The Face with the Dead Sockets
It was nearing dusk as the receding sunlight drifted slowly behind a lone farmstead. There lived a normal family; a father, a mother and a foal. A simple life they chose over the bustling city. However, life was not so simple for the foal. As at any young age, life gets more and more complex as newer things bear on such a fresh mind; changing it, for better or for worse.
Zephyr looked out the window. Seeing the coming darkness, he shuddered; it was that time again, bedtime. He hated bed time, he was scared of bedtime. To his parents, it was the coming winter and the nervousness of moving into a new home. They thought nothing of his fear. Of course, Zephyr's parents did not ignore his screams and his crying. The colt knew they loved him, but they were comforting him for the wrong reasons. His real fear is not the new place in which he now lives, but the thing that followed him here. Zephyr shook the thought from his head, not wanting to be too anxious to the point he couldn’t sleep.
He heard a shuffle and a small clatter of stone upon wood. Looking up from his coloring book Zephyr noticed a plate had been put out in front of him. It was his bedtime snack; a biscuit. Alongside it, a glass of cold water was also placed. He looked up at his mother and smiled. It was his way of saying thanks.
Eating his biscuit and finishing off the glass, Zephyr took the plate in his mouth and made his way to the kitchen. Mama always did so much work for him and he was getting bigger, so to him, that meant he had to act bigger. However, there was a tight cramp in his side and his heart rate was slowly picking up. To make things worse, drops of sweat were rolling down his face making him itchy.
“Thank you, Zephyr,” said his mother. She picked him up and proceeded to take him down the hall. Zephyr began to kick and curse in gibberish at his mother, but she had nothing of it.
When they arrived at his room, Zephyr was already too exhausted to continue on. Looking over his shoulder he spotted his crib. This prison was getting too small for him, but his father kept it up to date with some jury rigged extensions due to his repeated escape attempts after moving him to a big colt’s bed.
His mother sang him his lullaby and kissed him good night. Once again Zephyr tried to speak, but the words only came out in gibberish as they always did. One last ditch effort to save himself from the darkness only to fail as his cell walls rose around him. The lights went off and his mother closed the door, leaving him in almost complete darkness with only the light of the moon with the weird face to bleed through the curtains. He closed his eyes and blocked everything out in the hopes of falling asleep. But as soon as he felt his mind slip, he was yanked by the foreleg.
It’s happening again, as it did every night for as long as he could remember: the face with the dead sockets.
Whimpering from the pain, Zephyr tried to ignore it and fall asleep, only to fail as he was struck on the snoot, causing him to yelp. Not wanting this to continue, he shouted in gibberish in the hopes his parents would come and scare it away. However, that did not happen. Normally, it runs away as soon as he does, but the thing was still there and he was sure it was now smiling.
When Zephyr realized no one was coming to scare it away, his fear skyrocketed. He was sure he yelled loud enough and he could hear his parents talking in the living room, but just as he was about to call out again Zephyr’s ear was pulled and he let out another cry as the side of his face was smashed against the prison wall. The impact stung and he could feel something warm running down the side of his muzzle. Opening his eyes, he could see it; the face with the dead sockets.
He shouted out again, desperate for them to come, but was rewarded with another strike from his monster. A punch to the gut left him winded and as Zephyr wheezed, the face with the dead sockets chuckled. “Nobody’s coming to save you. They don’t love you anymore. You are nothing but an annoying little shit to them now.”
Zephyr’s fear was replaced with anger as he attempted to hit the face with his hoof, only to have it pass through. The thing laughed again and struck him harder than before, this time on the rib. A crack was audible. Zephyr screamed as tears burst into his eyes and as quickly as it started, the face vanished; it had its play for the night.
Quietly crying, he rocked himself to sleep, in the hopes of having a nice dream.
***
Waking in the morning, Zephyr couldn’t remember if he had a nightmare or not, but he could smell breakfast being made. He took in a deep breath to get a taste, only to stop from a sharp stabbing in his side. The thing hurt him last night, much worse than before. In the past, just a minor bruise here and there. But now, there was a broken bone and swelling. Enough to make his parents notice... or so he hoped.
Zephyr called out to his mother and waited for a shuffle near his door. A mere minute later, he saw his mother come in. She was smiling. Always smiling.
Lowering his prison bars, she lifted him out of his crib. Zephyr yelped as she applied pressure to his ribs. Startled, his mother put him down into the crib and searched for injuries. She noticed the bruising.
“Trying to escape last night? How many times do we have to tell you, you go to bed when we put you to bed.”
Grabbing his mother’s hoof, he put it on his broken rib. Her eyes went wide. For a moment Zephyr’s mother looked like she was about to kiss it better, but instead she sighed.
“Zephyr, I know you don’t like your crib, but you can’t just leave your room like that. Your father and I like to have our private time. I know you can be scared of the dark, but there’s nothing to be afraid of. We would never let something hurt you.”
Zephyr tried explain to his mother that it’s not the dark, but as always, just gibberish.
“Look, me and your father have decided. You’re getting older and you need to know the difference between make belief and reality. There are no ghosts or goblins under your bed, no boogey pony hiding in the closet, it’s just your imagination. The moment you realize that is the moment you’ll no longer be afraid of the dark. Okay?”
Zephyr rolled his eyes and nodded in response. Another useless attempt. What’s new?
