"What story are you going to tell today, mama?" Hiukko asked, kicking his feet in the blankets. She didn't have a book ready with her like she normally did during storytime.
"Tonight's story is the story of -"
A gust of wind blew into the hollow, snuffing out the candles and drowning it in darkness.
"Mama, what was that?" Hiukko whimpered as he leaped into his mother's arms. She pulled him closer and rubbed his back "Hey, it's okay, don't worry. The candles just ran out. I'll light them up again."
Wind blew through the cave again. Stronger this time. They both screamed.
"Mama, I'm scared!" Hiukko cried, digging his little fingers into her robes. Issa wrapped her arms around him, safeguarding the little boy. The dark cave started to glow when white smoke seeped in, dancing across the floor until they were surrounded. Hiukko could hear his mother's heart hammering. Her breaths turned to gasps the closer the smoke came to touching them.
Then the smoke started shifting. Neither of them took their eyes off it.
Each tendril slowly came together, shaping themselves into a human figure. It stepped forward. Then stepped again. And again.
The howl that came out of his mother's mouth seemed to stretch the air itself seemed to stretch the air itself. She scrambled over to the far end of the cave, dragging Hiukko with her.
Her back then crashed into the wall and there was nowhere left to run.
Hiukko could feel her arms trembling along his spine. He kept his head buried in her chest until he felt one of the arms drop. "Mama"
He lifted his head and then mama's body fell over to the side. Hiukko tried to shake her up but it didn't help.
"Silvia!" he cried, hoping his voice could reach the other side of the island. The smoky figure took another step forward. Hiukko flinched back, locking his eyes onto it. Its face was a blank canvas, devoid of any features. It stared back at Hiukko, lowering its head to face him on the floor.
Hiukko's mind went blank and he lost himself in the figure's tendrils. Slowly, he stood up and stepped closer to it, careful not to trip over his mother's body. All the nerves in his body told him not to get closer, to run away somewhere, anywhere.
He and the figure stood face to face, roughly the same height. Only a few inches of distance between them. Hiukko reached his hand out, passing it through the figure's head. That's when all the smoke in the room disappeared. The glow faded and the hollow got plunged into darkness.
Shouts and bangs rang from outside, and the door was pulled open. Several worried heads poked into the hollow. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" They all asked at once. Hiukko couldn't respond. His body felt stuck in place.