What happened, Mr. Anderson?

[in Mr. Anderson's story]

The clinking of tableware and chewing noises were the only sound in the house "Sleep early after we eat" he broke out the silence between him and his son but the thunder and pouring rain tapping on the roof was the only thing he heard for a response.

The little boy barely touched his food and was playing with it. It is like he was just waiting for his father to finish eating so he could come up and be alone in his bedroom. He has always been a quiet kid since his mother passed away not too long ago.

The awkward silence ended when a match of lightning and thunder strike that made his son jolted and ran to his arms in fear. In his surprise, he realized his son is afraid of lightning and thunder and made use of his fear to get closer to him, ruffling his hand through his son's hair and said "it's just thunder, come let's eat" he picked him up by the underarm and placed him on the chair next to him.

They finished their meal and the father is left to do the dishes while his son ran upstairs, and entered his bedroom.

A sudden flash from the sky lightens the small bedroom for a split second. There, the little boy stood and caught a glimpse of his room that was covered in darkness. Upon seeing the corner of the room, he shivered down to his spine. A thin woman which stood up tiptoed to the ceiling, made him take a step back from this 'person'.

She was looking down and even though her black hair covered her whole face, a small gap in between her strands, revealed a terrifying feature, but the red that covered her lips accentuated above else. She was weeping. Her whispered cries echoed in the room that made his ears tingle with a chill.

He jumped to the noise of the thunder and sudden opening of his door. He looked to the doorway, his father peak by the door and entered " I told you to sleep early, come sleep now" he was moved by his father to the bed and tucked him in.

But the boy's eyes are still wide awake. He scanned his eyes around the room but the woman was nowhere to be found. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦, he sat worriedly. He was sure no 'person' could just enter and disappear in his room with only one door out. So, he toughens his heart out, grabbed the edge side of his mattress taking a peek under his bed.

But there was only darkness and eerie silence. Confused, he took his head back up, then a cold sweat broke out from his neck and he felt the temperature dropped from his back. He slowly turned his head back to the bed.

There lied, a woman drenched in blood as if a projection of her death. The flash of lightning revealed the woman's eyes looking at the ceiling and shifted her gaze to him so quickly he jolted and fell on the floor, he backed up but was dragged by slender arms under his bed and pulled him as he tried to yank his way out, his scream faded out.

The sound of a heavy fall and a fading scream alerted his father, he ran up to the room of his son where the sound came from. He caught his breath before kicking the door open so hard that it almost breaks the hinge of it.

The door flew open and he saw his son sleeping soundly facing the wall. He was dismayed that he might've woken up his son. He tucked his son to bed himself, it would've been ridiculous if he happens to wake him up. He walked up to his son's bed and bowed down to kiss his shoulder "goodnight". Though the windows are definitely closed, it felt cold in his room. Brushing the cold sensation, he walked out and pondered, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?.

It would be lovely if he had seen that his 'son' frowned at him.

He went down to the dining table and sat. His eyes seem restless if he was seen by another person he would've been mistaken for an addict. He massaged his forehead from distraught, chugged the last liquor in his glass, and soon fell asleep.

By the time he woke up, the thunders have calmed. It hasn't been thirty minutes since he dozes off and he started to hear that made his hair stood up, another loud but shrilling voice coming from upstairs. He knew, that no way his son could make such high pitched noise that sounded like hell.

He stood up to the noise trying to locate the source of the voice, but the noise was coming from both the left and right side of his ears. He couldn't tell where it is coming from so he slowly took steps to each area in the house.

He walked in the kitchen and surely the sound did not come from here, rather it only made the sound less audible. But since he was there already, he thought of grabbing a knife to protect himself, however, his son flashed in his mind. 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, he then went to find the rolling pin in the drawer.

He wandered around the living room and noticed the time. "Huh, 3:20 am and this house is soundproof it can't be from outside" he scowled, maybe because he hasn't been having a goodnight rest for days but finally be able to sleep and be awoken by unusual noise surely is irritating.

He clenched his teeth to keep in his anger. Raising his 'weapon' to his shoulder level, he was cautious of every step he took while trying to locate the shrilling voice. He began to walk on the staircase very lightly. The sound became louder somehow, he went to his room but going there made the sound farther.

He searched the whole house and at last, ended up at the last door in the corridor; his son's room, again.

Reaching out to grab the door handle, he noticed that his hands have been unconsciously shivering and tightened the grip on the rolling pin and raised it a little higher. His stance is in attack mode to who or whatever may be behind this door beside his son. He gulped and opened it.

As soon as he stepped a foot in his room, the atmosphere felt heavy and the darkness did not hinder his sight but it also heightened his fear. He flicked the light switch but it did not turn on. 𝘕𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯. After adjusting his eyes to the pitch black, he scanned the room and saw the shadow figures of the furnitures in the room.

He froze upon seeing his son, and a floating woman covered in blood holding his son's hand. His feet couldn't move to take his son or run away, its as if a hand is preventing his feet to walk away from where he stood.

The shrilling voice resonates in his head, the sound of laughter, and cries made his head aches so much that it felt like it was about to burst that caused him to drop the rolling pin and knelt holding his head to keep it intact. His 'weapon' rolled before his son's foot and the little boy took it with his left hand.

He tightly closed his eyes from the whisper that gave him an intense headache, but realizing that he lowered his guard down, he opens one of his eyes and slightly lifted his head. Her expression turned sour and her grin shifted to dropping jaw to the level of her chest. Her mouth imitated a void of nothingness, her face stretched and the sight of it made him fell and sit on his arse. She came closer to his face and screeched, her bloodshot eyes turned black and dark nerves appeared around her eyes.

His eyes widened. Dark eyes were right in front of him, there was nothing he could see not even in his peripheral view. Her hair covered his side sight which made him only focus on her eyes and her face, then he saw a familiar colour tone of lipstick which her wife wore on the day she committed suicide. He 𝗺𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 to himself repeatedly, "But you're dead already, please don't take him away"