“I can’t drown my demons, they know how to swim” -anonymous
              “Are you ready?” Called Lilly from the kitchen.
              “I’m coming!” her daughter reassured.
               Lilly was exhausted. It’s been weeks since she slept more than 2 hours without being woken up at night. She had to struggle just to see her hands putting the last pancake on a plate. Her daughter Sally walked in looking fully rested and her mother, Lilly, felt a bit jealous. Sally devoured her pancakes and grabbed her things with an excited look in her eyes.
             “Ok mom I’ll see you Sunday night!”
             “Bye Sally, tell Sarah’s grandmother I said hi!” Lilly shouted last minute as the door closed.
             Finally, Lilly thought, now I might be able to get some sleep these next 2 days. She followed her weekend routine; get dressed, make coffee, and go to work where she was nurse.
She felt exhausted after her last shift. On weekends it usually ended at 12am but she had to stay longer. She walked up the driveway, barely managing to keep her eyes open as she walked through the front door. Somehow it was even darker inside than it was outside. Lilly didn’t even try for the lights. She went straight into her bedroom, closed her door, and leapt onto her old bed, its springs making a screech as it settled.
             Her daughter was up again. When is she going to stop with this sleepwalking? Lilly thought. She opened her eyes to the unwelcoming darkness of her own bedroom to see that her door had been opened as usual. Why does Sally come in here of all places? She would understand if she came in to sleep in her mother’s bed but she was never in the room when Lilly woke in the night. Suddenly there was a loud sound like somebody running a jagged knife over a piece of wood. It came from beyond her bedroom door. Like any other night she had to put her daughter back in her bed. Lilly dreaded the thought of leaving the comfort of her warm covers but knew there was no other option.
             She immediately felt the chill of her house hit her as she removed her comforter. She sat up and the first step she took made a loud sound as the springs released. Lilly made it to the half cracked open door but realized there was something off. The noise stopped. She made her way into the hallway and the closer she came to her daughter’s room, the heavier Lilly’s stomach started to feel. When she turned the knob on Sally’s bedroom door she heard a loud bang coming from the other side. When she pushed open the door it was a surprise to see that her daughter was there under her covers. Did she just go back to bed she wondered. She turned to walk out the door when she realized something. Sally wasn’t at home!
             She wouldn’t be for another day! She couldn’t bring herself to turn around. Her heart sank as a loud scurrying came from behind her. It was as if a giant insect had crawled across the room, its limbs quickly ticking against the wooden floor.
             Lilly had been frozen still. She forced herself to turn around and her head turned slowly. Inch by inch she saw its face. It was far from human. She saw a head towering over her. Its eyes were pure black marbles. Its body hunched over. After some time to adjust to the dark she saw its features. Its slender frame cast an eerily long shadow on the wall behind it, its burnt yellow skin that was cracking and peeling. It gave a sinister ear to ear grin. She stared at it. It stared right back. Its fingers dragged up from the floor and its long spindly fingers rested gently on Lilly's cheek. Then it said something in a voice, a blend of low and high pitches. “What’s wrong mommy?”
             Sally was adopted by many families later on. Eventually, she disappeared after so many of her adopted parents and/or siblings came up missing.