Into the Dark

Chapter 1

May, 1996. Somewhere in Connecticut.

The toddler woke to soft singing. It was a lady's voice, barely more than a whisper. His blue eyes opened and he looked around the dark room, barely illuminated by a small night light by the door, half hidden by a dresser pushed up against the wall there. The light seemed to cast shadows more than it dispelled them tonight. It was still dark. He could see the moon shining through his window on the other side of the room. The floor was littered with the toys he'd been playing with that evening.

"....Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird.."

He wondered who was singing. Mommy never ever sang to him. Nana did but Nana wasn't there. Mommy and Nana had been yelling at each other the night before when Nana had come over and Nana left quickly. He had wanted to go with Nana. He missed her a lot. The fighting scared him and made Mommy so angry. When she was angry she drank bad smelly stuff that she told him was for grown ups. That's why it smelled bad to him. When she drank that stuff she was either really mean to him or she would put him in his room and ignore him for the rest of the day, sometimes longer.

"...And if that mocking bird don't sing..."

The closet door was cracked open. The small boy crawled out of his little bed and stood up on bare feet. The singing was coming from the closet. This confused the little boy. The closet was always closed because he couldn't reach the door. It was empty. How had she gotten into his house? Did Mommy know? How did she get into his room without waking him up? He always heard when Mommy opened his door. It was loud and squeaky.

"....Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring..."

Why was the lady in his closet? Her voice was so quiet and so pretty.... He wished his mommy sang to him like this. He was almost sure his mommy would have the prettiest singing voice in the world. She had to because she was his mommy. He took a few steps towards the closet and tripped over his dump truck. He landed hard on his hands and knees and briefly felt like crying. But he didn't want to wake Mommy up. She'd make the lady with the pretty voice go away. He worried that he had already been to loud, besides, he was three. That was too old to cry over something so silly.

Abruptly, the singing stopped. He could still hear whispers but he couldn't make them out. He stood. The room filled with silence.

He toddled the rest of the way to the closet and opened the door, still curious about the singing lady. He didn't see anyone. He wondered where the women with the pretty voice could have gone. He thought maybe his closet was magic, like the one that was in the book his Nana had read and got excited. He hadn't understood most of the story but magic closets sounded fun to him. He searched the closet again but found no hidden passages to fairyland. He was disappointed. She had been singing the song his Nana sang to him and her voice was so pretty. He hadn't wanted her to leave. He wanted her to stay and sing Nana's song to him. He must have scared her away when he fell over his toys.

The little boy went back to his bed, lower lip stuck out in a small pout, and laid back down. He couldn't get out of his room to see where the lady went because if his closet was magic it wouldn't show him how to get where the lady had gone, and it would make his mommy mad if he left anyway. He never wanted Mommy to be mad. It scared him.

As he drifted off to sleep the singing started again, even quieter than before. It was almost like she was singing in another part of the house because it was so quiet, but he was sure it was coming from his closet. He struggled to open his little blue eyes, but even if he'd been able to, all he would have seen were shadows, his closet a black doorway to nowhere.

"....And if that diamond ring don't shine...."

The boy fell asleep. He would forget the singing lady by the time he woke, but the singing lady would never forget him. She would forever hold his life in her hands. She watched him from the closet, a grin on her face that revealed stained and broken sharp teeth. The closet door slowly swung closed on it's own accord.
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