"Hush, My Eko"

The hallway was a slender passage in the enigma of the night, cocooning her in the hushed stillness. Her footsteps, like whispered secrets, mingled with the sighing of the night winds that danced through the hallway’s hallowed hush. The narrow corridor stretched endlessly, a twilight tunnel leading to the haven she sought. She had lived her entire life in this house, and it would be thought that 12 years would be enough time to memorize every turn at every corner, but the night is restless and loves to play her tricks. She may have gone a few steps astray into what seemed like a labyrinth of shadows, had it not been for the crystalline moonlight that guided her in the nocturnal maze. The moon, a silent sentinel cloaked in ethereal robes, painted a silver path before her. Its radiant fingers brushed away the shadows on the floor, laying a celestial carpet that cradled her feet. It is what breathed assurance in every advancing stride as she made her way towards her father’s room.  Each footfall seemed to echo in the sacred silence, each step a heartbeat in the rhythm of her nocturnal pilgrimage. As she drew closer to her destination, the boundaries between reality and dreams grew faint, the shifting chiaroscuro of light and shadow conspiring to conjure surreal visions. The journey seemed endless until finally, she stood before the door, bathed in the moon’s sweet luminescence, a guardian and a gateway into the world she wished to enter. Her pulse quickened as she grasped the handle, turning it with a trembling hand as she gently pushed it open. Her eyes finally lay upon him. The whispers from the hallway disrupted the current of her father’s rest. The man, once wrapped in dreams, slowly opened his eyes and sat himself upright. His eyes met the gaze of the girl in the doorway. It was as if the man was awaiting her arrival. He gave a soft smile, his eyes still adjusting.

“Eko, sweetie? What’s wrong there, hun? ‘Nother nightmare?”

She spoke, her speech slightly broken, like a skill you lose over time.

“Yes.”

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In the present, Eko’s awakening was a disorienting jolt from the embrace of her childhood reverie. The contours of her father’s room melted away like an ephemeral dream, replaced by a haunting, labyrinthine chamber that seemed to stretch into eternity, like that hallway she remembered so vividly pacing through towards her father’s bedroom. The walls, clad in shadowy tapestries, whispered secrets she dared not comprehend. Every corner of this room bore the weight of darkness, and the air was suffused with a foreboding chill. Eko’s heart quickened, mirroring the fearful rhythm of her childhood steps. The silver path of moonlight that once guided her had been swallowed by this sinister space, leaving her to fumble in obscurity. She stumbled forward as her trembling fingers brushed against the sterile sheets of a hospital bed, and she was reminded of the reality of her cancer, the brain tumor that robbed her of her youth and spirit just over a year and a half ago. She felt weak, helpless, and lonely, but she sat there in the dark corridor alone with no one else to observe, until there was. In the haunted silence, it emerged from one of the darker corners—a chilling apparition that mirrored her own form, yet draped in the tattered shroud of despair. The stranger wore her face, but twisted into an eerie mask of malevolence, its eyes pools of darkness that seemed to devour the faint glimmers of hope. Whatever strength Eko did seem to have left seemed to dissipate with the imposter’s every unwanted step forward, until it stood right beside Eko’s bed.

“Hello there, little, Eko.” Its voice slithered out like a serpent’s hiss, each syllable like icy venom. It was like looking into a mirror, staring at a demonic reflection. She lost her capability for words, until she was finally able to murmur a reaction.

“Wh… Who are you?”

The creature smiled. “Don’t recognize me?” it said with a dreadful grin.

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Eko nestled in her father’s embrace, her heart gradually slowing its frantic tempo. She was a loving child, and the love she had for her father could move mountains, similar to the love she had for her mother before she passed. She felt safe around her father, the soft rustle of bedsheets and the rhythmic cadence of her father’s breath offering a reassuring symphony in the night. 

Her father’s voice, warm and gentle, stirred in the quiet room. “What’s troubling you, my dear?” he asked, concern woven into the fabric of every word.

Eko hesitated for a moment, still haunted by the fading remnants of her nightmare. The solace she felt with her father summoned the courage she needed to speak. “I had a bad dream, Daddy,” she began, her voice quivering like a fragile ember. “I saw… I saw a monster.”

