Lily's Father

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=== THE DREAM ===
Lily wasn’t old enough to remember what happened to her father. Even as she marched past the “two months into third grade” mark, her mother never seemed to give her a clear answer. It all took place when she was around two. Something horrible occurred and he had to leave. Or he just left. Lily wasn’t really sure. 
She could never seem to get any information about the incident out of her mother beyond, “He became something else. Something evil. You’re too young to understand.” She would then proceed to hurriedly change the subject. Though her father’s fate was steeped in mystery, perhaps it was for the best, despite her curiosity. 
Lily found that as time went on, the notion of discovering the truth seemed less and less important. After all, she was eight. It was getting time for her to look forward and leave behind the trivial details of her past. But it was on one particular occasion in which her curiosity was revived. That occasion being, October 13th, 2004. The date which, according to Lily’s mother, was the anniversary of the incident. In this case, the sixth.
Lily could tell something was wrong from the moment her alarm woke her up at 6:30. It seemed to be darker than it should have been. While she would usually be met by the living room light creeping in through the crack in her door, she saw nothing but the intimidating dark. While the house would usually be filled with the sound of her mother preparing breakfast, an unsettling silence settled throughout the rooms. 
Slowly and gingerly, Lily slipped out of bed. What quickly made itself apparent was how cold the ground was against her bare feet. She crept across the flood of her bedroom and approached the door. As she cautiously turned the knob and gently pulled the door open, she noticed that the hallway that greeted her was significantly darker and colder than her room. She stepped out into said hallway, and felt almost as if a gentle gust of cold wind was gliding through. She shivered and crossed her arms in an effort to warm herself up. 
Lily’s room could be found in the middle of the hallway, directly across from the bathroom, and between the two exits; the exit on the right hand side led to the living room. The exit on the left hand side led to her mother’s bedroom. The slight gust of wind seemed to be coming from the left, so Lily began heading towards her mother’s room. As she approached it, she could see that its door was wide open. This allowed her to see her mother sitting at the foot of the bed, her silhouette illuminated by what little light came through the window. 
“M… Mom?” Lily called out timidly.
No response. 
“Mom?” she called out again, with slightly more confidence.
Still no response. 
Finally, she mustered up all the courage she could and gave it one more try.
“MOM?” She could see her mother slowly turning her head towards her. Her movements seemed jagged and unnatural. She seemed to be almost… shaking. Lily’s heart began pounding. Unable to move from the spot she stood frozen in, she buried her face in her hands and silently prayed. When she finally got the courage to take her face from out of her hands and look, everything seemed to have changed.
The door to her mother’s room was closed- just as it usually was. She looked behind her towards the living room. Just as she would any morning, she saw light from the living room spilling into the hallway from the right-side entrance. As per usual, she heard the sounds of her mother preparing breakfast and attempting to whistle- she couldn’t whistle- in the kitchen. The cold wind that seemed to run through the hallway had vanished. Lily felt as if she had been previously dreaming, and had suddenly woken up.
Lily turned around and walked over to the living room entrance. Indeed, the walls of the living room, which were a muddy shade of maroon with bits of chipping wallpaper, were illuminated by the light that sloppy hung from the center of the ceiling. Lily glanced through the open kitchen door. In the kitchen, which was illuminated by a light of its own, she could see her mother preparing scrambled eggs and toast. 
Her mother was wearing her silky brown dress, and her long brunette hair was tied in a ponytail. Lily, who didn’t know what to make of what had happened, couldn’t do anything but let out a sigh of relief. She entered the kitchen and let the aroma of the freshly prepared food enter her nostrils. 
“Good morning,” Lily’s mother said softly. 
“Morning, Mom,” replied Lily, with her usual dash of adolescent enthusiasm. 
“I trust you slept well?” Lily hesitated for a moment.
“Well, I had kind of a weird dream.” 
“A weird dream?”
“Uh huh! The weirdest part is that I woke up in the middle of the hallway, which is where most of it took place. I guess I was sleepwalking or something.” Lily’s mother looked over at her as she scraped the scrambled eggs from the pan to the plate. The warm expression on her face coldened, and the color washed out of her usually rosy cheeks. 
“It can’t be the time yet. Can it? I suppose it is the right season…” she muttered to herself.
“What?” asked Lily through a slight giggle. 
“Lily, you don’t happen to know what day it is, do you?”
“Wednesday,” responded Lily. 
“The date. I mean the date.”
“Oh. I dunno. I think it’s like, the 13th or something.” Lily’s mother went back to muttering to herself in a panicked state.
