Go Back to Sleep

It was 3:17 a.m. when the boy woke up. The house was silent… too silent.

As he turned toward the doorway, he saw his mother standing there. She didn’t blink.

She didn’t breathe. Her face was pale… smiling the way she used to before she died.

The boy whispered, “Mom?” She slowly raised her finger to her lips and said:

“Go back to sleep… before he sees you.” That’s when the boy remembered— his mother was buried

three years ago. The bedroom door behind him… slowly creaked open.