Page 6 - HEF Pen & Ink 2020

CASSIE
by Rylee Reynolds
The smell of freshly dug dirt and rain hung heavily in the air. The sound of people crying was deafening to me. Everything was somber; the air, the weather, and the people all draped in black. It was so sudden, my father’s death. He was perfectly healthy and happy. He was always there, always present. Then he wasn’t. He was gone, dead.
seem crazy but never, and I mean never, open a window or door at night.”
I loved my dad; we were incredibly close. We always had been. Sure, he was a little crazy and had unorthodox thoughts about “the monsters” that he swore left and right were real, but he was kind and caring. He loved everyone very much. He did have his weird habits. But didn’t everyone? Every night, with- out fail, my dad would close and lock every window and door in our house, and he would always triple check them. We couldn’t even have a dog door for our dog. I remember the first and only time I asked him about his weird habit.
My dad’s warning from all those years ago stopped me. Are these the monsters that he had been going on about for years? No! That’s crazy—mon- sters aren’t real and I’m not a child. “Cassie, open the door my love,” my mom’s sweet voice came again from the other side of the door. Despite my attempt of rationalization, I backed away from the door. As I did pounding began from the other side, “Open this door right now Cassie! I told you to open the door!” “Cassie.” “Cassie.” “Cassie.”
He grabbed me by the shoulders and said: “Cassie, listen to me. I know I seem crazy but never, and I mean never, open a window or door at night. They’ll get in if you do. If that happens, you’ll wish yourself dead. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Go away!” I screamed at whatever was out- side my house. Unexpectedly, it worked. All at once it stopped and the silence unfolded once again. I was trying to process what just happened. Was I crazy? Had I imagined it? These thoughts and more swam through my brain, the silence just making it worse. But a small sound rang through the air, shattering it. I watched in horror as the doorknob ever so slowly turned. Then a terrifying realization hit me. One that made my blood go cold. I hadn’t locked my door. I jumped up to lock it, but I was too late. Frozen in fear, I watched as the door swung open.
Once he was sure I understood the gravity of the situation, he acted like it had never happened. I never asked him about it again.
It was hard, going home to an empty house.
I no longer had someone to yell “I’m home” to, no one to talk to after a long day. I needed something to do, something to combat this overwhelming silence. I opened my book that I had been reading, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.
LAKEVIEW
by Daniel Ivers
I hadn’t been reading long when I heard it the first time. “Cassie.” It was just a fleeting sound, one my ears barely detected. I brushed it off as my brain playing tricks on me. “Cassie.” This time it was loud- er, and I immediately recognized the voice.
Tears were streaming down my face as my name was screamed over and over again; now a chorus of my family’s voices. None of them sounded human, all warmth gone, blurring into a cacophonous sound.
“Dad?” I don’t know why I said it aloud, I realized how ridiculous that was the second I said it. I knew my dad was dead, I was the one who found him.
“Cassie!” this time it was sudden, urgent even. “Cassie, Cassie, Cassie.” The harder I listened to the voice the more...off it was. I couldn’t explain it if I wanted to. The voice sounded like my dad with- out a doubt; but something inside me, maybe an old survival instinct, told me that it wasn’t.
“Cas,” this time it sounded like my mom. I knew she was very much alive; I saw her this morn- ing at the funeral. I rushed to go open the door, but something stopped me. “Cassie listen to me. I know I
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