2:00 AM
The clock on the wall chimed 2:00 as the wind rustled the leaves outside of the two story suburban home. Inside, Kelly Mock awoke to the sound of her daughter’s scream splitting the darkness, rending it apart.
She rushed in, flipped on the light, and found her daughter hiding under the covers. Kelly walked over and sat on her daughter’s bed. She pulled the covers off of young Lillian’s head.
“No mommy, don’t!” the little girl exclaimed as she made to cover her face again. Lillian was whiter than snow, with beads of sweat running down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong baby? Did you have a bad dream again?” Kelly touched her daughter’s forehead. A little warm, but not indicative of a fever.
“There is nobody here sweetheart. See, nobody even in your closet,” she said as she got off the bed and opened the closet. “You probably just ima-” Kelly stopped mid-sentence, mid word, as a shiver ran down her spine. The breeze that had so quietly filled the neighborhood with a light summer air was now flirting with the edge of the curtains on Lillian’s window. Kelly approached the ledge and pulled back the thin, black fabric sheets. There was the window, and also a 2 inch gap, that had not been there before.
“Lillian, I locked your window before I went to bed. When did you open it?”
“I didn’t mommy, I promise! He must have opened it!” Kelly looked out towards the empty street, down as far as she could see. Surely her little girl was just having a nightmare, right? Could it be possible that someone had broken in to their home?
“Tell you what darling. Your father will be home later, and we will have him look at the window, ok? For tonight, you can come sleep in my room.” Kelly grabbed her little girl and the blanket that she kept with her, like most seven year olds have. The curtains on the window fluttered as a street light went out a few houses down, covering the corner in complete darkness.
10:37 AM
Kelly was making toast and eggs, while Lillian was coloring at the kitchen table, when the doorbell rang.
“Oh I wonder who that could be?” Kelly jokingly asked as she set the timer on the toaster and went to answer the door.
“Hello there gorgeous!” Roger Mock was a business man, specializing in sales and marketing for a large insurance company on the west coast. This didn’t bother Kelly, but it was lonely when he had to leave for a week or so to take business trips away from their South Carolina home.
“Hey daddy!” Lillian ran into his arms and he scooped her up.
“How are you darling?” Roger spun her around and set her down.
“I’m fine, just got scared last night.”
“What happened?” Roger looked at Kelly when he asked this.
“She had a nightmare about a man in her room, but she says she just dreamed him, right Lillian?”
“Right, it was all a dream. I’m okay and so is mommy, and so are you daddy!”
Roger chuckled as he went down the hall to unpack his suitcase.
Kelly entered in behind him and shut the bedroom door. “Hey Roger…this may sound odd…but the window in her room was open after she got scared and…well…do you think someone could have opened it?”
“Well, I suppose so,” he replied, eyeing his wife cautiously. “If you want, I’ll check the locks today, and see if I notice anything in the yard.”
Kelly leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, then went back out to tend to the breakfast.
11:30 PM
Roger climbed in to the bed he shared with Kelly, and took the book from her hands.
“Did you check to make sure everything was locked?”
“Yes I did. Nobody will be getting in this house, I guarantee.” Roger kissed his wife and they both soon drifted to sleep.
2:11 AM
The floorboards creaked inside of Lillian’s room as the wind blew hard against the tightly sealed window.
10:04 AM
It was Roger who was now awoken by screams. Screams from his wife, who had just walked in to her daughter’s room to find a pool of blood dripping from the bed to the floor, her daughter in the middle. A thin red line extended from one side of her neck to the other, and her mouth hung open at an odd angle. Roger had to take hold of his wife, who was now convulsing with despair. She was trying to hit the walls, to bang her head on them, and it was all he could do to drag her out of the room. Then they saw the message, written in the young girl’s blood on the door:
SHE TRIED TO WARN YOU
Kelly screamed violently, and Roger pulled her down the hallway, and into the living room. He went back and took a picture of the scene, then shut the door. He pressed three numbers on his phone.
“Hello this is 911, what is your emergency?”
3:55 PM
Roger and Kelly entered the police station to give their statement as the scene was documented and taped off in their house.
7:12 PM
Roger and Kelly came home to find a house covered in police tape on one side, and depressing memories on the other. They got ready for bed, and settled in, trying to make sense of why their lives were shattered.
“Baby, we can figure this out tomorrow. Let’s get some rest.” He shut off the light.
2:22 AM
Roger Mock got out of bed and went down the hall. He grabbed his coat from the closet, and came back to his bedroom. He entered the master bathroom and pulled his traveling bag from under the sink. He opened it and put in the essentials: his toothbrush, his floss, his straight edged razor. The razor he hadn’t cleaned. The razor still covered in the blood of his daughter. He zipped up the bag and turned off the light. He sat on the edge of the bed and filled his suitcase with his business clothes and a few things for travelling. He walked out of the room, taking care to step over the body of his dead wife, who had been smothered to death in her sleep, the silk covered pillow lying beside her lifeless corpse.
Roger got in his car and plugged his phone into the charger. He opened it and scrolled through the contacts, stopping at Amanda Gardner. He pressed CALL.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Rin- “Mmmff…hello?”
“Hey gorgeous, I’m leaving the meeting and I’ll be home soon. Can’t wait to tell you and the kids all about my trip!” He said, smiling in the rearview and looking at the 2 story house in the background, the summer wind whipping the branches in the trees.
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Credits to: thomasatnip
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