Nightly Intruder

The entire night was no more peaceful for Adea than the previous. The nightmare from before was the most horrible she had ever experienced, and she hoped it would never happen again. This night, however, was no better. Adea's sleep was plagued by fleeting dreams of voices whispering to her from the shadows. They came one after the other with very little reprieve in between. Most of the time, she just heard the voices as if they were all around her, whispering in her ears. She could not understand what they were saying, but they were many. Actually, it sounded more like the same voice but speaking to her from multiple angles, and it was conversing with itself.

The voices only sounded for a few minutes at a time, but in her lucid state of sleep, it felt like an eternity. An eternity of pure fear. Every Time she heard them, Adea refused to allow her mind's eye to open and clenched her real eyes as tight as she could. She could feel their presence all around her and did not want to see who or what the voices belonged to. They became so incessant that Adea eventually pulled her pillow around the back of her head and held it firmly against her ears, but it did not stop the voices from seeping into her mind as if angry that she was trying to resist.

This time, the whispering did not fade away after a few minutes. Her heart was racing as they continued to grow louder and more sporadic. She felt the uncontrollable urge to scream rising to the surface, and just could let one out, her eyes flew open.

The whispers had ceased. Once again, it took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, but she found herself lying on her back. Everything had gone silent. The only thing she could hear was her heavy breathing and the beating of her own heart. It was then that she noticed something peculiar and very frightening.

Adea realized she was not lying in her bed, but rather on the hard, wooden floor in the center of her room. Her head was pointed toward the bedroom door and she could see the open window on the opposite end of the room. She could sense that she had woken up and guessed that she had tossed and turned so much throughout the night that she ended up on the floor somehow. The worst part, however, was that she realized she could not move a muscle.

She was frozen there upon the floor. She tried to command her limbs to move but they would not budge. Her next attempt was to cry out for help but her mouth refused to move either. The only thing she could move was her eyes as she glanced anxiously all around the room. It was almost as if her arms and legs were bound and someone had gagged her, but she felt no bindings nor gags. She could feel an intense pressure upon her chest as if someone was pinning her down with a heavy foot. She was terrified beyond description.

Adea's heart stopped when she heard a muffled thump come from downstairs. She listened intently as another thump sounded, followed by another, and she began to panic. Someone was coming up the stairs. Adea struggled desperately against her paralysis but to no avail. Every part of her body persistently refused to move. The footsteps climbing the staircase were heavy and slow, and Adea was convinced that it was an intruder. She tried to muster as much will as she could to call out for her parents. Nothing would come out.

The footsteps were near. Adea's eyes rolled back toward the door when she heard it begin to creak open, much like the way it did in her dream the previous night.

"No," Adea uttered in her head. This time, the door slowly opened the entire way. Adea felt an incredibly cold rush envelop her. As much as she wanted to look away, her eyes were glued toward the top of her head so that she could just barely see below the top of the door frame. The hallway outside was darker than the bedroom, and as the door opened up, Adea heard what sounded like a cold, raspy moan flow inside.

The floorboards began to creak. Somebody was stepping through the doorway. A tear of horror leaked out of Adea's eye, and before long, she saw a pitch black figure come into her view. From her angle, all she could make out was the head of the figure. It was towering over her and appeared to be staring down at her. Adea could not make out any distinctive features. The figure's head was darker than its surroundings. There were no eyes, no nose or mouth, no hair, nothing.

The pressure in Adea's chest was stronger now than ever. It was excruciating. The figure knelt behind her, leering at her with its faceless, shadowy form. Adea could not take her eyes away from it, managing to let out a weak whimper as it got closer. Eventually, the figure's head floated no more than six inches away from her face. Her heart was pounding furiously. The pain it was causing her was very real, which meant that what she was seeing was real. This was not a dream. She had never been more scared and helpless in her life.

Suddenly, the figure manifested a pair of eyes. It was just like the nightmare from before when this monster had taken the form of her own sister. The eyes that appeared were large and glowed with a hellish, yellow hue. She regained just enough control of her body to let out rapid fits of terrified breaths through her nostrils. It was as if this thing was playing a sick game with her, allowing her only enough strength to display that she was afraid beyond description.

Then the worst happened.

The monster slowly opened its mouth. Adea's eyes were as wide as humanly possible as she was met by two rows of the most horrifying, unnatural-looking teeth like thirty sharp, elongated knives. Just when its mouth reached the point of Human limitations, it continued to expand like the razor-sharp maw of a serpent. Adea whimpered and sobbed with the only bit of strength she had, but every instinct was urging her to scream in terror.

