Chapter Text
Eleven-year-old Lillie Smith lay in her bed, trying to fall asleep. Her blonde hair became more tousled with every time she rolled onto her stomach, and then back onto her back, and then to her side. No matter what position she chose, she just couldn’t seem to keep her bright blue eyes to close and stay that way. They seemed to refuse to stay shut. She was very smart and curious, but good marks in school couldn’t help her now. She tossed and turned around in her bed for what felt like the millionth time and groaned. Then, Lillie heard a sound coming from under her bed. Pop! The noise sounded like a top popping off a canister. Lillie jolted up. Her heart was pounding. She placed her hand over her chest where she could feel her heart beating. Yep, definitely faster than normal. She contemplated looking under her bed, but ultimately decided not to out of fear. What if the thing under her bed could kill her if she looked at it, or turn her into stone, like Medusa? She sighed and dug her nails into her pajama shorts. She made a “hmph!” sound and buried herself under three layers of blankets, and by some miracle, she eventually drifted off to sleep.
Bzz, bzz, bzz! Lillie’s alarm clock cut through the silence of her bedroom. It was six o’clock, time to get up and get ready for school, just like any other day. She threw off her blankets and slowly made her way out of bed. She groggily opened her dresser and dug her hands into the drawer that contained her T-shirts. She picked out a red shirt from her fifth grade year and shoved the drawer close. She then selected a random pair of jeans that seemed to have a billion holes in them and threw her clothes onto the ground. Once dressed, she stumbled over to the bathroom to fix her overly messy hair. She immediately regretted all that tossing and turning last night as she tried, in vain, to get her hair to be neat again. She sighed and set the hairbrush down before walking over to the kitchen. Her older brother, Jake, extended a foot in an attempt to trip her, but Lillie quickly noticed the outstretched leg and hopped over it. She grinned at Jake as if to say, “See, I’m not as dumb as you think!”
Lillie grabbed a box of cereal, a jug of milk, and a red bowl which she was pretty sure everyone in her family had thrown up in at least once. “Thank goodness for washing machines,” she thought. She balanced the milk jug steadily in her hand and poured it over the cereal. A bit of milk spilled over the side. She groaned in annoyance and took her cereal bowl to the table.
After she had eaten enough cereal to the point where the only food left was a few soggy Cheerios, she decided to round up the troops. (A.K.A.: her brothers.) She stomped up the steps as loud as she could, hoping that would wake her brothers. She stopped at the top of the stairs and listened for any movement. When she heard none, she assumed her stance, cupped her hands over her mouth, and yelled as loud as she could, “Hey, nerds! Time to get up!” She then raced down the halls, stopping for a second each time a door appeared to pound on it. “This will definitely wake them up!” Lillie mused. When she was finally satisfied and heard her brothers groaning, she skipped back over to the stairwell and began climbing down.. “Being the second-to-first sibling to wake up is a pain! Why can’t Jake wake everyone up? He’s the oldest and the one who’s always ready by five A.M.! What a weirdo,” Lillie thought as she descended down the stairs.
It seemed like all her pounding and stomping had woken her parents as well. They emerged from their room, hair messy, still awake, and in desperate need for some coffee. She greeted them with a smile and a hug, unlike the greeting she gave her brothers, who were sluggishly making their ways down the stairs, which was sticking her tongue out at them. Her brothers returned the gesture. Wilson, the most annoying of the bunch, ruffled Lillie’s hair and asked, “Hey, Lils, how’s it going with your boyfriend? You know, the boy named Caleb you can’t stop talking about?” Lillie blushed and smacked his hand off her head. “He’s not my boyfriend!” she muttered, kicking her brother in the shins in a not-so-discreet way. “Ow!” Wilson yelped. “Ha! You sound like Eddie Randall’s chihuahua!” Lillie said wittily. “Mom!” Wilson groaned in protest. “Lillie, be nice,” their mother murmured. Lillie rolled her eyes and jogged over to her room.
