by Josh Shiben
Her son was there at the window, looking back at her with an expression of shock etched onto his face. Clutched in his arm was his bear, and he stood staring back at his mother in ill-fitting pajamas. The window was unlocked and opening, and Susanne caught a glimpse at what was on the other side of it. A face. A pale boy’s face, with black, dead eyes that glinted in the light like puddles of oil. In an instant it was inside, a swirl of darkness through the room. Susanne dashed towards Jeremy, but the only sign of her son left by the time she reached the sill was his little voice screaming as he was dragged out the window.
The intruder slammed the window shut behind itself, and turned to look at Susanne, who clawed in panic for a hold at the sill. It gazed back at her through the glass with those dead eyes, Jeremy still screaming in its arms.
“Please…” she whimpered to it. “Don’t take him. Don’t take my baby.” It’s only reply was a smile revealing a mouthful of dagger-like teeth, before it disappeared into the night. By the time Susanne had slid up the glass, there was no trace of her son, or of the face that had been at the window.
