I round the corner and my light flies back and forth between the front door and the basement door. My stomach is doing flips and I place a hand over it to calm myself. After I am sure no one is in the hallway, I turn and start walking faster towards the basement door. Small giggles behind me have me racing to the door and bursting through.
I take the stairs as fast as I can without tripping and head straight into the room to find the breaker box. The giggles turn into diabolical laughs and I can hear their footsteps scraping down the hallway upstairs. The laughing grows louder and the flashlight flickers. It takes me a few minutes to remember where in the basement the breaker box is. I need to find it quickly so I won’t be trapped, but nothing comes to mind. As the footsteps echo through, I make my way across the basement floor, my light shooting in all directions. I stumble over something on the floor and fall to my knees gripping the flashlight as if my life depended on it.
The sound of running feet spurs me on.
They are close.
With my feet back under me, I spot the breaker box and dive for the cover. My fingers are shaking so badly, I can’t find the latch to open the cover. It takes only seconds for me to break it open and locate the main switch for the house. A cold hand grabs my arm from behind just as I flip the switch. The lights come on.
I scream and swing my flashlight to hit whatever was holding me, but all I hit is air. The sound of feet hitting wood makes me look up to see two sets of feet running upstairs. I am shaken so badly that I sink to the floor and rock, trying to soothe my fears.
Get up, Janet. Get out of the basement. Now!
I steel myself and stand, briskly walking up the stairs to the main floor. I keep checking my surroundings, on the lookout for demons.
I walk the house, but there is no sign of the creepy children anywhere. New scratches on the hallway floor are the only evidence I find. I get my cell phone and see Coby has called several times. The time shows I had been unconscious for over two hours. I replay Mrs. Frost’s message on the answering machine and call her back.
“Dr. Birch! I’m sorry we haven’t been in touch with you, but we’ve been all over the town posting fliers and speaking with people,” she said.
I can hear the catch in her throat and my heart aches. There is no hope inside of me that I can give her. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Frost.”
“I slept in Emily’s bed after our scare and the first night she was fine. She actually slept all night and started looking like she should. Some of her color came back and we even had fun making plans for her to go back to school. The next night, I slept in her bed with her again. When I woke up, she was gone. I never felt her get up in the middle of the night and I’m a light sleeper. We searched everywhere and we can’t find our little girl!”
Her desperation leaks through the phone and I break down. No one should have to feel this way. No mother should have to go through the fear and uncertainty of having a missing child. “You’re doing everything right, Mrs. Frost. I’ll check in with Stacy and she’ll send out emails to everyone we know. I wish there was more I could do,” I whisper. My psychologist brain is still trying to comfort this woman when I can’t comfort myself.
“Thank you, Dr. Janet. We appreciate all the help we can get. If you hear anything, will you please let us know immediately?” she pleads.
“Of course. Goodbye, Mrs. Frost. And best of luck to you both.”
I hang up the phone and stare at it for a while. I try to imagine why Emily would just leave her bed in the middle night, and the only thing I could think of is the grotesque children. But they never come around when someone else is here. I type a quick email on my phone to Stacy and send it out. Coby calls again, but I can’t bring myself to answer.
My brain hurts and I eventually walk to my room and fall on the bed. I lie there with all the lights on and stare blankly at the ceiling. I feel as if grit is trapped under my eyelids and I let myself succumb to exhaustion.
I swear I fell asleep, but everything remains the same behind my eyelids. The ceiling fan keeps spinning around and around and the lights stay on. There is no darkness in the corners of my vision or swarming in around me. Then, I hear a familiar precious voice.
“Emily?” I sit up on my bed and see her sitting in the middle of my bedroom.
“Emily!”
She acts as if she can’t hear me. I stand up and slowly walk toward her. As I get closer, I see over her shoulder. The head of my childhood doll is in her small hands. I gasp and my hand closes over my mouth. My feet freeze in place and the air rushes out of my lungs.
All I can do is stand there and stare at her hands.
“Why did you lie to me?”
Bile rises into my throat. With effort, I swallow it back down. “What do you mean, Emily?”
“You told me I would be safe from them. You lied to me, Janet. You know nothing of what they are, of what I’m becoming.”
She slowly turns to look at me over her shoulder and my body numbs. I see anger in her eyes as they are slowly consumed by black.
“I wasn’t safe from them. And neither are you. The Leader wants me. He came to me the night I tried to escape from him to save me. He wouldn’t let me go. He won’t let you go, either. He wants you for his children.”
Instantly fear grips my entire being. Her voice is no longer soft and light. Gone is the sweet girl with many friends at school and who plays the piano. The girl in front of me is no longer Emily. She is now a monster. She is one of them!
Tears trail down my face and neck. Fear is replaced by guilt. “I’m so sorry, Emily.”
“No, you’re not. But you will be.” She slowly stands with the doll still in her hands. “An angel didn't mark me.
He
marked me. I was always meant to be one of his children and I know that now. You lied to me.” Her little frame shakes with anger. “You don’t have a mark, do you, Janet?”
I can’t speak. No words will move past my lips. I try to think of what I could say to bring Emily back to me.
What can I do to stop this?
My mouth opens and closes repeatedly and a smile spreads across her once sweet face.
“I didn’t think so. You told me you had a mark on your leg, but you don’t. He marks the ones he wants from birth. Once we grow old enough, he takes us and drains our souls from our bodies. We become his children, Janet. He is The Father. The ones he follows but doesn’t mark grow old enough to feed His Children. To feed me.”
I scream and sit upright in my bed. My body still feels numb with fear, but my limbs are trembling. I look around and see that an hour has passed. Not near enough time to function properly, but enough to keep sleep at bay until I can get this figured out.
