The Crone

Torn From Me

Hannah had such a vivid imagination. At her young age, she always played with an invisible friend. It was harmless, or so I thought, but she was four, and I wasn't going to stop the imagination of a child. Soon I would wish I had.

"No! Stop! Leave! She said to leave!" Hannah cried out from her room.

"Hannah Renee, who are you yelling at?" I asked as I came running to her room.

"He won't leave, he has to leave," Hannah insisted.

"Who baby, who won't leave?" I asked as I entered the room and crouched down to her level.

"Jason, Mommy," Hannah expressed in such an innocent voice.

"Who's Jason?" I asked with intrigue.

"He's my friend. But the old lady said he needs to go with her and so do I, but he won't go. We're both afraid of her." Hannah began to look behind me with a look of fright on her face.

As she covered her eyes, I glanced back and saw nothing there. Her look of terror had me feeling that something wasn't right. I knew then that she saw something that I could not. "Mommy, let's leave, please!" The sense of urgency in her voice rattled me to my core.

 I quickly grabbed Hannah, picked her up, and made our way to the front door. As we continued to flee, the pictures on the wall started to fly as a vase came crashing down in front of us. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was as if something didn't want us to leave. Hannah buried her head in my shoulder to shield herself from seeing the carnage. Whatever she saw had her riddled with fear.

"She's right there!" Hanna cried out as she briefly glanced up and pointed.

I whipped around to see if I could catch a view of what she had seen, and I saw her. She was an old hag looking woman, she had a young boy in her grasp, not letting him go. I could feel my fear becoming more intense as I noticed the hag reach for my daughter. Everything around us seemed to fall silent as if I had been rendered deaf for a brief moment.

Hannah glanced up at the old woman and glanced back at me, "She said I can't leave, I will be with her and Jason forever."

Just then, a horrific scream spewed out of the old hag's mouth as she raced towards us. I shielded Hannah's eyes as she sped closer to us, seemingly floating in the air. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could, standing paralyzed from the horror. I felt the body of my child ripped from my arms. I knew it had to be a dream. Something not of this world could not take my child away from me. I opened my eyes, stunned at what I saw. My arms fell empty as I came to, and my Hannah was gone.