Lullaby in the Dark

Short Story by Julian Cook

The girl chews slowly, savoring the taste of marrow as warm blood drips from her chin, speckling the pastel streamer of her glittery bike handles. With no trace left, she wipes her mouth clean. Her limbs unfolded in a way that wasn’t quite right, joints bending too smoothly—too inhuman—as she rose to her feet. Her mouth creeps closed as she begins to hum a soft eerie tune. The town is

unnervingly quiet, only the distant hum of a streetlamp and the occasional rustle of leaves can be heard. She glided down the street, her bike wheels whispering against the pavement, the soft chime of a bell ringing like a mocking lullaby in the

desolate night.

Stumbling home from a night of drinking, a man meanders down the

sidewalk, humming aimlessly, oblivious to the eerie silence that has consumed the streets around him. Through his blurred vision, he spots something—a child? Alone at this hour? His protective instincts flare, pushing through his drunken haze as he stumbles toward her, convinced she’s in need of help. With each unsteady step toward her, the air gets thicker, and a chill creeps up his spine, making the hairs on his neck rise. He shakes it off, blaming the alcohol, trying to convince himself it's nothing.

As the man lurches closer, her feet drag along the pavement, and then —suddenly— her tune cuts off. She freezes, her gaze locking into his dark green eyes, unblinking and eerily motionless. The man struggles to make out the girl's face, but it's...blurry. Unfocused. Pushing through the thick, unsettling air, he asks if she’s lost. No response. Only a slow, deliberate tilt of her head. The weight of the silence presses in on him, and a cold, gnawing wrongness begins to churn in his gut.

Unexpectedly, she wobbles, her bike tipping to one side as she crashes to the ground, releasing a sharp, pitiful wail. The sound claws at his ears, unnatural—inhuman, twisted—but he forces himself to believe it's just a strange echo, a trick of his drunken mind. He trudges closer, his muddled mind now racing—what could be wrong? Why is she out so late? He kneels beside her, reaching out his hesitant hand. He gently pats her shoulder, his touch meant to

reassure; but the moment his fingers meet her shoulder, a deep, sinking dread coils in his gut.

Her body shudders at his touch. The pitiful sobs burst from her throat warping, twisting into something guttural—something wrong. He freezes...his once drunken haze lifting just enough to register the sheer, primal danger before him. The small, fragile girl is gone, replaced by a thing cloaked in a suffocating, black aura, dripping with pure malice. She tilts her head. All that can be seen is the girl's grotesque smile. Rows of jagged, glistening teeth stretch where her mouth should be. Her tiny fingers contort into razor-sharp claws—then, with a sudden, inhuman burst of speed, she lunges.

The man barely has time to react before she sinks her teeth deep into his neck. His scream—wet, gurgling—was swiftly drowned out by the sickening rip of flesh. In mere moments, the street is swallowed by an eerie silence once more. Only the soft, rhythmic clicking of her bike wheels lingers as she rides off into the

night... searching for her next meal.