Witch's Daughter

“Goodnight, sweetie.” Lillian whispered as she kissed her son goodnight. The rain that pitter-pattered on his bedroom window told her that he’d fall asleep quickly. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mommy,” Felix whispered back. She placed tonight’s bedtime story on his side table, turned off the lamp, and soundlessly left the room, keeping the door slightly ajar, just the way he liked it.

As she stepped out into the hallway, she stretched out, relieved that she finally had a little free time at the end of this day that just wouldn’t seem to end. She only hoped that she’d be able to enjoy it tonight instead of falling asleep like usual, but she didn’t expect to.

Tonight was the night that Felix’s father, Dominic was home from work, and the two of them made plans to be up for hours into the night. They were trying for another child, and took the opportunity to give it another shot whenever he wasn’t out on the road. She also just… missed him.

She scurried down the hall to their bedroom and shut the door behind her. Across the room was her closet, to the back of which she kept a new ensemble that she was sure Dominic would love. She pulled it out and hurried to slip it on, imagining what his face would look like when he saw it. After donning some light makeup, she took a few minutes to stand in front of the full mirror to admire the finished look, primping and straightening where she needed to.

Once she was satisfied, she swiped her house robe from the corner of the bed and left the room.

She made her way down the stairs and slid into the doorway of the living room. “TA-DA!”

She remembered Dominic being on the couch when she went to put Felix to bed, but it now looked like he was never there. The tv was paused in the same spot she’d left it earlier, and the bottle of beer that he was drinking from was gone.

At least he had a chance to tidy up, she thought. “Dom?”

Nothing.

After walking through and scanning the kitchen, living room, and quick peek out on the porch, it was clear that Dominic was either gone, or he’d decided to hide to try to jump out and scare her. She was hoping for the latter.

She stopped to listen. It was eerily quiet. No cars had been out on the street when she checked, and even the crickets had stopped chirping. She looked at the clock. 9:35 pm. But the second hand wasn’t moving. Great. Needs batteries. The silence was interrupted only by the soft thumping of her bare feet against the hardwood floor as she paced around the house.

“Mommy?”

She spun around. Somehow, without making a sound, Felix was already 3 feet behind her. “Baby, what are you doing up?” She bent down to cradle his face.

“Daddy was outside and told me to come out with him.”

“Honey, what?” She straightened, and looked towards the window. Just as she did, a shadow passed by. Her heart sank. It’s just Dominic. But something in her gut said otherwise. The shadow only passed by for a second, but while he was about her height and bulky, she was sure that the shadow she saw was tall, thin, and hobbling. Trying to be logical, she stepped towards the front door, and unlocked it. After a silent, bracing breath, she crept it open.

The night air was colder than usual, but she stepped onto the porch anyway, tightening the tie of her robe. She scanned the neighborhood from her doorway, but saw nothing unusual at first. Everything seemed as peaceful as usual, but still, a little too quiet. She scanned once again, and noticed that in all of the other houses, the lights were completely out. All she could see was that in each house, a little light was flickering in a window. Everyone had placed candles in their windows,

At that point, she knew something was wrong. Immediately, she stepped back inside. Before she could close the door, she noticed a figure on the sidewalk that wasn’t there before. Its frame was initially hard to make out due to the lighting, but from what she could tell it was tall and slim, just like the shadow that just passed by her window. Most notable was the pair of eyes that stared her way. They were pitch black and empty.

Before she could examine any more, she slammed the door, locked it, and spun around to grab her son.

Instead, she was met with hollow eye sockets, set in a face inches away from hers. She jumped back and crashed into the door. The figure continued to stare, motionless. Now it looked like less of a shadow, and more a mass of smoke, it’s only discerning features being its holes for eyes, and a crooked and slimy smile that flashed in contrast. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

Without thinking, Lillian swung full force at the figure, only to lose her balance and stumble when it dissipated. What the hell? She then scrambled to regain her balance, and check on Felix, who was still standing in the same spot.

“Are you alright sweetie?” She knelt to meet his gaze, looking for marks of any sort. He looked fine though. Unfazed, even.

“Mmhm. The-the lady said I should go with her,” he said matter of factly.

Lillian froze. “What? You spoke to her?” She hadn’t heard any of it, any noises having been drowned out by the overwhelming pressure of her heart pounding in her chest and the shock of looking into the pits for eyes that were now burned into her memory.

Her son nodded. “She said Daddy got hurt. If I go with her, we can save him.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying here with Mommy, because that’s where you belong. Alright?”

Before she could get a response from him, the windows explosively shattered. The lights cut out at the same time, immediately followed by erratic scratching sounds at the front door, then on the floor around them. She stumbled backwards, bringing him with her. When the lights flickered back on again, she could’ve sworn she saw a naked, disemboweled Dominic standing in the corner of the living room. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t do anything more than take in a sharp breath. As suddenly as he appeared, he was gone, replaced by empty space and darkness.

It’s not real. It’s just your imagination. She repeated in her mind. Even as she tried to convince herself, her body started shaking uncontrollably. She frantically looked around the house, trying to figure out what to do. That’s when she remembered Dominic’s gun in the bedroom. A big part of her was skeptical that it would work in this situation, but she was willing to try anything.

She snatched Felix into her arms, struggling to hold her growing boy. After realizing that it wasn’t going to happen, she gripped his hand and yelled, “RUN!” She hustled up the stairs as fast as she could with him in tow. At the top, the creature loomed over the staircase, a distinct contrast to the brightly lit hallway behind her.

Before Lillian could turn to run back down the stairs, the creature swung a lanky hand out in between them. Lillian went flying backwards while Felix remained on the stairs, in what felt to her was slow motion. The vision of her son standing next to that horrible figure hit her in the gut with the same gravity that hit her in the chest. The concern for her son was the last thing she felt before her head hit a hard surface behind her, and she was out like a light.

She awoke feeling itchy. Blades of grass covered in morning dew poked at her bare skin. It took her a few moments to realize that she was on her front lawn, completely naked, and she was bleeding lightly from her chest from what she assumed was that ghost’s doing.

She sprang up. A heavy fog was spread so thickly throughout the neighborhood that she almost couldn’t see the house across the street.

She struggled to her feet, and stumbled a few steps before seeing a figure slump out from behind the sidewalk’s hedges.

“Hello?” She called. The haggard woman stopped in her tracks and turned to Lillian. “I need to find my son. Someone… Something took him.”

“It was the witch. Baba’s daughter.” The woman’s eyes were wild, and her voice was shaking. “You didn’t leave a candle in the window, so she took your son. He’s gone now.”

Lillian didn’t know what to say.

“I didn’t either… You’re lucky to be alive. We both are.” The woman walked away before anything else could be asked, leaving Lillian alone, naked, bloody, and yet another surviving victim of the witch’s daughter.