Part 1Every Night
At first, I thought it was cute.
My girlfriend has always been afraid of the dark. It’s only recently that she started asking me to make sure there were no ghosts or goblins hiding under our bed.
Every night since last week, as soon as the lights go out, she pushes me out of bed and onto the floor.
Of course, there was never anything there. Still, as the days went by, she grew more and more insistent that there really was something.
I had never seen her act like this in the three years we’ve been together. The first night, she was just pouting. By the fifth night, she was literally shaking with fear.
On the sixth night, she wouldn’t even let me turn off the light until I’d checked. I sighed, more than a little annoyed, and got down on my hands and knees.
I lifted the bed skirt... nothing. Just the same old shoeboxes and random stuff that desperately needed to be tidied up.
Irritated, I climbed back into bed. It was the first night I told her she was being a little ridiculous. It turned into a big mess. We argued until late into the night. Needless to say, we slept back to back.
Part 2Breakfast
The next morning, she seemed perfectly fine, as if she’d completely forgotten the night before.
I mean, the day went on normally, but I can’t really say that without feeling like a liar.
For example, my girlfriend has a funny preference when it comes to breakfast. I always say she eats like a rabbit, because every morning, without exception, she’d ask me to make her oatmeal and apple slices while she caught up on work emails, or whatever she had to do.
It was a routine.
That morning, though, when I brought breakfast to her desk, she was nowhere to be found.
I looked in the living room, the bathrooms, out on the back patio, everywhere, really. Nowhere.
Finally, after calling her name for what felt like forever, she simply walked out of the bedroom, stretching and yawning like she’d just woken up.
Normally that wouldn’t be a problem. But I had made the bed when I got up that morning. She wasn’t in it. And she couldn’t have been in the bathroom either, since that’s where I was, in the shower, starting my day.
I didn’t try to find out more. I just told her I’d made her breakfast and watched her eyes light up like a Christmas tree as she ran past me toward the kitchen.
But then disappointment showed on her face when she saw what I’d made.
She wouldn’t even touch it.
She just pushed the bowl across the table and pouted at me.
“Since when do I like oatmeal?”
“Besides, I’m starving! I haven’t eaten anything since last night.”
“Could you make me something more... high in protein?”
I let it go, figuring she just had a craving for bacon that morning, but when I took the package out of the freezer, she stopped me.
“Don’t we have steak in there?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah, I guess. Is that what you…”
“Yes.”
I started cooking the steak, which wasn’t easy with her watching me the whole time.
I knew she liked her meat well done, so I was surprised when she stopped me while the cow was still mooing. She didn’t even take a plate. She ate it with her bare hands, then kissed me on the cheek and went back to her desk.
And that’s where she stayed. I could hear rummaging and crashing from inside, but I couldn’t check on her because she’d locked the door.
I told myself she was fine, because every time I knocked, I got the same answer.
“Yeah, babe, I’m fine. I’ll be out soon, okay?”
Part 3Ten O’Clock
Except she never came out. The hours went by, but she didn’t even come out for a snack. Not even to use the bathroom.
At 10 p.m., I started my nightly routine.
I was in our bathroom, brushing my teeth, when the light in the bedroom suddenly went out.
I heard hurried footsteps across the floor, followed right away by the creak of the bed springs.
“Honey,” I called, toothpaste dribbling from the corner of my mouth. “You okay in there?”
“Baby...” she answered, in a syrupy voice.
“Can you check under the bed for me? I’m so scared.”
With a sigh, I spat out the toothpaste and wiped my mouth.
“You can’t keep doing this, honey. I told you, there’s nothing under the bed.”
“Just check,” she said with a pout. “Please.”
Part 4Under the Bed
I came out of the bathroom and found her sitting in her spot on the bed, hands folded in her lap. She didn’t look scared, though. She looked... happy? I don’t know, she just had this big smile on her face.
“How could I say no to such a pretty smile?” I joked.
Her face didn’t even move.
I turned on my phone’s flashlight and, once again, got down on my knees to look under the bed.
At first, I didn’t want to believe what I was seeing.
Her dead eyes. Her tongue hanging limply from a slack jaw. The small pool of blood around the torn stump of my girlfriend’s neck.
It’s strange, the way you react in the moment. I knew what I was seeing, but the only thought that came to me was: “Huh, where’s the rest of her?”
I didn’t say anything. I kept staring at those glassy eyes, that grayish skin, when a velvety voice rose from my girlfriend’s spot on the bed.
“I’m so hungry, honey. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”