Hold Your Breath 

The last Heather spoke to her mother was on Halloween of 2015 when she was twelve years old. Now, it is Halloween of 2024, and she is reminded of the lore that ruined every Halloween for her.

People said a creature would lure the person to water. Sometimes the creature would be a beautiful woman, a child, a scared man, or anything a person could imagine would be conjured. The creature used its sixth sense to find a person’s softness to others. Heather’s mother apparently saw a little boy with blonde, curly hair and a cherubic face.

The creature ran through the woods after almost being hit by Heather’s mom’s car. Her mother frazzled chased the boy until she reached a river, called Doom’s Creek. It got the name from the historic number of drownings there each year.

The creature pretended to drown, and hastily Heather’s mother, splashed into the river. The freezing water shook her core, and shaking she reached her hands frantically to the boy. He disappeared and her mother spinned round and round trying to find him.

Within minutes her body started to convulse from the water lowering her body temperature. Her teeth chattered and she was turning blue, but she refused to leave till she found the little boy.

When she saw a random splash farther down the river she yelled to the child and pushed herself against the newforming currents. Then when her leg lifted to step forward again something yanked her back and pulled her underwater.

A few high schoolers, and by a few it was Heather, her boyfriend Jay, and her best friend Maisy walking through the woods after drinking at a party. They found Heather’s mother gurgling on the side of the river. Her skin was bloated, and her body was tinted blue. She had her clothes torn like she was mauled but there wasn’t a mark on her body. Her lifeless eyes stared at the sky haunted, and Heather screamed incoherently finding her.

Her friends panicked calling 911 and Heather attempted CPR on a clearly dead body. Then suddenly her mother inhaled, puked out black tar, and through a raspy breath she whispered startling words to Heather. The words that started the lore of the woods.

“The boy…Hold your breath…” Then her mouth hung open and she kept her eyes on the stars.

Medics arrived on scene shortly after, but her mother was forever changed. She didn’t die but everyone thinks the creature stole her soul and left an empty, breathing body in its place.

Ms. Connelly, Heather’s mother, stopped speaking. Those were the last words she spoke to her daughter. Now, she stares out the window and will run water over her hands for hours turning her fingers to prunes and driving their water bill up high.

Heather listened to her dad rant about the water enough times to know it was a real problem.

Now that it is the morning of the 31st Heather came home from college to keep an eye on her mother. Every year, only on Halloween does Heather’s mother sleepwalk. She gets found every time.

The theory is her mother is going home to the creature or maybe searching for her lost soul. No one knows because they all stop her before she reaches her destination.

This year though, Heather decides to let her mother leave. She wants to see where she goes but mostly, she wants her mother back and hopes that maybe the sleepwalking will give her answers.

Heather steps into their rickety house and goes to her mother’s room on the second floor. There are fast food wrappers all over the floor, the lights are turned off and even though it is morning, it is pitch black from trash bags covering the windows. Heather’s father put them up so her mother wouldn’t scare the neighborhood with her vacant, endless staring. Still, she ripped a slit in one of the bags and through there she peeks an eye out for all hours of the night.

Heather steps through the threshold and approaches her mother cautiously. Her mother doesn’t respond to her presence and so, gently stroking her mother’s hair in hope of a response, Heather patiently waits for her mother to look at her.

Every year since the incident Heather’s mother turns the most active on Halloween. Right now, instead of emptiness her mother’s gaze is intense and narrows at something through her makeshift eyehole. Then screams escape her and she throws her hands at the window ripping away the trash bags and slamming her fists into the windows. Within seconds the glass shatters and her mother’s animalistic howls echo through the neighborhood.

Heather uses all her might to grab and toss her mother across the room. Then her mother’s eyes turn fearful, and she cries falling to the floor with her hands around her knees rocking back and forth. Blood pools on the floor and Heather anxiously grabs a blanket off the bed and holds it over her mother’s arms.

She speaks gently, “Hey mom, what’s goin on? Huh? You okay?” No words come out and her mother’s eyes return to their normal nothingness once more.

Heather calls the local doctor, Dr. Morris, and he comes to stitch her mother up in bed. He gives her a sedative too. Slowly Ms. Connelly drifts to sleep and Heather lets her shoulders fall and tears cascade down her face.

Dr Morris leaves, Heather’s father avoids their house at all costs on Halloween, so it is just Heather and her mother the rest of the evening. Heather knows the sedatives won’t stop her mother’s sleepwalking.

Heather boards up the windows with some leftover plywood she found in the garage while her mother snores peacefully. In a strange way, sleep is the only time her mother looks like she’s alive.

Then Heather snuggles up with a hot cocoa and snacks on mini candies waiting for her mother’s nighttime activities to resume. It is nearly 10pm when Heather hears a crash upstairs. Heather jolts up and hides in the kitchen.

Descending the stairs slowly, her mother searches the room and locks eyes with Heather hiding behind the door. There is determination in her eyes and Heather throws her hands up to indicate she won’t stop Ms. Connelly.