“So it is. Maybe… Maybe it won’t happen. Perhaps it’s all just a coincidence. Yes, that must be it.” Whatever happened, her mother seemed satisfied with the conclusion she had come up with. She finished fixing Lily’s plate. “Come eat. The school bus will be here in 20 minutes.” Lily sat down at the kitchen table, gobbled down her eggs, and stuffed the toast in her mouth. She darted back into her room and changed from her pink nightwear into her yellow t-shirt and denim overalls. 
=== SCHOOL ===
At 6:58, Lily pushed the front door open. As she stood in the doorway awaiting the arrival of the school bus, she made note of the weather. Though not a drop of rain nor a flash of lightning could be seen, the clouds were dark and storm-like. The patches of sky that weren’t entirely dark were gloomily gray. A wind picked up and brushed against Lily’s face. It felt just the wind she had felt in the hallway during her dream, but stronger. Her mother walked up behind her.
“Don’t forget your backpack, Lily,” she said in an almost monotone voice. She handed the backpack to Lily, who put it on. She looked over her shoulder and up and up at her mother. Her mother was simply staring out at the neighborhood with a grave expression across her face. Her gaze drifted towards the sky and her face went pale.
“Strange weather,” she said. “I haven’t seen weather like this around here since…” she paused. 
“Since what?” asked Lily. Before her mother could say anything in response, the school bus pulled up in front of the house. 
“Have a nice day at school, Lily.”
“Thanks, Mom!” Lily skipped down the porch stairs and the walkway that ran through the middle of the overgrown, unkempt lawn. The bus doors opened, and the bus driver, an old man with graying hair and sagging skin, turned to give Lily a weak smile. Lily enthusiastically returned the smile before waltzing up the steps and walking into the aisle. She selected an empty seat in the back of the bus.
As the bus bumped up and down along the street, clamoring towards school, Lily couldn’t help but notice the fact that the trees all seemed to be barren of leaves. She could have sworn it wasn’t like that yesterday. She shrugged and attributed it to the typical occurrences of autumn as she picked at the worn down leather on her seat.
Once the bus arrived at the school, its doors pushed open and the children ran off. They went to the school courtyard to engage in various activities and games before class started. Lily headed towards the tether ball, where she saw some of her friends playing. The wind, which seemed to be growing ever-stronger, felt as if it was attempting to prevent her from getting to where she wanted to be. It wasn’t even stopping her with pure force; it simply had an overwhelming uninviting aura. She couldn’t bring herself to go against its push. It had an almost sentient feeling about it, and it wasn’t a friendly sentience. 
Before Lily could muster the strength to go against the strange wind’s push, the bell rang. Everyone ran off to their classes. Lily began to reluctantly walk towards her class, Ms. Brooks’ class, the wind blowing her naturally curly brown hair in her face. She’d had just about enough of this unusual breeze. 
In class, Lily couldn’t focus on anything Ms. Brooks was saying. All that she could think about was the unshakable feeling that something was very wrong. She was starting to feel as if she had never truly woken up from that strange dream. All she felt like she could do was stare at her desk and try to drown out her intuition. 
“Lily!” Ms. Brooks barked. Lily snapped out of her trance. Ms. Brooks glared at Lily with her cold gray eyes. She scratched her long, baggy neck and a judgmental look came across her face.
“Lily,” she said again with more of a forced gentle tone. “Perhaps you’d like to tell us the area of a six by five rectangle?”
“What?” responded Lily. Ms. Brooks' tone changed, as if she was restraining great amounts of anger and frustration.
“The area,” she said, “of a rectangle with a length of six units, and a width of five units.” 
“Umm… it must be 11.” Ms. Brooks inhaled deeply and adjusted her bun.
“Lily,” she said. “Why don’t we have a little chat once everyone else has gone out for recess?” Lily sighed. This was gonna be a long day.
* * *
“You’re well aware of my three-strike system Lily, correct?” Ms. Brooks stared Lily down sternly. 
“Yes,” Lily responded politely. Ms. Brooks took a deep breath and looked forward with a self-important look in her eye, as if preparing to make some sort of large, pretentious statement. 
“I do what I do to keep order and respect present in the classroom. Today, you failed to pay attention and learn the important material. And so, you now have two strikes left. Don’t let yourself find out what happens when you run out of strikes. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“You have permission to leave.” Lily left in a predictably bad mood. Something was wrong. Something was out there. And whatever it was, it wanted Lily to be alone.
=== THE EVENING BEFORE ===
When Lily got home at 3:30, the weather was still indistinguishable from the weather in the morning. As soon as she stepped off the bus and felt the gust of wind against her face, she ran through the walkway surrounded by the unkempt lawn, up the steps of the porch, and into the living room, slamming the door behind her.
