Altered Fairy Tales

Mom, Where Are You?

Alex's eyes fluttered open to the bright morning sun rocketing through her windows.
Alex hadn't slept the slightest bit last night, half an hour at the most, for last night Alex had the weirdest dream. There was a screaming woman, and she seemed to have been fighting some dark creature that, at the time, seemed to have been hidden behind a wall.
Alex glanced at the clock on her bedside table and rubbed her eyes.
It read 6:29. That was strange... once her alarm clock went off at 6:00, she always slammed it off and then her mom would wake her up at 6:10.
She sat up after trying - and failing - to smooth out her tangled hair.
"Mom?" she called softly, not wanting to wake her brother.
Zach's snoring was quite loud, so her mother most likely could not hear her.
She slowly threw back her covers and slipped on her socks. She made her way to the stair railing and peeked over. Normally, at this time, her mom would be drinking coffee on the couch as she watched TV turned to the lowest volume. But the couch was deserted, and the TV screen was completely black.
Her mom was nowhere in sight, and a tingly, cold feeling tickled up her spine. She was getting frightened now; where was her mom?
"Mom? Where are you?" she asked in a panicked voice.
When her mother didn't answer, she ran back to her and Zach's room and shook her snoring brother awake. 
"Zach," Alex said, jumping on top of him when he wouldn't wake up. She bounced on top of him repeatedly, yelling, "Wake up! Wake up!"
Zach woke with a groggy, "Leave me alone!"
"Zach, wake up, mom's not here!" Alex said anxiously.
At these words Zach got up. He looked at Alex and saw the fear within her face, and he tossed his bed covers aside. Together they ran downstairs to find the same empty living room.
"You search the left side of the house, I'll take the right," said Alex, as she began to get a taste of the situation.
Where could their mom possibly be? She wouldn't just leave unannounced; something suspicious was going on, and they needed to find out what it was. And quickly.
Zach nodded in agreement, and entered the hallway to the left of the living room.
Alex watched him go with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. The house was quiet, and it was somewhat dark out, and she felt uneasy. What if something bad had happened to their mom?
Alex slowly made her way to the right of the house, and proceeded to check the rooms for their mom.
Went the first floor was clear, all the closets and corners checked, Alex made her way to the stairs. She tightly grasped the banister and stepped up onto the first stair.
When it creaked under her feet, the terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified, her heart pounding with fear.
She slowly proceeded up the stairs and checked the second floor. The bathroom she and her brother shared was clear - although Zach had somehow managed the get toothpaste in numerous spots on their mirror - and so was their room. She checked the guest room and the closets, and then knocked on her mom's bedroom door.
"Mom? Are you in there?" she asked quietly.
No answer.
"Mom," she said louder, voice cracking with desperation. She just wanted her mom back.
Once again, no answer.
With shaking hands, Alex gripped the doorknob tightly, turning her knuckles pale white.
She turned the doorknob, and entered her mom's bedroom slowly.
She looked around, seeing nothing at first, for her mom's blinds were closed.
She made her way over to the blinds to open them, tripping over a large pillow in the process.
Once she steadied herself, she pulled open the blinds.
She turned around, and locked eyes with the pillow.
But it wasn't a pillow at all.
It was her mother, brutally slaughtered, on the floor, dead.
Alex screamed.