by Amy Cross
“Tenderling,” I whisper, before looking back down at the book and reading some more before getting to an important point, about how some people believe they're kept out of rooms with their name over the door, and how saying their real name to their face will make them die.
Getting off the bed, I step a little closer to the door. I know I might be imagining it, but I'm convinced that something was watching me a moment ago, and that it might be out on the landing right now. Making sure not to make a noise, I reach the door and pause for a moment, before lunging forward and quickly looking both ways.
“Tenderling!” I shout. “Tenderling, Tenderling!”
I wait.
Nothing.
“Cally!” Dad shouts up from downstairs. “Behave!”
Sighing, I realize that the book must be wrong. Anyway, Mary Madison obviously read the thing about the creature's name, and it doesn't seem to have helped her. Heading back to my bed, I pick up the photo of Mary and stare at it for a moment. She looked so happy back then, and I can't keep from wondering how and where the Tenderling killed her. I also don't understand why it left her parents' bodies behind, but apparently took her, although part of me is worried that she hid somewhere and then she died.
“Tenderling,” I whisper, still hoping that the name might work and make the creature go away. “Tenderling, Tenderling, Tenderling.”
Heading out to the landing, with Mary's photo still in my hand, I look up at the word scratched above my door.
“Tenderling,” I say again. I guess maybe Mary even tried writing the word above her door in an attempt to make the creature stay away, but obviously it didn't work. Still, figuring that it's work a try, I grab a chair and drag it over to the door to Mum and Dad's bedroom. I might as well write the name up there, just in case.
***
A little while later, I overhear Dad on the phone, and it sounds like he's talking to someone at the hospital.
“So what happened when she woke up?” he asks, keeping his voice low in an attempt to make sure that I won't hear him.
I wait as he listens to the answer.
“And how did you stop her screaming? Another sedative?”
A while after that, I hear him on the phone to Grandma, Mum's mother.
“We're fine,” he tells her. “We just have to wait and hope for the best.”
He pauses.
“No, there's no need for you to do that. It's such a long journey. I'm sure Julie will be much better next week, and then maybe you can come for a visit.”
She won't be better. I can feel it. Sitting on the stairs, I look over at the new lock on the front door and realize that the Tenderling isn't going to let us out again. It has us trapped, and now it's going to do the same thing to us that it did to Mary Madison and her family.
***
When Dad goes to the bathroom, I run to the phone but find that he's unplugged it from the wall and cut the end of the cord. I go to his office and try to find his mobile phone, but he seems to have hidden it. The book didn't say anything about the Tenderling being able to make him do things, but I think somehow that's what's happening.
***
Sitting at the window, I see Joseph heading into his house. I can't make too much noise, in case Dad hears, but I pull the curtain open and wave my arms.
Joseph doesn't see me. He goes inside.
***
Dad has started talking to himself quietly, under his breath. All the time.
***
Now he says we're not allowed to have the lights on.
***
He catches me with a light on in the living room, and he gets angry.
***
He's in the basement.
***
Now none of the lights work at all.
***
Night comes
***
“You'll be okay alone in here tonight, won't you?” he asks, standing in my bedroom doorway. “I don't want you to get into the habit of sleeping in the big bed.”
Staring at him, I can barely make him out. Since he insisted on keeping all the lights off, it's almost impossible to see anything. I don't know what he did in the basement, but I heard him muttering something about a fuse box. At least he doesn't know I have a torch.
“You won't get up during the night, will you?” he continues.
“No,” I tell him, trying not to sound too scared.
“Huh.” He pauses. “Maybe I should lock your door anyway. Just to be sure.”
“No!” I blurt out, terrified by the idea. “Please don't, Daddy! I promise I won't get out of bed, I swear!”
Another pause. “Okay,” he says finally, “but if I hear one peep out of you -”
“I'll stay in bed,” I tell him, “just please, don't lock me in!”
“Fine.” He rubs his arm for a moment, before taking a step back and pulling the door until it's almost shut. “Goodnight, sweetie. Don't let the bed bugs bite.”
I sit in darkness and listen as he heads to the bathroom. Making sure to be really really quiet, I climb out of bed and sneak to the door. In the bathroom, Dad is letting out a series of faint gasps, and I'm pretty sure he's cutting those pebbles out of his body. I wait, until I realize he's about to come back this way, and then I go back onto the bed and pull the duvet over myself, and I hold my breath so he won't hear me at all. A moment later, I hear him pushing the door open, as if he's checking on me, and then he heads to his room.
Finally, I hear his door clicking shut.
A moment later, I hear the faintest creak from above, as if something just started moving in the attic.
“Tenderling,” I whisper.
Another creak.
Saying its name doesn't work. The book was wrong.
Getting out of bed again, I creep over to the door. Out on the landing, I can hear a faint shuffling sound, and then I realize the door to Dad's room is being opened. I peer out, just in time to see a hint of a shape making its way into the darkness of his room, and I realize that the Tenderling is going after him again.
“Tenderling,” I whisper, but it's hopeless.
I have to find a way to make Dad see what's really happening.
