3 Sweet dreams and a beautiful nightmare

I check my mom's wrist. I feel a tiny sliver of pulse. "Mariah, honey? Is that you?" My mom asks in her dying breath.

I put both my hands on my mom's face, "Yes, it is me mama Mariah. D-don't speak anymore. I'll take y-you to the hospital. Don't die on me mama. You can make it. You can make it." I can't stop sobbing and my mom looks in pain not because of her wounds but because of me crying. She is still thinking of me through her situation. I can't live without them. I need them beside me. I won't survive the cruel world without them. Who would do this awful thing to them? They're kind. Innocent. Sweet people.

"No. Shh...stop crying honey, you need to be strong." I start shaking my head, she needs to stop talking. "No listen to me Mariah." She puts her hand on my face, caressing me. "Go with Kane, he would protect you. It's not safe for you here anymore. Do you understand? Go with him. Go. Go honey..." I am about to disagree with her but she shush me again. She gives the man, Kane, a stern look. "Protect her. Don't let them take her. She's our only hope." She says and then...she slowly withers. She is gone. Her body feels so cold. I cry harder.

No, it can't be! She can't be! They can't be! Why does this weird things keeps happening to me? Why me? Who would do this inhumane thing? And who would take me? There are too many questions, just insane questions, running amok in my head.

Are the demons behind this? It pops out in my head. I roam my eyes in the vastness of our house, nothing seems to be a sign of struggle anywhere. Then how? They don't have anything worth stealing. I glance at my parents' still bodies. My mom is holding a knife, blood all over it. I can't think of anything straight but why would they. I look at Kane for some answers. Pleading him for something to make sense in this situation.

"Something tried to possess them. They chose death instead." Oh my god! They killed their selves. I keep on crying even as Kane try to pull me up, away from them.

"We have to go. Now!" Kane hisses at me angrily.

"No! I won't leave them here!" I plead with him. I can't just leave them, they are my only family. "Don't take them away from me!" I struggle and try to kick him but he's strong.

Kane shakes his head, points a finger in my forehead and whispers, "Nunc tibi somnus." A soft melody hums in my head calming my nerves before everything goes dark and sleep takes me to the land of darkness.

...

"Honey, wake up. Come on sleepy head," my mama's sweet voice creeps into my head and I open my eyes. "Breakfast time. Happy Birthday." She kisses my nose and I smile at her.

"Where is my gift mama?" I ask her jumping off my bed, excited. "I'm eight now, do I get to have a kitty now?" I clap my hands, waiting for an answer.

My mama's expression changes, "We talked about it, right? No pets honey."

"I know. I know. But, there is no harm in asking, right? You might as well give in to me." I smile, pulls my mama's hand. "Common, hurry up! I'm starving! I'm going to eat all the pancakes you make!" I laugh as climb down the stairs. I am happy.

"Aw, easy there tiger." I look at my mama's face, I smile widely making my tongue peek through the gaps on my missing teeth. I run down the stairs and through the kitchen.

"Papa!" I jump to my papa, grabbing his neck. "Did you got me, my present? Did you? You didn't forget, right?"

"Hmm...let us take a look outside?" He carries me to the open door but he stops with mama's voice.

"Hey, we got to eat first."

"Mama!" Me and papa shout ot once.

Mama laugh, "You said you're hungry? Okay, okay. Ten minutes only."

"Yay!" I shout, jumping down my papa and running through our porch. I see a pink princess bike with ruffles and matching pink sparkly helmet and knee pads. "For real?" My parents laugh as I hurriedly wear my gears. I put up a hand when daddy tries to help me. "I'm a big girl now! Can I ride in the neighborhood? Ten minutes! I swear! I will be back for the pancakes. I promise! "

"Sure. Don't go too far, okay?" My mama says. I nod my head and wave my goodbye to them.

I ride my bike and wave to the few people passing by. They wave back at me with wide smiles like I am a superstar. I feel really happy and it is amazing!

"Looking good, Mariah. Is it that day again, your birthday?" The mailman asks me.

"Yeah, Joe!"

"How old are you now?"

"I'm eight now!"

"You are a big girl indeed, aren't you?"

"Yep. Do we have letters? I'll bring it home with my new ride!" I offer the mailman.

