl screams holding onto him. Justin shifts her onto his left shoulder. Jackson ran down after her laughing. She hides her face in her father's hair. "No No No~" she yells.

"Big scary Jack Jack is tryna get ya?" Justin laughed. He moved her to his side.

"I don't wanna go to sleep!" she whined. "Big scary man is in the hallway!" she says looking at the stairs.

"Oh honey, there's never been anyone in that hallway," Justin said, his smile never fading. His eyes glimmer and a chuckle escapes his lips. He kisses the girl on her cheek. 

"No one will hurt you never ever ever!" Jackson said and grabbed his sister holding her close. The other two siblings come down the stairs, and

Juliet saw him standing off in a corner. His smile off putting, his hair greasy. She let out a shrill scream and the man stayed in plain sight. Jackson said it was nothing, she was just imaginative.

No one sees the man. He steps closer to Juliet. His head tilting back and forth like an interested puppy.

The truth is. There was no man in the corner. It's empty. Just her imagination. Trying to make a terrible thought easier to process.

"No he's going to hurt me tonight!" she yelled, but all her siblings just tried to reassure her and sent her to bed. 

Jacob walks into his room and lays down flipping from side to side. He stares up at the ceiling.

Julianne and Justin are laid cuddling each other closely. Julainne falls asleep way before Justin even shuts an eye. His mind is full of thoughts about Jacob. He is only a couple months from being out of the hospital. What if it happens again?  He tries listening for the boy, but there is no sound. He sits up onto the edge of the bed and walks up the stairs and looks in on everyone, from youngest, Juliet, to oldest, Jackson. 

When all the doors were shut and everyone was in their room Julie's door opened. A man walked in and put a towel in her mouth. Her eyes slink open and she sees him. The greasy man. Only now does she realize the greasy man is...