Nightmares: Kaylee

Kaylee... 

She heard the whisper as if it was right in her ear but, tired from the day's activities, she just rolled over.

Kaylee... 

There it was again. The little girl in the bed whimpered just slightly, and covered her head with the pillow.

Kaylee, come out and play... 

Frustrated by these interruptions to her sleep, she sat up and looked around her small bedroom. At first glance, nothing seemed amiss. She could hear her parents out in the living room, jokingly bickering about some small thing, the way that couples together as long as they had been usually do. It comforted her somewhat, and she was just about to settle back down into her bedcovers when she noticed something odd.

There was a faint light shining from the under her closet door. And there was no bulb in there to account for it.

Kaylee... 

The whisper came again, and with a mounting fear she noticed that the door to the closet was opening slowly. A lone balloon appeared and fell onto the floor. It was followed by another, and soon an entire avalanche of them flowed out of the ever widening door. She smiled in delight...she loved balloons, and figured that her father had bought some from the fair that day, and hid them in her closet. It was just the silly type of thing that he'd do to make his little girl happy.

She was just about to get out of bed and go over to them when a figure slipped out of the closet.

"April! What're you doin' here?"

The little girl laughed, and Kaylee blanched. It wasn't the sweet voice of a young child that came out of April's mouth. Instead it sounded somehow...wet.

"Kaylee, come and play with us!"

"Us?" Kaylee stammered, "Who else you got in there?"

April approached the bed, and Kaylee scrambled up against the headboard. She let out a gasp when her best friend in all the world walked into the light from the window. April no longer had any eyes, just deep dark holes in her deathly white face. Blood poured from the gaping wound in the child's throat, staining the front of her pink party dress.

"Why...it's me! Jojo!" The clown that had terrified little Kaylee at the fair that day leapt from the closet. Kaylee tried to scream, but all that came out was a squeak.

"What's wrong Kaylee?" he asked snidely, "You don't seem too happy to see me!" He threw his head back and laughed, displaying his set of fine white - and disturbingly sharp - teeth. He looked over at the terrified girl in the bed, and his eyes burned into hers wickedly. He picked up little April, and swung her around. The mangled child emitted a burbling laugh, and turned back to her friend.

"Come with us, Kaylee! We'll all have such fun together!" April squealed in delight.

"You're not real!" Kaylee finally managed to whisper. Jojo dumped April onto the floor, and shot onto her bed. It was then that she realized it wasn't red makeup outlining the clown's mouth.

"You wanna bet?" he hissed, the coppery smell of blood reaching Kaylee's nose. She had to fight down the urge to retch. "Go ahead and yell your head off, pretty girl. You're in my world now, and your parents can't help you."

She did just that. And when Kaylee screamed you heard it. She listened, but the banter coming from the other room didn't change. She tried again, and got the same non-response.

Jojo laughed, "Toldja." He let out a low growl, and crept up the bed until their noses were almost touching. They looked at each other for a moment, and an evil smile crept onto the clown's face.

"BOO!" he shouted, and she screamed. Jojo laughed, "Ah yes, you and me...we're going to have lots of fun, Kaylee." His mouth with those sharp teeth began to play against her neck, and she keened in fear. Suddenly Jojo sat back, "Gotta question for you, though. Have you ever been raped?" She just looked at him with eyes like saucers. He shrugged and lunged, sinking his teeth into her neck.

Kaylee flailed, forgetting she had dozed off in the hammock in the engine room, and almost fell out of it and onto the floor. She muttered a curse, and stabilized herself. Damn that Jubel Early. It was because of him that this hated dream had come back with that nasty little twist at the end. She let out a sigh. Probably about time to get started on dinner anyway.

She got up, and organized the tools that she'd left strewn about, then she grabbed a rag and got most of the grease off her face and hands, and headed to the engine room door. She was just about to step over the threshold, when she felt a light breeze brush by her leg. She looked down, and was startled to see a bright red balloon float past her foot, and into the passage way.

A chuckle sounded behind her, and she turned with dread to see something...someone...moving on the other side of the engine. As soon as she saw the peaked hat with the blue pom pom and those big black shoes, she let out a scream that could've woken the dead.

The clang of her door shocked her out of her dream, and she found Jayne's head peeking down into her quarters, the worry on his face not matching what came out of his mouth. "Gorram it, Kaylee, what the hell is goin' on?"

"Sorry, Jayne," she replied sheepishly, "Had a nightmare."

Jayne climbed down the ladder, and sat next to her on the bed, "You gonna be all right?" he asked gruffly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"OK then. Y'know, it's bad enough that Crazy keeps us up all the time, don't need you doin' it too."

She took his teasing in stride, and gave him a light punch on the arm, "I'll keep that in mind. Now you get back to bed 'fore the Cap'n comes in here and thinks there's somethin' unseemly goin' on."

Jayne gave her a searching look, and she smiled, "I'm fine, really."

He climbed back up the ladder, then paused, "You need anything, you let me know." He gave her his best leer and a wink, then he was gone.

The smile on her face faded, and she all but tore apart her room checking all the nooks and crannies before she felt calm enough to go back to bed. And even then, she slept with the light on.

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