I rub my face with my hands and look over to the spot Emily had been in my dream. Right where she sat in my dream was a doll head. My doll’s head. I run over to it and pick it up.
I haven’t seen this doll in years, yet here it is in the middle of my floor. If it is here…that means the dream really happened. And if the dream really happened then that means Emily is with the children now.
How could that possibly be?
As I suck in a breath to cleanse my brain, the faint smell of strawberries invades my nose. I shudder and walk back to my bed. I sit there and look at the doll’s head in my hands. It is truly mine from years ago. The small patch of hair I cut as I experimented with the scissors was close to the scalp and I rub it with my fingers.
Questions swirl in my mind as I try to piece things together. He took Emily.
The Father.
They didn’t take me when I was a child. Was I always meant to be food for these demons? What could I do to stop them? Did I still have time to save Emily?
I sit on my bed in total confusion. I need Coby. Maybe if he were here with me, they wouldn’t take me. Maybe together we can save Emily. Would he come help me after all I put him through? I drop the doll head on my covers and run to my phone.
“Coby! I need you to come over. Now. There’s not much time to explain. Please hurry,” I blurt into my phone.
I hang up and move to my couch to wait on him. All I have to do is wait for him to come to my house and we can fix it. Together. Not being afraid of them is the key. Did I tell him enough to come? I wonder if he’s on his way. Should I call him again?
I sit there going over what I have to do in my mind when I hear the giggles. My head snaps up and I search the room. They aren't in the living room yet, but they are coming. The sounds they make are unlike anything I have ever heard. Their giggles weren’t of children playing. Not anymore.
The sound of sharp nails scratching the floor makes my stomach roll. They are running and they aren’t coming to play. That thought had me leaping from my couch and running to the front door. The giggling turned into gurgling sounds at my back. I need to get outside. I need to be around other people to protect myself.
As I run to the front door, I hear lightning strike in the distance. The front door looms ahead of me. Just a few more steps and I would be out in the open. My hand wraps around the handle as a hand grabs my leg.
I feel a tug and the front door opens as I am pulled back. My leg kicks at whatever has a grip on my leg, but nails dig into my muscles to keep me still. I hold onto the frame and try to pull myself out.
Please let me go outside!
Pain shoots through my leg as jagged, sharp teeth puncture my skin. I scream in agony as my legs are continuously bitten. The shriveled tongues grow in size and the gurgling noise become louder and louder until it is all I can hear. I look out the door and see Coby on the pathway leading to my porch.
“Coby!” I scream.
He doesn’t move. It is as if he is frozen in time. I scream for him to help me. He does nothing to come. It was then that I notice his short, red hair is blown to the side but never came back to rest. His shirt is wet with raindrops on one side, but the material isn’t soaking in the moisture. I look around at the scene before me and see the trees swaying to one side.
In the distance, I see lightning streaking across the sky in slow motion, as if someone had taken a picture of it. The stillness sinks into my heart and the raindrops I didn’t see before come into view. They hang heavily in the air, but never fall to meet the ground. Everything is still as if time is frozen.
Emily’s words, “When they're in my room, it seems like the morning will never come” rips away the last vestiges of my soul.
I scream again, knowing no one can help me. Piercing teeth tear into my flesh and my grip on the doorframe starts to slip.
What can I do?
A small arm comes around and tiny fingers grab my forearm. A red tortoise seems to stare at me.
“Emily,” I whisper as my body turns weak.
My numb fingers slip from the frame and my body crashes to the floor. The pain jars me for a moment as the creatures drag me by my legs further into the house. I kick and scream as I am pulled down the hallway back toward my living room. I reach for Coby, praying he can save me, as The Father shuts my front door with a grating laugh. My world turns black as pain sears through my arms and legs, my entire being.
Coming soon: The Cover of Love
Read the first chapter now!
I breathed in the cool air and my little frame vibrated with joy. Mama stood next to me and I felt her joy mingle with my own as we waited for Papa to come back with a hog. I had been waiting ever so patiently for the first cold day of the year to come. Papa would wake before the sun and gather up his guns to go kill a hog while we got everything ready in the smoke house. He couldn’t get back to the house fast enough for my growling belly.
I spotted Papa in the distance and started jumping up and down. The tree line outside our fences were overgrown and a tangled mess. Mama didn’t like me playing out there by myself, but never wanted to go with me. The dirt twisted and turned behind the truck, mimicking the clouds in the sky.
The grass blew in the breeze and the tall tops of the trees swayed gently. My mouth watered as I remembered the last time ham graced our dinner table. It felt like ages ago. I hopped from one foot to the other and looked around the farm. The wash needed to be done and hung out to dry, the animals needed to be fed and the horses were restless in their stalls. Everything was on hold as we prepared for Papa’s return.
“Jojo, I got something for you,” Papa said as he walked over from his old truck. He wore a smile on his dirty, sun beaten face that I loved so much.
“What is it, Papa?” I looked in his hands and back to the cab of his truck.
He chuckled heartily and shook his head. “No, Jojo. It’s up here,” he replied as his hands went up to his hat.
My eyes lit up and my hands came together in front of me as I waited. Mama told me to always be patient and a lady never rushes a man for a present.
Papa bent down until our eyes met and he opened his palm to me. I smiled my biggest smile and looked down to see the most beautiful flower in my Papa’s palm. It was the color of soft lavender and the petals were silky to the touch.
The petals seemed to spread apart as if it could fly away. “It’s beautiful, Papa. It looks like a soft butterfly, like it wants to fly away and be free. What is it?” I couldn’t look away from the petals as I spoke to him, which I knew was rude.