When she got inside, she saw her mother on the velvet couch. She was looking down at her open palms and her legs were shaking. She still looked unnervingly pale. 
“Mom,” Lily began. “Don’t you have work?”
“I wasn’t feeling very well, so I got off early,” she responded, her tone barely above a whisper. “How was school?” Lily hesitated for a moment.
“It was… fine.”
“Glad to hear. Why don’t you go off and do your homework now?”
“Okay, Mom.” And with that, Lily skipped through the hallway entrance, down the hallway, and into her room.
* * *
Lily woke up in her bed, her half finished homework sprawled across the sheets. She had a bit of a headache, and felt incredibly tired. She looked over at the clock. 5:42 in the evening. She supposed she must have fallen asleep while doing her homework. Her mouth was dry. Dryer than she thought it had ever been before. She decided to go get some water from the kitchen. She slipped out of bed, walked out into the hallway, entered the living room, and finally, into the kitchen. 
When she got into the kitchen, her mother was making dinner. It appeared to be Mac n’ Cheese. She looked even paler than she had before. She simply appeared to be absent-mindedly stirring the pot of Mac n’ Cheese, staring ahead rather than down at the pot. 
“Did you finish your homework, Lily?” she asked, seemingly in a daze.
“Yes, I did,” lied Lily.
“Good.” Lily grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it up in the kitchen sink. She relished in the relief that the refreshing, moist water provided for the dryness in her mouth as it slid down her throat. The smell of the Mac n’ Cheese made it to her nose. It smelled pretty good, and oddly comforting. 
“Mom,” she asked. “How long before dinner?”
“About five minutes,” her mother replied with the same dazed tone.
“Thanks, Mom.” Her mother gave a distant grunt in response. Lily walked back out into the living room and sat on the velvet couch. She took a moment to stare off into nothing particular and think. She looked at those muddy-maroon walls with their chipping wallpaper and allowed herself to be immersed in it. She could almost feel herself drifting off to sleep. But not a normal sleep. More of an unusual dream state. Just as she began to feel consumed by this strange force… 
“Dinner’s ready,” her mother’s voice called from the kitchen. She instantly snapped out of her dream-like state. Lily slid off the couch and quickly scuttled into the kitchen. She grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and scooped a healthy serving of Mac n’ Cheese into her bowl. She took a seat at the kitchen table and began shoveling the spoonfuls into her mouth. It didn’t occur to her how hungry she was until she started eating. She looked up and noticed her mother sitting at the table, no bowl, eating nothing. Although, some of the color had been restored to her face, and there even seemed to be a slight smile on her lips. 
“Aren’t you gonna eat anything Mom,” she asked. Her mother gave out a quiet laugh.
“I’m not terribly hungry. Enjoy as much as you want.” Her tone was still rather quiet, but more emotive. Lily shrugged and continued devouring her dinner.
* * *
At 8:00, as Lily sat on the couch sipping a cup of tea, her mother walked in from her room. She had a grave, disturbed expression across her face.
“I think it’s just about time you got ready for bed,” she said.
“Okay, Mom,” Lily replied, jumping up from the couch. She headed to the bathroom, grabbed her toothbrush, and squeezed the toothpaste onto the bristles. She
stared at her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, feeling like she was staring into a different dimension. She herself seemed so distant in the reflection.
Before Lily retreated to her bedroom, she dropped into her mother’s room to say goodnight. Her mother wasn't there, but she got this strange feeling upon walking in. The same overwhelming feeling that something was very wrong that she had all day. But it was different. Worse. Stronger. There was something wrong, and it was dangerous. 
As the feeling grew stronger and stronger, her heart rate began increasing. She found herself unable to move. Her eyes darted around the room, and her heart almost stopped. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw a pair of eyes staring back at her from under her mother’s dresser. They disappeared before she could get a good look at them. She held her breath, counted to three, and found the will to dash out of the room. 
After running, Lily found herself back in the living room. To her relief, there was her mother, sitting on the couch, reading some sort of self-help book. She looked up from her book and smiled at Lily, seemingly ignorant of her highly distressed look and unnaturally fast rate of heavy breathing. Lily, wanting nothing more than to not think about what she had just witnessed, simply smiled back.
“Goodnight, Mom,” she said.
“Goodnight, Lily. Sleep well.” And so, Lily retreated to her room. As she cuddled under the sheets and closed her eyes, she forgot all about what she had seen and felt in her mother’s room.
