When my daughter was born, we were elated. We had been trying for a child for almost ten years. Now in our late thirties, we had nearly given up on ever having a baby of our own. But miraculously my wife Kelsey became pregnant. No one had ever seen two people happier than us when we delivered a healthy little girl. Kelsey named her Faith. It was sort of an ode to our long ordeal and the faith we had that someday we’d have a child.
Our happiness lasted for exactly a week. We had slept through the night, which was not something we expected to do for a long time. The baby monitor hadn’t made a peep. I woke up slowly and checked the time. 8am? Faith hadn’t woken us up at all?
A deep fear brewed in my stomach. I stumbled into her room and found her lying perfectly still. Too still. I touched her cheek and she was cold. I screamed for Kelsey to call the cops. I tried CPR, I tried pressing on her little chest, I tried crying into her shoulder. Kelsey and I had no words as we held our dead infant. She had been so full of life the day before.
The doctor said it was failure to thrive, which basically meant they didn’t know why she died. Kelsey stopped talking all together. I had to arrange the funeral alone. Sleeping was impossible. My wife was just a statue now, going through the necessary functions but never more than that. She whispered something strange while she slept, but I didn’t hear her voice otherwise.
We stood side by side at the funeral. Our friends and family were sobbing, trying to console us. But we were silent. Our faith was lowered into the ground. I was amazed at how quickly you could lose a life, your own and someone else’s. We went home and didn’t let anyone in. I honestly thought Kelsey might kill herself.
But instead she set the baby monitor up by the bed, like it was before. She turned it on and hummed something happily. I cleared my throat. “What are you doing?”
She smiled. “We need it to check on the baby.”
My face fell. It was worse than suicide. Kelsey was going insane. “Faith is dead, Kelsey. She isn’t coming back.”
“She’s sleeping,” Kelsey said excitedly. “I can hear her little breath.”
“For god’s sake Kelsey…” but then I heard it. A soft, almost silent snore. A small sleepy sound. I ran to her side to be closer to the monitor.
“What is this?” I whispered.
Kelsey beamed. “I put the other one with Faith. I wanted to make sure we could take care of her.”
“So these noises-”
“She’s sleeping, little angel. She’ll wake up soon.”
I couldn’t deal with this for one more second. I left the house, taking my shovel with me. If something was alive in Faith’s coffin, I would find it. The trip to the cemetery was quick. In broad daylight I started digging up the coffin. I didn’t care who saw me. As I dug I wondered if I was insane too. But I pushed that idea aside as I pushed the blade into the earth.
Finally I reached the coffin. It was so small. Tears came to my eyes and I pulled up the box, covered in dirt and fear. The top had been nailed down. I used my own fingernails to pry it open. They ripped and bled. I didn’t feel any pain. Suddenly the lid was free and I unveiled the coffin’s contents.
Inside was a decomposing body of an infant. I gagged. It was Faith, dead. No baby monitor inside. I don’t know what I wanted to find. Did I really think I’d pull up my daughter and she’d be alive?
Someone had called the cops on me and they took me home. I was too shaken to drive anyway. They didn’t charge me with anything but warned me to not desecrate the grave again. I hobbled into the house. I could hear Kelsey cooing in the bedroom.
“You lied,” I said firmly, pointing an accusing finger at her.
She looked up, smiling, cradling the monitor like a child. “She’s waking up!”
I could hear something coming from the monitor. “Kelsey, you said you put it with Faith.”
“Yes, and now she’s awake.”
A small cough could be heard from the monitor. And then, a horrific child voice spoke, “Mama?”
It sounded like a mix between a screech and a human voice. The hairs on my arms popped up.
I took a step back. “What the…”
“She’s awake!” Kelsey stood. “We should feed her now.” She brushed by me and walked towards the nursery. I followed her slowly. Inside the room I could see the other monitor, right where it had always been. Kelsey was standing over the crib.
“Faith is dead,” I said steadily.
Kelsey turned around with something in her arms. I nearly passed out. “She’s not dead, honey. She’s right here.” In her arms was a creature that resembled an insect. Its arms were spindly and it had large black hairs sticking out from its body. The abdomen was sectioned into two parts, both shiny like the exoskeleton of a beetle. The face was humanoid but devoid of emotion. Two sharp teeth erupted from its mouth.
“Mama,” it said in its sickening voice.
“Oh, are you hungry, Faith?” Kelsey pulled her shirt up and lifted the creature to her breast. It bit down eagerly. Two distinct pools of blood began to drip from her skin.
“Kelsey,” I said slowly, still reeling from what was happening. I went to her side. With shaking fingers I brushed the dark, static hairs on the thing’s thorax. “She’s beautiful.”
