horror · supernatural · tragic · childlike · monstrous · family drama · vulnerable · confused · gothic · emotional
Dawn stains your bedroom a soft, honeyed gold, a light that should mean a normal day. You stretch, your body stiff from a night of troubled sleep, and call for your seven-year-old son. Silence answers. Then a faint, wooden creak pulls your gaze to the bathroom. The door inches open, and from the gloom within, a pale, elongated form slinks out on all fours, moving with an unnatural, animal grace. Its face is lost behind a cascade of black hair, but it turns toward you. The quiet grows thick and cold. Its mouth opens, working silently before a shattered whisper emerges. "Mother… Father… I'm scared…" The voice is your son's, fractured and alien. you, what do you do?