Her father’s arms tightened around her, a fortress of love and protection. “A monster, you say?” His voice was playful, yet full of empathy. “Tell me, what did this monster look like?”

Eko’s words flowed like a gentle stream, recounting the vivid details of her dream. “It was dark, Daddy,” she whispered, her eyes wide with the lingering terror of the vision. “Its eyes were like empty voids, and it had long, gnarled fingers that reached for me. It was chasing me and laughing, telling me I would always be afraid and that no one would be there to help. It told me that all the love in my life would slip through my fingers and in the end I’d be, all alone.”

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“Who are you?” Eko’s voice trembled, a mix of curiosity and dread, confronting the eerie doppelgänger that wore her visage.

The creature grinned with a twisted satisfaction. “You know me. The monster you’ve always feared. The echoes of doubt you could always hear whispering at night. I’ve always been there, somewhere, in the dark.”

Eko’s breath caught in her throat as she mustered the strength to continue. “Wh, what do you mean always there?”

The creature hissed with calculated cruelty. “I mean, I was always there. It may have been a day in school when you hesitated to speak up, afraid of judgment. That was me whispering in your ear, I’m truly saddened you don’t recognize my voice. Or, it could have been that time you quit hockey because you thought you’d be extra weight to the team.”

Eko’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as the painful recollections flooded her mind. Each memory, each instance where doubt had held her back, seemed to fit perfectly into the creature’s sinister narrative.

The creature continued with its daggered words. “The dreams you abandoned in the fear of failure, or the times you gave up on love because you believed no one could truly care for you… all my doing, Eko. I thrived on your hesitation. I was refreshed by your despair.”

Eko’s spirit felt as though it had been drained, the weight of her insecurities pressing upon her. Breathing became harder, but she fought to push out the words. “You?” she stammered, a sinking dread settling in her chest. “Are you the reason for… for all of this? All of those years, your voice in my head, rotting my mind time and time again, and now I’ve got this tumor.”

The creature’s malevolence widened, its gleaming eyes with a maleficent glee. “For your sickness? Yes, I confess, it looks like I may have had too much fun,” it admitted, its voice dripping with unforgiving triumph. 

Eko tried to readjust herself upright with the might she could, only half succeeding. Her gaze bore deeper into the creature before her. A true rendition of herself, but… different. Eyes like empty voids. Long, gnarled fingers that could reach out at any moment. A monster.

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Her father listened attentively, his heart heavy with understanding. His voice, a soothing balm, began to weave a tale of his own. “That does sound like a pretty scary monster. You know, my dear,” he began softly, “when I was a young boy, I remember having a couple of monsters like that. Nightmares that would visit me during the night, kind of like what you’re telling me right now.”

Eko’s curious eyes met his, a glimmer of hope in her gaze. “Really, Daddy?”

He nodded, his eyes reflecting distant memories. “Yes, my love. And sometimes, even now, I find myself waking in the middle of the night, gripped by that old fear. But you know what helps me, Eko?” He paused, a gentle smile curving his lips. “Sometimes, when the moonlight comes into my room through the window, I like to think it’s your mother, watching over, reminding me that everything’s okay. It’s like she’s telling me not to be afraid, just as I tell you.”

Eko’s heart swelled with a sense of connection, her mother’s memory a comforting presence even in her absence. Her father continued, “Monsters in dreams,” he mused softly, “are like shadows in the night. They seem terrifying until we shine a light upon them. Then you realize, it was nothing at all but your own little fears.”

Her father’s words were like a cloudy cocoon. She leaned into his embrace, the haunting remnants of her nightmare began to dissipate like mist beneath a rising sun. With every word, her trembling gradually ceased, and the fragile tendrils of sleep began to weave their gentle spell around her. The atmosphere, one a shroud of terror, now felt like the safest haven in the world. As the night whispered its secrets and the moon bathed them in its soft glow, Eko drifted into the realm of dreams, her father cradling her gently, his voice a comforting refrain in the silent room. He whispered those familiar words that had been her anchor in the storms and would remain so for quite some time: “Hush, my Eko.” 

