Chapter Text
The rain itself was picking up and Rachel Lloyd-Hill was already unable to sleep due to the rain pattering down on the roof. Patter patter, patter patter. There was something about it that was enough to keep her awake. Not that she had ever been able to sleep anyway. Not really. Not well, at least.
Her mother had gently said that Rachel had unfortunately inherited her mother’s sleep problems. Of course she did. She had inherited a lot of her mother, if she was to be perfectly honest. Her hair. Her eyes. Just for example. It was something that made Rachel feel slightly better, of course, the fact that she and her mother were alike in that respect. That she wasn’t alone.
Patter patter. Patter patter.
Rachel Lloyd-Hill was seven years old, and this was her life. It was a life in Summer Glen, California, and it was raining. She snuggled in bed, just then, drawing her teddy bear close to her.
It was just then that the door of her closet creaked open. She frowned; she could have sworn that she had closed it earlier…
Cautiously, she got up, walked towards the closet door and closed it again. She could swear that she had closed that closet door earlier…
It was just when she was done closing the closet door that a hand darted out from under the bed and grabbed her by the ankle.
Rachel screamed. She struggled, fought, and eventually, she was able to break free of the hand that was encircling her ankle. She got up just then, breaking free just in time to dart to the door and see the figure.
It was a figure wearing a white mask, his eye seeming to be staring out at her from the ruined, burned and melted portions of the mask. And the look in his eye — it was a purely malevolent look, the sort of look that suggested the look of a hunter.
”Mommy! Daddy! Help me!” she shouted, yanking the door open, only to see the same figure on the other side —
***
”Rachel, Rachel, shhhh. It’s all right. Oh, sweetie. It’s okay. It’s just a bad dream…”
And there was her mother, cradling Rachel in her arms even as she sobbed, making sure that the girl could cry into her arms. Rachel knew her, with her hair cut short and her pretty face, and she knew that Jamie Lloyd-Hill would be able to protect her with everything she had.
"It was?” Rachel said.
”Yeah.”
Steven Lloyd-Hill, meanwhile, ran down the hall frantically. “Rachel? Are you okay?”
”It’s the Burned Man. He’s coming after me, Steven.”
”It’s just a bad dream.” Steven said.
Billy Hill, Rachel and Steven’s father, nodded. “W-we c-can check the room, if you want."
Rachel nodded.
The three turned on the lights, and Rachel could see that the covers had been rumpled as a result of her no doubt tossing and turning. There was nobody in the room, though. Nobody there. Maybe Mommy and Daddy and Steven were right; maybe it was just a bad dream.
"It just seemed so real…” Rachel said.
”Well, to quote Aragorn, night brings strange thoughts,” Steven said. “Don’t worry, Rach; if anyone comes after you, Mom, Dad and I won’t let them hurt you.”
”Nobody will,” Jamie said. “Not me, or Daddy, or Steven, or Uncle Tommy and Aunt Kara, or your cousin Danny. Nobody, Rachel. I promise. We can check under your bed to be sure. And in the closet.”
”C-corner of the r-room too,” Billy said.
Rachel, slowly, nodded.
***
Nothing was there. Rachel could at least take comfort in it even as she cuddled back up in bed.
"I’m glad,” she said, cuddling back up with her teddy bear, “That it was just a bad dream.”
"I think most of us are, sweetheart,” Jamie said. “Get some sleep, Rachel. You’ve got school tomorrow.”
”Can you say the…words? To keep the monsters out?”
A twinkle appeared in Jamie’s eye. “Well then…” She continued. “Monsters, you can’t hide under the bed, you can’t fit under there. Monsters, you can’t hide in the corner, we’ll always see you there. Monsters, you can’t hide in the closet, you can’t fit in there. Monsters, you can’t hide in dreams, for you’re not real there.”
That at least made Rachel giggle, and relax under the covers.
“You feeling better?” Jamie said.
“Yeah. I was just scared.”
”There’s nothing wrong with being scared, sweetie,” Jamie said. “Just know you’re not alone when you are. Your family loves you very much.”
”Love you too, Mommy.”
Outside, as Jamie kissed Rachel’s forehead and put her to sleep, the rain poured down.