Penumbra Nightmare: Episode 7Part 1 of 4
Five people lived in the third house on seventh street. When all five went to bed, only two went to sleep. Mom would tuck them all in, kiss them all goodnight, and turn off all the lights. The eldest daughter, Alice, would wait until she heard the footsteps fade away down the hall before she would spend hours texting and scrolling until she dropped off to sleep. The middle brother, Franklin, would play games online, saying mean and awful things to the other players. Of all five people in the third house on seventh street, only Colin couldn’t fall asleep.
Every night he would stare at the closet. He was waiting for it. It always tried to wait until Colin was asleep before coming out. Perhaps it thought that it was playing some cruel game. Some nights he would see it emerge and it would look at him and smile.
“Shh don’t tell. Don’t be a baby. Babies are scarred.” Most nights Colin did see it. Other nights, the only evidence of it being there was the long, moist, cold trail along his cheek when he woke up.
The first few nights he had tried to tell.
“Shut up stupid.”
“It’s just a weird dream.”
“There’s no such thing as monsters.” His siblings replied. His brother and sister would brush him off and his mother would always repeat the phrase “There’s nothing to fear.” And almost every night it told him. “Shh don’t tell. Don’t be a baby. Babies are scarred.” So after a while Colin stopped trying to tell anyone. He wasn’t a baby. But he was scared.
A Long Way from Home 