* * *
It was 11:38 when Lily woke back up. Her mouth was dry again. Somehow dryer than it had been when she woke up last time. Although she didn’t want to move an inch out of her perfectly set up dome of blankets and sheets, the dehydration was too severe to ignore. She quietly slipped out of bed and slowly made her way across the bedroom floor, trying not to make too much noise. 
As she entered the living room, she could see through the dark that her mother was still on the couch. She was sleeping, but not well. She was tossing and turning, muttering to herself and groaning. She couldn’t stay still or silent for more than a few seconds. Lily shuttered at the sight, but kept focused on the task at hand. Without delay, she entered the kitchen, retrieved another cup, filled it up in the sink, and dashed back to her room. She rehydrated herself and swooped under the covers, allowing herself to fall back asleep.
=== IT BEGINS ===
That thing was not Lily’s mother. It sat on her mother’s bed, and it wore her mother’s silky brown dress, but it wasn’t her mother. Her mother had hazel-brown eyes. That thing had dark, black eyes that seemed to reflect some sort of light that wasn’t even there. Her mother had long, well-brushed brunette hair. That thing had a dirty brown shade of hair that looked frizzled and unkempt. Her mother’s nose was smooth and rounded. That thing’s nose was pointy, and looked like it belonged on some sort of distorted jack-in-the-box. Her mother had smooth, gentle skin. That thing had skin that seemed to be some sort of unappealing cross between decaying and burnt, in both texture and color.
When Lily saw it, she had woken up in the middle of the night once again. When she did, not only was her mouth dry once again, but she was overwhelmed by some sort of strange sensation. She felt as if she was surrounded by some strange force that emitted a wavering frequency, and lightly bounced against her skin. Her entire room seemed to be ever so slightly illuminated by a very dim orange light with an unknown source. She looked over at her clock. 3:10. Out of both curiosity and due to the persisting dryness of her mouth, she once again got up and slowly entered the hallway. 
Upon entering the hallway, she found that the strange sensation followed her, and the very slight illumination carried out to the rest of the house. She also noticed something else rather unusual. She heard sounds coming from her mother’s room. A strained gagging or choking sound. Against her better judgment, she slowly made her way towards the sound in her mother’s room. And that’s when she saw it. That thing.
As it sat on her mother’s bed, its boney fingers grasped the cushion with unsteady force. Its whole body seemed to shake as it strained to grasp the bed. Its head was pointed upwards, the veins in its neck popping out, as it made the unsettling noises Lily had heard. It seemed to be entirely unaware that Lily was standing there, holding her breath. looking on in dead silence. 
Lily backed away very slowly, wanting nothing less than to attract that thing’s attention. As soon as she was far enough away to be out of sight, she ran as fast as she could to the living room to wake up her mother. Upon arriving in the living room, her mother was lying flat on the couch, every muscle she had tensed, and her entire body vibrating. 
In a moment of fear and panic, Lily decided to dash outside. The strange force seemed to continue to follow her as she opened the front door and made it out to her porch. Outside, the slight orange illumination continued. The sky itself seemed to take on a bit of an orange hue. 
Lily’s eyes darted around the neighborhood in hopes of finding an effective hiding space, until her eyes settled on something else. Just a little ways down the street, she saw the silhouette of a strange figure. Just barely out of the reach of the street lamp’s light. It appeared to be humanoid, but certainly not human. She could see that it was extremely hunched over, and was walking in a way that was practically crawling. It started moving towards the light of the street lamp, but before Lily could make out any featural details, she decided to dash back inside and slam the door behind her.
As Lily breathed heavily right by her front door in the living room, hands on her knees, she realized she was trapped. All she could do was hope she was dreaming. Perhaps if she returned to bed, she would wake up the next morning, and everything would be fine. She silently crept across the living room, past her mother, and into the hallway. As she made her way down the hallway, she heard that thing in her mother’s bedroom again. The sounds it made were louder and more strained now. It sounded like it was in pain. Lily considered going in to check on it. Then she shook her head. She had to look after her own safety on a night like this. She slid her way into her bedroom, shut the door behind her, and dashed under her blankets. That was the last thing she remembered before passing out.
* * *
The next time Lily woke up was when her alarm went off at 6:30. She was hesitant to get out of bed, since doing that seemed to have a track record for not going very well. She knew she had to for the sake of school, so she stretched her limbs and crawled out from under the blankets. 
When she entered the hallway, she noticed that it was dark once again. Not a single light on. Besides that, it was fairly normal. No mysterious breeze or anything of the sort. She walked over to the living room, where her mother was still fast asleep. She figured that her mother was still feeling unwell, and so proceeded to prepare her own breakfast. 
