Title: Nightlight
Word Count: 834
Masako Hara sat hidden in the shadows of the armchair. Her little frame shaking.
The pair of eyes across the room continued to stare at her. They had followed her from her room to the main room of the house; that's when Masako decided that she couldn't even make it to her parents' room.
She had hid behind the oversized armchair, hoping that the sunrise would come soon.
But in her child mind it felt like she had been hiding forever.
She couldn't call out. She couldn't wake her mother.
She tried to stifle back a tear, but failed to do so. Her sniffle echoed around the room.
"…Masako?" A voice said.
Masako's body tightened and her eyes went wide. Was it possible that the ghost with the fiery red eyes had learned to speak?
"Masako? What are you doing there?"
Masako tilted her head up to see her father. Only wearing his jeans. He looked funny to Masako since he wasn't wearing his glasses.
The fiery eyed ghost had retreated, disappearing further into the darkness.
"Seeing things again?" He chuckled, pulling her into his arms. He felt warm to Masako, making her breathe in his clean, fresh scent.
He carried her back up the stairs into her room. The canopy bed's frilly, amethyst bedspread had been tossed everywhere, showing Masako's uneasy sleep.
Her father set her onto her feet, then started to fix the covers. She watched him, covering her mouth with her hand. The reason she did this was because she realized that it kept her from throwing up while the dark, slimy feeling ghosts watched her.
"There," her father declared, waving his hand at the newly made bed. Masako crawled in; making sure that the covers enclosed her all the way up to the neck.
Her father smiled, but then it faltered. "Masako," he said, "I know that it can be scary in the night, but you need to bring ghosts to you like you do in the daylight. You're always happy in the sunshine, which makes good ghosts come to you asking for help. But you're so scared of the dark that your mind falls to the lower levels, and you see different entities. That is why these spiteful ghosts haunt you at night. Because you're scared."
Masako looked around the room, looking for more demons and ghouls that might be watching her.
"But it's so hard," she whispered.
"I know," he said, running his fingers through her shoulder-length hair.
She grabbed his fingers before he pulled away completely.
"Don't go," she said, her eyes pleading.
He sighed, his face going into 'thinking mode'. When his eyes lit up again, Masako knew he had an idea.
"I'll be right back," he said, pulling his hand out of hers before she could protest.
There she sat, shaking again.
Nothing had come back yet. Not the fiery eyed ghost. Not the thing under her bed that would grab her feet on various nights.
She was still relieved when her father finally came back.
He set something on her night desk, then dropped onto his hands and knees. Masako's eyelashes fluttered as she blinked her readjusting eyes to the sudden light.
There on her night stand stood a simple nightlight, square and yellowed—not very pretty at all. The most powerful thing about it was the Japanese symbols for protection carved into its smooth surface.
It created a soft glow around Masako's bed and some of her floor.
"There," her father repeated, grinning. Masako couldn't help the smile that bloomed onto her lips.
It was her personal sun.
"You don't need to be afraid," he said, stroking her cheek.
"Okay…" She said.
Already, she felt more at peace as she lay back down.
"I love you, sweetheart, I'm so proud of you," he said from the doorframe.
"I love you, too, Daddy."
"Goodnight," he said, leaving the door opened to the dark hallway.
Dark… No! I have to think light! Masako closed her eyes and thought of the sun.
When she opened them again, the fiery eyed ghost watched her from the corner of the room.
Light…light…light…
She reached out and touched the nightlight.
The fiery eyed ghost closed its eyes and disappeared.
Truly this time.
Masako laid in the protection glow of the nightlight. Grinning like a woman set free.
She heard a toilet flush in the hallway; her mother peeked into her room.
"I thought you had you a light on in here, it was so bright."
Indeed. The light seemed to have gotten stronger.
"Where'd you get that?" Her mother asked, sweeping her side-parted bangs out of her eyes.
"Daddy," Masako said.
"I…see," her mother mumbled, then she shook her head. "You better fall asleep and sleep well. We have your interview tomorrow." She turned and headed back down the stairs, to her room.
Why was Mom so flustered? Masako thought.
Oh, that's right. Daddy has been dead for a year.
*.*.*
Ten years later, Masako still had the nightlight on her dresser.