Ethan

Winter wrapped the house in its dark embrace, rain beating against the windows in a rhythmic pattern. Upstairs in the small room, little Ethan slept soundly, his breath rising and falling in a steady rhythm. His room, usually illuminated by the warm glow of a night light, was now engulfed in complete darkness. At just 8 years old, Ethan seemed peaceful, but something unsettling lingered in the night's silence.

Suddenly, quietly, like a whisper in the wind, the light went out. Ethan opened his eyes, disoriented and alarmed. He felt an inner sense, sending shivers down his spine. His heart raced as he looked around, trying to convince his eyes that it was just a dream. But the emptiness that surrounded him was all too real.

"Mom...?" he whispered in astonishment, but his words dissipated into the air. After a moment of silence, sounds began to echo - whispers in the distance yet somehow close. Unidentified shadows danced around the room, drawing Ethan's gaze.

With each breath, it grew darker, and the room's atmosphere thickened with something intangible yet incredibly real, filling the space. Ethan struggled to voice his words, unsettled:

"Mom, is that you?"

There was no reply, but in the semi-darkness, he glimpsed something unsettling - figures beginning to take shape. At first, they seemed like a jumble of shadows, gradually forming into the outline of a figure barely visible in the darkness. Something akin to a specter or a ghost started emerging from behind the door.

Ethan froze, fear paralyzing him. It wasn't the typical fear of nighttime monsters, but something much darker - something that seemed to know the secrets of his soul.

"What... what do you want?" Ethan whispered, trying to remain calm.

The specter, slowly advancing, exuded something ominous. Its eyes were hollow, its face shrouded in shadow, leaving only contours. It didn't seem made of normal matter - it appeared to be from somewhere else, a world seeping into Ethan's reality.

"N-no, leave me alone!" Ethan cried out, his voice echoing in the room's emptiness.

The specter drew closer, moving noiselessly across the floor. Ethan stepped back, trying to reach the wall behind him, but found emptiness. Everything seemed unreal yet incredibly vivid.

Then the specter began to speak. Its voice resembled Ethan's mother's tone, yet there was something unsettling about it.

"Calm down, sweetheart, the power has unfortunately gone out, and Dad went to fix the issue."

A shaken Ethan, moments ago terrified, started gradually believing in the entity before him.

The appearance of the figure rendered Ethan speechless and bewildered. Suddenly, as the specter came closer, its face started taking on familiar features, albeit still in the shadows. They were his mother's features.

"You can't be my mom..." Ethan whispered, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.

The figure paused, raising a hand gently as if to touch Ethan. His heart pounded, yet in his mind, there was something that felt like a lure, drawing him to this figure despite his terror.

"N-no! Go away!" he yelled again, this time with greater desperation in his voice.

But the figure kept approaching, and at that moment, Ethan felt an odd void in his mind, as if something tried to enter. Suddenly, he saw images - memories, moments spent with his mother, happy days, yet accompanied by something dark, something that didn't fit these memories. It was a hybrid, a mix of true memories and something distorted.

Ethan stepped back further, hands open in defense, but the figure didn't slow down. Suddenly, he realized the figure's shadow cast no reflection on the floor.

"Who... who are you?" Ethan whispered, trying to gather courage.

The figure started speaking in a voice resembling Ethan's mother's but sounding like echoes from some abandoned place.

The environment shrouded in darkness began to tremble. Ethan felt as if the energy emanating from the figure was probing his mind, blurring the line between reality and dream.

"You know deep down who I am, Ethan..." The whispering, echo-like voice crossed the room's boundaries, filling it with an immaterial presence.

Ethan felt as if his soul was undergoing a unique trial, as if some force tried to read every piece of him.

"You don't have the power to stop me..." Those words sounded distant yet directly in the boy's mind.

Though the specter took on the form of Ethan's mother, it seemed somehow altered, entangled with something foreign that disrupted the boy's peaceful memories. Ethan struggled to comprehend what was happening, but the feeling of inevitably losing control over his thoughts grew.

"Forgive me, Ethan..." The specter's voice now sounded softer, even more sinister against the backdrop.

Images and memories started to flicker rapidly, as if someone fast-forwarded a film. It was a whirl of events, some unsettlingly distorted.

Suddenly, everything fell silent. The apparition vanished as quickly as it appeared, and the room was again engulfed in overwhelming darkness. Ethan lay there, crumpled and dazed, trying to understand what just happened.

The room remained dark and quiet, and Ethan lay there, contemplating what he had just experienced. Glimpses of that presence that filled his mind left him stunned and distressed.

Mulling it over, Ethan decided he needed to gather courage and explore the rest of the house. He cautiously got out of bed, feeling the weight of the mysterious presence that permeated the room just moments ago.

He descended the wooden stairs, still reeling from what had transpired. Was it just a dream? Did he truly experience the presence of some spirit?

As he approached the staircase landing, he heard the distant sound of the front door slamming open.

He rushed towards the bathroom and barricaded himself in. After regaining composure, he glanced at the mirror and saw himself, but behind him loomed the apparition in full display.

Its silhouette was distorted, submerged in darkness, its body seemingly covered in shadow as if consumed by darkness.

The monster's head was distorted and vague, devoid of typical features, making it impossible to clearly define its appearance. Its eyes, if they existed, emitted an ominous glow that pierced the surrounding darkness.

Its body seemed to flicker as if made of something immaterial, making it hard to focus on its contours.

The monster exuded an unsettling aura, thickening the air, making the atmosphere increasingly oppressive. Its presence instilled fear and uncertainty, as if it were a being from another dimension, attempting to filter into Ethan's reality.

In sheer terror, the boy noticed a sudden change in the monster's demeanor - its previous nonchalance gave way to something dark and hostile.

In an instant, he understood that this nightmare had no intention of explanation or showing a way out. Before he could even sigh, the monster viciously attacked, its claws digging into the boy's head, its beastly fangs sinking into his neck, gradually consuming him.

It's sad that the story doesn't end like a fairy tale with a satisfying turn of events. In reality, sometimes even the most unpredictable situations carry darkness and uncertainty within them.

Perhaps each of us has had a nighttime encounter similar to Ethan's. However, for many of us, these nightmares ended happily.