Noises At Night

It was a noise outside that woke her up, ruffling of leaves, the faint sound of steps over dirt and grass. She could hear them all a little too well. The gentle music that she'd leave playing at night to drown it out had stopped and now the girl sat restless on her bed, shifting to peek from her window. Hands fiddled with the fabric of the blankets as she did so again.

No. She couldn't see clearly from there, if there was, in fact, something dangerous outside she had to check, right ? She had to check and tell her dad right away.

She reaches out to open the drawer on her bedside table, moving smaller things around, papers, notes, trinkets, looking for the large hunting knife. A gift from her dad the girl liked to keep close. With it on hand, Sunny flips the blankets off herself and slides out of bed, moving as quietly as she can without tripping, her eyes already adjusted to the darkness by now. The light creak of her door makes her stop for a few seconds, as if the slightest noise was going to alert whatever was lurking outside.

Sunny let out a long sigh she didn't realized she'd been holding before stepping out into the hallway. Her attention was half focused on where she stepped and half on the 'gift' from her dad. It was just like the old one. The one she had lost.
No.
The one she couldn't retrieve. The girl remembers crying and apologizing to Ivan for taking it in the first place, for not being able to bring it back all dirty and used as it would've been. She also remembers her dad holding her tight in his arms, telling her he was just happy it kept her safe.

Sunny held hers close to her chest.
It kept her safe before, it'd do it again, she was older, less scared, or so she liked to think even if her wandering to the living room in the middle of the night seemed to insist otherwise.

The girl reached out for one of the blankets draped at the back of one of the seats, wrapping herself in it as she walked closer to the window. Light blue eyes scanned the backyard, noticing a few leaves getting blown away by the wind, branches swaying along, but no signs of anything else.
Sunny nodded.
Good.

She sat down on the couch, letting herself sink back into it, setting the knife on the armrest, keeping it close by. Sunny remembers holding it, the familiar weight of it in her hands as she stood frozen in fear. She shuddered, covering herself even more with the thick blanket. The image of the creature that attacked them that night still fresh on her mind despite the years that had passed. To say it was horrifying was likely an understatement, affected by the radiation just like everything else had been, the poor thing was hardly recognizable as an animal at that point. She was glad that was not the norm everywhere else, specifically where they now called home.

Sunny looked back out the window, hearing the rustling of leaves outside and watching the branches sway for a moment. Fingers feeling the thick fabric of the blanket to have something else to focus on aside from the recollection of what happened that night. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, still thinking of the shoulds, woulds and coulds.

The girl closed her eyes and let herself flop to her side on the couch with a defeated sigh. It was late, and sleep was creeping up on her again, but she has to glance out the window one last time.

Still nothing.
Sunny nodded.
Good.