Chapter 32: Sleep Of The Innocent

At five years old, Lilianna Rossi was afraid of the dark. She begged her mother each night to leave the hall light on when she went to bed so she could keep an eye out for the monsters in her room.

Her mother, a soft-spoken woman with a kind heart, granted her daughter's request but gently reminded her that there were no such things as monsters, except in fairy tales and storybooks.

Lilianna knew her mother was wrong. Waking in the middle of the night, she'd caught the dark shadow hovering over her bed, watching her sleep. She'd squeezed her eyes closed, pretending to breathe evenly, but she could feel her heart beating against her flannel nightgown.