The Mother And The Child

A short horror story

She opened her eyes, her chest was pounding, she couldn’t sleep. Life had been so perfect, she had everything she could have ever wanted, but all of it was taken away from her, all of it, in an instant. She couldn’t hold back her tears, she cried again, like she had on many other nights. “My baby boy,” she wept, cuddling up as she trembled in the darkness. She glanced at me as I slept. “He looks so peaceful”, she thought as she wiped her tears and tried to fall asleep.

The morning came and sunlight lit up the room, I slowly sat up on the bed and looked over at Maria. What I saw terrified me. Her bloodshot eyes, staring right at me. I felt my blood curdle as she looked at me and whispered hoarsely, “I miss our baby boy.”

Three months had passed since that fateful day, that terrible summer morning, as beautiful as it was deceiving. I wasn’t home, Maria sat with her laptop, checking her emails. Our son Kyle walked down the stairway, rubbing his sleepy little eyes “good morning mommy,” he said as she smiled at him. “Good morning Sunshine,” she replied. They sat down to have breakfast. Suddenly there was a thud from the bedroom, then silence. They froze. “What is it mommy?” “Stay here son,” Maria said as she slowly walked out of the kitchen. Her heart was racing. “Henry wasn’t home,” she thought as she slowly peeked from the bedroom door and there it was, a black kitten, our table lamp lay broken beside it. She sighed with relief but suddenly she heard footsteps behind her, they were approaching her quickly. She turned around, Startled. Kyle crashed into her. “I told you to stay in the kitchen!” she yelled. “I was scared mommy,” he said. Her expression softened, she couldn’t be angry at him, he was her little angel after all. “What is that mommy?” Kyle asked looking at the kitten, “She’s the little devil who startled us. She must have climbed in through the window and dropped the lamp”. “Can we keep her?” Kyle’s innocent eyes lit up as he looked at his mother. “Well, we will have to take dad’s permission first, but you can play with it for now.” Kyle cheered as he smiled and slowly walked towards the kitten. It hissed and ran through the doorway into the living room. “Wait! I only want to play,” Kyle giggled, as he ran behind it. Maria smiled. “He is always so full of energy,” she thought as she slowly walked towards the living room. She heard the front door open and close. Suddenly she heard a crash. Her mind froze, her pupils dilated, blood rushed through her body. She trembled and ran out of the house through the living room door. She could not have imagined in her wildest nightmares, the scene she was about to witness. There he was, laying on the road, her beautiful baby boy, run over by a car. Blood stained the streets as people gathered, their faces stared in shock and horror. She couldn’t bear it. She fell to her knees, she screamed and she screamed, clawing at her face, tears rolling down her eyes. She wanted to die. Her child, she loved him so much. Why him? How could this happen? She screamed one last time and then she fell unconscious.

Months have passed, but the scars didn’t heal. I comforted her “It wasn’t your fault,” I said but deep down, she thought that it was. “I could have locked the door. I killed our baby boy,” she whispered at nights. I tried to comfort her, but she knew no peace. The medicines her psychiatrist gave her, weren’t much help either. She didn’t smile, she couldn’t sleep, her nights were restless and so were her days.

That morning I left for work. My heart ached too, I loved Kyle, just as much as she did. I felt a little uneasy that day, I didn’t know why. The days had been the same, for months now. I sat in my office chair, staring at the ceiling. I picked up my phone and dialed Maria’s number. It rang, once, twice…She didn’t pick up. I closed my eyes, thoughts racing through my mind, I didn’t like to think about it, it pained me but I had to stay strong. Tears trickled down my eyes but I wiped them off before anyone could notice. “I will take her out for dinner tonight,” I thought.