"Okay, here then." Joe hands me a few mails and I put it in my little pink basket.

"Bye, Joe!" I wave to him and head my way back home.

"Bye, kiddo!"

"Bye bye, Joe!" I pedal my bike the fastest I can and go straight home.

"I got mails!" I announce as I step out off my bike. I run inside our house and stop as I hear my parents hush voices.

"Love, she's growing so fast. I can't even think of the day when she'll leave us, she's asking for a pet and I cannot give it to her," mama says holding my daddy's hand. I am peeking through the small hole on the shelf.

"She has to, one day she'll understand everything," papa counters.

"But, she's just a kid. Can she really do it?"

"She can, love. She can," papa says with serious tone, his forehead furrows with a small frown.

"What if she chooses the other side?"

"Those are what ifs, Karen. Besides that is our purpose to her, to raise her with a good heart. We are doing our best so you don't have tow worry." Mama's face saddens with what daddy tells  her. I don't want her sad. Besides what are they talking about anyway, I will never leave them. And I'm always a good girl too. Those two are silly...

"I got mails," I announce again sitting on my spot in the nook. "Here they are." I put the mails on the table, pushing them on my parents' side. I reach for my plate. I casually cuts my pancake and puts the pieces to my mouth. "Hmm...yum, yum!"

"Honey, how long you've been here? Do you hear anything, we are talking about?" Papa asks me. "You know what I told you about sneaking behind our backs?"

"Hmm...nah, what will I hear?" I answer innocently. I don't really know why I am lying to them but it seems the right thing to do.

"Really?"

"Ah-huh," I answer my mama.

"Really?" mama repeats pressing the question. Her eyes focuses on me. I think she's mad at me so I divert my gaze to the soggy pancakes. "Mariah, you know that I dislike it when you lie, right? So tell me the truth. The truth!" The temperature in the room rises as if it is almost boiling. I look up from my plate to my mama's face. "Tell me the truth this once!" Mama's voice booms in my ears.

Though I am afraid I lift my head to her, "Ahh!" I shout loudly. "Mama!" Two horrid looking creatures are wrapping their scaly green hands on both my parents' neck, while smiling horridly at me.

"What is it honey?" Papa asks me as if there's nothing wrong happening to them. "Are you ready to tell us the truth?"

"B-but d--" My voice got lost somewhere and I can't move. I keep shouting but no sounds are coming out from my mouth. It's silent, too silent that it hurts my ears but I dont care because the two people in front of me are far more important than the pain. My breathing spikes this cannot be real. I close my eyes tightly. Seemingly the temperature lowers down. I open my eyes and with a span of a second the scene before me changes.

I am not an eight year old anymore but a seventeen year old teenage girl. An invisible hand is holding me, straining my movements. My dad lies by my foot, soaking in his own blood, across from him is my mom holding a blood dripping knife. Behind her, gripping her like a hostage is a demon. She looks scared, her eyes are telling me but she's smiling as if she knows what's coming next but won't do anything about it.

No! I shout loudly in my head, desperately wanting to get her. But she shakes her head telling me its okay. It's okay, even when the demon's talon like fingers are now slicing through her face. She's still smiling and I still can't move. An angry stream of tears run down my face.

Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Nooooo!

I wake up from another dreadful dream, grasping for breath but this time the horrors are real. The memory of the night come pouring to me like heavy rain. I cry and cry. My parents are dead and I'm alone. The image of their cold unmoving bodies keep flashing in my head. I try to erase them with a shake but they won't. It's like they are embedded in my brains forever.  I need them badly. I need them to tell me everything is going to be okay. Why would someone steal them from me? I can't stop crying, my chest hurts as if it wants to explode.

Mom said I need to be strong and I cannot do it. How can I be strong when they are gone and I am all alone? I promise her I will but I cannot. They are my strength. They are the only ones I have and now that they are gone who do I have?

"Ahh!" I shout into the room from all the frustrations. Whoever demon made them do it, will pay. They snatch away the most important persons in my life, I didn't even get to say goodbye to my dad.

I miss them badly. I cry harder, fisting the sheet I'm sleeping on with my two hands. I need to know who did it and why.

I will make them pay. I will make them pay big.