Vulnerable by Joshua Scribner

The strongest and most confident man Kelly had ever met woke her up with his whimpers. She rolled over, turned on the lamp and then gazed at his ashen face.

“What’s wrong, hon?” she asked.

“Bad dream,” Greg responded with a whisper. “I dreamt Mandy and Kala died.”

Mandy and Kala were their daughters. Mandy was at camp, and Kala, too young for camp, was at her grandma’s.

“You just miss them,” Kelly said.

He didn’t seem to respond. She didn’t know how to comfort him. She’d never really had to. She hugged him and found his body stiff and unresponsive. She moved back to her side of the bed.

“Did you pray? I mean, in your way, to your spirits.”

He nodded.

“Then why are you so upset? They always seem to give you what you want?”

He looked at her, still greatly aggrieved, but also disgusted.

“Sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. I guess if I just saw what you saw, I’d be devastated, even if I had the power to prevent it from really happening.”

“That’s not it. It’s just that when I woke up from the dream I sent my spirits to protect them.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?”

“All my spirits.”

She tried to look concerned but doubted it worked. She’d never really believed the whole spirit thing. He’d achieved much success, and that was because of his confidence and skill.

She couldn’t stand seeing him this way. This wasn’t the man she had married. The man she had married would never wake up crying over a silly little nightmare. She was a little relieved when the phone rang. She got up to answer it.

“No! Don’t!”

She pretended not to hear him as she rushed through the house. She wondered who could be calling at this hour and hoped they world require her attention for a while. She picked up the phone.

“Hello.”

“If you see us, you will die!”

“What?”

“We tricked him with the dream, and he’s left himself vulnerable.”

“Who is this?”

“His flesh and blood contain the magic that commands the spirits we fear. We want to drink his blood and eat his flesh.”

She pressed the button to hang up the phone, but that didn’t stop the voice from coming.

“Though they do not know it yet, the children also harbor magic. Tell them not to avenge.”

There was a crash at the back of the house and then her husband screamed like a child. That scream quickly trailed off into the distance.

She felt as if her heart dropped. “Please bring him back! I’ll do anything!”

“Tell the children what we said. Tell them if they don’t try to avenge we won’t come for their mother.”

There was now silence on the other side of the line. She dropped the phone and stood there in utter horror. There was absolutely nothing she could do right now. She was the only one in the family who couldn’t summons help.