alphabet challenge - d

[felicitygs]

D-  Darkness

 

She watches the shadows slip across the floor, growing longer and ever closer, and checks the pile of supplies next to her: candles, matches, water, food.

 

“Lucas,” she calls, trying to keep her voice steady.

 

(If she lets herself, she thinks she can hear hiss and scratch-drag of claws on floorboards, the creak of wood underneath too much weight.)

 

“Coming!” her little brother shouts, running into the room and skidding to a stop next to her on the floor.

 

With him there, she finally finally can light the candles in a ring around them, just as the first shadow touches the edge of the ring.

 

Both of them freeze at the hiss, a pained snarl, catch a glimpse of slick claws and gone. Lucas reaches for her hand and she grabs it and squeezes tightly.

 

She tells herself it’s meant to be reassuring, not panicked.

 

“You get it?” she asks as the sun sinks the rest of the way below the horizon and the room grows dark.

 

“Yeah,” Lucas says. In the candlelight, the silver of the knife handle gleams as he passes it to her.