The curtains rustled gently as a breeze disturbed the peace in Lenore’s bedroom. The shadows cast by the moon created off-kilter shapes on the floor. A loud thud followed by the sound of glass breaking alerted Lenore as she woke from her dreamless sleep. 

‘What was that?’ she thought as she got up from her bed, tiptoeing toward her door, avoiding the creaky floorboards she had memorized from years of experience. 

“Mikey?” She whispered down the hall. Another thud from downstairs caught her attention. “Michael!” She tried, again to no response. She crept towards his door, and saw him deep asleep curled under his race car sheets. 

‘Okay, he’s safe,” she thought, “As long as he’s okay…” she pulled his door closed fully and crept back toward the stairs, toward the bangs and clattering down there. 

As she got closer she could hear her mom whispering and talking softly, probably in the hopes of not waking the kids. Each step Lenore took, brought her closer. 

The way their house was laid out, with the bedrooms upstairs and the common rooms on the ground level, all arranged in a way that each room seemed blended into the next. From about halfway down the stairs, you could see straight into the living room and kitchen, with its counters acting as a room divider. 

Halfway down the stairs was also where Lenore halted her descent in the darkened home. From there she could see ceramic shards scattered all over the floor as well as a few empty cans of beer. If it weren’t for the fridge door being left ajar, the entire area would have been cast in darkness. 

Lenore’s vantage point on the stairs gave her the perfect position to see her mother being pushed harshley into the counter behind her, her arms raised in defense. Benjamin stood as close as he could to her, his hands gripped firmly around Sarah’s throat. Lenore could see blood dripping from her mother’s nose and a busted lip decorating her face. Her tears trickled down her face as she pleaded in horror for Ben to let her go. 

Lenore crept further down the stairs and hurried herself against the wall separating the hall from the living room. ‘What the fuck! What the fuck!” she thought, panicking about what she could do to help her mom. With a quick glance around the corner, Lenore could see the color changing on her mother’s face. 

She had to decide quickly. Should she call out? Should she run in there? What then? 

“I oughta kill you! What the fuck would i look like then! Huh! Would I be the “monster” You think I am then! Maybe then you’ll fucking do what your told!” she could hear Benjamin almost-shouting into Sarah’s face. 

As Lenore took another glance, she prayed Mikey would stay asleep up in his room. Lenore looked on in horror as Benjamin pulled out a gun and held it against Sarah’s head. She whimpered and tried to pull away. 

Lenore rushed into the room, barrelling into Benjamin, knocking him away just far enough for him to let go of Sarah. 

“Lenore!” She shouted, gasping for breath. 

The gun clattered to the floor, going off and shattering a hole in the window nearby. 

“Oh god Mikey please stay upstairs!” She said more to herself than to anyone else in the room. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Ben said as he pushed Lenore off of him, “You oughta learn to listen too,” he yelled as he reached for the gun where it lay on the cracked linoleum. 

Lenore was much quicker than him on any good day, let alone a night he was absolutely plastered like he was tonight. She reached the gun first and pointed it at Ben as he slowly stood. Lenore had never seen anything but angry creepy desire in this man’s face, so she was a little shocked when she eyed him down and saw fear. 

“Now, Now Lenny why don’t you put that fuckin’ thing down. Quit pointing it at Daddy huh?” he tried to reason. There was no reason to be had, Lenore was sick of him and his hitting and his… What he did to her. She straightened her arms, steadied herself.

“No.” she said firmly. Lenore could hear Sarah crying from the floor near the counter. God, she must've been so scared. How could she live everyday in fear that her own husband could kill her at any time?  “I’m not putting shit down. Not til’ you leave and don’t come back.” 

Benjamin waited exactly two seconds before he lunged at Lenore, grabbing her wrists and pushing them both to the floor. Had the blood not been rushing in Lenore’s ears and had she not been shaking with unwanted adrenalin, she would have heard the floorboards creaking in the hallway upstairs. 

BANG! BANG! Lenore fired two shots into Ben, spraying blood all over her face and the floor. She pushed his limp, seizing body off her, dropping the gun and running over to Sarah, pleading, “Mom! Mom, I’m so sorry! I didn’t– He was supposed to just leave! I wasn’t going to–”

“Mommy?” they heard from the hall by the stairs. Lenore looked over, the horror written on her face. 

Mikey stood in the doorway, blood on his hands and teddy while he held his stomach. “No, no, no! No!” Lenore screamed. Lenore scrambled and ran towards Michael and Sarah screamed.

He hit the ground before Lenore and Sarah got to him. 

Lenore woke covered in sweat, tears striking her face. She felt like she couldn’t breathe as they fell. “No!” she screamed into the empty room. Why hadn’t she locked his door!? Almost every night since that horrible, horrible evening, she had been plagued by this memory repeating and repeating, constantly reminding her of what she did. 

As she sat on her bed, sobbing and hyperventilating, she felt the room chill. Icy rivets taking over where her blood once warmed her veins. She froze where she sat, fear mingling with guilt.

Samson, her cat, sat up abruptly, back arched as if ready to attack. He hissed as Lenore felt the hair on her neck stand on end. This felt different than the other “visits” she would get. It felt colder, darker, and corrupt.

“I’m sorry,” she pleaded softly, barely able to get the words out. 

She could hear the windows rattling in their cracked frames, and a deep pressure on her chest, pressing and pressing like it was trying to crush her dead. 

She couldn’t move. Whatever– whoever this is wouldn’t let her. Her hands felt bound in her lap, like someone was holding them down. ‘Like when Ben used to…’ she thought. She tried to pull her hands free of this force, struggling to no avail. 

Lenore froze when she felt breath by her ear. A thick stench of stale booze and cigarettes grounds its way into her nose, smothering her with its foulness. Her hair was brushed gently from her neck as heavy tears dripped down her face. ‘Not you,’ she thought. 

She screamed as a dark Yes whispered into her ear. It was as if someone was actually in the room with her, forcing her to stay where she was, holding her in this position through the weight of fear. 

When the door slammed the ghostly grip on her wrists dissipated, but the pressure holding her in her place stayed. Lenore thought she heard another voice whisper “Leave,” and suddenly that dark, pressing entity left her and the only feeling was that of a gentle, protective aura around her. It felt almost like her normal torment, but this time as if its anger was directly away from her, at something else entirely, it was a pressure filled with light. 

“Mom?” she called, with tears still streaking her face.