Giving a slight nod of acknowledgement, her mother swings open the front door and exits. Taking a deep breath Heather grabs her keys and follows her mother.

Her mother doesn’t stand out to any of the excited children running through the streets or their tired parents trailing behind. Ms. Connelly hasn’t been seen in years by the public so people wouldn’t recognize her now. To these people Heather’s mom looks like a regular, older woman.

Heather hops in her car and drives slowly behind her mom. Her grip on the steering wheel forms blisters but she ignores the gnawing pain. She pins her eyes on her mother walking through the streets until they leave the suburbs and reach darkening, creepy side roads.

Ms Connelly ignores Heather’s headlights and continues her pursuit. Heather’s heart beats faster and faster as the drive goes deeper and deeper into the backwoods of their town.

Goosebumps prickle over Heather’s arms as she notices they are coming closer to the river they found her mother at years prior.

Then where Heather’s mother car stalled with caution lights, driver’s door kept ajar and retreated into the wood’s years prior, they arrive at a similar scene once more.

Heather hops out of the car and follows behind. She turns on her phone light and steps over broken branches, leaves crunching beneath her feet, and stumbles trying to keep pace with her mother going to the last place Heather would like to be but knows she must.

Then her mother disappears, nowhere to be found near the river, and Heather feels bile rise in her throat. Yells escape her and she runs tripping over a fallen tree and leaves slapping her face, “MOM!”

The forest turns silent and adrenaline turns Heather’s senses sharp. Then the brush of something in the distance across the river catches her attention and she sprints forward in hopes to catch her mother.

Ignoring the shocking cold of the water Heather swims through and on the other side her weighed down steps lead her to her mother whispering.

Heather comes and gently taps her mother’s head. This time her mother silences her. “Shhh…” She taps a finger to Heather’s lips then below a pile of rocks her mother digs in the wet dirt.

Heather tries to grab her mother’s arm, but she is slapped back and in stunned silence she watches a little boy, blonde, curly hair step out behind the tree her mother is at and her mouth falls open. “ma-ma-mom.” Her mother ignores her and continues digging.

The boy and Heather lock eyes and he sheepishly smiles. The smile sends a chill over Heather and when she looks at her mother her body runs cold. “Mom…”

Her mother whispers again, “the boy…” And in her mother’s arms is tiny human remains.

Heather covers her mouth and presses down any vomit or tears wanting to pour out of her.

Heather steps towards the remains and shudders seeing a tiny skull in her mother’s hands. Ms. Connelly pats the little head and keeps whispering, “little boy… little boy…”

Then turning her head, she smiles at Heather. Heather looks to her phone and realizes she needs to dial 911 but stops when she sees her mother’s features turn fearful.

Heather feels concerned and leans down to her. “Mom, everything okay?”

Her mother’s eyes turn vacant again and this time she whispers, “hold your breath…”

And before Heather has time to react a hand clasps around her mouth and drags her backwards into the water.

Heather kicks and claws at her nameless attacker. As her legs enter the river, she repeats her mother’s words in her head and takes a deep breath before being plunged beneath the icy, cold surface.

Her hands swipe the surface at the attacker pins her underneath the water. Her body gives up much quicker than she would like, and she stops fighting.

Her hands drop and she retreats farther into the water and the hand holding her retracts.

She still has a bit of lucidity with all of her energy she kicks back to the surface and gulps for air.

Her attacker is nowhere to be found. She circles around and around seeing no one. Then a piercing scream comes from the forest, and she hurries out of the water.

Pain grips her sides as she moves forward following the screams. Then as she comes close, she moves strategically between the trees avoiding making any noise as she reaches her attacker…

Heather mutters in disbelief… “Dad…”

Her mother and father are circling each other. Her father is holding a knife. Without thinking Heather comes to her mother’s aid and jumps on his back and the knife is knocked from his hand.

Heather’s mother quickly grabs the knife and plunges it into her father’s stomach. He collapses quickly and blood sputters out of his mouth when he tries to speak.

Heather’s mother steps away from them and stares vacantly at the trees. Heather comes to her mother and wraps her in a hug. When she pulls away her mother whispers, “Over now.” Then softly taps Heather’s cheek.

Heather and her mother leave the forest hand-in-hand and Heather calls the police. Turns out that Doom’s Creek didn’t get its name from drownings but murder.

Heather’s unsuspecting father killed hundreds of children and Halloween of 2015 Heather’s mother saw her father leading a little, blonde, curly haired boy into the woods. Her mother tried to stop him but suffered irreparable brain damage and lost most of her ability to speak and cognitive function from him trying to kill her.

Now, Heather and her mother sit together in an interrogation room and all Heather can think about is how she saw the little boy and his smile.

Her mother’s eyes don’t look so vacant anymore and Heather turns her mother’s chin to her and states, “Did you see him too? The boy?”

Her mother nods no and Heather sinks back into her chair…

Her mind is reeling and in that moment all she knows is that maybe there was some truth to the lore of the creature in the woods.