As the mouth opened twice as wide as any Human she had ever seen, Adea heard the raspy moaning come forth from the black hole that was its throat. The moaning escalated until the creature let forth a horrifying, guttural roar that sounded like an animal's distorted cry as if it was being slaughtered. Adea's eyes were forced shut, and just like that, every muscle in her body gradually began to come back to her. Her sobs became a screech, until at last her mouth flew open to let out the horrific screams she had harbored ever since she had awoken.

She could barely catch her breath, the urge to scream was overwhelming, as was her fear. She opened her eyes as she cried out. The creature was still knelt above her, its mouth wide open as it continued to wail at her from above. It raised a black, spidery-fingered hand and began to lower it toward her face. Adea shut her eyes again, and just then, she immediately regained control of her entire body, but all she could do was throw her arms up as if to shield herself. A hand grabbed her firmly by the wrist. Adea screamed louder than ever, thrashing about on the floor as she waited for the demon to do something to her.

"Adea!" a voice called out to her. She barely registered it as she flailed uncontrollably. "Adea!"

Something snatched hold of her other wrist, trying to hold her still. Adea only struggled while her arms were pulled away from her face.

"Adea, calm down! Wake up!"

Against every fiber of her being, Adea opened her eyes again. Though she was still screaming at the top of her lungs, she was shocked to find herself staring up at the face of her sister.

"Adea!" Lyda repeated, trying to get through to her. "Look at me!"

Adea's screams slowly began to dissipate, her wide eyes glued to her sister's. Lyda's heart was pounding just as hard as Adea's. Just then, she heard the frantic scrambling of footsteps coming from down the hall. Lyda glanced down at the leather-bound book she had dropped by her side and pushed it away so that it slid into the shadows beneath her bed. A second later, their parents rushed through the open the door.

Adea had calmed down, though her heart was still racing from the terrible fright. Her mother waved Lyda away as she knelt over her, placing a hand over her sweaty forehead.

"What on earth happened?" she asked in concern.

Adea burst into tears as she sat up. "I saw it," she said, choking on her own words. "There was something in here!"

"Shhh," her mother hushed her. "You were just dreaming."

"I wasn't," Adea cried. "I saw it, I swear! It was kneeling over me where you are now! It was black and had horrible, yellow eyes! I wanted to scream but I couldn't move!"

Lyda listened intently by her side. She was struck by genuine fear for her sister's wellbeing. This was the second night terror in a row, and it was far worse than she could have ever imagined.

Her father looked back at the doorway. "Why was the door open?"

Lyda's blood ran cold. He was right to express concern. Their bedroom door was closed at all times at night and neither of them were supposed to leave the room unless it was necessary.

He stepped out of the room and looked down the hallway. "Lyda," he said, beckoning for her to follow. "Come with me."

Feeling her heart skip a beat. This was it. Her parents knew what she had done and were preparing to discipline her. Lyda stood to her feet, which were trembling like jelly. She lumbered past Adea, who was locked in her mother's arms and sobbing uncontrollably, and followed her father out of the room.

He led her down the stairs, taking each step slowly and quietly as he held the candlelight in front of him. "Lyda," he began in a whisper. "I want you to tell me what happened."

"What?" Lyda stammered, struggling to control her heart rate.

"Why was your bedroom door open?" he asked in the same stern voice he used when he was about to issue punishment. "And why was your sister on the floor screaming?"

Lyda took a deep, shaky breath before saying the first thing that came to her mind. "I don't know," she lied. "She woke me up and I found her lying on the floor with the door wide open."

At the bottom of the staircase, her father rounded the corner and headed toward the front door of the cottage, holding his hand out for Lyda to stay behind him. "So you didn't see anything?" he asked. "Or anybody?"

"No, Father," Lyda gave her insincere reply.

He approached the door and thoroughly checked the locks, which were fastened just as he had left them. He turned and stared like a hawk back down the foyer.

"Father?" Lyda said with a confused look in her eyes.

Without responding, he slipped past her and headed toward the kitchen. Lyda followed him in as he went for the back door. He froze suddenly, staring motionless at the door, and Lyda tried to figure out what he was thinking until she saw it. The small, metal latch was hanging on the door frame, leaving it open for anybody to enter.

Lyda's breath was knocked from her lungs. The realization suddenly hit her that she had forgotten to lock the door when she returned. She slipped back inside after returning Hazel to her stable, but as soon as she had entered the cottage, that was when she heard Adea screaming, and she rushed upstairs to find her flailing upon the floor in one of her night terrors. The first thought that came to her mind now was that this was the end of it. Her father would surely discover that she had left the house, and she braced herself for the worst.

