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“The howling, it’s back,” Kurtis whispered, catching Lara’s gaze in the dark of the night, not moving a limb.
Lara was completely still as well, wide awake and her jaw firmly set. “Yes, I can hear it too.”
“What will we do? It’s never going to stop, it will always come back eventually.”
“It’s haunting, isn’t it?” Lara murmured, the moonlight coming in through the window reflecting in her eyes.
“It sends chills down my spine,” Kurtis agreed.
“Maybe if we ignore it, it will go away,” Lara proposed in hushed tones, her legs tangled with his. “We are far enough, in a good hiding place.”
Kurtis shook his head sadly but resolutely. “We can’t! My mom told be stories… if your try to outwait it, it’s only going to get worse.”
“How can this get any worse?” Lara’s whispers were clipped. “I can’t sleep, even when the screams are gone, I can hear them in my dreams!”
“Worse… but not for us,” Kurtis explained.
“Who else?” Lara asked but immediately answered her own question: “Her?”
“Yeah. Not right away, but eventually, especially if we keep ignoring it… it can cause lasting psychological damage.”
“It’s causing me lasting psychological damage,” Lara grumbled and Kurtis laughed softly but didn’t disagree.
“I don’t want to go,” she spoke softly.
“Someone has to,” Kurtis reminded her gravely.
The howling wasn’t stopping or lessening. It was growing even stronger. Louder. Closer . Lara and Kurtis caught each other’s wide eyes.
The door to their bedroom opened, letting the blood-curdling noise in fully, and the chandelier flickered on, causing them both to hide under their blanket with twin groans as they escaped the onslaught of light.
The cries stationed themselves in a very close proximity and over them Lara and Kurtis could somehow hear a female voice:
“A grandmother’s role is to spoil her grandchild and impart vague and obscure wisdoms, not tend to the baby in the middle of the night. That is still the parent’s job.”
“We were about to go,” Kurtis whined at his mother, peeking from under the blanket and squinting at the glare – both from the chandelier and from Marie.
“It’s the third time this night,” Lara’s messy head joined him outside of the blissful darkness. “I can’t remember what sleep is anymore.”
“You will remember when Rosie is bigger,” Marie promised, but her stare was still uncompromising, holding the tiny wailing child.
Lara sighed and pushed herself to a sitting position so she could reach for her daughter. Marie handed her over and finally eased up a little: “It may feel difficult now, but I know you will manage.” She straightened up happily. “Now – I’m going back to bed. Good night,” she waved and disappeared quickly into the dark hallway.
“Yeah, good night,” Kurtis sighed into the empty air.
Lara cradled the baby carefully, watching Rosie slowly calm down, and then turned to Kurtis with one raised eyebrow on her tired face:
“This means that next time is your turn.”