Angelina stared at the dark screen.
Her reflection was still smiling.
She wasn't.
She slowly backed away from the television.
The reflection didn't move.
It simply watched her.
Then the whimper came again.
Soft.
Broken.
Almost like a child trying desperately not to be heard.
Angelina covered her ears.
"Stop..."
The moment the word left her mouth, the reflection's smile disappeared.
The room became completely silent.
Angelina froze.
She remembered the rules.
She shouldn't have spoken.
The reflection slowly raised one finger to its lips.
Be quiet.
Angelina's heart pounded.
Then the reflection pointed toward her bedroom door.
Three slow knocks followed.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Angelina didn't move.
A voice whispered from behind the door.
"Angelina?"
She recognized it immediately.
Her mother's voice.
But something was wrong.
It sounded exactly like her mother...
except her mother wasn't supposed to be awake.
"Angelina, open the door."
Angelina stared at the handle.
She didn't answer.
The voice came again.
"Please."
Angelina's eyes filled with fear.
Then she noticed something.
The shadow beneath the door wasn't shaped like a person standing outside.
It was shaped like someone sitting on the floor.
A little girl.
Angelina stepped backward.
The voice changed.
It was no longer her mother's.
It became Mara's.
"Don't open it."
Angelina's heart jumped.
"Mara?"
The shadow beneath the door disappeared.
The television flickered.
Her reflection was gone.
The screen showed something else.
A hallway.
An endless hallway filled with doors.
And standing in the middle of it...
was Mara.
She looked different now.
Her hair wasn't covering her face.
Her eyes were clear.
She looked frightened.
Mara lifted her hand and pointed behind herself.
Angelina stared.
Something was standing in the darkness behind Mara.
Tall.
Motionless.
The Listener.
Mara's lips moved.
Angelina couldn't hear her.
Then Mara pointed toward the screen.
A message appeared across the television:
IT WAS NEVER MARA.
Angelina's heart stopped.
She stared at the words.
Another message appeared.
SHE WAS WARNING YOU.
Then another.
THE WHIMPERING WASN'T CALLING YOU.
Angelina stepped closer.
Her hands trembled.
A final sentence appeared.
IT WAS CALLING HIM.
The screen went black.
Angelina stood completely still.
Then she heard something behind her.
A slow breath.
She didn't turn around.
A voice whispered beside her ear.
Not Mara.
Not her mother.
Not the Listener.
Something new.
Something that had been waiting much longer than either of them.
"Finally..."
Angelina closed her eyes.
The voice whispered:
"You heard me."
And from somewhere inside the walls...
the whimpering began again.
But this time...
there was laughter underneath it.
To be continued...
Author's Thought
Maybe Mara was never the monster.
Maybe she was the only thing keeping the real one away.