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There was a knock at the door. Sophie was alone in an unfamiliar apartment, with deep, dark corners. If she stared into the shadows for too long, she could see a pair of eyes glinting from the darkness. The furniture was tall, taller than she was, almost reaching the ceiling. Something kept moving behind the couch, but every time she went to look, there was nothing there.
There was a knock at the door. Sophie looked across the unnaturally stretching room, to the door that seemed even taller than the rest of the apartment. Her feet shuffled against the thick shag carpet, sinking into the floor. Something grinned at her from the corner of the room. She was up to her knees in carpet, and she was in front of the door.
There was a knock at the door. Sophie stared up at the peephole, too high up for her to see who was outside. She could hear a voice on the other side. It was telling her to open up, to come home. The voice didn’t sound familiar, but she knew who it was. There was no doorknob on the door. It was completely smooth, nothing to grab onto, nothing to stop the door from creaking open on its own. She didn’t want to look up at her mother as she felt hundreds of arms pull her apart.
Sophie’s eyes shot open. She was laying in Sam’s bed, next to Joel and Ratthew. Slowly, she turned her head to the digital clock on the nightstand. It was around 2am. As her ears adjusted to the pounding of her own heart, she took in the bedroom around her. It was completely dark, lit up only by Sam’s laptop, which never seemed to turn off. She could hear Joel’s ragged breathing beside her, and the soft mechanical whirring of that weird shut-in guy, sleeping on the floor next to Sam, who was resting on an air mattress. He was kind enough to give the kids his bed, even though the three of them barely fit together.
Falling asleep again would be impossible, between her nightmare and Joel’s snoring, Sophie just stared up above her until she couldn’t stand being still anymore. She quietly shuffled out of bed, gingerly moving Ratthew’s snout off her shoulder, and made her way to the door. If nobody was awake, there was nobody to stop her from eating as many Chocky Bars as her body could handle! That would help her forget about the nightmare. The carpet was soft underneath her feet, but unlike in her dream, she didn’t sink into the floor. She glanced back at the others in the room, Ratthew was sleepily blinking at her, but he quickly settled back into the blankets. Aside from that, and Lyle shifting a little bit closer to Sam’s air mattress, it seemed like nobody had noticed her getting out of bed.
The bedroom door creaked open, and Sophie peered into the living room. Leigh and Dan were in their sleeping bags, Leigh was laying across the coffee table, while Dan was sleeping in front of the TV. Hellen was asleep on the couch, or at least looked like she was. Leigh got into a fight with her about the couch and said something about how Hellen didn’t sleep anymore. Sophie hoped Leigh was lying. She crept into the kitchen, opening different cabinets and drawers looking for candy. She never paid too much attention to where Sam kept the snacks. She would watch him cook sometimes, his cooking was fine but it was nowhere near as good as her mom’s was.
The only place Sophie hadn’t checked was the fridge. She was pretty certain that there wouldn’t be anything she wanted inside, but she decided to look anyway. The light from the fridge poured out across the space, even though she only had it open a crack. She turned back to stare at the now dimly lit room, her eyes landing on the door leading outside. Earlier that evening, someone came knocking at their door. When Sam went to check who it was, Sophie saw her mom. Only, it wasn’t her mom. It had far too many legs, it didn’t sound like her, and it didn’t act like her. It wasn’t her. Sam yelled at her and the two other kids to lock themselves in his bedroom, and that was the last she saw of what she thought was her mom. Sophie wondered what she would see if she opened the door. Maybe her mom was still out there, wandering the halls, maybe she could be helped, like how Joel was infected but still conscious. But she heard the fight go down even from inside the bedroom. She heard the thumps and the slashes and the sound of a limp body falling to the floor.
Sophie didn’t realize how long she had left the fridge door open, until the sound of fabric rustling snapped her back into the present. She quickly shut the fridge and whipped her head back towards the living room, just barely managing to slap her hand over her mouth to stop a scream when she saw a huge, shadowy figure sitting up on the couch and staring directly at her.
“Sophie, relax. It’s just me.” Hellen said calmly. Sophie couldn’t tell if she had woken her up, or if she was never asleep to begin with.
“Oh! Um… H-hi, Hellen…” She whispered.
“You should be asleep.” For a moment, Sophie was worried she was about to get in trouble, shifting her gaze to the ground and clasping her hands behind her back.
