A living room is filled with the blue glow from the tv. On the couch sits an 10 year old boy, Terrence, surrounded by various toy weaponry. A billowy, green blanket is draped around his body. Only his face is exposed. He stares at the screen, eyes bloodshot and heavy. A groggy voice comes from the doorway. “Why are you still up?”The boy jumps at the question and screams. “Mom you scared the crap out of me!” The woman shuffles to the couch and sits next to her son. This has to stop, she thinks to herself. She picks up the remote and the screen goes black. “Let’s go” she says. “But I don’t want to go to bed, the man with no eyes is waiting for me in the closet!” She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “ Terrence we’ve talked about this. There’s no man. It’s 2 am you need to sleep.”

Cheryl pulls the Spider-Man comforter up to her son’s chin. “Leave the light on” Terrence pleads. “Goodnight, Terrence.” She states as she leaves the room.

A bright beam entering the window wakes Cheryl. Not yet ready to take on the task of being awake, she stares at the glow of redness from behind her eyelids. She turns toward her bedside table and reaches for her phone. Nothing here. No messages, no missed calls. Her eyes take significant effort to keep open. They’re dry and gritty. One night of uninterrupted sleep would fix all my problems, she thinks. A fart disrupts the room’s silence. She turns to find Terrence next to her. His mouth open, body tucked into itself. Cheryl uses a hand to stifle a laugh. She rubs his hair, her face suddenly struck with worry. She slips out of bed, puts on her robe and heads for the kitchen.

“Have a good day!” The car door shuts as Terrence walks into school. The dark bags under his eyes create bold contrast with pale skin and flourescent light. He finds his friends among the masses waiting in the gym. The boys nod to one another. It’s 7:30 am, no one talks at 7:30am.

At lunch the boys reunite at the usual table. Terrence stares at Joey as he inhales his second pizza pocket. “My mom finally said you guys can come over this weekend.” Lucas announces to the table. “We just set up the game room. My mom stocked up on snacks and she doesn’t care how late we stay up since it’s the weekend.” Terrence’s ears perked up. The boys cheer in agreement. “Tell your mom to call my mom, so she’ll let me come.” Joey mentions.

The front bursts open. “Mom! Mom! Can I go to Lucas’s house tonight?!” Cheryl sets down her coffee. “His mom’s letting him have a sleepover?” “Yes, yes, now can i go?” She’s stunned for a moment. This is the first sleepover invite Terrence has had since meeting Lucas and the guys last year. “I mean, I don’t see why not.” Terrence sprinted to his room to pack his bag. She grabs her phone and messages Lucas’s mom “ Hey, thanks for inviting Terrence. What time should we drop by?”

“Mom no hug, you’re embarrassing me!” Terrence slinks out of reach. “Yeesh, ok. See you tomorrow. Thanks again Stacy. Have a great time boys.” But they had already disappeared up the stairs. Well now what, Cheryl thought as she walked to the car. An unplanned free friday night. She cranked the ignition and headed home.

The shower knobs screeched as they turned to release the water. Steam billowed over the curtain rod. Cheryl lit the eucalyptus and mint candles that rested on the sink. The new vanilla sugar scrub she splurged on was calling her name. Stepping into the shower, she let the heat of the water melt her muscles and her anxiety. It’s amazing the wonders a long hot shower can do for someone. Emerging from the steam of the bathroom, adorned in her fluffiest slippers, robe, and hair wrapped in a towel; Cheryl headed to the kitchen. She assembled the finest girl dinner she could manage. She carefully plated buttery crackers, slices of cheese, and pepperoni. To accompany the spread, a bag of Doritos and a chilled Dr.Pepper. Now, it was time to relax.

An abrupt silence woke Cheryl. “Shit” The power was out. Isn’t it strange how our bodies sense changes in our environment even while we sleep? After a long, slightly dramatic sigh, Cheryl flung off her blanket and heaved herself from the couch. Peeking through the blinds, Cheryl realized the houses across the street still had power. Maybe only one side of the street lost power she thought as she walked to the kitchen, She peered out the window and much to her dismay, the house next door also had power. Cheryl did not miss payments. There’s no way her power was shut off.

After checking the breakers, Cheryl was sweaty and frustrated. In the south, there is no repreave from August heat, even at night. She reached for her phone. “ Fuck me.” 7%. She considered getting a hotel room for the night, but it was already 11:30. Accepting defeat, Cheryl headed for her bedroom. Flopping on top of the duvet, she lay completely still. Just before sleep overtook her, a noise came from Terrence’s room.

With quiet footsteps, Cheryl approached the doorway of Terrence’s room and carefully pushed open the door. Nothing. She scanned using what moonlight was bestowed upon surfaces of the room. That’s when she noticed it. The closet door was slightly ajar. Terrence hadn’t touched his closet since the nightmares started. After the first one, he moved all of his clothes to the chest at the end of his bed. Weird, but ok, Cheryl shrugged as she approached the closet. She looked up from the doorknob to find a hollow face meeting hers. Her scream was cut short as she was pulled into the closet and the door slammed shut.

“Have you tried calling again?” Stacy asked in a concerned tone. “Yea, it just keeps going to voicemail.” This isn’t like Cheryl thought Stacy. “Maybe we should swing by, it’s almost noon.” Stacy, Lucas, and Terrence piled into the car. The brakes screeched as the car rolled to a stop. Cheryl’s car was in the driveway. Terrence ran to the front door and entered the house. Cheryl sat facing the tv, she didn’t turn to greet her son. “Sorry if you called, my phone was dead. We lost power last night” she spoke in a soothing voice. “Oh…ok” Terrence was unsure how else to reply. He walked back to the car to retrieve his bag and explained the situation to Stacy. “Yea, she seems a little tired but everything seems fine.” Stacy wasn’t totally convinced, “Ok, well tell your mom to call me when her phone is charged.” The car pulled off and Terrence turned towards the house.

Heading towards his room, he noticed his mom had gotten up from the couch. He kicked off his shoes and threw his bag on his bed. He turned to leave and came face to face with his mother. But also, not his mother. Her face was grey and distorted. Her jaw stretched open to an unnatural gape. Where her eyes once were, black pits. A deafening scream engulfed the room. Terrence, frozen in fear, could do nothing but glare, wide eyed. And then, they were gone.

Stacy’s phone rang as she threw the last of the laundry in the washer. “Hi Stacy, it’s Cheryl. I’m so sorry about this morning. The power went out last night, my phone died, it was a whole thing.” Cheryl spoke with a cheerful tone. “Oh, no worries we just wanted to make sure everything was ok!” Stacy replied, relieved. “I really appreciate it. We got the power thing worked out. Hey, we would love for Lucas to come over tonight. Say around, 8?” Cheryl’s featureless face awaited a response from the other end of the phone. “Sounds good!” Cheryl put down the phone and turned towards Terrence. Now, they wait.