Lily walked into the kitchen, grabbed a bowl from the cupboard, retrieved some cereal from the pantry, and took some milk out of the refrigerator. She poured the cereal in the bowl and filled the rest up with milk, spilling drops on the counter along the way. She took a seat at the kitchen table and began to eat quietly in an effort to not wake her mother up.
Before long, she heard coughing coming from the living room. Her mother must have been awake. She headed over to the living room to investigate, and surely enough, she was stretching out her limbs and yawning, albeit still laying on the couch.
“Morning, Mom,” Lily said.
“Good morning, Lily,” she responded. “I’m sorry, I must have overslept or something.”
“That’s okay, Mom. I made myself a little breakfast.” Lily took a good look at her mother. All the color she had regained in her face previously had once again vanished, and them some. She now truly seemed sickly and unwell. Perhaps what she had seen last night was still sticking with her, but she felt an unmistakable unease about the whole situation.
“Mom, why did you sleep on the couch last night?” Lily watched as a hesitant and nervous look came across her mother’s face.
“There was something wrong in my room. It’s no big deal.”
“Alright, Mom.” Lily turned towards the kitchen and started making her way back.
“Are you okay, Lily? You seem a bit distraught,” commented Lily’s mother.
“I’m okay. I just had a really weird dream last night.”
=== CLASS ===
By the time Lily got to school, Lily noticed that the weather from yesterday still hadn’t gone away. Same gloomy sky with unusual cloud patterns. Same unnatural feeling carried in the wind. All the trees were still barren. The other aspects of the day weren’t very uplifting either. In class, Ms. Brooks delivered a lesson on arithmetic. Before she did, she handed out blank sheets of paper.
“You’re expected to use this paper to take notes on the lesson,” she said. “Your notes will be evaluated and graded after class today.” Lily retrieved her paper with no intention of taking notes. Instead, as Ms. Brooks rambled on about multiplication and division, Lily’s mind wandered to her dream. She couldn’t focus on anything. It was a dream. She was sure of it. But it felt so… different.
Lily began sketching the thing she had seen on her mother’s bed in the dream. Her own thoughts and memories drowned out whatever Ms. Brooks was saying. She was brought back to reality by the sound of someone clearing their throat. She looked up to see Ms. Brooks looking down at her with a stern expression on her face.
“Lily,” she said. “Would you like to, perhaps, share your little drawing with the class?” Lily held her breath.
“Not particularly, ma’am.” Ms. Brooks huffed out a breath of irritation and put up two fingers before returning to teaching. Knowing what she meant, Lily hung her head in shame. She knew she had to put an end to whatever was causing these strange dreams and unnerving feelings. She felt as if they were putting a barrier between her and her normal life.
* * *
At the end of the day, Lily was relieved to walk through the front door and leave the stress of school behind. She slipped off her shoes and plopped down her backpack, ready to collapse. But as she ran towards the velvet couch in the living room, she found there was no room for collapsing. Her mother was still lying on it, looking as if she hadn’t moved an inch.
Her mother looked somehow paler and more ill than she had that morning. She also appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight in that period. She was fast asleep, but not in the way she had been last night. She was sleeping well, and seemed to be at complete ease for the first time since the previous morning. For that reason, Lily decided to let her get rest, and not wake her up.
“I wonder how many more days she’ll take off work,” Lily thought aloud. She shrugged it off and retreated to her room. She worked on her homework until 5:23, then returned to the living room. She heated up some leftovers in the microwave and sat on the couch beside her sleeping mother and watched television, with the volume quiet so as to not wake her mother, for the rest of the evening before she retreated to her room for the night.
=== THE THING CHANGES ===
Lily woke up at 3:10 again. She felt the uncomfortably familiar sensation of being surrounded by the strange force. The hypnotic frequency, the warm tickling sensation against her skin, the orange hue everywhere, and all. She hid under the covers. It became apparent to her that, not only was her mouth unbearably dry again, but she had to use the restroom. 
“It’s okay,” she whispered to herself, desperate not to leave the protection of her bed. “I can hold it until tomorrow morning. I’ll go do it then.” She breathed out a sigh of relief to reassure herself that everything would be just fine. Attempting to go back to sleep, she found that she simply couldn't. Her mouth felt like a desert, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to ignore the call of nature for another three hours. 
Reluctantly, seeing that there was nothing else she could do, Lily slipped out of bed and crept towards her door. As she opened it up and emerged into the hallway, she noticed two things: Firstly, the choking moan produced by that thing inhabiting her mother’s bedroom, which she decided to simply ignore. Secondly, strange whispers could be heard echoing down the hallway. Lily couldn’t discern what they were saying, nor figure out where they were coming from. She shuddered and walked right up to the bathroom.
