what comes out at night

Chapter 3.

Whenever Shannon was reminded of what Rose did to her, her eyes would fill up with tears. The stories that Rose told her were horrifying for a five year old toddler. She was safe with her parents. She never felt as safe with Rose. As her spring break was over, she went back to her school. Shannon was an ingenious girl and had always been a topper of her class just like her parents. After the spring break was over, Shannon wasted no time in telling her friends all about the adventures and fun she had with her family. As soon as she met her sidekick May Benjamin; with whom she was friends with for the last six years, she started telling her everything but upon remembering her encounter with that silhouette, Shannon was met with the feeling of a knot forming in her stomach. The image of her classroom swam in front of her eyes, and a moment later, she collapsed on the floor, pale and rigid as a corpse. May called Mr. and Mrs. Matthews alongside the ambulance with the utmost haste.

Upon waking up in the hospital, Shannon was in a stable condition. Her mother wanted to ask what had happened. “I was talking to May about our vacations, and then suddenly I remembered about that shadow, and some memories struck me so hard that I couldn’t bear it and….and I started panicking. The weird thing was that the period of time between my panic attack and my fainting episode, I have no recollection of what transpired, I can’t even remember when and how I fainted.” She continued, “I just couldn’t breathe. It felt like all the oxygen had simply dissipated from the classroom.” She couldn’t talk properly, and Mrs. Matthews was concerned about her daughter’s mental health. She hugged Shannon as if she wanted to shield her from all the evils of the world.

The sunset illuminated the sky with brilliant shades of orange and violet as Shannon gazed at the setting sun from her hospital room’s window. She was discharged from the hospital after she was stable. After all the paperwork had been completed, the Mathews left for their home, a journey of almost four miles. The sun was had set, and it was dark when they finally reached home. Upon reaching home, Mrs. Matthews addressed Shannon, saying, “Go change your clothes and try to get some sleep. It’s been a very tiresome day. Your dad and I are going to discuss some serious things, most of which have been distressing us for a while.” Shannon nodded her head and left the TV lounge. The second Shannon left the room, Mr. Matthews asked, “Is everything okay?” Mrs. Matthews replied, “Our baby has gone through many things since she was five years old. It was a delicate age for her, an age in which she should’ve had happy dreams and played with her dolls. Instead, someone started to play with her feelings and messed with her mind”. “She needs a therapist. I don’t want my baby to suffer anymore”. Mr. Matthews was listening to her with full concentration and replied, “You are right. I’ll go to the hospital and ask if they have any reputable child therapist”. After his reply, Mrs. Matthews sighed with relief.

Shannon laid on her bed as she watched her parents go to sleep. She was lying with her face towards the wall and was about to fall asleep when suddenly, she felt someone breathing near her ear. She got up with a jerk and found no one, her parents to her right, fast asleep. She started mumbling, “It’s just my imagination. There’s nothing here. Mom and dad are right there, nothing to be afraid of silly”. While she was mumbling, she faced her parents’ bed and closed her eyes. After five minutes of slight panic and elevated breathing, she was calm. She changed her side and went to sleep. Shannon hardly slept for a couple of minutes before her eyes flew open, shaking with fear. She realised what had awoken her from her slumber, a tap on her shoulder. Specifically, a three fingered tap, thrice on her right shoulder blade. She sat on her bed, trembling with nerve-wracking fear as she looked around the room, checking to see whether she and her parents were the only ones in the room. She didn’t dare get up. Shannon decided to lay straight on her back. Now that she was met with this incident, she could not sleep and lay awake for the rest of the night. As she lay awake on her bed, staring at the ceiling, Shannon heard the breathing once again, albeit emanating from the washroom whose door was slightly ajar. She strained her ears, trying to rationalise the notion of an apparently alien breathing. Shannon was snapped out of her endeavour to explain the breathing by a sudden tap on the foot of her bed, in the exact same pattern as the one she experienced on her shoulder. Flight or fight mode kicked in, and Shannon’s brain opted to flee to the perceived safety of her parent’s bed, burrowing in between the both of them.

She feels safe with her parents being around. She believes they are her shield and would protect her at any cost.