Her father opened the door and peered outside. There was nothing to be seen or heard but the rustling of the trees in the wind. He closed the door and fixed the latch before turning to his daughter. "Lyda," he said, pointing toward the staircase. "Go back to your room and stay there. Keep the door closed and go to sleep."

"Yes, sir." Without a second thought, Lyda turned and hurried back up the stairs, not wanting to give her father a chance to see the anxiety in her eyes.

Back in her room, her mother was helping Adea get comfortable in her bed. Adea's face was white as a ghost and stained by all the tears she had shed. Their mother was knelt by her bedside, holding her shaking hands in her own. She turned her head to see Lyda lumber in. She kissed Adea on the forehead just as she did the previous night and stood up to face her oldest.

She placed a hand on Lyda's shoulder, who looked back up into her loving blue eyes, and in a quiet tone she said, "She needs her sister now more than ever."

Lyda nodded her head in silence. When her father returned to the doorway, he just gave his wife a look that urged her to come with him. Without another word, she gave a quick glance back at Adea before exiting the room, shutting the door behind her.

Adea shifted in her bed so that she was facing the wall. Lyda looked at her with a strong sense of pity. The state that her sister was in made her take a long look back at all the meager jokes she had played on her in the past. To see her now in so much fear and mental distress was heart-wrenching. She wished she had a way to help her stop these horrid visions.

Lyda approached her sister's bed, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. Adea did not so much as flinch at her touch.

"They think I'm mad," Adea whimpered.

"No they don't," Lyda responded firmly.

"They don't believe me. They tell me it was a dream but I know what it was. I was awake when it happened. I had just woken up from a dream, and I was stuck on the floor. It opened the door and walked in. It leaned right over my head and wailed at me. The next thing I knew, you were there trying to calm me down. It was real, Lyda. I don't know what it is, but it was the same thing I saw last night too, and I'm so scared to go back to sleep."

Lyda knelt by her bedside. Adea turned over until she was face to face with her sister. Her eyes were bloodshot, and behind them Lyda could see that her soul was scarred by fear. Whatever was visiting her these past few nights, whatever it was that was haunting her relentlessly, Lyda had a feeling it was not going to stop.

"Is it going to end?" Adea asked as if reading her thoughts.

Lyda laid a hand upon her sister's innocent face and gave her a loving smile. "It will," she said. "I will help you find a way to get rid of these nightmares, whatever it takes. I promise you."

With that, Adea's face opened into a smile of her own. Lyda was sincere in her words. She did not know why these things were happening, but their mother always said the darkest spirits of this world preyed on the weak. Adea was not weak. Lyda refused to believe that. She just needed the chance overcome her fears and to believe that she could be stronger than them. In a strange way, Lyda thought she might find some sort of answers in the leather-bound book. She knew, however, that after tonight, there was no way she could keep it without her parents discovering it. Sooner or later, Aunt Mara would surely discover that it was missing. She had to put it back where she found it immediately. No matter, she thought. She would be quite content with the pages she discovered in the place called the Crossing.

"Matthias?" their mother said as soon as they had returned to the confines of their own bedroom. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, Alyra," their father sighed as if deep in thought. "The back door was unlocked. That was not how I left it before we sent the girls to bed."

"Do you think there may have been an intruder?" She shuddered at the idea of somebody having been in her daughters' room.

"That just doesn't seem right in my mind. But I can't believe that it was one of the girls either."

"Maybe it was someone else."

Matthias only stared at her, first with a look of disbelief, then shifting into reason. "She rarely ever comes out of the cellar, let alone in the middle of the night."

"Your sister is not well. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The Mistresses warned your parents about it the same way they warned us against teaching Lyda about the Spirits. They do terrible things to good people, and if it's true that she is doing anything to cause Adea to have these night terrors, then I won't have her staying in my house any longer."

"Just calm yourself," he said with a tone of offense.

"I'll be calm when I know that my children are safe. Just please go and have a talk with Mara. Tell her that any mention of the Spirits in this house will be tolerated no longer. Please."

He thought for a moment before taking a deep breath of affirmation. "I will, but not tonight. It will be dawn soon. Let's just make it through the rest of the night and I'll have a talk with Mara while the girls are away."

"Adea will be here with me. I need her help in the garden."

"Not tomorrow. Let her go off with her friends. That's what she needs; to enjoy herself so she can forget about these things. It's stress that's giving her nightmares, not the Spirits."

"Well," she sighed, "maybe you're right about that."

"Good then. Now, get some sleep," he said as he made his way out of the bedroom.

"Where are you going?"

"To keep watch for the rest of the night. Just in case."