Reaching into my pocket, I take out the knife I brought up from the kitchen, before slipping out onto the landing. I barely even dare to breathe as I creep slowly toward the other door, but finally I realize I can hear a faint sound from Dad's room. I stop at the door and peer through, and I immediately see that there's a shape on the bed, silhouetted against the window, as if the Tenderling is sitting on Dad's chest.
Holding my breath, I peer into the darkness and watch in horror as the creature reaches into its mouth. A moment later, it takes out another black pebble, which seems to be dripping with thick, gloopy slime. Reaching down with its other hand, the Tenderling uses a long, sharp finger to make a small cut on Dad's neck, and then it slips the pebble into the hole. I want to rush forward and stop it, but at the same time I feel like I'm rooted to the spot, too terrified to even move.
And then, slowly, the creature turns this way, and I'm just about able to make out two large eyes staring straight at me.
Chapter Thirteen
“Dad!” I shout, racing toward the bed and lunging at him to wake him up. “It's here!”
Shaking him, I realize that he's not responding, as if he can't wake up. A moment later, I hear a faint, rasping growl from nearby, and I look up to see that the Tenderling is still sitting on Dad's chest, still staring down at me. There's not much light in the room, but I can see its large, bulging eyes and a small mouth, that opens after a few seconds to reveal sharp teeth. Thick globs of slime drip down onto Dad's bare chest.
Slowly, with a clicking sound coming from its body, the Tenderling leans toward me, opens its mouth wider, and lets out a hiss that covers my face with a fine spray of moisture.
Stepping back, I bump into the bedside table. I hold my knife up, but the Tenderling doesn't seem to care. If anything, its mouth wid
ens into a faint grin as it leans even closer, and this time there's a faint rattling sound in its hiss.
“Dad!” I scream, waving the knife toward the creature. “Wake up!”
Reaching into its mouth, the Tenderling takes out another small black pebble, with slime dribbling down all over the bed. With one of its sharp fingers, it reaches out toward me, but I flash the knife in its direction, catching its arm and causing it to let out a growl of pain as it drops the pebble. Before I can react, it grabs my wrist, causing me to drop the knife as I wriggle free and run, bumping into the wall.
“Dad!” I scream, turning and see that he still isn't awake.
Slowly, the Tenderling is climbing off Dad's chest and crawling across the bed, making its way toward me.
“I'll be back,” I tell Dad, before running to the door and out onto the landing. I race to the top of the stairs before stopping and looking back. For a moment, it's almost as if the Tenderling has gone, but suddenly I spot movement at the bedroom door, and finally the creature starts crawling after me. We're about the same size, but it's crawling on all fours and it seems a little slower, so I run down the stairs, taking three steps at a time until I reach the hallway and hurry to the front door.
Tugging on the lock, I realize that there's no way to get it open without the key, and I don't know where that is.
I turn and look back up the stairs, just in time to see the Tenderling reaching the top step.
Running along the hallway, I almost trip as I reach the kitchen. I head straight for the back door, but there's no way to get out, so I hurry to the windows, only to find that Dad has put on new locks that I can't manage to open. As I fumble to work out how I can get the handles to turn, I realize I can hear a faint growl over my shoulder, and I turn just in time to see that the Tenderling has reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Dad!” I scream, as loud as possible. “Wake up!”
Suddenly I spot a light blinking on in the distance, and I realize that Joseph must have heard me screaming from the next house. If I woke him up but not Dad, that must mean that the Tenderling is somehow making Dad stay asleep.
I watch as the creature crawls to the doorway and stops, as if it's staring at me.
“Tenderling!” I shout, trying to remember everything the book said. “Tenderling! Tenderling! Tenderling!”
Clearly not remotely affected by hearing its own name, the creature starts crawling around the kitchen table. I make my way around the other side, while leaning down so that I don't lose track of the Tenderling's progress. As it starts crawling between the legs of the chairs, I race back out into the hallway, but looking around I realize that I don't know what to do next. Spotting the old book on the hall table, I reach over and grab it, but I can hear the Tenderling already getting closer again. Opening one of the drawers, I pull out a torch and then I run upstairs, figuring that I have to find somewhere to hide so I can work out what to do.
I run to Dad's bedroom door and look in at him, but I know deep down that the Tenderling is deliberately keeping him asleep.
From downstairs, I hear the sound of someone knocking on the front door.
“Hello?” Joseph shouts. “Is everything okay in there?”
“Help!” I scream, stepping toward the stairs before I see the Tenderling's face appear, climbing up to get me.
“The nest,” I whisper, suddenly remembering what I found in the attic. “Maybe if I destroy the nest, the creature will die.” It's a dumb idea, but it's the only one I've got right now.
Grabbing the chair, I push it to the far end of the landing and then climb up. I push the attic hatch out of the way and then haul myself up into the darkness. Looking back down, I see to my horror that the Tenderling hasn't bothered using the chair: instead, it has already started crawling up the wall, digging its claws into the plaster, which means that it'll be able to get up here soon. In the distance, there's a thudding sound, which I think means that Joseph is trying to break in, but I'm not sure he'll get here in time.
