Sweet Fiend

The night had been still. The night had been calm. And yet I had laid awake in my bed. Gently tucked beneath warm covers that offered little protection against the sudden chill that crept into my room. It seemed to leak from the walls and crawled into bed with me unwelcome and unannounced. My teeth chattered as my dark orbs shifted restlessly around the room from my closet to the foot of my bed, to the window and back across my room to my door that had been locked shut for the night so I wouldn't bother Mother with my querulous cries.

Creak.

The quiet complaint was uttered by a loose wooden board. My heart sped. I had no idea where the sound could have came from. I had dreaded the night. My sleep was first disturbed a few weeks back when the same awful creak started up. Then it was followed by the worst sort of scraping noise like nails sliding against the floor. I never stayed long enough to know what happened next. Usually I ran to Mother who was less than warm when I appeared. The previous night she had been up in bed reading when I ran in and leapt into her bed.

Her eyes were eerie and glowed faintly in the dim lamp light as I waited for her to scream at me for my intrusion, but I feared her wrath less than the unknown source of noise from my room.

Creeeaaaak.

I shivered and pulled my covers against me like they would protect me from whatever it was lurking in the shadows of my room. I could still hear the voice of my mother scolding me, "There are no monsters in your closet or under your bed." Then she would add with a shrewd smirk, "Only in your mind."

My mind. Were they just in my mind? The sounds were so real. The terror that gripped my heart and chilled my soul seemed all too real for it to be a mere imagination. Or maybe I was being childish again.

Scrape.

I felt my heart beat faster, faster still as I scanned the darkness of my room for a sign as to what the cause of that noise was. My first instinct was to run but I knew the door was locked and I stood virtually no chance of escape through the window, which was far too high from the ground. So I sat and I shivered and I tried my best not to cry as those abhorrent sounds continued tormenting me.

Scrape...scrape...

Those nails were getting closer. Scratching their way towards my bed. I laid back and tried to pretend to be asleep. My best friend, Maka, told me monsters couldn't get me if I were asleep. She already passed her monster-in-the-closet-phase and hadn't been eaten so naturally I believed her.

My head was laid against my pillow and I closed my eyes as tight as I could. Tears were accumulating behind my eyelids and my lips trembled horribly as I tried my best to control my breathing. Then I heard it again, more clearly, as it drew nearer.

Scrape...scrape...scrape...

How long would this go on? I had always left before the sound got this close. I longed for the soft yet firm mattress of my mother's bed and her warm body next to mine. Sometimes her arms would fall over me, wrap around me as she slept, and then I would pretend like she was giving me a genuine hug. Sometimes I would hug back.

I missed the security and warmth I felt there. It was so different from how things usually were.

Mother typically regarded me with a careful eye, yet I knew she thought little of me. I was only eight years of age and had already failed to live up to her expectations of a good child. Nevertheless, I was hers and similarly she was mine and I couldn't imagine things any other way even if she had forbidden me to stay another night with her. Even if she had locked my door preventing my escape.

Scrape...scrape...

"You're not sharing a bed with me tonight," Mother had told me that morning after I had searched every corner of my room for the source of the noise that plagued me relentlessly. I couldn't find anything so I went down for breakfast where I was offered cold oatmeal and half a glass of milk. Mother was cross with me. I knew it before she sat me at the table for what she referred to as 'a little talk'. Big brother was no where to be seen having already eaten and been sent away.

"Crona," she addressed me with such a soft voice, such a motherly voice, "I think it's about time you start acting your age. You aren't four any more. That means you don't run into my room because you think you hear something. Don't be so childish."

And before she even finished her lecture I knew she would be showing me some tough love. I knew some frowned upon her methods, calling them cruel, though I suppose Mother only meant me well. Why else would she have taken care of Big Brother and me for so long?

My body trembled as the sound ceased. My room was silent for the longest of times. Has it worked? I dared to hope. Is the monster gone? I wondered but dared not look. Then I felt it.

Something pressed against my covered back. A hand? It was so gentle as it caressed my back and traced my spine beneath my clothed flesh. I shuddered. Then it stopped and left me alone for a few moments before returning to hold onto my shoulder.

My big brother had grabbed me before. He had tried and succeeded in scaring me before. "You're such a baby, Crona!" He would tease. I would sometimes cry. He would rough me up for crying. It was a dance I had learnt and attempted to avoid as best I could.

I might have thought to run to him...if I weren't already so certain of the rejection I would receive. Mother rejected me, too. But she didn't beat me up. She was such a good mother after all.

Silence.

Suddenly, the bed groaned quietly as a heavier body sat next to me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry but more than anything I wanted to scream.

I could feel my heart thumping against my ribs and I feared it would give me away with each thunderous beat. The tears had gotten free and were drizzling down my sallow cheeks. I wanted to go to sleep and make this awful moment end, to expel all my apprehension before it took me under and threw me into a panic that would surely give me away to the fiend seated beside me.

I felt a sudden bizarre sensation as something flicked against my face. It was wet and warm and I nearly screamed as the realization struck me of what slimy appendage had lapped up my tears. My breathing shook and I silently willed this creature to leave. Just drink my tears and leave, I quietly commanded it.

It didn't care much for my wishes.

Instead of leaving it began to play. Gently at first only to turn rough. Its fingers pulled lightly at my hair, twirling strands around its digits before releasing them and starting the process again. In only a few moments time it felt like they were trying to yank my pink strands from their roots. It took all I had to stay quiet. I willed myself to stay still, but my body kept shaking with fear that egged my tear ducts into working double time.

Nevertheless, I kept my eyes and mouth shut for fear of what would happen to me if I done otherwise.

"It's just your imagination, Crona." Mother had said. Earlier in the afternoon before she locked me away she had assured me everything would be fine because I was just a child with a childish fear of nothing.

