Hush, Hush, Sweet Carly

Carly threw her overnight bag on the bed with a sigh. She really hadn't wanted to come here this weekend, no matter how much she loved her grandmother. Something about the old house had spooked her when she was a child, and even though she was an adult now, and had nothing specific to put her finger on, that creepy-crawly feeling at the base of her spine had reappeared the minute she had walked through the front door.

She turned to leave the room, but noticed the closet door was standing open, just an inch or so, but enough to offend her sense of neatness. Carly walked to the door and pushed on it, feeling just a slight resistance against her palm, then the resistance evaporated, and it shut with a definite click.

**********

Carly dreamed.

The closet door swung open silently -- no creak of hinges to betray its movement. Carly sighed in her sleep. When she fell quiet once again, the silence in the room was heavy with anticipation. She coughed once, then turned onto her back, and began to dream again.

The rough hands skimmed smoothly down her sides, causing her to move restively under the sheets. The same hands pushed Carly's thighs apart, stroking the soft inner skin as a prelude to further intimacies. At their touch there, she almost woke, "Wha...?"

"Hush...you are dreaming. Go back to sleep," came the whispered, mesmeric reply. Carly complied with the demand, and settled back down, sighing once again. The hands on her thighs stroked again, delicately this time, their touch feather-light, before they pushed her thighs wider apart. Carly's sleep heavy limbs offered no resistance.

Lips followed where the hands had so recently been. The heat of them on her skin caused Carly to squirm, but a hand laid gently on her belly quieted her again, and the lips continued upwards, pausing at the juncture of thigh and hip for a moment, and sucking gently on the soft skin there. Carly gasped, but still locked in a dream, she didn't wake.

The hands pulled Carly's panties to one side, exposing her pussy to the warm air. A tongue pushed out from between the lips and teased her open. Lips fastened on her clit, pulling and tugging gently. Carly's breathing quickened in response, and her legs opened even wider still.

The hands returned, pulling her open for the tongue to reach inside her before the lips returned to her clit. A finger teased her opening before sliding inside. It stroked her inside as it had stroked her thigh just moments before. Wetness glistened in a stray bit of moonlight, and the hands and lips became more insistent; suckling harder, pushing deeper.

Carly's hips started moving involuntarily, rocking on the fingers inside her and pushing against the lips locked onto her clit. Her eyes opened briefly, then shut again, preferring dreams, perhaps. The fingers stroked her harder, the lips pulled at her clit, drawing her orgasm from her at last. Carly moaned with it, and the sound of her own voice echoing through the room brought her to wakefulness. She pushed damp locks off her forehead, turned onto her side, then noticed the slickness between her legs. Must've been some dream went through her mind.

A flicker of red seen out of the corner of her eye brought her fully awake. Were those eyes? Carly sat up in her bed, and looked around the room. Glimpsed through the slight moonlight entering through the window, everything looked the same as it had when she'd gone to bed several hours before, except the closet door was slightly open. I thought I'd closed that damn door, she thought as she got out of bed and crossed to the closet. There was no resistance this time; it closed with a soft click.

**********

Carly stumbled downstairs, following the smell of fresh coffee and bacon cooking to the kitchen. Her grandmother was in the midst of cooking a big breakfast. She smiled as she moved about the kitchen, happy to have people to cook for again.

"Mom and Jeff haven't made it downstairs?" she asked, as she helped herself to coffee, and then stirred sugar and milk into her mug.

"No, not yet. I think your mother's glad of the break. She'll probably sleep awhile. Jeff was playing that video game when I finally went to bed. No telling what time he finally headed upstairs." Her grandmother brought down the breadpan, and began making biscuits.

Carly sat down at the table with her coffee. "Yeah, he does that a lot."

The two women lapsed into silence, Carly sipping her coffee, and her grandmother shaping the biscuits and placing them in the pan. When she was through, she refilled her coffee, and sat down at the table across from Carly. "Did you sleep okay last night, hon? You're awfully quiet this morning."

"Yeah, I guess I did. I had a weird dream though. And that closet door was open again."

"I would've thought you'd forgotten all about that door by now. You were so sure when you were little that there was something in there. I don't know how many times your grandfather would have to show you that there was nothing in the closet." Carly's grandmother chuckled at the memory.

Carly shuddered at the memory; there was nothing funny about that closet to her, even after all these years. Her grandmother saw a grimace pass quickly over Carly's features, and asked, "That closet doesn't still give you the heebie-jeebies, does it?"

"No, I'm okay." Carly couldn't admit to such a childish fear here in the warm security of her grandmother's kitchen.

"Good." Her grandmother got up to check the biscuits and began scrambling the eggs for breakfast. "Why don't you go wake your mom and your brother up and tell them to get their behinds down here for breakfast."

"Okay, Gran."

**********

Despite her resolve to stay awake, Carly felt herself slipping quickly into sleep again. I shut that door...made sure it was shut, was her last thought before she gave in, and slid under the tide of dreams. It took her quickly, pulling her into deep slumber almost immediately.

The closet door opened slowly, almost imperceptibly, as if it were testing Carly's sleep. Twin orbs of red gleamed briefly in the closet's depths, then disappeared. A momentary quiet, then the covers over Carly started drifting downward, exposing her lithe body to the night. Hands skimmed down Carly's sides again. She whimpered, almost under her breath, and a whispered voice commanded, "Hush."

Carly quieted, following the command, and teeth gleamed brightly white in the scant light from the moon. A slight touch on her forehead was followed by another command to "Hush."

She woke to the click of the closet door shutting behind her. The dark around her in the closet seemed to vibrate with the heartbeat of some other world. The twin red eyes gleamed at her out of the darkness, and she was gone.

**********

Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, Tennessee

November 1, 2006

Strange rumors continue to surround the disappearance of 18-year-old Carly Spencer one year ago today. Ms. Spencer disappeared from her grandmother's home during a weekend visit last year. Her family hasn't heard from her since.

Police are baffled by the lack of clues left behind. They first suspected it was simply a case of a teen runaway, but according to friends and family of Ms. Spencer, she was not one to do something so drastic.

Ms. Spencer was a freshman at the University of Tennessee, was active in her social sorority, and in her church, and by all accounts was very close to her family, visiting almost every weekend.

Anyone with any information as to the whereabouts of Ms. Spencer is urged to contact the Cookeville Police Department.

Her family was unavailable for comment.