Chapter Five

Chloe POV

I frowned, playing with the food on my plate. It was one of the few times Dad was home, but I didn't feel like talking. He was looking at his phone, sending emails, organizing plans, doing everything that needed to be done. I wasn't on his to-do list.

"How was school?" he managed to ask distractedly.

I looked up. I knew he cared about me, I mean, he was my Dad. I had to remember he had a busy life.

"It was school." I stated.

"Keeping you grades up?"

"Yes. A's and B's."

"Good. Keep it up, okay?"

"Of course. You know, there's parent/teacher conferences next week."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I held in a sigh, "I did Dad. Twice before."

He stopped, looking up. He seemed to be thinking and then- "Oh, you're right. I remember now. I'm sorry. You will have to tell your teacher I'll be out of town next week. I apologize."

I nodded, "That's alright, Dad. Are you done? I can take the plates in."

"Sure." he said, smiling.

I stood up and gathered the plates, heading out.

"Chloe?"

I turned, "Yes, Dad?"

"I love you, sweetie."

I smiled, "I love you too, Daddy."

With that, I turned away and headed towards our large kitchen. It was normally a short walk down a narrow hallway that was lit fairly well, but something was strange about this time. The light was flickering which automatically made me think it needed changed. Okay, that wasn't unusual.

I felt weird. Like something was pressing against me, like the air around me was getting thicker. My heart thumped as I began to be afraid.

This is silly., I thought. What's wrong with me? Stress. That's it.

I moved into the dark kitchen, feeling for the light switch. I didn't go in there often enough to know right where it was. I flipped it on and…

The plates fell out of my hand, shattering on the hard floor. Terror spread through me.

"Daddy!"

My hands still trembled as I held the coffee cup. Dad was sitting next to me on the couch, hugging my shoulders. Miraculously, he wasn't even glancing at his blackberry.

"Tell me again what you saw." he said softly.

"I've told you twice." I snapped. I didn't mean too, but I just didn't understand why he couldn't believe me.

"I know, I know. I'm just…trying to imagine it." he stated, rubbing my shoulder.

I closed my eyes, attempting to picture it, but the image that fluttered over the back of my eyelid was too horrifying. I opened my eyes, focusing on the coffee. "I don't really know what it looked like. I just flipped on the light and it was this black mass. For some reason, I could see his face though. Its eyes were coal black and it was grinning so evilly. It had sharp teeth that were all yellow…" My voice trembled. "It was like a horror movie scene."

He sighed. "Maybe you were seeing things…"

I immediately felt the need to defend myself, but we'd had this conversation before. I was stressed, I watched too many movies, my imagination ran wild, etc.. As much as I tried to remind myself of that, it just felt so real anytime I saw that… that… thing.

I couldn't argue with him though. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"You should get some rest, honey." he advised.

I nodded and stood up, setting my cup on the end table.

He stood with me, giving me a semi-awkward hug and a kiss on the forehead.

I hugged back, "Love you, Daddy."

"Love you too, Chloe." he replied.

With that, I made my way upstairs, leaving all the lights on and keeping my gaze cast onto the floor in order to avoid seeing any unwanted images. Once upstairs, I crawled into bed, and attempted to fall asleep.

After a while, I drifted into a dreamless dark abyss.