“Um… I was… I woke up and I got hungry,” She mumbled. “Can- can you reach the top cabinets for me?” Hellen stared at her for a moment, before silently rising off the couch and walking over to the kitchen, passing Sophie a bag of chips.
“Th-thank you…” Sophie said meekly. She was about to go back to the bedroom, and nearly jumped out of her skin when Hellen placed a hand on her shoulder.
“You’re scared.”
“Wh- No I’m not!” She felt a strange wave of shame at the thought of looking scared to Hellen.
“I can see you shaking. Your eyes are wide, too.” She pointed out.
“I’m not scared! I’m a big girl now! Big girls don’t get scared.” Sophie insisted. Hellen just stared at her, Sophie could see her slowly blink under her mask, before crouching down to be eye-to-eye with the kid.
“Did you have a nightmare, Sophie?” She asked, with a surprising gentleness.
“No! And even if I did, I wouldn’t be scared because of some stupid dream!” Sophie started raising her voice, but was quickly hushed by Hellen, who guided her over to the couch.
“Be quiet, you’ll wake everyone up.” She sat back down, patting the spot next to her for Sophie to crawl onto the couch, curling up into a ball. “What was your nightmare about?”
“I didn’t have a nightmare…” Sophie mumbled. If Joel was awake right now, he would probably be lecturing her about how lying was bad.
“Was it about your mom?” Hellen’s voice dropped, placing a hand comfortingly on Sophie’s arm. The little girl froze, her eyes threatening to tear up as she thought back to that… monster… that came to the door. The monster that looked like her mom. Her silence was the only answer that Hellen needed. Slowly, she pulled Sophie into a hug. An awkward hug, sure, but she hadn’t been hugged since she last saw her mom.
“...What if she’s still out th-”
“Your mom is dead, Sophie.” Hellen didn’t even let the girl entertain the thought, holding her tighter as she struggled to hold back tears. “I’m… sorry. She wasn’t human anymore. She would’ve hurt you if we let you go back to her.”
“But you’re still fine!” Sophie snapped. “You, and Joel and Leigh and Lyle, you’re all monsters but you’re not trying to kill us! What makes my mom different?” Hellen stiffened at her words.
“Not everyone was able to maintain their sanity when they transformed.”
“But- but…” Sophie trailed off, unable to stop herself from crying. Her tears soaked through Hellen’s hoodie as she slowly rocked the kid back and forth. She glanced over at the other two in the living room. Leigh was twitching in her sleep, but both her and Dan still seemed to be dead asleep. She was never great with kids, but she still tried her best to soothe the distressed girl, gently running her hands through Sophie’s messy hair, who clung tightly to her in return.
“Wh- where will I go… What… what’ll I do after this?” She hiccupped. “I don’t wanna be alone…”
“You won’t be alone, Sophie. I don’t think Sam has the heart to leave you to your own devices. Or Joel, for that matter.” Hellen started. “Um… Lyle will probably stick around, And even if Leigh and Dan decide to go back to their own apartments, they’ll still be here, too.” She felt a bit weird talking about the others when they weren’t here to confirm or deny anything, but it did seem to calm Sophie down, even if it was only a little.
“...what about you?” Sophie asked, sniffling and staring up at her.
“Yeah, I’ll be here, too.” She really hoped that she would. She didn’t know what was actually going to happen to her and the other infected humans when the Visitor was gone. Sophie didn’t say anything, but she had stopped crying, now curling up closer to Hellen. She looked tired.
“Um… I’m sorry for calling you a monster earlier.” She mumbled.
“...it’s fine. You didn’t mean it.” Hellen sighed. The comment did bother her, but she reminded herself that Sophie was just a kid. A very scared and confused kid. “You should probably go back to bed, now.”
“Oh, um… could I sleep on the couch with you tonight?” She could tell that Sophie was a bit nervous asking, probably warranted since she got so mad at Leigh for asking a similar question. “I can go back to Sam’s room, if you-”
“Yeah. You can stay with me tonight.” Hellen readjusted herself, mimicking something she saw Sam doing with Ratthew a few days ago and letting Sophie rest against her chest, cradling her with one arm.
“Thanks, Hellen…” Sophie yawned, falling asleep not long after. Hellen kind of wished she was still able to fall asleep as fast as a child could. But she lost the need to sleep when she looked outside. Still, she could pretend. She could close her eyes, steady her breathing, and hold Sophie just a little tighter.