Sundown House

The knock at the door pierced through the night startling me out of my restless haze. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. 12:03 AM glared back at me luminously.

"O God no. Not again!"

I rolled over on my side, facing away from the disruptive light glowing behind. Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed for sleep to rescue me from this living nightmare. I've delayed the inevitable for far too long, but I just can't face the truth yet. Obviously, I can't ignore it either.

The knock at the door came again resounding throughout the entire house. The walls felt like they were closing in around me, suffocating me out of my comfort zone. Why won't they just leave me alone once and for all? Before my good sense could stop me, my legs swung out from underneath the covers and stepped towards the front door -- towards the incessant noise.

The knocking became increasingly persistent as I stepped closer. It shook the house with a sickening intensity. I walked up to the door and wrapped by fingers around the knob as it trembled in my hands. Releasing my breath, I leaned my forehead against the cold hard door.

"Who is it?" I asked sheepishly

In an instant the knocking ceased and everything went dead silent. The silence endured for a moment longer before my wife's voice came from the other side. "Oh honey! I'm so sorry to have woken you, but I forgot my keys on the nightstand. Please, let us in".

This could not be happening. It should not be happening. But it's been happening every night for the last month, and I don't know what else to do to make it stop.

"Us?" I asked confused. "Who else is out there with you?"

"Come on babe. You know I have the kids with me. Listen, it's late and we're very tired. Just let us in already." The voice pleaded.

"You shouldn't even be here right now. Don't you have anywhere else to go?" I asked as my voice dripped with annoyance. The silence that came after was petrifying.

"Well, dear, you know we couldn't leave you all alone. We're a family, and family stays together through thick or thin. Remember?" I froze in place remembering the time I recited the same line to her when she threatened to take the kids from me and leave. That felt like a distant memory now.

Charlie was eight and Emma was five. Memories flooded my mind as I remembered the moments we spent together as a happy family. Taking Charlie to little league on Wednesdays and Emma to ballet lessons on Fridays. From the outside looking in, we were the perfect family. I worked in the financial district rubbing shoulders with the most dignified, influential people in the world. I managed their money, and I did it well. I could turn thousands into millions in a matter of months, and my reputation for being great with numbers preceded me.

My wife, a 5"11 ex-model, was an influencer in her own right. Men wanted her, and women wanted to be her. She could work a room like her life depended on it. In some ways, it did. She thrived on validation and sunk dangerous lows whenever she felt like she was losing it. From the outside looking in, we were the ideal nuclear family. Nobody could ever suspect the turmoil brewing beneath it all -- the disturbance within me.

"Daddy?" Emma's sweet angelic voice brought me back to reality.

"Daddy, we're cold, and we want to go to bed. Can you please read me a bedtime story?" Tears sprang to my eyes as I remembered the nights I spent reading bedtime stories to my children. Nights I can never have again.

"I'm so sorry, baby. I can't do that anymore" I replied, sadness and regret dripping from my words. Turning my back on the door, I walked away from the voices that have been haunting me every night for the past month. When will it end?

With tired eyes burning with sleep, I sluggishly walked downstairs towards the industrial sized freezer in my basement. A shock of frigid air hit my face as I opened the large freezer door to where my wife's head was set down. Her cold, blank eyes stared back at me devoid of life. I removed my children's bodies from where they were placed on the lower shelf and held them close, rocking them back and forth like I used to when they were alive.

"I'm so sorry" I mumbled to no one in particular.