In the Night

"SHHH! Mommy don't like noise!" Jade sprang up from her bed, sweaty and cold, she ran to her baby girl's room. The child lay in the bed, a small black bear clenched tightly within the child's arms as the covers slightly move with the rhythm of the child's quiet breathing. Jade closed the door and walked back to her room. She pulled the hot, velvety covers over her body, she drifted back to sleep.

"But what if Mommy don't want me to? What if I get lost without mommy." This time could hear more than just the voice of her dear sweet child, she could hear the rough whispers of the dark scraping the chalkboard as she slept. "Come, come with me little one and I will keep you safe" Jade could see her child but nothing else. "Come, come with me, Cindy" It knew her name! Jade awoke once more with fright, she ran once more down the hall that now seemed to be smaller. She swung open the door to find her child once again sleeping. Jade walked swiftly to the bed, she lay down beside her daughter. "Oh my sweet," She said softly as she took her child in her arms. She closed her eyes once more. "Mommy? Mommy is that you?" Jade could not find her child this time. She was in a room, a black room, with no windows, no hearth, no life whatsoever. Just darkness. Darkness, and the bear. That black bear her daughter carried with her everywhere, that same black bear that has tea parties in the living, breakfast in the kitchen, lunch at school, and supper at the dining room table. The same bear whose eyes seem to darken at the very sight of the dog, the same bear whose eyes seem to stare aimlessly at her child, the same bear whose eyes peer into her soul. The same bear she had had as a child. She was alone, in a dark room with the nightmare bear from her childhood.

Once more Jade woke with fear in her heart, she searched the bed for her child. She wasn't there. She ran to the bathroom, the light was on but no other sign of life. She ran downstairs to the kitchen, the fridge was open and the T.V. on but no small blonde girl in sight. Jade ran to the front door, it was open and the street lights flickering but no child. Jade curled up into a ball and fell to the floor of the hallway, the cool breeze from the November night blowing throughout the house. "Where is she?" She thought, perhaps she had accidentally missed her child laying on the floor of her bedroom, or in Jade's closet trying on shoes. And with that back upstairs she went, she checked every room, she opened every cabinet. No child, no little Cindy. Jade's last stop was the room that belonged to her beloved, sweet child. Her room was bare as if no child had ever lived there. Only the small black bear took up space in the room, its eyes popping out, its stuffing old and worn, falling out of tares. A small black smile on its small fluffy black face.

The room started fading black, the bear no longer sat on the floor, pieces of wallpaper floating in the air as if gravity had never existed. Jade, once more stood in darkness although she could feel the softness of her warm bed covers. She curled up into a ball on what she assumed to be the floor on which she stood. Her child's voice sounded in her ears. "Mommy, Mommy, why didn't you find me? Mommy, mommy, why didn't you protect me?" Silence. "Mommy, mommy, look what you've done. Now close your eyes, mommy, close your eyes and maybe I will be there mommy" Her child's hand rubbed Jade's arm softly, she felt the darkness return, its rough whispers torturing her, "Mommy close your eyes again and you will find me."
-Jacklyn Jones