Before You Sleep by Adam Nevill

Author:Adam Nevill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ritual Limited
Published: 2016-08-18T10:03:48+00:00

That night, after Papa finished my bedtime story, he kissed my forehead. He still hadn’t shaved and his lips felt spiky. He pulled the blankets up to my chin. ‘Try and keep these on the bed tonight, Yuki. Every morning they are on the floor and you feel as cold as ice.’

‘Yes, Papa.’

‘Maybe tomorrow the rain will stop. We can go and look at the river.’

‘I don’t mind the rain, Papa. I like to play inside the house.’

Frowning and looking down at my blankets, Papa thought about what I had said. ‘Sometimes in old houses little girls have bad dreams. Do you have bad dreams, Yuki? Is that why you kick the sheets off?’

‘No.’

He smiled at me. ‘That’s good.’

‘Do you have bad dreams, Papa?’

‘No, no,’ he said, but the look in his eyes said yes. ‘The medicine makes it hard for me to sleep. That’s all.’

‘I’m not scared. The house is very friendly.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because it is. It just wants to make friends. It’s so happy we’re here.’

Papa laughed. ‘But the rain. And all the mice here, Yuki. It’s not much of a welcome.’

I smiled. ‘There are no mice here, Papa. The toys don’t like mice. They ate them all up.’

Papa stopped laughing. In his throat I watched a lump move up and down.

‘You don’t have to worry about them, Papa. They’re my friends.’

‘Friends?’ His voice was very quiet. ‘Toys? You’ve seen them?’ His voice was so tiny that I could hardly hear him.

I nodded, and smiled to make him stop worrying. ‘When all the children left, they stayed behind.’

‘Where . . . where do you see them?’

‘Oh, everywhere. But mostly at night. That’s when they come out to play. They usually come out of the fireplace.’ I pointed at the dark place in the corner of my room. Papa stood up quickly and turned around to stare at the fireplace. Outside my window the rain stopped falling on the world that it had made so soft and wet.

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