Journalstone's 2010 Warped Words for Twisted Minds Read Online Free PDF

turned around and stomped out of the room, calling good night over his shoulder as he walked down the hall. How did parents deal with things like this? How did they keep it together? He knew it was common for kids to be afraid of the dark, but this was starting to get ridiculous.
    He went into the kitchen and poured himself a shot of scotch. His wife Karen was at the sink, finishing up the dishes from dinner.
    “How was Emily tonight?” she asked.
    “The same as always,” he answered. “Actually, maybe even worse.”
    He took a swallow and enjoyed the burn as it went down his throat. It was a moment of distraction from his agitation.
    Karen sighed and wearily wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Blonde wisps of hair had fallen out of her ponytail to dangle in tiny curls around her face. Her blue eyes were tired, full of worry. Rob found the physical similarities between his wife and his daughter striking; pictures of Karen as a child were often confused for photos of Emily. They had the same creamy skin, the same spattering of freckles across the nose. Only the contrast in clothing gave the photos away.
    “I think we need to send her to a psychologist, Rob. I can't stand watching her struggle all the time. Do you know she won't sleep over at her friends' houses anymore because they don't sleep with night-lights? This phobia of hers is going to ruin her social life. She only has three years left until she's in high school. Can you imagine how the kids are going to respond if she freaks out in class? The last time the power went out during school, she was in hysterics.”
    Rob nodded. “Alright. I'll look into it tomorrow. I hate the thought of sending my kid to a psychologist, though. You know they're going to point fingers at us. They always do that. It's always the parents' fault somehow. And, I'm a good father. I wish she'd just grow up and snap out of it already.”
    Karen walked over and put her arms around Rob. His Old Spice cologne smelled good, and she breathed it in deeply. So comforting, the familiar scents of her family. Sometimes when she was out shopping, she'd spray a bit of the cologne on her wrist if she came across a bottle. The smell would instantly conjure up feelings of being loved, of feeling safe.
    “It's okay,” she whispered. “Everything is going to be okay. We'll get it figured out.”
    For Emily, things were not okay. Ever since she was a little girl, she had seen creatures in the darkness, and she knew what those creatures were. She could hear their thoughts, like scratchy whispers inside her head. They were soul snatchers. Like vultures, they could kill their prey if they wanted to, but they preferred to lurk on the perimeter, hovering close by as death slowly presented itself.
    The unsuspecting soul was simple to snatch as it emerged from a dead body, but the soul snatchers were lazy creatures; they didn't want to work very hard to steal the souls. Old people who died peacefully in their sleep were the easiest; their souls were at such peace that they were completely unaware of the evil crouching in the darkness, like a cat waiting to pounce on its prey. A soul that was emerging from a violent death was trickier, as its defenses were already up and bracing against an attack. The soul snatchers rarely went after these. Better to steal the souls of old people and of children. A child's soul was so innocent, so easy to entice and lure away.
    Emily knew this, and it terrified her. She knew that the soul snatchers needed nourishment in order to survive, and they could only exist within the dark. Light would snuff out their essence as quickly as blowing out a candle flame.
    During her younger years, Emily's natural instincts kicked in whenever she saw the soul snatchers, and she would look away, diverting her eyes quickly so that they didn't know she had seen them. This was when she believed in things like Santa Claus and unicorns and fairies; she was too innocent to know what was real