Saphirra always heard faint noises at night. The floor would creak outside of her door or she would hear quiet tapping on the walls. The noises always just seemed to be the house settling or the animals that lived outside in the meadow. Things aren't always what they seem, though. Saphirra realized this shortly after her fourteenth birthday.
Saphirra just turned fourteen, now she keeps seeing a shadowy silhouette of someone behind her. It's almost as if it is following her. She sees it in the mirror while getting ready for school and when she looks behind her, there's nothing. While talking on FaceTime with a friend, Saphirra sees it just sitting in the corner of her room, staring in her direction. Then, while looking through old photos, she starts to see it. It's been there for a long time. Even before her mom was killed, killed by what now, follows Saphirra. She has no clue what it is but, she swears it's there and she is absolutely positive that it is following her. Finally, she decided to ask her father about it.
"Dad, can I ask you about something?" Saphirra asks while sitting down at the dining room table. Her father looks away from the stove.
"What's up, Saphirra?" he says with a gentle smile.
"Um... have you ever seen this thing-" Her father interrupts the question suddenly.
"What thing? I've seen a lot of things in my past, Saph."
"It kind of has a human figure, it's tall, shadowy..." Saphirra looks at her dad, hoping that maybe, he sees it too.
"Saph, I haven't. Are you feeling well?" He gives his daughter a concerned look.
"Dad, I'm fine! I swear, if I pulled my phone out right now, I would see it."
"Are you reading scary stories again? You should stop, it's getting to you, sweetie."
"Dad! Please believe me, I swear to you it's there! It's in our old photos and everything," Saphirra runs to the living room and picks up a picture where the figure is clearly there. She hurries back and hands her dad the frame, "See, it's between you and mom."
Her father studies the picture and shrugs.
"Saph, there's nothing there. I think it's just the lighting. Now, here's your dinner." He hands her a bowl of spaghetti. Saphirra walks to the table and sits down, pushing the spaghetti with her fork.
The next evening, Saphirra notices while looking in her mirror that, the thing is closer. She starts to notice more details on this creature. Its arms are long with big hands, there are razor sharp claws at the end of each needle-like finger. Its face is the most terrifying part. It's blank except for a large mouth with huge, pointy teeth protruding from it. It's there in front of her, then it moved. It moved from the corner towards her. Not much, but enough to make Saphirra feel even more uneasy about the situation.
From that evening, things only got worse. Some nights, she heard it scraping and scratching its long fingers against the wall. Others she could hear it breathing, and it wasn't only breathing loudly, it was hanging from the ceiling above her. During the day things weren't terrible. Saphirra could hear it and catch small glimpses of it in a reflective surface but, She'd rather be in public and deal with it than at home.
A few days have now passed, She hasn't seen the thing... its surprisingly concerning. Saphirra just got home from school. The house is dark, her father must be working late. She walks inside, holding her phone out in front of her with the camera on. Saphirra goes to where she feels most safe, her basement. The whole reason she feels so safe there is because she built a circle of mirrors to sit in, just to make sure she knows where the thing is. She sits for hours on end, suddenly she feels an icy chill run down her spine. It's here... Saphirra looks at each of the mirrors, finally seeing it in the last one. This is the closest she has ever seen it. There are so many details she missed. Its face has sunken in spots where its eyes and nostrils should be. The body is disfigured, almost as if it had been hit by a car multiple times. Saphirra stares at it in horror, it's such a gruesome thing. It nears her more and its razor sharp claws carve into Saphirra's neck. That's where everything in her mind, went dead.
"Saphirra, I'm home!" Her father shouts as he walks inside, most of the lights are still off. Saphirra always turns the lights on when she gets home. Something isn't right here... He walks around the house searching for his daughter. No sign of her, that's what he thought until he saw the crack of the basement door illuminated brightly.
"Saph? Are you down there sweetie?" He asks with a shaky voice. He pulls the door open and descends into the basement. What he sees when he gets down the stairs is quite disturbing. He finds his only daughter, dismembered at each limb. This happened recently, her thick dark blood still oozes from her torso, head and each limb. Saphirra's blood is splattered on all six of the mirrors that surround her. Or, splattered on the fragments that lay on the ground around her. Scratches... long, deep scratches cover every inch of her pale skin. Though, there is still something off... something off about her face. Her father moves closer to get a better view and notices something horrid. His precious girl. His eyes immediately lock on where her eyes are, or, were. Her eyelids are sunken in and sewed shut. Not only that but, every single tooth, is no longer a tooth. Each and every tooth was replaced with a long needle. He turns immediately, feeling extremely light headed. He drops to his knees in the middle of the glassy mess. His eyes water from the pain... the pain of losing his wife and child, and the pain from the broken glass digging into his knees.
"Sa-Saphirra..." he whispers to himself when finally, he sees it.
