Trickery III

My nightmares are getting bolder.

I was walking home from work today—I quit my office job and took a part-time position at the grocery store a few blocks from my apartment so I could come and go in the daylight—and as I put my key into the handle, one jumped from the shadows at me, tiny, pale, hungry eyes boring into my soul. I flinched and crouched, flailing at it, whimpering incoherently.

I swear I have never seen a child so frightened before in my life.

But I think this incident amused them, my nightmares; now, interspersed with their whispers and chattering, I hear a mocking laughter.