His mother swatted his snoot, not impressed with the physical sarcasm. “Look at you, Zephyr. You keep this up and we’re going to end up having to see a doctor. And I know you don’t like the doctor.”
Another shuffle, he watched his father walk in. “How bad is it this time?” he asked.
“He managed to give himself a small hairline fracture on his rib. I’ll send a letter to Dr. Rye,” his mother replied.
His father chuckled and shook his head. “My little colt is getting stronger, it seems. He’ll make a fine young lad to help me with the fields come spring.”
Zephyr couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could his parents be so clueless? Sighing, he jumped out of his crib and made his way to the kitchen, intent on serving himself. It was becoming evident that more and more was to be expected of him as he grew older... even if he was only six.
Eating breakfast, Zephyr sighed at the thoughts going through his head. He needed to find a way to get rid of that thing by himself. He saw his father sometimes pray to Celestia and with that, a thought hit him that made him feel really stupid; maybe that would work.
Watching his mother and father walk in, he stuck his tongue out at them. His mother didn’t take notice to the gesture but his father did, causing him to laugh in response.
Sitting down, Zephyr’s mother smiled at him. “You know what day it is today?”
Zephyr gave the question some thought. A bright smiled replaced his frown. “Teacher!”
“Yes, hun. Miss Lovestone will be here shortly. Now eat your breakfast and make sure to drink all your orange juice. A healthy breakfast is what you need to start any day.”
There was a knock on the door and Zephyr rushed to answer, but Miss Lovestone had let herself in, leaving a big pony chest in the open that was just begging for a hug.
“Hello, Zephyr. Sleep well?” she asked as she caught him in the hug.
He lied. “Yes.”
***
As the day progressed Zephyr and his teacher had a productive time. He adequately finished his simple equations and aced his Equestrian test. He also learned how to color inside the lines. “A hard task to do with your mouth.” as his teacher pointed out.
The sun was already starting to get low when his teacher left for the evening. She’ll be back tomorrow and Zephyr could hardly wait, but of course, that also meant it was bedtime in a few hours. However, he had gotten more thoughtful. He needed to somehow get rid of this thing since his parents appeared to lack the intellect to notice and no longer cared to come scare it away.
Given his current situation with his parents, he couldn’t hate them or even blame them. They didn’t know and the face was using that against him for as long as he could remember. However, he was not defeated. If he was defeated, the face would win and he didn’t want to think what would happen to him.
As he thought before, praying was his first option. He intended to pray for Celestia’s power to flow through him so he could banish it to wherever it came from. Other options he thought of were more intricate, such as sleeping with his parents or using the vacuum cleaner. Although how a vacuum cleaner would work was beyond him. Anything was worth trying at this point. The face was getting more and more violent, and was already arrogant. It could disappear fast if it wanted to, but what if he angered it while in their bed? It would hurt him more and his parents would realize it’s not him that’s doing it; unless they are completely clueless, and that he was starting to suspect.
By the beginning of the evening, Zephyr had failed to convince his parents of letting him sleep with them; using the ‘spoiled colt not being loved enough’ as an excuse was not enough and it was now absolute that it was just him and that monster. One of them were still going to be around come morning and he was going to make sure it was him.
As bedtime neared, Zephyr found himself sitting in the family bathtub. He sarcastically had convinced himself that this was going to be an epic failure and would most definitely lead to his own demise in one form or another, but he was willing to take such a risk. And as his mother bathed him he couldn’t help but feel a little prideful. If this worked out, he wouldn’t need the crib anymore and it would certainly help with his self esteem. He may have a speech impediment, but he was still a capable colt otherwise.
After Zephyr had his bath, he was taken to his room. He did not struggle and was content when his prison bars rose around him.
Zephyr waited and waited, but nothing seemed to happen. Perhaps he wasn’t going to get so lucky, but as doubt began to fill his heart, the stench of death quickly filled his nostrils. Zephyr smiled and not a happy smile, but more of a manic one. He began to pray.
Celestia, it’s me, Zephyr. Not sure if you can hear me, but I need you. A dead face has been scaring me all my life and now it’s hurting me; I fear for my life. I can’t talk because of something wrong with my head... I can’t tell it to go away. Please, if you can hear me, extend your will through me and banish this monster!
Zephyr waited, but he felt no response. His first option had failed, but he was not defeated. He awaited his beating.
Mere seconds later, he felt a grip on his foreleg and it pulled... hard. Zephyr whimpered as his leg was stretched, but it didn’t stop. Thoughts began to run through his mind, he began to fear for something more. Something instinctual rushed up from within, telling him to run, to fight.
He cursed the face again and this time his thoughts were loud. “Bugger off!”
The pulling stopped and he felt something recoil. A warmth began to fill his heart and Zephyr felt the need to speak further. “Go away and never come back. By Celestia’s will, I curse you to the depths of Tartarus to never return!”
The face roared in rage in response to his command. Out of the corner of his eye, Zephyr saw a hoof fly at him and braced for the coming impact only to receive a light bump on his muzzle. Another hoof was flung towards him, this one aimed for his gut, but completely dispersed on contact like water upon rocks. And as soon as it started, it was gone.
Zephyr felt as though a great weight was lifted off his shoulders, a happiness filled his heart. It was gone for good. The whole atmosphere around him was fresh like dew on the grass.
Feeling around, Zephyr grabbed his stuffy and snuggled in close, drifting off into peaceful slumber at last.