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Eko’s disbelief hung heavy in the air as she continued to grapple with the monstrous reflection before her. She dared to voice the question that had echoed within her mind from the moment she recognized the creature’s human likeness. “But you’re me,” she stammered, her voice quivering. “How can you be… me?”

The creature twitched, jolting its head to meet her gaze with a cursed sadness. “See what happens when you beat up yourself your entire life, doubting and holding yourself back, turning your own mind into a prison cell, rotting you to the core. You made me, and I haunt you, that’s how this works, little, Eko. You gave me the momentum I needed to keep chasing you, and I’ve got you in my corner now, all alone, just as I said you’d be. As we’d be.”

Eko felt her fear returning, the darkness expanding around her. She wanted to call out but her voice had seemed to have left her. She felt like that little girl again, all those years ago, lost in that dark hallway. She remembered how scared she was of the voices in the dark. She began to cry as she began to feel as helpless as that girl felt, until she remembered her father. She remembered how much strength her father saw in that girl. How brave he believed that girl to be. She remembered the words he used to say to her when her eyes played tricks on her in the dark: “Monsters in dreams,” he mused softly, “are like shadows in the night. They seem terrifying until we shine a light upon them.”

Eko paused, staring once again at the creature standing at the end of her bed. She sat upright, painful at first, but then seamless. She placed her feet on the ground and attempted to hoist herself, unsuccessful at first, but eventually standing. She looked again at the creature, and began walking closer. The creature stepped back, silent and stunned. Eko made her way closer to the creature. Her footsteps are hesitant still, but enduring. Closer and closer until her hand met the creature’s cheek. As she did so, the room began to fill with a dim glow of moonlight, refining the contours of the space and the possessions within it. The more light that came, the less the monster looked like a monster. The eyes no longer looked like dark voids. The fingers no longer looked gnarled and ragged. Eko was staring right into the eyes of a little girl. The same little girl she was, years ago. The girl looked up at Eko, and began to cry. Eko wiped away the tears as she embraced the girl in her arms.

“You’re no monster.” Eko voiced with a newfound strength in her voice.

The girl looked up at Eko, longingly, “I’m not?”

“No. You’re just scared. But you know what I think? I think you’re brave. I think you’re strong. I think you are loved. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel anything but that.” The girl continued looking up at Eko, giving her a soft, yet wholly smile.

Eko led the girl to the bed in the room, setting her under the warm cotton sheets and resting her head upon the pillow. The little girl’s eyes became dazed, missing the whimsical dreams she had been kept from for so long. Eko kissed her on the forehead, before she whispered those familiar words that she had remembered longing: “Hush, my Eko.”

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Eko awoke in a hospital room, full of light. The room that had been shrouded in darkness and despair dissolved like mist before the dawn. Eko, now bathed in the tender light of consciousness, blinked her eyes open, and the spectral room gave way to the sterile, yet strangely comforting, confines of a hospital chamber. She lay in her hospital bed, surrounded by the familiar faces of friends and family who had stood by her side throughout her battle. Her father, the unwavering pillar of love and support, stood beside her, his eyes filled with both pride and sorrow. Eko knew the truth, for it had been revealed to her in the midst of her dreamlike struggle. She was still fighting, but this time it was not against the monstrous specter of self-doubt; it was against the relentless adversary she had known for some time—brain cancer.But as her gaze met her father's, there was no fear in her eyes, no despair. Instead, she smiled, a radiant, serene smile that spoke of courage and resilience. She had faced her deepest fears, both within herself and in her waking life, and she had emerged victorious.Her father's eyes welled with tears as he leaned in close, his voice trembling with love and pride. "Hush, My Eko," he whispered, his words a final testament to the bond they shared.Eko's smile remained, a beacon of spiritual strength that illuminated the room. She felt the warmth of her father's hand in hers, the love of her friends and family surrounding her, and in that moment, she knew that she had been brave, that she was worthy of love. With one last breath, she whispered her love for her father, and he returned the sentiment. The room seemed to hold its breath as Eko's gaze lingered on her father, a silent exchange of profound love and gratitude. And then, with a knowing look that passed between them, Eko closed her eyes once more. Whether it was the gentle lullaby of dreams or the wisdom of a life well-lived that guided her, the truth remained hidden in the depths of that fleeting moment.