Even if he does, I don't think he knows how to kill a Tenderling.
For a moment, I feel as if I can't move, as if my whole body has ground to halt as fear takes over. It's as if, whichever way I move, something awful is going to happen. I want to be brave, but no matter how hard I try, I can't manage it. Realizing that I've got no choice, I figure I have to do what Mum told me. I have to at least pretend to be brave. And that, finally, helps me to get moving again.
Closing the attic hatch, I pull some boxes over it, hoping that they'll be heavy enough to keep it shut, and then I turn the torch on and scramble over to the far corner, where I find the little nest of old papers and photos wrapped up in thick blobs of slime, like the slime from the Tenderling's mouth.
I reach out to touch the nest, but the slime is gross and I realize that I need to find some other way to destroy the whole thing. Shining the torch around, I see some of the old packing cases and I run over, reaching inside in the hope that I might find something useful. Tipping the cases over, I start going through the contents, but all I find are old books.
Hearing a thud, I shine the torch across the attic and see that the Tenderling is starting to force the hatch open.
“Please please please,” I whisper, frantically searching through the contents of the cases, hoping to find something – anything – that might be useful. Finally, I find Dad's old tin that he used to keep on his desk, and when I tip it open I see a pair of scissors. Just as I'm about to pick them up, however, I spot something that might be even more useful:
Matches.
Suddenly there's a loud bump from the other end of the attic, and I shine the torch over just in time to see that the Tenderling has managed to get the hatch open and is now crawling up to join me. Realizing that I don't have much time left, I run to the nest and fumble with the box of matches, finally managing to get one lit.
“Be brave,” I whisper. “Please, be brave.”
In the distance, there's the sound of breaking glass, followed by Joseph's voice shouting from downstairs:
“Hello? Cally?”
“Help!” I scream, as I start setting fire to the old pieces of newspaper in the nest. As the flames take hold, I scramble back to the other corner and start desperately trying to find the right page in the book. Despite everything Dad said about books sometimes being wrong, my only hope is that somehow something in here will tell me what to do. Looking up, I see that the Tenderling is ignoring the nest and has started crawling toward me, with its mouth open to reveal rows of sharp little teeth.
“Tenderling!” I shout, still hoping that saying its name might cause it to die, like the book promised. “Tenderling! Tenderling! Tenderling!”
I squeeze tight into the corner, but there's nowhere left to run as the creature comes closer and closer. The light from the burning nest is enough to let me see the Tenderling's face now, and there are thick veins visible just below the surface of its pale skin. Its eyes are white and milky, swirling with gunk, and there are a few thin strands of hair on its head, making it appear almost human. It's almost like a little kid that got horribly mutated.
“Your name is Tenderling!” I shout. “Aren't you listening? I'm saying your name! Tenderling!”
Slowly, it reaches out toward me.
“Tenderling!” I scream, before suddenly I spot something familiar in its face.
Opening the book, I take out the photo of Mary Madison.
It can't be, but...
“Mary,” I whisper, feeling a heavy sense of shock in my heart. Turning to look at the creature, I realize that Tenderling isn't its name. Tenderling is just what it is, but it's name is...
It lets out a growl.
“Mary!” I shout, staring straight into its eyes. “Mary! Mary Madison! Your name is Mary Madison!”
The creature stops suddenly, still staring at me with its large round eyes, but the words seem to have caught its attention.
“Mary Madison!” I shout again. “Mary Madi
son, your real name is Mary Madison!”
As the creature stares, I can see now that it's true. I don't know what happened to her, but the face of the Tenderling is like a stretched and twisted version of Mary's face. Most of her hair is gone, and her eyes have been made much larger, but it's definitely her.
“Mary Madison,” I say again, my voice trembling with fear. “That's your name, or it was. You're Mary Madison.”
Tilting its head slightly, the Tenderling lets out a low growl, and then there's a crackling, crumpling sound. Moments later, I realize that the skin is starting to peel away from its bones, shriveling up like burned paper and dropping to the floor. Letting out a howl of pain, the Tenderling pulls back a little from me and reaches up to touch its own face, but it's too late: more and more skin is falling off, twisting and curling as it separates from what's underneath, finally leaving nothing left but a collection of human bones that start falling apart and dropping down onto the attic floor.
Even though the fire is still burning in the corner, and even though I can hear Joseph shouting for me downstairs, all I can do is stare in horror at the collection of bones. The skull is still twitching slightly as the last of the skin falls away, but finally it falls still.
“Cally!” Joseph shouts from downstairs. “Cally! Where are you? Cally!”
***
The police come, and an ambulance, and a fire truck to put out the fire in the attic.
Lots of people come out of their houses, too, stunned by the sight of the house's burning roof. It's not a big fire, and it's put out quickly, while two ambulance men are checking Dad and me to make sure we're okay. Dad seems more shaken, and he has lots of little cuts all over his body.
“I'm sorry about the fire,” I tell him. “Please don't be mad at me!”
