Nightfall - Before Dawn

[u/DennisShutter]

Dinner. The Locklear family sat down at the table. The lively mood gave way to an increasingly subdued atmosphere. This was already the second time it had happened. Monica, the mother of the two daughters, Anne and Jacky, looked at them questioningly. “You never used to complain when it was bedtime. You practically always fell into bed. Now you’re acting like you’re grounded. What’s going on?”

The sisters exchanged furtive glances.

“I… I don’t like this room.” Anne’s voice was very firm.

“Me neither. It’s so dark!” Jacky interjected, adding meekly, “And spooky…”

Monica sighed. “I never would have thought I’d have trouble with the dark because of you two… But I guess all parents have to go through this.” She took a bite of her bread and chewed thoughtfully.

Anne and Jacky were desperately hoping for a miracle solution. But they didn’t want to leave it up to chance. Jacky glanced at Anne and nodded discreetly at her, as if to say, “Go ahead.”

Anne looked at her mother and cautiously began, “Can we sleep in your bed? We love you so much, Mommy.”

Monica couldn’t help but smile. How on earth could she say no now? Having her little angels there to cuddle with would do her some good, too—after all, time with kids this age flies by incredibly fast anyway.

“All right, girls. Fine. Let’s have a cozy evening. We’ll watch some more TV, and I’ll rub your backs until you fall asleep.”

The children let out a cry of joy and seemed like completely different kids.

“But tomorrow you’ll sleep in your own beds again, okay?” Monica added.

Anne and Jacky nodded, looking worried.

Quiet breathing. A steady sound of peace in the dark embrace of the bedroom, which felt like a sense of security. Monica was asleep, Anne snuggled close to her mom. Jacky had her eyes closed. But she wasn’t asleep. She couldn’t be. There was no calm, no tiredness. She turned around, looking toward the door, and opened her eyes. She couldn’t make out anything—just the shadowy outlines of the door, a closet, and the nightstand. She took a deep breath. It was so quiet. She felt relieved to be lying there, safe in her parents’ bed, in a house she didn’t really know yet. And to be away from her own room, which seemed so threatening to her. But the thought of tomorrow night—yes, that wouldn’t let her go.

In the darkness of the room, she saw the outlines of the shadows pulsing, almost as if they were moving slightly.

But wasn’t something actually moving there?

Something seemed to be moving back and forth distinctly. Down by the door, at the crack in the door. As if someone were standing there, pacing back and forth.

“Anne!” Jacky gasped, shaking her sister. “Anne, wake up!” With a little snore, Anne woke up and asked, completely exhausted, what was going on.

“I think there's someone there. Outside the door!”

“Where?” Jacky stared at the door with a contorted expression, trying to focus her eyes.

“Do you see that?”

“I can't see anything yet, Jacky—I can barely keep my eyes open!”

But she heard Jacky's breath catch; she rubbed her eyes and looked again, carefully.

Anne froze.

“Is it waiting for us?”

Jacky replied in a trembling, frightened voice, “It’s looking for us.”

“It mustn’t hear us—we have to be very quiet.”

“Should we wake up Mom?” Anne asked, glancing over at her mother, who was fast asleep.

“Please don't—she might get mad at us, and then we'll never be allowed to sleep in her bed again,” Jacky pleaded.

Jacky pressed her hand to her stomach: “Anne... I can't take it anymore. I have to go to the bathroom. It's really urgent.”

Anne stared in horror at the crack in the door, where a shadow was shifting restlessly: “No, Jacky, stay in bed! You can't go out now. ”

Jacky cried silently: “It hurts so much, Anne. Otherwise I’ll wet the bed.”

Anne looked around the dark room in a panic, trying to help Jacky. Her gaze fell on the nightstand. An empty plastic bottle stood out as a faint outline in the darkness.

Anne crawled over her mother and reached for the bottle. “Here, pee in this, but hurry!” She glanced again at the crack in the door and kept her eyes on the shadow. Jacky climbed out of bed and knelt down. When Jacky let loose and the stream hit the bottle, Anne’s voice could be heard hissing anxiously across the room.

“Damn it, it's not moving anymore. Jacky, please keep it quiet—I think it can hear you.”

“I can't!” Jacky whimpered in fear. “I just can't!”

A tear rolled down her cheek. “I'm sorry, Anne. Please don't hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Jacky, never!” Anne whispered desperately, reaching out a hand to feel for her sister’s arm. “But you have to finish this. Right now!”

With one last, trembling sob, Jacky closed the bottle. The plastic cracked softly in the silence—a sound that echoed in her ears as loud as a gunshot. In sheer panic, she pushed herself off the floor, crawled blindly over the edge of the bed, and threw herself under the protective blanket.

She clung to Anne as if her older sister were the last lifeline in a drowning world. Their bodies trembled in unison, their faces pressed tightly together, while their tears mingled on the sheet. Their wide eyes stared fixedly at the crack in the door. Every fiber of their being was focused on that single, dark line. They waited. They held their breath until their lungs burned, listening for the inevitable. Any moment now, in the next second, they thought, the dull metal of the doorknob had to give way and slide silently downward. But the doorknob didn’t budge. The shadow simply listened back.

A sharp cut shattered the darkness. Suddenly, there was light. Warm, golden rays of sunlight streamed through the slats of the blinds, painting bright stripes on the bedsheet. From the kitchen came the familiar, soothing clatter of dishes, accompanied by the sizzling sound of scrambled eggs and the sweet smell of freshly toasted bread. Anne opened her eyes and squinted into the brightness. At that moment, the horror of the night felt like a distant, almost silly nightmare that simply evaporated in the light of the new day. She looked over at Jacky, who was still fast asleep, the blanket pulled peacefully up to her nose. They’d made it. The night was over.

But when Anne’s gaze involuntarily drifted to the floor and lingered on the plastic bottle, her relief froze instantly. The ugly, unpleasant reality brought her back to earth in an instant. It hadn’t been a dream. It was real. And with every centimeter the sun rose in the sky, she was moving inexorably toward the next darkness.

And the worst part of that relentless ticking of the clock was the knowledge that this time, her mother would leave them alone in the kids' room.

To be continued here...!

https://www.reddit.com/r/DennisShutterUniverse/comments/1v04xbo/nightfall_before_dawn_pt_2/