"Mom, Mom, Mom, wake up!" Emily's voice pierced the air, her small figure approaching Maurie, who was frozen in terror. "Mom, wake up, it's just a nightmare!" Tiny hands shook Maurie awake, snapping her out of her horror.
Maurie screamed at the top of her lungs, leaping from the bed and nearly knocking Emily over. "Jesus, Jesus, Emily, honey, come here!" She enveloped her daughter in a sweaty embrace, weeping into Emily's curly hair, her words barely coherent.
"Mom, I'm okay, I'm not going anywhere," Emily whispered, tears streaming down her face as she reacted to her mother's distress.
As if a switch had flipped in Maurie's mind, she suddenly broke free from her daughter's embrace. Holding Emily's face in her palms, she gazed intensely into her eyes. "Honey, I promise to protect you. I won't let anything happen to you, chica. Alright?" She vowed frantically, her fear of losing Emily to the darkness still lingering.
"Okay, mom, but let go, I gotta watch SpongeBob SquarePants!" Emily squirmed, trying to break free from Maurie's grasp. But Maurie's mind was elsewhere, haunted by the memory of Emily watching that very same cartoon in her nightmare just moments before. With a sense of urgency, Maurie ignored Emily's protests and rushed into her bedroom, packing clothes and essentials into a suitcase. "Honey, come on, we're going on a vacation!" Maurie announced, her tone firm but laced with a hint of desperation. But Emily remained glued to the TV, refusing to budge. "Don't wanna, mom!" she whined, still fixated on the screen. Maurie's fear and frustration boiled over, and she yanked the plug from the wall, silencing the TV and prompting Emily's discontented wails.
"Here, take Lena," Maurie said, tossing the white teddy bear into Emily's arms as a bribe, knowing her daughter's affection for the stuffed animal rivalled her love for her cat and SpongeBob. "Where are we going, mom?" Emily asked, her curiosity piqued as Maurie paused in her frantic search for car keys. "Tijuana, honey, we're going to Mexico," Maurie replied, her tone firm but laced with a hint of desperation. Emily's face scrunched up in distaste. "But mom, I don't wanna go! Tia Imelda hates me, and Abuelo Felipe does too!" she complained, folding her arms and standing with a stubborn stance. Maurie took a deep breath, aware that her cousin and grandfather didn't have warm feelings towards Emily, but she was caught between a rock and a hard place. Staying meant risking their lives, and Maurie couldn't shake off the feeling that her nightmares were precursors to reality. She knew she might be overreacting, but she'd rather face the hatred from her own family than gamble with her daughter's safety.
"Honey, we don't have a choice, and we'll be back before you know it," Maurie said, trying to reassure Emily. "Promise?" Emily asked, raising her pinky finger. Maurie linked her finger with Emily's, sealing the promise. "I promise." Just then, a deep, accented voice boomed from outside, "Knock, knock, Holla strangers!" The heavy fists on the door made Maurie's heart race. She froze, recognizing the voice from her nightmares. "It's all in my head, it's all in my head," she muttered frantically. But the voice grew louder, more menacing. "Open this door, Maureen Anna Rodriguez, or I'll break it down, you puny little human!" Maurie snapped out of her trance, a desperate plan forming in her mind. She sprang into action, her heart pounding in her chest.
"Em, honey, listen to me," Maurie urged, grasping Emily's shoulders and locking eyes with her. "I need you to run, there's a very bad man who wants to hurt you, so I want you to run as fast as you can, forget about mommy, honey, go get help." Emily nodded, and Maurie watched as she raced towards the staircase. With a swift motion, Maurie grabbed the hunting gun her father had left behind. Emily paused at the stairway, looking back at her mother with a tear-streaked face, as if she understood the sacrifice Maurie was making. "Mom, will you be okay?" she asked, her voice trembling. Before Maurie could respond, the door burst from its hinges, and a monstrous figure charged in. He had massive horns like a ram, a red face, and an appearance so terrifying that Emily instinctively knew what he was. Maurie's eyes widened in shock and fear, her mind struggling to comprehend the horror before her. The creature looked like a supervillain from a bad horror movie, and Maurie's heart raced with terror.
The creature, clad in a body-hugging suit, advanced towards Maurie, its eyes fixed on her with an unblinking stare. Maurie's fear paralyzed her, her mind trapped in a living nightmare. But recalling the horror she had witnessed in her dreams, she snapped out of her trance and fired her gun wildly, shot after shot. The demon merely grinned, its brown-fanged smile a testament to its ancient evil. With an effortless swipe of its hand, it caught each bullet, its fingers closing around them like a vice. Unfazed, the creature materialized beside Maurie, snatching the gun from her grasp. "Looking for this, Maureen?" it taunted, its tongue licking the trigger as it savored her hopelessness. With a cruel laugh, it snapped the rifle in two with its bare hand, its grip on Maurie's wrist like a vice. "Goodbye, human," it whispered, its hot breath on her neck. "See you in hell." And with that, its fangs sank into Maurie's neck, her scream echoing through the room.
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