The Watcher

A little girl had discovered a small figure carved on a wooden plank hanging on the kitchen wall. Her parents were both busy, and the girl took advantage of this opportunity to ask and answer her own questions about the figure. Etched on the wood in lines and knots was a lady in a gown, standing with grey hair flowing down to her shoulders and watching something open-mouthed and eyes rounded. She looked in shock like seeing something horrible but could do nothing to warn her.

The next thing she heard was her parents screaming at one another again. The girl sighed and turned her attention back to her book. They've been fighting more and more recently and she tries her best to ignore it by going into her reading closet and getting lost in a book. The girl would mostly spend her days in the closet in her room that she and her mom decorated into a reading closet. She filled it with soft pillows and fairy lights and a little basket filled with snacks and juice boxes for whenever she needed an energy boost.

After a couple of minutes of reading, she began to feel an odd deathly chill. It got colder and colder, and she could see frost forming on the window panes. She could no longer hear her parents yelling anymore, but instead, she heard a young woman softly humming. It was a song that the girl had heard as a lullaby on her mother's shoulders as she was being tucked into bed. The next second, the woman softly chuckling. It was warm to the ear, but the girl could still feel the cold creeping up on her.

Suddenly it was deathly quiet. She could hear the soft humming continue and it was getting closer, and the girl could feel her terror growing. Who or what was coming to see her? She quickly closed the door to her reading closet and turned off the lights in it, hugged her knees to her chest ,and closed her eyes. The music continued to get louder, she could feel the presence of the figure growing with it, and her fear was growing with it. The woman entered the room and stopped humming entirely. The little girl held her breath and tried to stay quiet as hot tears ran down her cheeks. The room was completely quiet, the girl could only hear the sound of her heartbeat in her ears. She didn't dare open the door to her hiding spot she only sank further into the soft pillows and blanket so as to not be seen.

The voice of the woman began to chuckle again, the sound of her voice was beautiful yet eerie and the little girl felt her tears falling as her body shook in fear. The woman bent down and looked towards the closet and said "I can smell your fear. Come out, Little one. I have been watching you." She said as her voice grew more deadly. The girl was shivering in fear, and her breathing quickened. Finally, she broke, the woman said "Now, tell your parents what you've witnessed"

"No… N-n-o…" The girl said as her father's head started poking through the closet door looking for her.

He held her tight in her arms as he tried to calm her down. "Honey what's wrong? Why are you crying?" "Y-y-you… y-you can't… me… I-I- I'm seeing things…" The girl said in a heavy gasp.

"What did you see little honey?" Her father asked as the woman in the figure stood still in the far corner, face hidden behind long grey hair. The little girl couldn't figure out why her dad couldn't see the woman and didn't know how to voice what she saw and heard to her dad. Soon enough the mother comes running into the child's room concerned for her daughter's wellbeing. "What happened? Is she alright?" She asked as she took her daughter in her arms and looked her over to see if anything was wrong with her.

"Mom… Can you… can you see the w-w-w…?" The little girl said through more tears. "The what? Who honey?" Her mother gently stroked her hair and cooked at her to help her calm down. '"Who is here honey? What do you see?"

Her daughter pointed towards the woman behind the door and started to cry harder.

Mom looked over and asked, "What are you pointing at? There's nothing there." The father went and looked around the room and house to see if he could find anyone. After watching the father leave the room the daughter eyes went back to corner that the lady was in and she was gone. "Well who was it…?" Her mother asked.

The girl finally relaxed and said "There was… a lady... she was trying to get me..." The mother looked down to the girl, and she said "I'm sorry, Mommy…"

"It's alright sweety, but you're scaring us. Everything is going to be alright, me a daddy are here." The mother gave her a gentle smile and kissed her forehead. The father came back into the room empty-handed. "Whoever it was they're gone now, honey." The girl nodded and leaned into her mother for warmth. A few minutes passed and the parents suggested putting on one of her favorite movies until she fell asleep. After putting her to bed the partents talked things over and went to bed as well. Before the mother dozed off she could of sworn she heard humming coming from her daughter's room. Out of curiosity she slipped out of bed and crept over to the child's room and upon opening the door the mother was filled with horror. Next to her sleeping child stood a tall woman with shoulder-length grey hair that shined in the dim moonlight. She was gently stroking her hair while humming a lullaby as the mother stood in the doorway unable to speak or move.

She suddenly stopped and slowly turned toward the mother with her hair still masking her face. She said one thing before she disappeared... "I watch and watch... I can't do it, so I watch... you can't see me and you won't... but I will be watching... " With that final word she disappeared. The parents soon separated and got shared custody of the girl and keep each other up to date. What they don't talk about are the haunting singing and whispered talking that occur almost every night in the room as they sleep.