Day 1:

THC - Special Feature - Drabble Challenge

Word count - 589

Prompt - [object]- Lamp

The lamp light barely helped.

It was still dark in the basement. The light from the lamp barely scraped through the dark of the room. It was a cold light, white and clean. It bounced off the mildew that clung to the walls, shattering into shards that cut around the room like tiny drops of moonlight. Somehow, the light only made shadows seem darker.

Remus huddled closer to the light, wrapping the thin, shredded blanket around his shoulders and cowering into it. He had begged his mother to let him bring it. He had cried and screamed and banged his fists. When she refused (muttering about glass shards and broken things) he had begged. Tears streamed down his face as he had begged his mother to bring the lamp with him to the basement.

To light up the darkness.

To scare away the monster.

She had given in, of course. Holding him, rocking him in her arms, trying to soothe away the tears and the monster that lived inside him.

Although, even with the fulfilled promise of the lamp, Remus Lupin had cried when he was hauled to the cellar. He clawed and scratched at his father's shoulder, screaming and crying as he was pushed into the cold, stone room, the lamp dimly shining the far corner. Remus howled and wailed, pawing pointlessly at the door, staring at his crying mother through red, streaming eyes. His father's face showed no emotion as the heavy iron door was pulled shut and silence fell in the room.

Remus cried and yelled until his voice was hoarse, but the door didn't open. It never did; it wouldn't until morning. Not until after the monster had come and claimed him. Wracked him, shaped him, tore him to pieces and left him curled and panting on the freezing floor.

Remus crawled closer to the lamp, wrapping himself around it, silent sobs shaking his tiny body. Maybe this month, it wouldn't come. Maybe this time, the monster would leave him alone. He had been good this week. He had helped his mother, talked politely to his father, kept his room clean, learned his letters. He had been good. A good boy, his mother said so.

She whispered it in his ears every time he fell asleep, stroking his hair, watching over him when he was covered in bandages and shivering from the pain.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy, when skies are grey…"

Remus didn't need his sensitive ears to hear her weeping when she left.

A violent shudder wracked through Remus' body and he curled further into the lamplight. He stretched out his fingers, brushing them against the stone wall until he found the notches. Eight scratches carved into the stone. Eight times he had been locked in the cellar. Eight times his father had shut the door and ignored his pleas.

Eight times the Wolf had come for him. Twisted him, changed him, used him and left him to rot.

Maybe it wouldn't come this time, Remus thought as he used a small stone to scratch a ninth notch into the wall. Maybe this time he'd be safe.

A pain shot up Remus's spine. He jerked. The lamp was knocked into the stone floor. It broke, the protective ceramic shattering into a thousand pieces. The light vanished, and darkness fell upon the cellar.

And so did the Wolf.