When Darkness Falls...

Rylie’s POV
“Leelee!” Alissa’s voice came.

She shook my arm.

“Ughhh….” I groaned. “What, ‘Lissa?”
“Mommy said it’s time for dinner!” she said before running out the door and down the stairs.

I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I checked my phone, sure enough; it was 6 o ‘clock.
Walking down the stairs I heard Alissa telling mom about her play time with Mikey. I was still unsure whether I actually heard that guy’s voice today or not. I shook my head and convinced myself I was hearing things. I helped set the table and listened to Alissa’s animated story telling as we ate. Mom went to bed early as usual and ‘Lissa and I went upstairs. I grabbed my book, a couple fluffy blankets and another pillow and head to ‘Lissa’s room. She’s already in bed and gets excited when I come in.

“Hi, Leelee!” she says happily.

I smile and set my stuff down.

“Hi, ‘Lissa.”

I lie down and pull out my book, using her lamp light to read. She’s out in minutes but I can’t sleep. My ’nap’ earlier had been all of 5 hours. I sigh and turn the page and decide I’m probably not going to sleep tonight. I finish one book and check the time: 11:00. I look over at Alissa, sound asleep. I could probably slip into my room, grab another book and be back before she noticed. I stand quietly and watch my footing, avoiding the boards that squeak and going into my room.

After a few minutes of searching, I decide on a zombie book and head back to ‘Lissa’s room. I slip through the door and notice the closet door is opening. I quickly hide behind the corner, right outside her door. I listen for the creaking of her closet door to stop before slowly peaking around the corner. The window in her room opens and a gust blows in. Brushing the hair out of my face, I see a shadow pass over her bedspread. I bite my lip and watch as a large lizard emerges from under her bed, it’s back facing me. I suck in a breath and raise my book, ready to throw.

“hey!” I call.

It turns and looks at me before disappearing. Dropping my arm, I look around the room, dumbfounded. The closet shuts a few seconds later and I rush to it, only to find her clothes and toys.
Where the hell-?

“Leelee?” my sister’s worried voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

I scoop her up and sit on her bed, still looking around.

“Did you get him, Leelee?” she said, looking up at me.
“no, I didn’t, ‘Lissa.” I say sadly. “but I scared him off.”
“will he come back?”
“I don’t know…” I sigh, laying her next to me. “But I’ll stay right here, just in case.”

She nods and closes her eyes, snuggling into my side.

Just like the night before, nothing happened. I sighed and walked with ‘Lissa to eat breakfast. Mom left early so I made breakfast for the two of us and cleaned up as she went to go play. I watched as she chased butterflies and picked flowers. Footsteps upstairs alerted me. I set down my coffee and grabbed the bat that was at the base of the stairs before slowly making my way up, avoiding the steps that made noise. I crept toward ‘Lissa’s room, where I heard shuffling.

A creaky board gave me a way and I quickly opened her door in time to see her closet door slam shut. Once again, I had missed whoever it was that kept coming through her closet. I sighed and dropped my arms, letting the bat hang loosely from one hand. Closing her door behind me, I make my way downstairs.

“Leelee!” alissa yelled, coming through the back door and hugging me, a huge grin on her face as she handed me a bouquet of limp dandelions. I smiled and took them.

“For me?”

She nodded and ran to the cabinets and pointing to where we kept the vases.

“I wanna put it in a vase!” she said.
“oh, ‘Lissa. I don’t think these flowers are tall enough.”I say, picking her up and walking over to the cabinet that held our more decorative small glasses.

“How about this one?” I ask, pointing to one with flowers engraved into the glass.
“Yeah!” she said reaching for it.
“Careful, ‘lissa.” I warn. “don’t drop it.”
“I won’t!” she said, hugging it to her chest.

I walk her over to the sink and bend forward a little so she can fill it up. She sets it on the table and scrambles up the chair to put the flowers in. I move it to the center of the tables, where we usually put bouquets when we had them and smiled at her. She returned it with one of her genuine toothy grins.

“There.” I say, picking her up. “perfect, huh?”
“Yeah!” she says happily.

We spend the rest of the day playing tag and hide and go seek until mom comes home and we order pizza. That night I’m back in ‘Lissa’s room for another sleepless night. We settle in and turn out the light. I stay up for a few hours but find myself drifting off.

The creaking of the closet door wakes me up again and I’m up, bat ready. I look around the room, everything looks okay so I settle back down on my cot and slowly fall asleep again.

“Wake up Leelee!” ‘Lissa says happily.
“huh?” I mutter, opening my eyes.
“We did it!” she said, grinning.

I look around. It’s morning. We did do it. We made it through the night.
I smiled at her and smoothed her bedhead.

“looks like we did, huh kiddo?” I say.

We make our way down for breakfast like every morning, mom leaves and we play for the whole day. Mom cooks dinner and Alissa and I clean up and head upstairs. I walk her into her room.

“You think you can sleep by yourself tonight?” I ask.

She nods.

“Yeah. You gots the monster away.” She says, grinning.
“Okay, but come get me if he bothers you again, okay?” I say, hugging her and tucking her in.
“Okay, Leelee!”
“Good night, ‘lissa.” I say, kissing her forehead.
“Night, Leelee” she says, snuggling up to Mr. fluffy.

I turn out the light and head to my room. I lay down and read until I fall asleep.