"You'll see," I can still hear Mother say, as this creature gripped the blanket I hugged tightly against myself. Soon it was being peeled off. My protective layer, my cocoon was gone and I was left there clad only in my night clothes holding onto my pillow for dear life as I fought the temptations I had to open my mouth and scream; to open my eyes and see; and to get up from where I lay and run from this horrible thing. I can still hear my heart galloping like a stallion in my chest. How can nobody else hear? Why couldn't Mother or Big Brother hear it?

"You'll see this is all just a bad dream."

Please, I silently begged myself, please wake up! I felt the monster stand and heard the blankets as they were stripped from the bed then tossed to the floor.

They sat back down and once more gripped my shoulder. They pulled me up and I let out a sharp whimper. I felt sick. My tears were spilling from my eyes in torrents but I refused to open them. Instead I covered them with my hands and let out a pitiful sob.

Unexpectedly, the monster then did the strangest thing. It lifted me up and pressed a hand to the back of my head allowing my face to nestle into the fabric of their clothing. There was an odd aroma about them. Something that was hauntingly familiar yet terribly different. There was a faint, sweet freshness like soap and flowers, but it was accompanied by a foreign metallic scent that turned my stomach. And before I realized what was happening the monster began to hum quietly to me.

Only then did I allow myself to open my eyes. I sat there for several long minutes in a stunned silence as I stared wide-eyed at the smiling face of Mother. Except there was something off about her.

Her usually flawless appearance was marred by a violent crimson splash. Her eyes glowed eerily once more like a pair of fiery embers wafted from a burning flame.

Her smile was so uncharacteristically warm. Initially, I was baffled and let a cold relief wash over me as I realized there was no monster. It was only Mother. I did not let myself question why she was there or why she had frightened me so terribly as I clung to her and press my face into the fabric of her nightgown that, for some reason, appeared to be composed of the surrounding darkness rather than cotton and black dye.

She ran a hand through my hair. Was it wet? I wasn't sure. I didn't care. I only listened to Mother's soothing hum. I quickly became drunk off its melody and the unusually tender care she was providing me. My nightmare seemed to have been flipped in the most pleasant of ways. She held me and I felt a warm liquid sensation fill my formerly aching chest. This was a dream come true!

I tried to get my breathing under control. I tried not to sob and willed my heart to slow and cease its clamorous beating. Everything will be all right, I assured myself, Mother is here. Everything will be all right.

Only...when my heart did slow...and my breathing settled...I noticed a sound that I hadn't before.

It had been masked by my pulsating heart and frightened sobs, but now that I had quieted I could hear it over Mother's gentle humming. It wasn't very concerning at first just a bit off.

A steady drip-drip-drip came from across the room. A terrifying thought then occurred to me and I pulled away from Mother. I stared at her once more and I gave a quiet gasp upon taking her in, upon fully analyzing her and seeing what my mind had not processed before.

It looked as though someone had thrown paint against her cheek, spattered her neck, and given her hands in a thick crimson coat, and then I noticed that it stained me as well. I saw it on my hands and upon wiping at my face–where I had felt that sickening wet, warm touch–I found there to be more of that same dark hue. My hands then went to my hair and as I ran by hands through my pink locks I found that they had been streaked red as well.

My breathing sped as I then turned a confused stare to Mother. She had stopped humming. Her smile remained and that was what frightened me most. She lifted me up and I gave a squeal of protest. She shushed me and I went silent. I was sat on my feet just a couple short feet from my closet door. Mother knelt down so she were my height but her hands never left my shoulders and I didn't bother looking over my shoulder to face her as she whispered to me, "Silly child, you never even bothered to see if the door was actually locked?"

"N-no, ma'am." I stuttered, trembling in her grasp and feeling completely helpless as she chuckled at my weak reply.

"I suppose that was a good thing. It would have spoiled this surprise."

"Surprise?"

"Yes," she whispered, nudging me forwards in the direction of the darkened closet. I stood quivering in front of the door. Mother left my side and I heard her crossing the room. My heart had started to race again. I dared not to move an inch until a switch was flipped and a brilliant light cut through the darkness illuminating the horrors that it had previously concealed.

The sight of the body, an actual body, dangling from a rope around its neck in my closet was more than a little shock and the sight of its gory, perforated form dripping with the same crimson shade that painted Mother and me–drip-drip-drip–was more than I could bear. And so, I lifted my hands to my face in a vain attempt to push away the reality before me, but it was for naught, and as I threw my head back in a scream of pure terror Mother's smile grew at the sight of my horror.

Then she turned out the lights.

Only recently have I thought back to my childhood. My past cries have joined the great multitude already echoing like a symphony of fear resounding within my skull unable to be tamed or silenced.

Some may accuse Mother of cruelty, as many of the people at my new home do, but I know she only meant me well. Mother taught me many things both wonderful and appalling. It was because of her, after all, I no longer feared monsters in my closets or under my beds. She was my monster and I her spawn. Perhaps, then I am no better than she. It has been a few years since that dreadful night when I was eight and scared of the Boogeyman.

Now, as I sit and stare at these colorless, padded walls I have came to the conclusion that she was not all that bad. If nothing else, she was a sweet fiend.

Firstly, I would like to apologize for my absence; however, there have been an array of issues keeping me from maintaining my account and updating my stories as often as I would like. That is all I have to say on that matter. Moving on, I would like to take this oppertunity to say, "Happy Halloween!" I wish you all a wonderful night of partying, trick-or-treating, etc. Although, I also wish you all to be safe and to have tons of fun. I hope you readers have enjoyed my Halloween fic. If you would be so kind R&R if you like though a simple read and leave would also be taken into account. And once more for closing: Happy Halloween!