The house had finally fell into silence, once again. The baby lay asleep...finally, in their crib.  Cooing every now and then. Her mother hunch over the crib, rubbing her infants back. She'd just finished feeding, and changing the baby, for the third time that night. Tired and sleep deprived, she dragged her feet out of the nursery, empty bottle in hand. Hazily, she made one more trip into the kitchen. Placing the empty bottle along side the rest. Before drudging up the stairs, where she found her pillow, once again. Only to have her mind restlessly thinking about the next feeding. 

This was the first night the baby was sleeping in their own room. She felt uneasy having the baby so far from her. Down the hall, and another floor away. Instead of the little pink bassinet, still beside the bed. Her husband had insisted this would be better. That it would take getting used to, but everyone would end up having a more restful sleep. He currently lay snoring beside her. At least someone was sleeping tonight. Grudgingly, she lay, eyes glued to the screen, watch the black, and white monitor.

She didn't know when her eyes had finally closed, or if they actually did. It hadn't felt long before the sound of a giggling baby awoke her, once again. Her glazed gray eyes still fixed at the monitor. There the baby sat giggling, and facing the opposite direction of the camera. She waited, to see if the baby would lay back down. 

Not noticing the shadow figure hovering along the edge of the crib. The sound of a soft humming voice was what first caught her attention. Eerily familiar, that had her body frozen to the sound. The hairs along her neck rising. There at the corner of crib, just at the edge of the screen, a woman stood humming a lullaby. A woman that was a mirror image of herself. Same short dark hair, same big gray eyes.  The woman's hand reached out toward the baby. Gesturing the baby to come closer. She looked back at her, into the monitor.  Wearing a crooked, and devious smile. The woman in bed tried to scream, but couldn't find her voice. Nothing came out, not even a gasp. She begged her body to move. Her body still stuck frozen in place. The woman on the screen leaned closer to the baby, still starring with those eerie eyes. 

The mirror image sang: "Two chubby cheeks, a button nose, the cutest chin, and yummy toes. Such a sweet little treat, almost too perfect to eat." Her mouth grew wide, showing off her jagged teeth. The baby whined.

"No!" She yelled from her bed, finally feeling dethawed. The woman on the screen frowned. Her arms pulled away at the sound. Movement found it's way back into her limbs. She rose up from her bed, eyes wide at the screen. The mirror image gone, and baby fast asleep. Cooing every now and then. The mother pulled her pillow from the bed, and the extra blanket at the end of the bed. She made her way down the hall, and another floor. She pulled the sleeping baby out of the crib, and they curled down on the floor. Cuddled together until morning.

Author's Note:

I was avoiding writing this one, because I was scared. This was one of those...was this a dream or was I awake...kind of dreams. Did not like! Thumbs down. I used to get night terrors all the time, and it felt a lot like that. Boo