The Stolen

It's been twenty years, twenty whole years, but the event still plays out in my mind, every night when I go to sleep. It's been haunting me everyday since it happened. I need to end it. Hopefully writing about this will bring me some closure.

When I was five years old I was the happiest little kid on the planet. I had a small family of my mom and dad, and we were good friends with our neighbors, the Hendersons. Everything got even better when my little sister, Violet, came into this world. Sadly, only a week after she was born, it happened.

It was almost midnight and everyone in the house was fast asleep, except for me. Being the energy filled active kid I was back then, I was a very light sleeper, and I often woke up and ran around my room, it annoyed my parents to no end, but if it wasn't for that habit, Violet most likely wouldn't be here today. I was parading around my room, looking at my fish tank, playing with my toys, whatever the heck five year old me liked doing. Then, I heard it, that dreadful sound. It sounded like a woodpecker hammering away at a tree, followed by Violet bursting out into tears. The sound grew louder. I was a little scared, but I felt the urge to investigate. I ran as fast as I could to Violet's room, and then I saw it. To this day, I have zero idea what it was, but it was tall and skinny. Its spine looked like it was about to burst through its back. Its eyes were a washed out green. Its limbs were long, with its arms dragging on the floor when they weren't used. The detail that I remember most clearly were its teeth, they were all razor sharp, a sickly yellow, uneven, and mold grew on them. It was at Violet's crib, peering in. I stood completely still, horror coursing through my veins. It turned to me and stared. It tilted it's head. I screamed as loud as I could. That irritated it. It opened it's mouth to reveal its awful teeth, and made that pecking sound. It reached it's arm towards me. I turned to run, but Violet's cries filled my ears. I couldn't leave her alone with this thing, I needed to save my sister, somehow. I heard my parents racing to her room. I screamed ,"Mom! Dad!" Just then, the creature grabbed me by the neck, it's long, sharp finger nails causing me great pain. I screamed louder than ever before. My parents arrived in the room. They gasped and looked in awe at the creature. It looked around. I dropped me to the ground and fled out the window, which had already been shattered when it came in. My dad grabbed Violet and raced his way out the house. I didn't follow. I didn't want to go outside, where whatever that thing was lurked. My mom put her shoulder on my arm. She said in her sweet voice, "Don't worry, your father and I will make sure you're safe, we're heading to the Hendersons, they'll help us." Somehow despite the situation, she managed a smile.

Once we got to the Hendersons we called the police about a break in, obviously we didn't tell them what really happened. They said they'd arrive in five minutes. Those were the longest five minutes of my life. My parents kept Violet with them, and frantically attempted to explain a sensible version of what happened to Mr. and Ms. Henderson. I sat on the couch, staring out the window. I tried to convince myself that it was gone, it wasn't out there. I was wrong.

Three minutes passed. Everyone calmed, knowing the police would be here soon. Seeing everyone calm made me calm too. We thought this whole ordeal would finally be over. What bad could happen in two minutes? Well, I don't exactly know why it did this, maybe it was just getting hungry and impatient, but the creature disregarded its "fear", if you can call it that, of my parents. It tore through the wall like tissue paper. The calm was interrupted by a chorus of screams. I ran to my mom, the Hendersons rushed for the back door, my dad tried to keep us all behind him, and Violet let out the most ear piercing cries imaginable. The monster looked through all of us, as if selecting a target. It looked my mom dead in the eyes. It let out that god-forsaken pecking sound before lunging forward. It barreled right past my massive dad and grabbed my mom with its long arms. She screamed the most blood-curdling scream. The creature broke through the wall and ran off into the nearby woods, clutching my screaming mom in its grasp. My dad laid down Violet and dashed to the hole in the wall, but by the time he got there, both of them were already gone.

The police arrived soon after. We told them our mom had been kidnapped by the intruder. They immediately searched every crack and crevice of the woods. Thy found her body by a pond. It was a horrific sight. Everything except her skeleton had been eaten, her clothes were in shreds, and the only way they could identify her was by her phone, which the creature left untouched. All of this happened in under a minute. We had her funeral the next day. It was awful. Almost everyone there couldn't even begin to know what really happened to her.

At this point you're probably expecting me to say something like "I still see the creature outside my window at night" or "It's coming for me now", but that would be a lie. That one night was the end of it. I've never seen the creature or had any paranormal experiences since. All that remains are the memories of that night.