As Lily entered the bathroom, she noticed that the orange hue seemed to cease within its confines. She felt a bit of relief upon discovering this. She wasn’t sure why, but she simply felt safer. 
After doing her business, Lily walked up to the sink and began washing her hands. As she did, she looked up at her reflection. She found herself entranced by its strange, otherworldly appearance. She couldn’t describe what was so other worldly about it, but it looked older and wiser than she was. As she stared at it, she swore that she kept catching glimpses of it moving on its own.
As Lily began leaving the bathroom, the sounds of the thing in her mother’s bedroom echoed down the hallway. She found that she couldn’t resist inching slightly closer to the room, positioning herself so that she could see in just well enough to have a decent view of the bed. She knew she would regret it, but she felt oddly compelled to.
Sure enough, there was the thing, sitting at the edge of her mother’s bed. But it looked… different. Its nose took on more of a human appearance. Its hair seemed smoother and straighter than before. Its eyes, which were originally completely encased in pitch black pupils, seemed to have irises and whites. They also darted wildly around the room, seemingly without any sense of direction of purpose. Its fingers were less boney, and their grip on the side of the bed had slightly loosened. It still had an unnaturally long neck and grotesque skin, however. 
When Lily had decided she had seen enough, she began making her way back to her bedroom once again. But then she stopped.
“Maybe I should check on Mom,” she whispered to herself. “Just in case.” She turned towards the living room and made her way out of the hallway. As she entered the living room and exited the hallway, the echoing whispers faded away. Upon walking towards the couch, she saw her mother “laying” on the couch. Her feet and the top of her head were both planted on either end of the couch. Her torso was lifted in the air and her arms were levitating by her side. Her entire body vibrated and her mouth hung wide open.
Lily gasped quietly, and tried to mute her heavy breathing so as to not wake her mother… or attracted the attention of anything. Once again, Lily directed herself towards her room, wanting not to be unnerved any further. Suddenly, another idea came to her. One that she would have rather ignored. She remembered the shadow she had seen outside. An overwhelming urge to look outside and see if it was still there.
“Don’t do it,” she whispered to herself. “Don’t do it, don’t do it.” Lily, who was petrified to the point of not being able to breathe normally, felt almost supernaturally bound to go out there. She felt like something wanted her to be out there for some reason, and it was beyond her will. She sighed in defeat and shifted her direction towards the front door.
Lily slid out the front door once again and walked out onto the porch. She looked a little ways down the street, where she had seen the shadow last night. Sure enough, there was the humanoid silhouette, crawling around just out of reach of the street lamp. Lily’s breath quivered. The shadow seemed to be heading towards the illuminated circle of the street lamp. She held her breath. As it crawled into the light, its full figure made itself known.
This thing’s face somewhat resembled the face of the thing from her mother’s room as it originally appeared. The same pointed nose, beady black eyes, and general facial features. That’s where the similarities ended. This thing was completely bald. Not a patch of hair anywhere on its body, which was barren of any clothing. Its skin was smooth, extremely smooth. It took on a very pale hue of peach in color. Though its neck was a fairly conventional length, all of its limbs were unnaturally long. On top of that, it was so skinny, you could practically see every bone in its body through its flesh.
As the creature inched closer, Lily found herself physically unable to move from where she stood. Whether due to fear or external meddling, she wasn’t sure. She opted to bury her face in her hands and hope for the best, seeing nothing else that would even come close to a solution. She at least felt safer in the miniature void of darkness she had made for herself.
After what felt like an eternity, she looked back up. The creature was gone. Where the creature stood before now stood a man. A very tall man. He wore a black bowler hat and a long, dark blue trench coat that covered his body and legs. He had a medium sized brown beard and the posture of a man who hadn’t slouched a single time in his life. He carried a pointy black umbrella under his arm. 
Lily looked curiously at this man standing under the streetlamp, and he slowly turned his head towards her. His eyes lingered on her for a moment, before he looked back forward and began walking in the direction of her home with a slow but long stride. Lily’s curiosity once again became unease. She decided to dash back inside before anything worse played out. 
As Lily slowly and nervously made her way back to her room, she swore she kept seeing short little figures and shapes moving around out of the corner of her eyes. Peeking around corners, dashing under cabinets, etc., only to have them completely disappear when she looked at them. She calmed herself down, keeping in mind that this was probably a dream. Nothing she saw or experienced mattered.
Lily was never more relieved to return to the safety of the bed. She slipped under the blankets and buried herself in them so that she couldn’t catch a glimpse of anything else. She shut her eyes and tried to get back to sleep, waiting eagerly for the next morning.
