‘Night-Night Sophie’ – By Mark T. Bates (The Curious Dark #9)

‘Night-Night Sophie’

By Mark T. Bates

(2026)

***

Sophie lay in her bed, her eyes wide open and staring upwards as her mother kissed her forehead and bid her goodnight. “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite,” she said softly with a warming smile, as she always did. Sophie’s eyes nervously moved down as she watched her mum walk across the bedroom away from her towards the door. As her mother switched off the light, Sophie’s bedroom dropped instantly into a near darkness that made the little girl shiver. Only the far corner of the room was left illuminated by the light shining in from the landing. Her mum stepped across the threshold of the bedroom and out of Sophie’s eyeshot, and she began the process of slowly closing the door shut behind her, ensuring that it didn’t creak too loudly.

“Mummy!” Sophie called out to her just before the door fully closed.

“Yes darling?”

“Please can you leave the door open, just a little bit?”

For Sophie knew that it only came to her when the room was pitch black …

“No honey, you’re eight-years-old now and a big girl who’s too old to be afraid of the dark. You’ll sleep better with the door shut; trust me. Now night-night Sophie, I’ll see you in the morning.”

And with that, the door closed tight with her mother now lost to her on the other-side, the safe side; leaving Sophie laying alone in complete and total darkness.

She lay as still as she possibly could, her body engulfed in a terrifying silence; wishing, hoping she would remain alone. She could hear her heart thumping in her chest in time with her breathing, and she prayed that sleep would come quickly. That sleep would take her before it came back. For Sophie knew that a deep sleep was the only thing that could stop it from coming now that she was engulfed in the darkness. But as she lay there, counting sheep in her mind and desperately hoping to be left alone, she soon sensed an awakening of the tormenting presence.

“Sophie …” whispered the now all too familiar and most unwelcome voice from deep down under her duvet.

“Sophie … I know you’re awake. I know you can hear me. Did you do what I asked of you today?”

A chill shuddered through Sophie once more and her eyes instantly welled with tears; “Please leave me alone,” she whispered back to the voice. “Won’t you please just leave me alone,” she pleaded.

“Keep your voice low Sophie. As I’ve told you before, I’ll leave you alone once we’ve finished our little game. So long as you keep doing everything I ask of you; I’ll leave you alone. I’ll leave all of you alone. I’ll let your parents live so you can all continue to be one big happy family. And you’ll grow up to be a beautiful young woman, who in time will forget all about me. Now tell me what you did for me today?”

The water in Sophie’s eyes began to spill down onto her cheeks. “I … I …” she stuttered, petrified that she was going to make it angry.

Right on queue, the whispered voice snarled as it often did when Sophie cried or dared to speak too loudly; “I said tell me!”

Sophie sniffed as her nose began to fill with snot. She wiped the tears from her cheek with her pyjama sleeve and took in a deep breath before replying; “Yes, I did what you asked.”

“Now tell me what you did …”

“After lunch break when we came back in from playtime, I took Miss Allen’s car keys from her desk when no one was watching, and I put them in Jimmy Sawyer’s school bag.”

“Good. Now tell me what happened next …”

“When Miss Allen realised they were missing, she began to panic and started to look for them all over the classroom.”

“Go on …”

“After a while she started getting quite upset. When I couldn’t bare to watch her anymore, I put my hand up and told her I had seen Jimmy take them; just like you told me to.”

“Good girl.”

“She asked to see his bag, and then she found them inside where I’d placed them.”

The demented whispering voice from under Sophie’s cover began to laugh.

“Jimmy started crying, insisting he hadn’t taken them. Insisting he didn’t know how they’d got there”

“She didn’t believe him though, did she Sophie?” the voice asked with excitement on its breath.

“No.”

“And why not?”

“Because Jimmy’s the naughtiest boy in our class and no one ever believes him.”

“And you’re a good girl aren’t you, Sophie?”

“Yes, I am, I try to be. Everyone thinks I am anyway. Jimmy was crying and started screaming when she grabbed him by his arm and pulled him up. She was so angry with him. He looked at me and shouted that I was a liar… I don’t think he’ll ever want to talk to me again.”

