Free My Daylight Monsters by Sarah Dalton Page A

will fly by.
    The scratching comes back.
    Then a shuffling noise.
    My heartbeat quickens. “I said, very funny. You can stop now.”
    More shuffling, like someone is dragging their body along the floor. Every arm-hair lifts as the noise gets louder, almost like it’s coming from inside the room. It can’t be. But what if it is? What if I’m not alone?
    “Who’s making that noise?” I stand up and bang on the door. “Stop it now, it’s not funny anymore.”
    My eyes have adjusted to the dark but I still can’t see anything at all. I have to be alone. I must be. Tell my heart that. It hammers against my chest.
    “I-is it fifteen minutes yet? It must be pretty close. Y-you know, you can let me out now. I’m done, honestly. I’m done.” I beat on the walls.
    The shuffling stops. Somehow , silence is worse.
    “Who’s there? Is someone in here? Mo?”
    Silence.
    “If there’s someone there, please tell me. Please.” I back up against the wall. “Skull-man? Is it you?” My voice comes out in a whisper.
    A clattering of metal causes my heart to leap into my mouth. Every muscle in my body tenses.
    “Who is it? Who’s there?”
    The shuffling starts again.
    “Oh God! Get me out!” I beat the walls, door, anything. “GET ME OUT. Please. Please let me out!”
    The tears start to flow. I can’t stand it any longer. I’ll never say I’m not afraid of the dark again. I am—I am afraid of the dark. I hate it. I want to get out so badly.
    “Mary?”
    I stop banging on the walls. The voice sounds so familiar. “Who is it?”
    I hear a footstep. Someone is in the room with me. They step forward. “It’s Johnny.”
    I want to punch him, to pounce on him and beat him to the ground. “What the hell are you doing here?”
    He turns on a torch and it really is him. He has his hoody up , as usual. My eyes complete a quick scan of the room. We’re alone.
    “I come up here to sit alone sometimes.” He directs the torch towards a corner of the room. “There’s an air vent I crawl up. I can chill out here.”
    “Why?” I breathe. “It’s horrible.”
    He shrugs. “I kinda like it.” His expression changes as he flashes the torch in my direction. “Are you all right? You seem upset.”
    “What do you expect? It was pitch black and I thought I was alone. Then all this shuffling and scratching starts.”
    “Oh,” he says. A wicked grin spreads across his face. “Sorry. You doing some initiation thing? Your mates locked you in here?”
    I nod.
    He laughs and sits down on the floor, against the wall. My heart still hasn’t quite recovered, but I’m glad he’s here.
    “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says.
    “It’s all right.” I sit down next to him, keeping a foot or so of space between us. “Least I won’t be alone now.”
    “When are they letting you out?”
    “After about fifteen minutes. I don’t know how long I’ve been in here. It feels like about three hours.” I sigh and try to get my muscles to relax. If only I’d brought my vodka in with me. “You were right, you know.”
    “What about?”
    “I am afraid of the dark,” I say. “I never thought I was.”
    He shakes his head. “It’s not the dark you’re afraid of, it’s darkness, nothingness.”
    We’re quiet as I contemplate that for a moment.
    “You think I have to stop being afraid?” I say. “So you can tell me something?”
    “Maybe.”
    “What is it?”
    He laughs. “Too easy. Maybe you need to figure it out yourself.”
    “Then why say you know something?” He’s definitely the weirdest guy I’ve ever met.
    He shrugs.
    “Is it about the hospital? There’s something not right here, is there? There’s something evil going on. At first I thought it was because I don’t like hospitals, but now I think it might be something more. I think people are getting hurt.”
    “And if they are, what would you do about it?” he asks.
    “I don’t know,” I reply. “ I’m not sure what I can do, when I’m in a