Chapter 17

Chapter 17

      They were sitting at the kitchen table; none of them had spoken after seeing what they witnessed. Violet’s parents were looking at each other, making different faces at one another. They looked at Violet and her mother said, “Vi, it’s time for bed, brush your teeth and change and we’ll be in there to tuck you in soon.” Violet obliged, and started to get ready for bed. She was about to change into her PJs when she heard her parents talking in a hushed voice.

“Aaron, what do you think that was? It was nothing like I’ve ever seen before, the shape, the colors, the shadows, everything, it was…so…foreign.” Violet’s mom sounded worried.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it either. Whatever it was, it wanted us to get closer to it, that’s for sure. Do you think it was some kind of trap, or just a fluke?” Violet’s dad sounded very serious.

“I’m not sure, but if we see it again, we can’t get close, we should throw something at it to see what happens. Do some investigating. But most of all, we have to keep Violet away from it.” Now Violet’s mom sounded serious, it made Violet nervous.

“I agree, but�",” Violet’s mom cut her dad off.

“Aaron, this thing called to her first. She noticed it before you and I did, it wasn’t until we noticed that she wasn’t next to us anymore that we saw it. I didn’t even see it right away. I was looking at the same place as her and I didn’t notice it until…”

“Until what?” Her father had a worried tone in his voice now.

“Until it wanted me to.”

“You think this…thing, wanted us to see it?”

“I think that whatever this was, it wanted Violet to see it first. It wanted her to come closer. It didn’t start drawing us in until we walked over. When it evaporated, you and I were closer to reaching it Violet wasn’t even close. I think it evaporated because, whatever it is, it wanted Violet. Not us.”

Violet couldn’t see her parents but they stopped talking. They were quite for a while before Violet’s father finally responded.

“I think you’re right. But I also think that we don’t know enough about this to assume that it’s here to hurt us. I do think that the next time we see it we should try throw something at it or something, to see what will happen if we did touch it.”

“Well, even if we don’t know if it’s good or bad, I want us to agree that we won’t let Violet near it again.”

“Agreed, she won’t go near that…thing again.”

Violet’s mom sighed in relief, and she heard her give her dad a kiss. “Good, okay, let’s go say goodnight to Vi, she’s probably in bed by now.”

That was her cue, Violet quickly, and quietly, ran to her room and climb into bed. She was catching her breath when her parents came in her room. 

“You okay Vi?” her mom asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just…I…um…I thought I heard something so I ran to my room from the bathroom.”

“Violet, what aren’t you telling me.” Her mom was using her serious voice, and she knew that she was caught.

“Okay, I was listening to you guys talking about the thing we saw. Do you really think it wanted me?”

Her parents looked at each other and her mom sighed. “Vi, don’t be afraid. We are going to make sure this thing, doesn’t hurt you. We don’t know what it was, or why it was in our backyard. But…but it didn’t look friendly. I…we want to keep you safe. So if you do see that thing again, stay away from it, and call your father and me to you. I don’t want you hunting by yourself either. If you’re hungry and we’re not home, wait. Do you understand?”

Violet was quite for a bit, “Yeah I understand. I just…I don’t think it was unfriendly. It was smiling at us! Didn’t you see?”

Her parents looked at each other, only this time Violet could see fear in their eyes. “What? Did you not see it smiling?” asked Violet.

“No…sweetheart, it was just a shadow. A colorful flickering shadow, we didn’t see a face”

“Well it had one; it was smiling at all of us. When we reached for it though, it’s smile went away and it waved goodbye. It wanted to stay and play but it was afraid.”

“How do you know all of this Violet?” her father asked, she could hear fear in his voice.

“I…well it told me…you didn’t hear it? It had a musical voice, it sounded like it was singing to us. It was telling me that it wanted us all to come with it. It missed all of us and it wanted us to come back.”

There was a long silence. Her parents were sitting on her bed, but it was like they fell onto her bed.

“Violet…what else did it say?” asked her dad.

“It said that it wanted us to come back to where we belong. It said that we’re missed and they want all of us to come back. What is it talking about? Go back where?” Violet was starting to get frightened.

“I…we don’t know sweetie. Did it say anything else?” her mom was trying not to sound scared, but she didn’t succeed.

“Um…it…it said that it would be back. That it would see us again, and that the next time, we would go with it. It said it would be back soon. That was right before it smiled and waved goodbye.”

They were all quiet for a long while. It wasn’t until they heard a terrifying sound coming from the kitchen. All of them jumped and looked towards the entry way of Violet’s bedroom door. They heard music coming from downstairs. All of their hearts sank, and Violet started to cry.