* * *
Lily woke up to her alarm at 6:30 in a surprisingly good mood. Not only did she not feel any uneasy or uncomfortable sensations, but the realization slowly hit her that it was, indeed Friday. She stretched her arms as a smile came across her face. She leaped out of bed and enthusiastically dashed across the floor, into the hallway, and into the living room.
Lily looked at the couch. Her mother was still fast asleep. She seemed to be resting well, but she had disturbed expression across her face. Lily attributed it to her ongoing illness, whatever that illness was. She figured she needed another day of rest. Then she’d be better. In the kitchen, Lily prepared some cereal and milk for herself once again. She sat at the kitchen table, quietly eating her breakfast, a feeling of euphoria seeming to emit from her and fill the room. 
Lily got ready hastily, excited to get the school day over with. She had a great feeling that everything would be back to normal. She knew she would be able to focus in class. She knew her mother would be better before she knew it. She knew her nightmares had come to an end. She knew everything would feel like it had before. She just knew it. She felt it in her gut.
At 6:57, Lily picked up her backpack and made her way towards the door, a grin spread across her face. When she opened the door, she saw that all the lighter patches that were in the sky the last two days were gone, covered up by stormy dark clouds. But she hardly even noticed. As she stepped out onto the porch, waiting for the bus, and felt the wind against her face, something deep and unnoticed in the pit of her stomach felt something off. 
=== A PLEASANT SURPRISE ===
As the first bell rang at school, Lily joined her peers in filing into class. As she walked into the classroom and took a seat, she looked over at Ms. Brooks' desk. Or at least, what would be her desk. In a turn of events that re-enforced Lily’s euphoric feeling, Ms. Brooks wasn’t there. Instead, a tall middle aged man with short brown hair, glasses, and a sweater vest over his white button up stood by her desk. Lily beamed.
As the last of the students made their way in and sat in their seats, the man cleared his throat.
“Good morning children,” the man said in a deep, rich voice as he began to write his name on the chalkboard. “My name is Mr. Parker. Ms. Brooks couldn’t be here today, and I will be substituting.” An excited chatter spread throughout the room.
“Now, students. Settled down. You know it’s very impolite to…” as Mr. Parker rambled on, his voice seemed to fade in the background as Lily basked in this comforting feeling that seemed to continue to grow throughout the morning. She couldn’t wait to get home and start her weekend.
* * *
Lily walked through her front door feeling like she was on top of the world. The rest of the day had gone exceedingly well. It was relaxing and there wasn’t any sort of major conflict or issue she ran into. Unlike Ms. Brooks, Mr. Parker didn’t monitor her every move. It was the perfect way to open the weekend. Lily placed her backpack down and entered the living room. Her mother was still on the couch. But she was awake. 
She didn’t look any better. If anything, she looked worse. She looked even sicker than she had before. She had shadows under her eyes, so pale and so skinny, she looked almost like a skeletal figure. Her skin seemed to tightly grip against her bones. The expression on her face was no longer distressed, but devastated, broken, and defeated.
She was holding a small piece of paper or something in her hands, and staring into it. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a photograph. She crept closer to get a closer look at it. When she was able to make out what it was, her heart stopped. The euphoric feelings she had felt all day washed away in an instant, replaced by the unease she had felt before. In the photograph, was the man she had seen outside the previous night, with the bowler hat and beard. 
“Mom,” Lily said, her voice quivering. “Who’s that?” Lily’s mother looked up at her as if she hadn’t noticed her until that instant.
“That’s your father.” Lily didn’t even know how to feel, what to think.
“Really?”
“Yes.” She inhaled and sighed. “He was a good man.”
“Where did Dad go when he left?”
“I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely honest from that standpoint.” Lily’s unease turned to fear and confusion
“What do you mean?”
“It never really left. And if it did, it didn’t go very far. Not very far at all.” Lily couldn’t help but notice the change in pronouns.
“What do you mean ‘it?’” Lily's mother sighed.
“Lily,” she said. “Understand that the man I married and the thing that had to leave this house were two very different entities. Your father met a… very different fate.” 
“What happened to him,” Lily asked, on the verge of tears.
“I need to rest. We can talk about it a little later.” Lily sighed.
“Okay, Mom.” Lily went into her room and stared at the ceiling. Any feelings of euphoria Lily had felt earlier had been stomped out. 
For the rest of the evening, Lily sketched whatever came to her mind. She didn’t eat anything for dinner. She felt like she couldn’t eat a bite. She felt extremely tired. By 7:00, she had brushed her teeth and tucked herself into bed for the night.
