Sounds in the Dark
Fru Fru awoke to the sound of something slithering almost-silent through her doll home. She forced the animal panic away, hitting the panic button beside the bed, rolling over to shake her husband’s shoulder. “Joey. Joey. Take Judy to the closet, hurry.”
“Hm—ugh—wh-what?”
“Judy, the closet, now!”
Finally hearing her urgency, Joey rolled to his feet, scooping little Judy from her bedside crib and, with a look Fru Fru’s way, hurriedly hiding in their bedroom closet.
The slithering drew nearer. Fru Fru stood. Shook her hair from her eyes. Drew from beneath the bed a spear.
A hiss from behind. Fru Fru looked, beheld a pair of slit eyes gleaming from the shadows of her bedroom door, forked tongue tasting the air. Her grip tightened.
***
The guards arrived to find the snake dead, Fru Fru bloodied but alive. Mr. Big gave only one command. “Find the owner.”