~
“Okay, kiddos! Time for school! Everyone in the car!” Lillie’s dad bellowed, his loud voice echoing off the walls. Lillie, who was busy thinking she was going crazy, jolted back to reality and staggered out of her room, joining her brothers in the line of siblings waiting to grab their backpacks off the racks. When it was finally her turn, she wrapped her arms around her purple backpack with a cat plush she had gotten from a friend in third grade attached to the zipper and hoisted it off its hook. When she steadied her grip on the bag, she trudged into the garage and jumped into the car. Her seat was right next to Alec, one of the less problematic brothers. She smiled at him, the corners of her blue eyes crinkling and set her backpack down next to his. As the car started up, Alec and Lillie played a game of tic-tac-toe on the back of Lillie’s English homework to pass the time. She groaned as she lost for the third time due to the fact that she was thinking about the noise and the movement she was sure she saw and not the game. “Something on your mind, Lilster?” Alec asked. “Oh, nothing, I’m just tired,” Lillie answered hastily. “Yeah, she’s tired because she stayed up all night thinking about Caleb!” Wilson interjected, his head hanging over the seat. “Shut up, jerk-face!” Lillie yelled, shoving Wilson’s face back behind the seat.
When they pulled up to the school, she saw her best friend, Charlotte Johnson, waving enthusiastically at her from the sidewalk, her brown pigtails bobbing up and down. Lillie grinned and waved back. Her brothers and her poured out of the car. Lillie bounded over to Charlotte, and they did their signature secret handshake: two claps, one fist bump, two spins, and a jump. “Nerd!” Wilson mouthed to her. “Loser!” Lillie mouthed back to him. The siblings branched off to their separate groups of friends and took their ways to the school. “My stupid brother keeps saying Caleb is my boyfriend, and it ticks me off!” Lillie complained to Charlotte and her other friends, Carrie and Emmalyn “Ew, gross me out!” Carrie exclaimed, sticking her tongue out to show her disgust. “I know!” Lillie practically shouted. “Girls, voices down,” Ms. Norman, everyone’s least favorite teacher, said in a low growl. “Yes, Ms. Norman,” the girls muttered, turning their heads down. When Ms. Norman was out of sight, the group continued talking. “Ms. Not-Normal totally gets on my nerves!” Emmalyn protested. The rest of the friends giggled at her nickname for Ms. Norman.
The rest of the school day was a bore for Lillie and presumably everyone else. That is, until lunch came around. All of the sixth-grade students poured into the lunchroom, everyone scrambling to get a table with their friends. Lillie picked out Charlotte from the crowd and zig-zagged through teachers, students, and an out-of-place kindergartener who was crying when she finally reached her best friend. “The cafeteria seems extra crowded today,” Charlotte noted as they opened their lunch boxes. Lillie hummed in agreement, opening the bag that contained her sandwich. Charlotte grasped a can that held strawberries and twisted it open. The lid made a Pop! Sound as it separated from the can. Lillie’s mind automatically flashed back to the sound she had heard last night. She sat there, dazed and confused as Charlotte tried to get her to snap back to reality. Lillie was coming up with about a million different possibilities to what the sound could be — each one more catastrophic than the last — when Charlotte snapped her fingers right in front of Lillie’s face. The latter’s gaze shot to her best friend. “Lil! You zoned out for a second!” Charlotte cried. “Oh, sorry. I was just…thinking,” Lillie mumbled, taking a small bite of her sandwich.
When the school bell rang and school was out, Lillie grabbed her backpack and raced out of the classroom. She spotted Charlotte in the hallway and joined her side. “Hi Lil—” Charlotte started, but Lillie interrupted her. “Charlotte, I need you to come over tomorrow. Not today, not Sunday, just tomorrow. It’s urgent. No questions,” she said, her tone serious and slightly dangerous. Charlotte, slightly startled with Lillie’s tone, nodded without saying a word. “Lillie sure has been acting weird. First zoning out at lunch, now snapping at me and calling me ‘Charlotte’ instead of ‘Char.’ She almost never does that, unless she’s really, really mad. Oh, God, is she mad at me?” Charlotte thought, her thoughts spiraling. Not another word was exchanged between the girls as they took their separate ways to their cars. “Wow, not even a ‘good-bye!’ She’s definitely mad,” Charlotte contemplated, groaning internally. A couple feet away, in another car, Lillie sat down next to Alec once again. She knew she had probably put Charlotte off, but she was way too nervous to talk cheerfully. The flashback had scared the living daylights out of her, and she was convinced she was going crazy. Maybe talking to Charlotte in private and possibly investigating with her would help.
