The Child Eater - An Original Short Story by K H Simmons

Photo by Raphael Brasileiro on Unsplash

Jamie watched from the safety of his duvet covers as his Dad checked the room. He was checking to make sure that he had obeyed all of the rules. When it first began, he had pretended that it was a game. They had to make sure that they followed all the rules. The window had to be shut and locked. The curtains had to be drawn and they couldn't be opened until the sun was up. The wardrobe had to be pressed up against the air vent. The nightlight had to be switched on and it would stay on until the sun was up.

‘No getting out of bed until morning. The child eater gets naughty boys who don't stay in bed,’ his Dad would say.

It was fun at first. At first, Jamie believed the pretence of the game. That was until the first night he heard the tapping at the window. He had laid under the covers, trying to ignore it. It was just the tree tickling its twigs against the windowpane. At least that's what he tried to tell himself. Even back then he had known it was a lie. His Dad had cut the tree back weeks before, the branches didn't reach the window anymore. Jamie had sunk further into the sheets and pressed the pillow over his ears so all he could hear was the pounding of his heart. That had been enough at first.
Over the years it grew more persistent. The tapping grew louder. It began to walk along the outer wall of his room looking for any weakness. He knew it shouldn't be possible, his room was on the second floor. Sometimes it whispered through the vent.

‘Don't listen,’ his Dad told him.

He handed Jamie his earphones. Jamie’s eyes flickered to where the wardrobe was blocking the vent before slipping the buds into his ears. The sound of classical music drowned everything out. His Dad nodded, satisfied.

‘Only three more days,’ Jamie saw his Dad mouth as he left the room and shut the door.

It was only three more days until Jamie’s thirteenth birthday and then he would be OK. It would be safe. He could sleep with the window open, letting a cool breeze wash over him. He longed to not be smothered by the blankets. He could turn the night light off and take the earphones out. It would be so peaceful, so calm and quiet.

Jamie must have drifted off dreaming about being a man because when he woke, the music had stopped. He checked the iPod; it had got to the end of the playlist. How he had been laying had made his earache, so he pulled the buds out and rubbed his head.

‘Jamie,’ came the whisper through the vent.

He froze. Its voice chilling him to the core.

‘Jamie, come here,’ it called.

Jamie remained tucked up in his bed and began fiddling with the earphones trying to get them back in. He didn’t know how they had become so tangled.

‘I've got something to show you, come here, just a minute won't hurt,’ it whispered.

It was getting desperate, he told himself. Only three more days and then he would be safe from it. It only wanted children. He’d always wondered why it had chosen him, why it wanted him.

Tap, tap, tap.

Jamie looked to the window where the curtain let in a sliver of moonlight. A shadow passed over the gap. There shouldn’t be a gap in the curtains. There couldn’t be. That was against the rules, how had his Dad missed that?

Tap, tap. Tap, tap.

He shivered as he realised, he had swung his legs out of the bed. His feet rested on the cool floor. The iPod had slipped from his grasp. He knew he should look for it, he should get back into bed, put his music on and go back to sleep.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

The shadow danced in front of the moonlight, hypnotic and beautiful.

‘I won't hurt you Jamie, come and look,’ it whispered.

If only Jamie could just close that gap in the curtains and get his earphones back in. He stood up and crossed to the window. The tapping was so close now. It tapped a little tune as if fairies were dancing across the glass.

Jamie hummed himself a song, a tuneless melody to drown out the tapping. Reaching up with a shaking hand he took hold of the curtain. He shouldn't have looked. He didn't mean to look. It was only the tiniest gap. A glowing yellow eye stared through the glass at him, capturing his attention. He was like a rabbit caught in headlights. He knew he should be closing the curtain, he should look away, he should scream for help, but he couldn't. That yellow eye held him in its gaze, and he felt his arm moving like it wasn’t his own. The curtain was tugged open.

The creature that had been hunting him for all these years sat in the air just beyond the window. Its yellow eyes staring at Jamie, unblinking. From a long distance you might have mistaken it for a child. A misshapen, hideous child. The mouth was as wide as its head, it had no lips, leaving a set of pointed teeth fixed in a permanent grin. Its naked skin was grey and shone in the moonlight like it was covered in slime. With long clawed fingers it tapped a tune across the glass of his window.

‘Come Jamie, let us dance in the moonlight,’ it whispered.

With puppet-like hands, Jamie unbolted the window and pushed it wide open. The cool night air swept in. The smell of dew drops on fir trees came with it and it was the most beautiful scent in the world. There was so much to enjoy outside. Silver light dripped through the trees to form dappled pools in the soft grass beneath. A niggling feeling in the back of Jamie’s mind was trying to tell him something, that something wasn't right. The creature stretched out a hand towards him and he wondered why he had ever been so scared or repulsed by the creature. Its skin was smooth and silky to the touch. It felt so right as he took its fingers in his own and climbed onto the window ledge. As soon as Jamie touched it, that annoying niggling sensation vanished.

Without fear Jamie took a step into the air, knowing that he wouldn't fall. It had him now. He knew it would keep him safe forever. It smiled at him, it was always grinning, as it pulled him into the moonlight. It spun him around and twirled him through the air as they danced. His legs felt so light it was almost as if they weren't there. A warm sensation spread through Jamie’s body as he saw the creature dancing, pulling his legs this way and that way until a shower of dark liquid pattered down through the foliage. His arms were the next part of the routine. Jamie wished someone could see how beautiful this was.

He was no longer weighed down by his limbs, he was so light and free. The creature held him close, there was no fear of falling. It held him safe as he rained dark droplets onto the grass below. It glistened in the moonlight. It was the most picturesque thing he had ever seen.

The creature tapped a tune on his torso. Jamie could feel his heart joining in. He couldn’t believe he had been missing out on this all those years. Why had his Dad kept him from this?

Tap, tap, tap.

He smiled in bliss as the creature laid him in one of the pools of dappled moonlight. It tenderly laid a kiss on his chest. It looked up, taking his heart with it.

‘Don't go,’ Jamie whispered as he could feel this beautiful moment fading into darkness.

‘You'll always be with us, Jamie,’ the creature assured him.

And as it swallowed his heart, Jamie knew it was true.

About Me

I'm Katy, but go by K H Simmons officially. I write a lot of sci-fi, dark fantasy and dystopian fiction. If you're here for sparkly vampires, you're in the wrong place ;)

I frequently post short stories on my Facebook page, as well as work on full length novels. If you want more short stories like the above - check out my anthology Death, Demons & Dystopia available on Amazon/Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YN5DY98

When I'm not writing, I can usually be found cuddling dogs, reading, at the gym or playing video games.