Before It Ends

Then I felt it... the light switch... fear embraced my soul as I slowly moved my fingertip upwards along the switch. There was still no response from my mother as I continued to call for her while my fingertip hesitated to complete the light switch flip.

"Mom... are you... okay?"

I felt the sudden movement of the switch as it flipped on as the light momentarily blinded me by the unexpected brightness. My eyes adjusted as I quickly began scanning around the room looking for my mom, but she was no where in sight.

"Mom? Where... where are you?"

I called out with desperation in my voice as I attempted to keep the panic I was feeling from overtaking me. She did not leave the house... she was literally JUST there talking to someone... I HEARD her. I slowly walked further into the bedroom, my eyes darting around frantically searching for her or some sign of her. I looked behind the bedroom door... nothing. I went towards the master bathroom and pulled the door open quickly as I rushed inside thinking she HAD to be in there. My eyes desperately searching around the bathroom but finding nothing... emptiness.

"MOM??!! MOM?? Where are you?? Are you okay?? MOM PLEASE ANSWER ME!!!"

I screamed out as fear overtook my heart, while I ran back into the bedroom, pulling the curtains aside to search behind them, then pulling the closet doors opened as I dug through the hanging clothes. My hands reaching out in despair for my mother but finding nothing but clothes. I walked back from the closet as I turned around, my eyes focusing on the bed. The blankets were amiss from the bed having been laid in, this further proved that my mom was there. But where was she now? My stare moved towards the floor... under the bed... I remembered what mom's diary had said and Aunt Mina... the shadow tried to pull her under the bed. I walked closer to the bed, closer... until my thighs touched against the edging of the mattress.

I felt my body quivering from fear as I took a deep breath while I began to slowly lower myself down towards the ground. One knee touched against the carpet, then the other. My hands trembled as I began to bend, lowering myself slowly, just before I reached low enough to see under the bed, I closed my eyes tightly, afraid of what I would see. I took another deep breath in as I slowly opened my eyes and saw... nothing. There was nothing under the bed.

"Sage? What on earth are you doing??"

I screamed and shot up quickly to my feet as I turned and saw my mom standing there in the doorway holding a cup of coffee and a book.

"M...mom?? But... I thought... I didn't see you... I thought you were in the room... I had a... nightmare and... sorry... maybe I was sleepwalking or something..."

I stumbled over my words while trying to explain to her what I could not understand myself. I KNOW I heard her talking in the bedroom... I heard... but how when she wasn't in there? I struggled to wrap my head around what had happened as I walked towards my mom, and gave her a tight embrace before excusing myself to my room. Nothing made sense at all. I never saw my mom leave her room. I heard her talking! What was happening?

I laid in bed unable to sleep as confusion raced through my mind, I felt like I was going insane. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep while my mind continued to haunt me in my slumber with nightmares and visions of the shadow standing next to my bed, staring at me while slept. I felt frozen and could not wake myself up as I stood outside of my body, watching myself laying there with the shadow standing right there next to me, staring into my soul. Suddenly, I woke up gasping for air and screaming at the top of my lungs.

"SAGE?? Are you okay?? What's wrong??"

My mom burst into my room in a panic after she heard me screaming as I began taking in deep breaths in and exhaling out through the screams, my body felt like it had been deprived of oxygen completely.

"I can't... can't breath... mom... shadow..."

I could not form a full sentence as I spit out words without realizing what I was saying, just fear controlling me as my mom grabbed hold of my arms tightly.

"What... what did you say, Sage? Did you... you said... Shadow... What do you mean?? What did you see??"

My mom held onto my arms, her grip grew firmer as she questioned me, her voice trembling as she looked at me waiting for an answer.

"Sorry mom... I didn't mean to freak you out... I had... it was just a bad dream... that's all... it was nothing... I thought I saw..."

I struggled to try to explain why I said 'shadow' in my disorientated state, trying not to alarm her any further.

"I thought I saw someone in my window... in my dream... then I woke up... it just had me out of sorts... I'm okay..."

"Are you sure, Honey? If something... happened... just... you know you can tell me anything, okay? I'm just worried about you. Last night you were in my room looking under my bed and you seemed so afraid... and now waking up like this... I'm just concerned, Sage."

She brushed the hair from my face while looking at me as she tried to reassure me, but I could hear the doubt and distress in her voice. She was terrified over hearing me say 'shadow'. And honestly, I was too. I never experienced a moment in my life where I found myself literally frozen in terror, but that's what I felt in that... nightmare... or whatever it was.

My mom reached around embracing me and as I raised my arms up to hug her in return, I saw the ring on my finger as a shocked gasp escaped my mouth.

"What's wrong, Honey?"

My mom said instantly as she pulled back from me and looked at me with concern and confusion. I quickly pulled my hands back, hiding them under my blanket.

"I just... I remembered that I had an assignment due tomorrow for school that I totally forgot to work on this weekend... It's worth like a quarter of the grade for the class... I really need to get started on it."

I lied to her hoping that she would not question me more as she smiled and stood up from my bed.

"Well... you had better get up and get going on it then, Sage!"

She replied as she walked out of the room and went downstairs. I pulled my hand out from under the blanket and stared at the ring. The deep red stone was so mesmerizing, but why was it on my finger? I hid it in my jewelry box before I went to bed. I know I did...

Didn't I?

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