For the rest of the day, Lillie tried coming up with ideas about what to do during the time she had before Charlotte came over. She ended up sitting on the edge of Jake’s bed, her legs swinging as he explained her math homework to her, but yet again, her mind was elsewhere, as if it was still stuck in that trance-like state she had gone into at lunch. Jake impatiently tapped her knee with a pencil. “Lil! Are you even listening to me?” he questioned. “Ah! Yeah, I’m listening,” Lillie said, her gaze snapping to Jake’s narrowed eyes. “Oh, yeah? Then how do you find x for this problem?” he interrogated. Lillie thought for a moment before sighing and
answering, “Fine. I wasn’t listening. I’m sorry, it’s just — I’ve been unfocused the whole day. I don’t know what’s going on with me!” Before Jake could answer, Lillie’s gaze drifted to a flash of movement. The thing that had caused the motion turned the corner and scampered away. “Jake! Did you see that?” Lillie exclaimed, grabbing her brother’s arm, her breathing frantic and quick. “What are you talking about, Lillie?” he said, his brow furrowed, “Your freakishly long fingernails are digging into my arm, so please let go.” She sighed, and her arm shot out in front of her to point down the hall. “The washing machine?” Jake inquired. “No! Something moved! It was like — like a ghost, but it was tiny!” the blonde-haired girl exclaimed. “A ghost, huh?” Jake said in disbelief, “Lilibet, you’re not getting out of math homework to go investigate some silly little ghost you made up.” Lillie groaned. “I didn’t make it up! Jake, you’re supposed to be nice, but right now, you’re treating me like a little kid,” she said, sighing in exasperation and storming out of the room, leaving Jake on his bed, holding a slightly wrinkled homework sheet.
Lillie had had enough. Based on Jake’s reaction, she was sure nobody would believe her. She had to take matters into her own hands. She was going to find out what that noise was, and she was going to find out tonight. After she had finished a hearty dinner of steak and mashed potatoes and had figured out her math homework, she settled down for bed. She pulled her green-and-blue-striped fleece blanket up to her chin and grabbed a book. Her plan was simple: Stay awake until the noise was heard again, and then race down the steps of her loft bed to find out what that noise was. She even had protection if the thing did turn out to be a monster: a dirtied softball bat her dad had bought for her on a trip for a softball tournament because she had forgotten her bat at home.
After staying up for a couple hours, she began to lose hope. What if the mysterious entity had disappeared? She was just about to set her book down and call it a night when she heard a faint Pop! Sound. Lillie scrambled to grasp her softball bat and stumbled down the steps. She jumped in front of where the noise was coming from and prepared to swing her bat. She looked forward, but nothing was there. “Huh?” Lillie exclaimed. Just then, she heard chittering coming from under her. Her gaze quickly shot to what was causing the noise: animals, lots of them, the most beautiful kind. Squirrels, bear mothers and their cubs, foxes, birds of all sorts, raccoons, just about every animal imaginable was crawling out from under her bed. They were magnificent. Lillie stared in awe as the animals skittered around her room. “Animals …” Lillie whispered. “So many of them..." It didn’t take long before the animals saw her and registered her as a threat. They yelped and scurried back into the hole they had emerged from. “Wait!” Lillie cried, but it was too late. The animals had disappeared.
The next morning was a Saturday, which meant Lillie didn’t have school. She was very grateful for this, as it meant she and Charlotte had more time to investigate. She arose from her bed, her hair messy yet again, and dark circles under her eyes. She trudged into the kitchen and was greeted by a kick in the shins from Wilson, a babble from Carter, her baby brother, and a grin from Jake “Good morning, Lilibet! What do you want for breakfast?” her mother asked as she flipped a pancake. Lillie wanted to try and find the entrance from which the animals were coming, so she answered, “I don’t want any, but thanks, Mom,” and hurried off to her room, grabbing a flashlight on the way. She scurried over to the area where the hole the animals had crawled out of should’ve been. When she couldn’t find the hole, she ran her hands through the carpeted floor, searching for a hidden opening to the hole. Just then, Jake entered the room. “Lillie, why aren’t you at breakfast?” he asked “I’m not hungry,” Lillie lied. “Oh,” Jake murmured. “Mom’s making her pancakes, though.” The blue-eyed girl sighed. “I know,” She muttered, continuing to feel around. Maybe it’s only accessible at night. Lillie thought.
