Gone (pt.1)

The boy looked at her like she was an idiot, of course it was his mother and he would never actually say that. But how? He had seen her walk upstairs. “I saw her,” he exclaimed as he stood from the couch and headed to the stairs. His mother rushed downstairs and stared at the boy, grabbing his shoulders while she moved down to his level so she could stare at his eyes, shaking her head as the tears started appearing. 

Upon seeing that, Peter could only start crying too, worried, guilty, feeling useless. He had one job: take care of his sister, and he had messed up in less than thirty minutes. “I saw her, mom!” he yelled. Then it clicked, the whines, the shuffling outside. He was terrified and wanted to do what he did when he messed up: stay quiet like he didn’t know anything, but he had to say something! 

“I think she is outside, listen” he whispered. He took his mother’s hand and led her to the door. Eleanor pressed her ear on the door, her son copying and staying quiet. It seemed like they both were holding their breaths to be able to hear better. It was faint and barely audible, but the whines, almost like they were moving away, could be heard. 

“M-mom?” the voice of her child echoed, and Eleanors’ eyes widened in horror. She moved Peter backwards and pushed him a bit, containing anger in her eyes. “Go to your room, no!” she yelled. Peter, sobbing and scared, just ran and closed the door, getting under the blankets and covering his head like it would make everything right. 

All Eleanor could do was stare at the door. Should she open the door and risk getting killed, and possibly getting her son killed, or accepting that her daughter would no longer be Michelle, and move on with Peter. As much as she hated it, she couldn’t deny that her heart pulled her to open the door, eyes widening and knees giving up, like a magnet pulling her to the floor. 

Outside, the eyes that she had seen had followed her back home, they were a dozen, maybe more, and there was no way of understanding what the voices were saying. All Elenaor could do was stare in horror at the single creature that held her daughter’s leg. It couldn’t be described,the only thing that she could make were a pair of eyes that stared deeply in someone’s soul, reading their emotions and attacking at their weakest moment, and if somebody had asked her, the only word she would be able to come up with to describe that, would be horrifying.

She didn’t have time to call for Eleanor, the creature turned her attention to her but it didn’t look interested, it already had its objective. With no effort whatsoever, it dragged Michelle. Eleanor saw how her kid fell face-first on the floor and cried in pain, but those cries were quickly swept away as they got further away with those eyes following behind. After that, silence. It was a deafening silence, Eleanor could barely hear her own thoughts inside her head. She had to pull herself together, to try and think of something to do, something to say to her husband, something that would bring her daughter back, but nothing was coming back to her and she was growing frustrated and the guilt was beginning to eat her from the inside.

It took her a couple minutes to be able to react, and when she did the first thing she thought of was to close the door, lock it and run upstairs to her son. She wasn't sure what to tell him, she was aware that her daughter was now gone and that they needed to move on, because nothing would change that. She knocked on the door and then walked inside. 

She was welcomed by the sight of Peter covered in blankets and his sons coming through the thickness of the fabric. She swallowed her own tears, there was no way that he had known, right? She approached and sat down a couple feet away from the bed, her back pressed on the nightstand made of dark wood that his husband had gifted her for their honeymoon. "It's okay, Peter, there is nothing we can do now." She said quietly.

"I thought she was inside, mom, I promise I heard her." The words echoed in her brain as her son resumed the cries and begged her to believe him. And she did, what she didn't believe was that her daughter was gone when just a couple minutes away she was there watching TV with her brother. "It's alright, come here" she whispered, extending her arms and waiting. Peter crawled out and to her, hugging her neck and continuing to cry against her until they became quiet sobs and later just sniffles when the boy fell asleep. 

She hugged him and cried, quietly, until she decided it was enough. She laid him down on the bed and kissed his forehead. She walked to the window and checked the lock, frowning as it was unlocked. Maybe Peter had opened it to get some air. She locked it again and walked to the light switch, turning it off afterwards and then walking out, closing the door and walking back to the living room. 

Anbur was standing beside the couch, ears lifted and tail still as he watched the door, almost like he knew something was out there. She sat down on the couch and then called for the dog, who quickly turned his attention to her and rushed over to get the cuddles and attention from his owner. 

Eleanor remained in the same place for the rest of the night, her eyes moving to the phone on the table a couple times, the thought of calling her husband and telling him what happened was too painful, and so she didn't. When the sounds of birds came through the cracks on the door, Eleanor headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. It was better to keep her mind distracted. 

The phone rang a couple minutes later, the sound making the mother jump, her body was still in shock. She hesitantly headed to it and answered it, voice trembling. "Honey," her husband's voice came through it, and she released the breath that had gotten stuck on her chest. "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice filled with worry, almost as if he knew what had happened. "Something happened...I need you to come home now." She said, trying to sound calm. "I'll make my way over, don't worry." He said and then hung up. 

Eleanor slowly placed the phone down, the tears that she had been holding back falling again as the memories struck her again. Soon she heard the stairs creaking, followed by her son's voice calling for her. She wiped her eyes and quickly walked to him, picking him up and walking to the kitchen. "Dad is coming home." She told him.

Peter stared at the food and then looked at her. "Do you think Michelle will be fine?" He asked. His mother sighed, it was clearly hard to understand, and she couldn't think of anything else to say, so she just rubbed his head. "Eat, you need the energy." She smiled and then sat down beside her son to wait for her husband.