It was getting dark, I drove the car into the garage. I had called Maria a few times, she hadn’t responded. “I hope she is okay,” I thought. Slowly I walked towards the porch as the street lights were lighting up. Suddenly my eyes caught something, laying on the porch, it was a black kitten, or whatever remained of it. It was dead, dead and mutilated. I felt his stomach churn. I winced and called out to Maria. Slowly the door opened. Maria’s frail and sunken face looked right at me, she looked haggard and tired but I could see a spark in her eyes. “How did this get here?”, I asked pointing at the corpse. “Oh it must have been the kids next door, one of their twisted little jokes,” She calmly replied. “Come inside, we will clean this up later,” she added. I slowly walked inside but I felt uneasy, something wasn’t right, I could feel it, but I didn’t want to think about it, I was too tired. “I need a warm shower and some supper and I’ll clean the mess before I go to bed,” I thought. The food was warm but tasteless, I didn’t complain for I had always been a considerate man. Putting my family’s needs before my own was all I had ever known. As I ate my meal in silence, I looked at Maria. She looked like she had aged decades, her beautiful face had shriveled up, her eyes had sunken in. She was staring at the ceiling and muttering something under her breath. “Is everything alright honey?” I broke the silence. A second passed. “Yes dear,” she said as she looked at me and then she smiled. I didn’t know what to make of it. I hadn’t seen her smile in months. “Maybe she is getting better,” I told myself as I walked into the living room. I stood before the front door, took a deep breath and then I opened it. I was startled. There was nothing there, the corpse was gone and not a single blood stain remained. I felt dazed “Had I imagined it all? No way, Maria saw it too. We talked about it. Where did it go?” I walked up to the streets, looked around. There was nothing there. “Ah I need some rest,” I thought as I walked back into the house, closing the door behind me. I walked into the bedroom. Maria was sitting in front of the mirror. I slowly got onto the bed “I called you a few times today. You didn’t answer any of my calls”. “I was a little busy. Sally had come over for coffee,” she said as she brushed her hair and smiled at her reflection. “Sally? Wasn’t that Kyle’s babysitter? What was she doing here?” I asked. “Oh she was Kyle’s favorite, so I called her over for some chitchat and to thank her for taking such good care of our son”. “Oh…I see. Well it’s good to have some company from time to time. I am glad you had her over”. “Yes dear,” she replied as she stared at the mirror and smiled again. “Alright I’ll get some rest then, good night,” I said as I slowly closed my eyes. My mind was still uneasy, something definitely wasn’t right. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at Maria. She wasn’t looking at the mirror anymore, she was staring right at me. Her eyes felt cold and lifeless but there something in them. Slowly she twisted her lips and grinned at me. A shiver ran down my spine but I closed my eyes. My mind wasn’t working, I was simply too exhausted and before I could think about it any longer, I was fast asleep. It was half past midnight, I slowly opened my eyes. I was drenched in sweat, my heart was beating faster than normal. I wiped the sweat from my eyebrows and looked at my side. Maria wasn’t there. I slowly got out of bed and softly called out her name, “Maria? Where are you?” there was no reply. I was about to call out a little louder but suddenly I heard some noises. It was coming from the basement. I stood still and tried to focus on the sounds. I couldn’t make out what they were. I picked up the flashlight and slowly walked out of the bedroom and into the hallway. I slowly walked towards the basement door. It was wide open. I walked down the staircase and the noises stopped. The room was dark but I could see lights. And a dark silhouette. It was crouched. But I could feel its eyes looking right at me. I turned on the flashlight and flashed the beam of light directly at the silhouette. My mind couldn’t comprehend what I saw next. There she was, drenched in blood, holding a bloody knife in one hand. She was panting but she had a horrific grin on her face as she looked at me with bloodshot eyes. There were two bodies at her feet. One was the cat carcass and the other was that of a human, of a girl. “Sally?” my mind was racing. I flashed the light up ahead. I saw a photo, it was our son’s. There was an altar and candles around it. I could see the lights flicker but before I could react or even speak a word, Maria ran towards me, shrieking. I never thought a human could make a sound so horrific. She charged at me as I turned around and dashed back into the hallway. I could hear her footsteps behind me, approaching rapidly, she was getting closer. I ran into the bedroom and tried to close the door. Too late. She pushed back. I couldn’t push the door shut. Her strength was unnatural. “I WILL BRING OUR SON BACK!” she shrieked. She pushed the door one last time as I tripped fell to the ground. I saw her horrific grin, she lifted the knife and leapt at me but I rolled away before she could stab me. I got up quickly and moved towards the closet. Maria shrieked again as she got up to her feet. I pulled out my gun from the closet and pointed it at her. “Stop!” I screamed “Please stop”. “I ONLY WANT TO BRING OUR SON BACK! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?” She shrieked again as she ran towards me. My heart was beating out of my chest, my mind went blank as I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. With a thud she dropped dead onto the floor. I opened my eyes and looked at her lifeless body. I wanted to scream but I didn’t have the strength. I dropped to my knees, trembling, horrified. “Is this a nightmare? What the hell even is this?” Then suddenly I heard a rush of wind and felt something breathe cold air onto my neck. I froze again. I felt it behind me, whatever it was but I couldn’t turn around. I felt defeated, I didn’t care anymore. I closed my eyes again as it slowly whispered in the darkness “come join us daddy, come join me and mommy.”

A Tale from The Crimson Citadel @2020