Bedtime – A Short Story

Macie laid in her twin sized bed unable to sleep for the 3^rd time in a row this week. She lay motionless except for the rhythmic movement of her breathing. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling fan in her room as she let out a sigh.

Why can’t I go to sleep?

Suddenly the lamp on her desk flickers on and off a couple of times. Macie bolts up in bed and looks over at her desk in the moonlight creeping through her blinds. She can see something in the corner of her room but can’t make out what it is. A feeling of dread and anxiety washes over her. She sees the darkness in the corner start to move. She needs to get out of her room as soon as possible.

She glances over to her bedroom door and it is slightly open. She needs to make a run for it but she is frozen with fear. She sees the shadow moving along her wall, slowly approaching the side of the room where her bed is at. She opens her mouth to scream but nothing comes out. Macie is shaking, sweat starting to form on her brow. The shadow stops and Macie can see the silhouette of what looks to be a man standing around 7 feet tall. She can see yellow orbs where the eyes are supposed to be staring back at her. The shadow tilts its head to one side as if it were examining her scared, shaking body.

Macie stares at this shadow off to the right of her bed and closes her eyes. I need to get out of here.

She opens her eyes cautiously and sees that the shadow is no longer there. She breathes a sigh of relief and waits for the fear and the adrenaline to subside while she sits up in bed examining every wall in her bedroom. It’s gone. What the heck was that thing?

She decides she better get some sleep and lays back down on her left side so that she is facing the wall that her bed is pushed against. She keeps thinking about that shadow and those menacing eyes. Maybe it was all in my head. I NEED to get some sleep.

Macie tosses and turns and ends up on her back again. Staring back at her from the ceiling was those yellow pair of eyes again! A sly, sinister smile appeared across the face of the shadow. It reached out towards her with long wiry fingers. Macie bolted out of bed this time right through her bedroom door and towards the kitchen. She grabbed a kitchen knife and looked back towards the open bedroom door.

SLAM!

The bedroom door slam shut by itself with a loud thud. She slowly walks over to the light switch and turns on the kitchen light, this makes the living room and hallway into her bedroom that much darker. She keeps her eyes focused on the door, knife held out in front of her as she walks over to the living room and turns on the light. Macie thinks about calling the cops or anyone at this point that might believe her or help her. Oh no…my phone is charging in my bedroom. This was not going to be an option at this point. I’ll go next door to Jonah’s! He’ll help!

Macie runs over to her front door and goes to turn the deadbolt. It’s stuck in place and won’t budge. No, no, NO! This can’t be happening! She starts banging on her front door in hopes that someone, anyone will hear her. She hears the door to her room slowly creek open behind her. She presses her palms and her forehead against the front door. Please no, make it stop.

Macie turns around and places her back against the door. She sees the shadow just staring at her from across the living room right at the edge of where the light fades. It slinks back into the shadows, yellow eyes still trained on her, and lets out a gurgled screech. It raises its index finger towards the kitchen and with each flick, a light bulb shatters and the kitchen gets darker and darker.

“What do you want!?! Who are you!?! Macie screams.

The shadow tilts its head and responds,

Bahyuul now points its finger to the remaining living room bulb and flashes that sinister smile again before flicking his finger.

Darkness envelopes the house. Macie can’t see the fingertips on her outstretched arms. I’m in trouble.

She can no longer see Bahyuul’s eyes or smile. She keeps her back close to the wall as she tries to head to the nearest window. She hears that blood curling gurgled screech come from the kitchen. Macie jumps back into the closest wall, knife ready, heart beating out of her chest. She feels a warm breeze close to her right ear. She looks over and sees those yellow eyes staring back at her! Bahyuul extends his arms around Macie and starts dragging her back into the wall, its hand covering her mouth. Muffled screams fill the air around her. Slowly cold air surrounds her and she can see her house fading off into the distance.

She jolts awake screaming and punching the air in front of her. NO! You won’t take me! She looks around at her surroundings and realizes that she had fallen asleep on her sofa while watching television in the living room. All that lack of sleep had finally caught up to her. Shaken and scared out of her mind, Macie can’t help but to curl up into a ball and just cry. That all felt so real.

She finally collects herself and gets up from her sofa shaking off that dreadful feeling. She is thankful this was all just a horrible nightmare. Thankful she is home, safe. She turns off the television and walks over to turn off the kitchen light but thinks she better leave it on, just in case. She walks over to her bedroom door and opens it. Just as it is in mid swing the kitchen light bulb shatters. She looks back worriedly and decides to just go into her room. As she turns her head she comes face to face with a pair of yellow eyes and a sly, crooked smile…