“Sissy! Pancakes!” called her three-year-old brother, Levi, toddling into the room. “LJ, you need to get out of here. This is a serious matter, and I can’t be interrupted. “But why?” Levi asked, gnawing on the spout of his blue plastic sippy cup. He silently staggered over to Lillie and sat down next to her, an “Oomph!” escaping his voice as he hit the floor. “Levi, please —” Lillie started, but then, the ground opened up under Levi and swallowed him. The boy yelped as he fell through the hole. Then, just as quickly as the floor had opened, it closed.
“Levi!” Lillie shouted, desperately grabbing at the ground, trying to reclaim her baby brother. “Jake!” she yelled, tears pooling in her eyes. Jake came sprinting into her room. “It’s Levi! He—he just disappeared! The ground opened up and ate him whole!” she was sobbing now. “Alright, alright, Lillie, calm down,” Jake said hurriedly, his hand on Lillie’s back. “It was probably just your eyes deceiving you again. LJ’s right here, see?” Levi — or rather, something identical to Levi, came bounding in. “Lillie!” the person — or thing, exclaimed. “That’s not him!” Lillie shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Mom!” Jake yelled, growing more worried by the moment. “Sissy’s going crazy!” Levi interjected. “I’m not … “ Lillie
mumbled, but before she could finish her sentence, the ceiling started to spin. Then, there was complete darkness. When Lillie awoke, she was sprawled on the couch, the rest of the family worriedly huddled around her. “Mom! We need to find Levi!” Lillie cried, shoving the blankets that were covering her off and jolting up. “Sweetie, you had a panic attack. You’ve been out cold for the past five hours. You need to rest,” her mother answered gently. “I made you some tea,” Jake told her, setting a cup of chamomile tea down in her abnormally cold hands. “Dad, please. I promised Charlotte she could come over today,” Lillie insisted, using her best pleading eyes, “I heard somewhere that talking to a friend after a panic attack can help with recovery.” Jake nodded. “It’s true, we learned about it in psychology class,” he confirmed. Their mother sighed. “Fine, but finish your tea first.” Lillie nodded and eagerly drank her tea as fast as she could. It only took her 30 seconds; that had to be a record.
“Okay, I’m done,” Lillie said after wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, “Can I call her?” Her mother nodded her head and handed Lillie the telephone. Lillie dialed Charlotte’s number and waited for her to pick up. Soon, the voice of Charlotte came through the phone. “Hello?” Charlotte answered. “Char? It’s time for you to come over. It’s about what happened at lunch on Friday. I’ll explain everything when you get here,” Lillie said, her tone slightly rushed. “Um, okay. Wait outside your house for me, okay?” Charlotte said, her voice quieter than usual. Lillie hummed in agreement and hung up.
Charlotte rushed out of her door, jacket half zipped up, and crossed the street carefully. Lillie waited as Charlotte leaped into her yard. “Hi,” Lillie greeted her. “Come in.” Lillie and Charlotte stepped into the blonde’s house. Charlotte followed Lillie into her room and they sat on the floor across from each other, something they only did once every Halley’s Comet. Usually, they were outside playing sports or coming up with a new game they could play at recess. It was very rare for them to be sitting around, solemn and quiet. Lillie went straight to the point, taking a deep breath before blurting out, “I’ve been hearing noises coming from under my bed a lot lately, and yesterday, I saw some beautiful animals crawl out from under the bed,” Lillie explained. “Oh, wow!” Charlotte exclaimed, her ivy-green eyes widening. “That’s so cool!”
Lillie shook her head and hesitated before telling her the next part. “It’s not. The problem is, the hole that the animals crawl out of also took Levi, my little brother. He’s only three years old, and I’m scared to death about what could happen to him down there. I called Jake in after this happened to tell him about it, but he basically said I was crazy, and then Levi just walked back into the room. I know it wasn’t Levi, though. Something was … off about this Levi.” Charlotte nodded, trying to digest everything she just heard. “I’m trying to find the entrance. I couldn’t find it today, though. Well, I could, after it swallowed my baby brother whole, but I couldn’t find it after that happened. I’m thinking we might only be able to find it at night,” Lillie continued. Charlotte crawled under Lillie’s bed and looked around. “Yup. I don’t see or feel anything,” Charlotte announced. “We need to find out what this is, and I’m scared to do it alone. Would your parents let you sleep over?” Lillie asked. “I dunno,” Charlotte replied. “I don’t know if mine will oblige, either. They think I’ve gone crazy,” the blonde-haired girl voiced in exasperation.
