It had been years since her son had gently opened her bedroom door in the middle of almost every night, creeping across the floor to lay a small hand on her shoulder and whisper with warm breath, Mommy, come.

On nights when the fear-filled call came from his room, she would run to him, and croon, Mommy’s here, honey, willing him to awaken and lose the fear that caused his little body to quiver, eyes open, moaning incoherently. As mother-protector, she staunched her own childish dread of nightmares in the dark.

Until that night.

Since he was long gone from home, there was no reason for her door to open or for shuffling steps to approach the bed. In her fright, she wants to reach for her husband’s hand, but she cannot move; afraid to speak, afraid to see, she lays trembling with eyes squeezed shut.

A cold hand touches her breast, long fingers clasping her shoulder. In her head, she hears a voice like chalk on a blackboard say, some dreams do come true, as she feels the hand sink through skin, take hold of her heart and squeeze.

The medical examiner stated cause of death as myocardial infarction.

I’m sorry. “What did you do?” You little girl...so innocent. Your cries fade away within the void you created. You did this too many times.

Do not ccccccrrrrryyyyy, Dear child,

...Your mistake...is your...doom...

Fallen to the horror within your c r i m e s

The darkness is your f f f f r r r r i i i i e e e n n n d d d

...So much fear...

(((It devours you whole))))

Close your eyes. You hhhhheeeeaaaarrrrr them? They ssssccccrrrrreeeaaaammm. They all

f f f f f e e e e e a a a a r r r r r you.

You little little girl. You did this too many times? They f e e l you. They h u r t you. They h a t e you.

It will not be long till you stand their place. ...L i t t l e g i r l...

It will not be long before you are the one to S C R E A M

Little girl...

You did this...

Little girl...

You hide this...

Little girl...

You built this...

Little girl...

You K I L L E D this...

She had been chasing her breathing for what had felt like forever but just couldn’t seem to catch it. The air in the room seemed to have grown too thick to swallow. The taste of the last bit of smoke from the extinguished candles caught the back of her throat. The blackness of the room went on forever as she tried to find the others in her panic, trying to listen for them but there was nothing. Not a sound echoed through the room that held five friends not moments earlier.

She shuffled across the floor towards what she hoped was the door. The decaying wood underneath her hands and knees stuck into her like little needles. Tears fell from her cheeks silently as she felt her hands move over the thick dried paint they had put there earlier in the night. She knew that meant she was out of the circle. The door couldn’t be too much farther. The cabin had not been that big.

Her shaking hand reached up where her mind thought the doorknob was, she was going to make it out. Suddenly the cold breath on the back of her neck told her she was wrong.

The first thing that hit her was the smell. It was overwhelming, like rotting meat and some other putrid smell that she couldn't describe. There was a sound droning on, like the sound you would hear if you got too close to a beehive.

"We're heeeerrrree!" he said, with such a vile tone in his voice as he threw her in a chair in the center of the room and tied her down. He took off the sack that was on her head and then, she saw them.

Flies. They were flies.

The air was so thick with them that it looked black. She couldn't feel the floor, just the piles of rotting fly meat squishing under her feet. The man spoke."My babies ran out of meat, so I found you. you should be enough...supply for a little while."

He started to walk back up the staircase, "They should be hatching now so, try not to make too much noise." Suddenly she felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside. Her screams being muffled by the hundreds of flies finding the way into her throat until all you could hear was the droning on of the swarm.

“Good night, daddy, will you check under my bed and closet before you turn the light out.”

"of course pumpkin, did you have fun tonight all dressed up, going trick or treating?"

"Yes daddy, i did, i loved being a princess warrior. can i sleep with my sword."

"of course." and he hands her the plastic golden sword with the words princess warrior written on it. He checks under the bed and the closet for her and leaves the door open when he turns the light out and leaves the room.

At midnight the little girl is awakened with terror seeing something not human standing around her bed. they were not like her dad. they were from somewhere else another world. they had red hooded cloaks with masks all looking different some had long noses some had two noses. pure terror has stricken this little girl and she can’t move, she can’t scream they have paralyzed her. two of them walk up to either side of the bed and grab her by her arms and legs while a third one comes over and sticks her with a long thick needle. and took her away. never to be seen again.

In a convent on the mountains of the Pyrenees, Elena gave birth to the daughter of Ivan, the Immortal One. He is a vampire, along with his closest ally, the Vampire of Ogrencisi. Unknown to her, her lover had already died in battle. The nuns would not tell her in fear of the precariousness of her pregnancy. She was already due when, walking among the blue flowers in the garden, she felt the first pangs of pain.

Ogrencisi could feel each and every doubling pain Elena felt, as he sat on the desert sands, wearied from battle and drew a circle on the sands with the infinity sign directed to the mountains of the Pyrenees. Unlike Ivan he had never had never had a woman in his whole immortal life. But tonight as the moon pierced through the sky to shine on his figures on the sand he came to realize the daughter of his friend shall be his wife on her twenty first birthday.

He saddled his horse and set course for the mountains.

Upon arriving at the door of the convent, Elena, who had already given birth knew and kissed the forehead of her daughter goodbye and died.