“It’s back…it’s…it’s calling us down there. It says…it says we have to come with it…or we won’t be happy.”

“We have to stay up here. We can’t go do down there, Aaron, close the door! Hurry!” her mom was frightened and her dad got up and slammed the door shut.

“Claire, what do we do? We can’t just hide in here!”

“It’s coming up…” Violet was quite, and her eyes were fixated on her bedroom door.

They heard the music getting louder and louder. Finally, Aaron and Claire could hear what it was saying.

Come to me. We miss you all so much. Please, don’t make this hard. We want you all to come back. You have been missed. There is no time to waste, tonight is the night.

Its voice was just as Violet had described, friendly and musical, is if it was singing to them.

“It said that tonight is the night” Violet was still interpreting the music for her parents.

Both of them responded in unison, “We know…”

Violet looked up at her parents and saw that they had nothing but terror in their eyes. Violet was filled with fear, she didn’t know what to expect. She didn’t know how they would be able to get out of the situation that they were in.

Come to me. We won’t hurt you, please come back home. Come back to where you all belong. We miss you all very much. Tonight is the night.

The musical voice was getting louder and closer. It was right behind Violet’s bedroom door.

Please…come to me. We won’t hurt you. Please…please come to me.

All three of them looked at one another. It was the end. There was no way that they could escape this creature and all of them knew it. Violet’s parents gave each other a long kiss and then they both clutched Violet. They each gave her a kiss on the top of her head and waited for the door to open.

      All of a sudden the door slammed open. The figure was right behind it. It looked different this time. It wasn’t flickering, it was a solid figure. It was shaped like a man and it was shaped like a woman. It had infinite colors rippling throughout its body. It had a soft face, and it was smiling at all of them.

Don’t be afraid Claire, Aaron, Violet, we are here to help you. We are here to take you home.

“Please…please leave us alone…this is our home.” There was nothing but fear in Violet’s mother’s voice.

No, Claire, you are not home. Your home is elsewhere, and it always has been. You and Aaron have been far from it for some time now. Take our hands, and we will take you back.

“What are you talking about? This has always been our home!” her father’s voice was frightened but strong.

Aaron, please don’t be upset. We know you don’t understand. We want to help you understand. Please. Take our hands, and we’ll explain.

“Aaron, what should we do?”

“I don’t know Claire… I think we have no choice…”

“Are you going to kill us?” Violet couldn’t keep quite any longer. Her parents both looked down at Violet surprised and frightened.

Violet, we don’t want to harm you. We want you to come home.

“But we’ve told you that this is our home? What place are you talking about? Please, we’re scared…just tell us the truth.” Violet was feeling brave, and strong, like both of her parents.

Don’t be frightened. Sweet Violet, we just want to take you home. You were never there, but Claire and Aaron were there for a brief time in their lives. They were very young, that’s why they don’t remember. But they were there, and they were loved, and now they are missed. We miss them, and we are all eager to meet you Violet.

The fear was fading from Violet, instead it was being replaced with curiosity and wonder. She looked up at her parents smiled.

“I don’t think we have anything to fear from this…this being. I think we’ll be okay. I think we should go with them.” Violet had made up her mind, and she wanted her parents to join her. After all, they were the ones they wanted.

“Vi, you can’t be serious? They are lying to us!” Her father was getting angry with her. He still didn’t understand.

“Dad, please. They aren’t lying to us. Why would they lie? What could they gain from it? If they wanted us dead, we would be dead by now. But we’re not, because they want us to go with them, wherever that may be.”

Her parents had confused looks on their faces. “Vi, please, we can’t do this, we don’t know what…this isn’t right!” Her mom was conflicted, but she seemed like she would change her mind.

“Mom, Dad, please. We must do this, you both have to do this! I know we never felt normal here, and maybe it’s because we aren’t normal. Maybe everyone in our true home is all like us! What if we don’t have hide anymore?”

It was setting in, they were starting to see that Violet was right. They had always felt different from everyone.

“Is…is everyone there like us?” asked Violet’s mom.

Sweet Claire, of course they are. Your parents miss you so much Claire, they were distraught when you left. Aaron, your parents miss you too, they are desperately hoping that you come home. We can take you back, back to your parents, to your family. Take our hands, and we’ll take you home.
Violet’s parents looked at each other. They shared another long look at one another and smiled. They looked down at Violet took her hand and together they reached for the hand of the mysterious being that was going to take them home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIN