Elianna Halloween drabble

Happy Halloween guys !

‐-----------

You jolt awake to the sound of fingernails scraping against the wood of your bedroom door.

"Mommy?"

No answer. The silence hums, thick and cold. You clutch Plushie tighter, sliding your finger around its worn wrist before letting your feet touch the floor. The boards bite at your skin, and a shiver size you up.  The heater must have failed again.

Scratch, scratch, scratch ! 

It's getting quicker now, frantic, almost desesperate. As if the sound was on a race.

"Mommy?" you whisper again, voice small.

A pause, a stifled whimper. It's definitely your mama. Slowly, the door creaks open.

Red and green poured into the room through the gaps, shifting like fire through glass. Your mommy stands there, hair loose and untame. 

Eyes to bright , ablaze with magic.

Hands trembling.

"You should be sleeping, sweetheart," she says, but her voice is wrong. Stretched thin, as if she's in pain. 

You step closer, heart pounding. "Mommy, what are you doing?"

Her breath catches; the lig"t around her flares, licking the walls before dimming again. "No, no, I’m sorry” she whispers, crouching down, reaching out. The air smells like smoke and pine, warm and sharp all at once. “"t’s the Veil, baby. It’s loud tonight. It wants what shines., my Little Star"

Her gaze rushes to the window and you turn, frowning.

The veil? Plushie in your arms, you walk over to your window. Everything is thick black and outside, thunder sings.

Slashing large cuts with it silver arms.

You clutch Plushie tighter, tears stinging your eyes.

A flash of lightning splits the sky, casting twisted shadows of the trees across your wall. And there, just beyond the glass, something is watching.

Not a face. Not exactly. Just two pale glows, suspended in the dark like drowned lanterns. Pale fearfull blue eyes.

Aunt Cecily ? 

You step back, but the window creaks open on its own, sighing with wind and whispers.

What’s she doing outside?!

"She saw you," your mommy murmurs, her voice too cold, too light. "You’re shining too brightly tonight."

The floor shudders. The ceiling groans. The world seems to lean in. "She want to take my place. She think she's better than me."

Plushie slips from your grasp.

You try to scream, but the sound catches in your throat, swallowed by the silence, as you turn around trying to go to your mother.

But everything turns red. The door close on your face.

"Mommy, please let me out ! I'm scare !" 

The red light pulses, slow and steady, like a heartbeat that isn’t yours.

You flinch.

Then Elianna’s voice threads through the dark, soft and trembling. "Don’t be afraid, sweetheart. I sealed the windows. And the door. It’s for your own good."

You bang on the door, fists small and aching. “No, Mommy, please. I want to be with you! Let me out."

No answer.

"Mommy!"

Only the sound of her whispering, low, wet, and wrong. So wrong ! Slipping through the cracks in the wood. It speaks in a voice that almost sounds like hers. Almost.

Outside, Aunt Cecily’s eyes blink once. Then again. Then vanish.

The thunder stops singing.

The silence grows teeth and claws. Ready to devours you. 

Behind you, Plushie twitches.

You turn.

It’s smiling now.

But Plushie never smiled before. It can't!

The room bends inward, walls breathing like black lungs. 

You scream.

This time, it comes out. Raw. Powerful. 

But no one hears it.

Not in this world.

Not anymore.

Cause you’re nothing.

No one.

Alone.