“Mom, Dad? Can Charlotte sleep over? She can help me recover from my panic attack, and I promise we won’t be loud, and we’ll go to bed at a reasonable time!” Lillie pleaded. Her parents exchanged a look before nodding. “Okay, Lilibet, if you’re sure she’ll help you, then yes, but she n —” Lillie’s mother started. “Needs to talk to her parents. Yeah, I know. Can you text them?” Lillie asked quickly. “Sure,” her father said, pulling out his phone. Lillie ran off to tell Charlotte after her father said that Charlotte’s parents had permitted Charlotte to sleep over. “You’re allowed to sleep over,” Lillie announced to Charlotte. “Yes!” Charlotte said, pumping her fist into the air. Lillie giggled, but their moment of happiness was quickly shattered by the sound of something moving. A slender, muddy hand was peeking out of the entrance the animals had crawled out of. The hand had so many scabs on it that you couldn’t see its skin. The fingernails were impossibly long, and the fingers seemed to be reaching for Lillie and Charlotte. The girls screamed, and Lillie’s hand shot out to grab her softball bat, but before the girls could even scramble to their feet, the hand disappeared, gone just as soon as it had appeared.
To calm themselves down, they decided to do some activities they deemed as enjoyable. First, they decided to pick flowers outside. Lillie handed Charlotte two bands to use to put her hair up. Charlotte pulled her brown hair into two messy ponytails. Lillie pulled her blonde hair into two tight ponytails and clipped a purple bow into her hair to match her hair bands. “Perfect!” Lillie announced. The girls sprinted outside and crouched down in the dew-soaked grass. Just as Charlotte was about to pluck a small red flower, she saw a group of magnificent animals making their ways across the lawn. “Hey, Lil!” Charlotte exclaimed, patting her friend’s arm and pointing to the animals. The duo climbed to their feet without another word and followed the animals. The animals noticed them and sped up. “Hey, wait! We’re not going to hurt you!” Charlotte exclaimed. Lillie was just about to reach the hole the animals were entering when something shot out of the grass and caused her to trip. She propelled downward, her nose aiming straight for a rock. When her nose and the rock made contact, a sickening crunch! Noise filled the air. The copper taste of blood filled Lillie’s mouth.
Charlotte’s heart sank at the sight of her best friend hurt. “Lillie!” she yelled, rushing to her aid. “I’m fine, Char, let’s just continue to follow the animals,” Lillie insisted, trying to contain her bloody nose by pulling her shirt collar over it, but the blood continued to soak through. Lillie stumbled to her feet and looked around for the animals. “They’re gone,” she said dejectedly. “Yeah, but that’s not important right now. We need to tell your mom what happened and get you fixed up,” Charlotte said urgently. “No, we can’t!” Lillie yelled, surprising Charlotte, “If we tell her I got a bloody nose running after some animals that keep crawling into a hole that also took Levi, she’ll diagnose me as clinically insane!” Charlotte, still a bit shaken, nodded in agreement. “Let’s at least get it bandaged, though. We don’t have to tell your mom,” she said. Lillie hummed and followed Charlotte inside.
After Lillie’s injury had been discretely treated, a bandage on her nose. If anyone asked why she had a bandaged nose, she would reply that she had “picked at a scab,” and following a very chaotic dinner with Lillie’s seven brothers, Charlotte and Lillie settled down for bed. The duo had decided to wear shoes and day clothes to bed just in case the hole they planned to go down led to someplace dirty. After they climbed into their sleeping bags, Lillie flicked off the lights and pulled out a book. It wasn’t long until the temporary moment of silence was
broken. “What now?” Charlotte whispered, looking up from her own book. “Now, we just wait, I guess, and try not to fall asleep,” Lillie whispered back.
-
About three hours passed, and a noise cut through the silence. Pop! Lillie jumped out of her sleeping bag and shook Charlotte, who had fallen asleep with her book face down on her chest, awake. “Wha…?” Charlotte mumbled. Lillie grabbed her arm and helped her stand up. “The noise!” Lillie whisper-yelled. Charlotte immediately understood and followed Lillie under her bed. The animals made their way across the room, speeding up as usual when they saw Lillie and Charlotte. The entrance door tried to close, but Charlotte wedged her foot in between before it could shut completely, scratching it slightly in the process. Lillie pried the door open wide enough so that she could slip inside and tugged Charlotte down with her.