=== THE END ===
Lily knew something was wrong by the fact that she woke up at 3:10 again. As her awareness returned to her, she became aware of the orange hue and the warm, wavering force she felt against her skin. She decided she had enough of these dreams and ignored everything. She tried to go back to sleep.
Suddenly, she shot up. She remembered her father. She had seen him. She needed to see if he was still outside. She slid out of bed, knowing she would regret what she was about to do. She crept up to her door and headed back out to the hallway. The hallway seemed much longer than it usually was. On top of that, the whispering voices Lily had heard the previous night sounded different. They sounded angrier, like they were trying to yell but only knew how to whisper. More interestingly, she couldn’t hear any of that thing’s choking sounds.
Lily walked out into the hallway, and saw her mother on the couch. She was violently thrashing up and down while lying on the couch, moving in a wave-like shape. Lily felt her heart beating out of her chest. She ignored all the distractions and kept her mind set on getting outside.
Lily approached the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Once on the porch, she looked a little ways down the street again. Sure enough, she saw the man- her father- standing under the streetlamp. 
“Dad,” Lily called out. Once again, he looked at Lily. This time, an inhumanly large and wide grin spread across his face as he did. He started slowly walking in Lily’s direction.
“Dad?”
Once Lily’s father reached her house, he stood at the top of the walkway. He stared down the walkway and at Lily, the grin still spread far across his face. He started towards the walkway, but before he could even complete one step forward, something happened to him. He started uncontrollably twitching. He stepped back. The twitching got more and more erratic. Soon he started twisting and moving in completely unnatural positions, his face frozen in the wide grin the whole time. 
Lily, watching on as this played out, dashed back inside. She shut the door and double checked that it was locked. She covered her eyes as she walked back towards the hallway, hearing the sound of her mother thrashing against the couch. She uncovered her eyes as she re-entered the hallway and the angry whispers poured into her ears. 
Before returning to her room, Lily couldn’t help but wonder why the thing in her mother’s room wasn’t making its usual noises. She knew she wouldn’t like what she was about to see, but her adolescent curiosity once again got the best of her. Just like she had for the past two nights, she found herself quietly creeping towards her mothers room.
Lily quietly approached her mothers door, which was wide open, and took a good look inside. The thing was there. But it looked different again. It looked entirely like a  human. But not just any human. It looked like her mother. In fact, Lily would likely have thought it was her mother, if it weren’t for the thing’s unnatural movements, and the fact that it sat in the same spot in the bed. 
The thing looked like a human, but it didn’t act like one. Just like before, its eyes were wide open, violently darting around the room. Much like her “father,” it was, it was twitching. It kept violently thrashing its head around. Lily simply stood in the doorway and watched it, the whole while. 
Once Lily had been watching the thing for what felt like an eternity, it simply morphed back into its original form. When it did this, it opened its mouth and let out a piercing, blood curdling screech. Lily’s heart dropped. The thing, after its scream, seemed to be experiencing an internal struggle. It kept switching between its true form and Lily’s mother. 
The thing got up from the bed. It stumbled around, seemingly desperately trying to hold on to the form of Lily’s mother. Lily saw this as an opportunity. She ran down the hallway. She passed through the living room. When she got to the kitchen, she grabbed a cutting knife. Before she could second guess herself, she ran back through the hallway and into her mother’s room.
While the thing was stumbling across the floor, grunting and distracted, Lily thrust the knife into its back. A black liquid began leaking out of its wound and it paused for a moment.
The sound it produced next made its first screech seem like a morning bird’s call.
Lily, without giving it a second though, released her grip on the knife and dashed back to her room faster than she had ever gone anywhere in her life. As she did, she saw the orange hue draining from the hallway and strange shadows flailing all over the walls. She ran into her room, slammed the door, and encased herself under the blankets. She shut her eyes and started praying.
* * *
Lily woke up on Saturday morning at 9:21. Sunlight was flooding through her window. She felt incredible, like she had conquered everything that had been bothering her. She yawned and stretched.
“I’m hungry,” she said to herself. She slipped out of bed to go get herself some breakfast. Once she got out into the hallway, she heard whistling coming from her mother’s room. 
“Good morning, Mom,” called Lily.
“Good Morning Honey,” her mother called back.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes, much better. I’ll come out and make breakfast in a minute. I’m just preparing a little surprise for you.” 
“Okay! Thanks, Mom!” Lily’s mother went back to whistling, and Lily headed out to the living room. She sat down on the couch and smiled. She couldn’t wait for her surprise. She was so excited for it. So excited that, as she heard loud footsteps stomping down the hallway, she wasn’t even thinking about how her mother couldn’t whistle.
Category:Dreams/Sleep
Category:Beings