The room was spinning. Ellie's fingers clang onto the edge of the nightstand her knuckles going white.
"Daughter of mine, so sorry I may not-"
She gagged.
"-be able to protect her."
She could hear buzzing, what had started as a low hum earlier.
'Im so happy I could've served you.'
She was realizing they weren't alone- she wasn't alone- "the baby" she gasped clumsily reaching for her granddaughter pulling the cradle toward her and leaning over it. She stumbled backward and doubled over. The buzzing broke her focus, covering her mouth with one hand and one on her stomach. Something was wrong, the air bit with cold and the buzzing called for alarm. She had forgotten about the thing in the room.
'remain calm, god will save you'
Her chest tightened and she swayed.
It was louder now and her cheek pressed against the carpet. She clasped her hands over her ears. The darkness stretched farther then she remembered but she could still see the carpet below her. She heaved again, suddenly overcome by nausea.
'The smell.'
She had lost all function of her nose long ago in old age. Face all too wet with tears and vomit. Maybe that was blood in her nostrils. With her hands still on her ears she rolled onto her stomach planting her elbows into the carpet and trying to get upright. It had gotten so much darker, what had been in plain view had now vanished. Disoriented, she crawled forward hoping to find a wall. She stepped up leaning down as to not hit the hard object over her. It was leaning over her, she realized- no- she was leaning into it pressed against its sunken skeletal torso. It's ribs brushed against her earlobe. She couldn't tell how big the creature was, but its arms stretched far beyond her, bending across the walls of the room. Its claws glinting in the moonlight.
She screamed lurching backward and back onto her hands and knees. It bent down.
Even as buzzing became a low hum again she lay still. She breathed in and out slowly through her nose.
'blood, has it eaten the baby?'
She looked down at herself, laying in the blood and vomit soaked carpet. It was dark but she could spot the mangled remains of her leg.
'The baby is safe' She thought as she drifted out of consciousness.
The sirens soon drowned out the hum,
In the cradle the baby cried, and her mother would comfort her when the body was removed.