Pen

I could remember the night in which I found out that I was different from my siblings so vividly. I had just turned six years old and my parents had finally decided to let me have my own bedroom. I was so excited that I wouldn't have to share a bed with mommy and daddy anymore. Mommy cradled me too close and daddy's snores could wake the dead. Don't get me wrong, I adored being so close to both of my parents, but I wanted to be a big girl just like my big sister Charlotte. Charlotte is the eldest daughter of the five children that my parents brought into this world. She was the more sensible one, but a little bossy towards our brothers. Sometimes she'd play board games with me and cheat to let me win. I was so happy to win that I didn't even notice how bad I sucked at Monopoly. I remember packing my stuffed animals in a hurry to move into my own bedroom. I took my pillow along with one of my mom's pillows also. They were much softer than mine and I loved the way it felt just beneath my little neck. Sometimes I wondered if this is what sleeping on a cloud would feel like.


Everything seemed to go as they normally would in our home that night. I hugged my twin brother goodnight after we held our nightly coloring book club and then I went to bed. Mommy read me a bedtime story called "Goodnight Moon". It was calming listening her read because her voice was what I depicted an angel's to sound like. The lids of my eyes began to flutter like moth wings beneath a street light; and suddenly, I was asleep. I slightly felt the soft touch of my mom's lips against my forehead before the pressure of her body left my bedside. I dreamed  of the things that I always dreamt about. Unicorns doing ballet, Barbie dolls dressed in cupcake costumes -the epiphany of childish things. However, there was something different about this dream. I could hear a voice calling out to me. A voice that wasn't familiar to me at all.  It was gentle at first, but then it all began to grow horrid at an alarming rate. One voice turned into two, two voices turned into three and so on. I couldn't scream even though I tried. I felt as if my lips were sewn shut and I wouldn't be heard. At least....not over those voices.

"Penelope, wake up!"

"You can't sleep right now!"

"There's no such thing as unicorns you silly little troll."


The voices were all that I could hear as I tossed and turned underneath my Minnie Mouse blanket. It was a constant repetition as if it were a mantra; a Vedic hymn that had no means of being forgotten. It took me long enough, but finally I awakened. Rapid breaths consumed the silence of my room, my brunette locks slicked down with sweat. Oceanic hues glanced around the room, searching for the voices that I heard. I couldn't see very much in the dark aside from the light that entered my room through the crack of the door. Reaching over towards the pink night stand beside my bed, I used the pad of my index finger to switch on my nightlight. I absolutely hated the  dark, especially when I was already so spooked. Slowly but surely, I pushed my small form out of bed. One foot after the other touching the floor whilst I continued to search around, hoping that it was really just a bad dream. I took a deep breath, noticing that I was alone in the room. No voices surrounded me and I knew then that I could calm myself.


"It's okay Penny." I whispered to myself. The slight lisp that I spoke with causing me to giggle on the inside. "You're a big girl now. You don't need to be scared of no bad dreams!" I continued to tell myself.


It was only then that I saw a shadow through the corner of my eyes. I gasped. I saw a male standing with his back against my window. His fingers clutched onto a wooden cane with luminous red eyes. I couldn't quite make out his face, although I tried my hardest to do so. In fact, it didn't seem to me that he had one.  Shadows danced around his slender form, his laughter filling the area as the voices came back to me, embracing my thoughts with open arms. I screamed. I screamed my little ass off but yet, I was too scared to move. I felt Frozen in place, like the glowing eyes of his cane held me there so that he could devour me sooner rather than later.

"Move and you'll regret it." One voice spoke.

"Run Penelope. I dare you." Another laughed.

"She won't run, she's too much of a coward." The others would shout.


Forcing myself to move, I quickly turned around to face my bedroom door. Strands of my chestnut hair that wasn't glued down to my face tussled in the small breeze, whipping against my face. I ran towards the door, a small hand reaching out as my fingers curled around the icy cold doorknob. In a hurry, I pulled the already halfway cracked door open and ran out of the room. I was so scared that I didn't even notice myself bumping into the chest of my older brother. He looked down at me, his heavier hands now upon my shoulders. "Pen, what's wrong with you? What's all that screaming for, huh?" Thomas questioned me. I stared at him for at least 15 seconds before I burst into a typhoon of tears.

"C'mon Pen, don't be a baby. What's wrong?" He asked.


"I'm not a baby! There's a man inside my room and his cane is going to eated me!" I shouted. My words were slightly mispronounced due to how hysterical I was. "Eated?" He chuckled. It's eat, Pen. Also, there is no man inside of your room. You are just a crybaby that's not used to sleeping without mom and dad. "Thomas playfully pinched my cheek. He smiled down at me until his eyes took sight of how many tears were streaming down my face. "I'll check your room, don't worry." He said, grabbing ahold of my much smaller hand to walk into my bedroom.

"Your brother is right, you are a baby. You are the only one that needs to sleep with mommy and daddy." The voices inside my head laughed.

"Pathetic. No one's going to believe you. They are going to think that you're a scaredy cat." The other voices followed behind.



"LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALONE! I AM NOT A BABY!" I screamed, pulling my hand away from my brother. I tried to ignore the voices, resist the urge to respond to them....but I failed. Perhaps I was a baby. Perhaps....I was crazy. "Pen, who are you talking to? What's going on with you?" Thomas asked. He quirked a brow, confused by what he was hearing. "Can't you hear them? They keep telling me mean things and the won't stop. Why won't they stop?" I covered my ears.

My brother stood in silence until my mom and dad entered the room. Soon, my bedroom was flooded by the rest of my siblings as well.


"You two, what's going on in here?" My dad questioned both my brother and I. The look upon his face was only of concern. A frown formed upon my face and I ran towards my dad, wrapping my arms around him and I cried. I couldn't explain to him what was happening to me - but he held me close, stroking my soaked hair. I shivered not because I was cold, but because I was frightened. Why was this happening to me?