“Yes, that is probably true. But it’s a small price to pay for your mother living another day, isn’t it Sophie? Remember, you play one trick at school for me to keep your mother alive, and one trick at home to keep your father alive. Now did you also do what I asked of you this evening?”

Sophie started crying again. She made sure her tears fell as quietly as possible so as not anger it once more. Through her quiet sobbing, she managed to splutter out the word; “Yes.”

“Tell me what you did …”

She sniffed her snot back once more and breathed in deeply. “When mummy and daddy were washing up after dinner, I snuck outside with a needle from mummy’s sewing basket; and I stabbed it into each one of the tyres of daddy’s car.”

The voice began laughing once more.

“He’s going to be really mad when he finds out in the morning. It will make him late for work, and he’ll be in a foul mood all day because of it.”

“Yes, he will. But he’ll be alive Sophie, and that’s all that matters … isn’t it my dear?”

Sophie nodded, unsure whether whatever the voice came from could see her or not.

“You’re going to play two more tricks for me tomorrow, one at school and one at home.”

“No please, I don’t want to …”

“Shut up you little cunt!” the voice angrily interrupted with a venom that made Sophie freeze. “Now tell me what will happen if you don’t, or do I need to remind you?”

“No, please don’t do this anymore I can’t bare it.”

“Tell me!”

“If I don’t do as you say, you’ll visit my mummy and daddy whilst they’re sleeping. You’ll put a dirty rag with chloroform over their mouths so they don’t wake up. Then you’ll cut their throats so deep their heads will come off. Then you’ll bring their heads into my bedroom and you’ll make me sleep with them; you’ll paint my walls with their blood.”

“Yes Sophie, that’s exactly what I’ll do! And remember, if you ever tell your parents, your teacher, or anyone else about me … it will be your head I take. Now this is what we’re going to play tomorrow …”

***

On the safe side of the door, the sound of the toilet flushed as Sophie’s mother came out of the bathroom and made her way across the landing. She stopped as she walked past Sophie’s bedroom, and listened for a moment with her ear pressed to the door. She smiled to herself as she went downstairs and walked into the living room where her husband was sitting contently on the sofa with a book and a cup of hot cocoa.

“Everything ok darling?” he asked, as she sat down next to him, “Our little Pumpkin fast asleep?”

“Not quite, but she will be soon. Just as I came down, I could hear her whispering and playing with her teddies in bed which she seems to like to do before falling asleep these days. She’s such a little sweetheart, part of me wishes she’ll never grow up.”

Sophie’s father smiled at his wife as he nodded in agreement; “I think I’ll hit the hay fairly soon myself. I’ve got an early start at the office in the morning and a long day ahead of me with an important presentation I need to deliver; I’ll need to be on my best form …”

Sophie’s father smiled, then leant across and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek before looking back down to resume reading his book.

“I love you,” she said in reply.

*** END ***

Copyright 2026 Mark T. Bates

All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Mark T. Bates – Writer Bio

From a young age, Mark immersed himself within the world of genre storytelling. Devouring paperbacks from the likes of Stephen King & Clive Barker, while immersing himself in the movies of John Carpenter & David Cronenberg. All combining to lay the foundations for a life-long love of Horror, Fantasy & Sci-Fi, which has naturally transcended into a passion for telling his own tales.

A number of his short stories have been published online by Crystal Lake Publishing and The Dark Corner Horror, whilst he has appeared in print anthologies from Strangest Fiction and Alien Buddha Press. His stories have also on the Creepy Podcast. Mark is publishing his own short story series ‘The Curious Dark’ on www.kult-zilla.com – where he also writes plenty of Horror adjacent non-fiction. 

His debut novella – ‘The Curse of Six’ – released with RDG Books in the autumn of 2025, while his second novella – ‘A Slow Decay of Flowers’ – followed in the Spring of 2026 via Alien Buddha Press. His next release is coming soon … a duology of two new novellas titled; ‘The Reaper Always Rings Twice.’  

Mark can be found online in all of the usual places!

‘The Curious Dark (Vol.1)’

An eclectic collection of creepy short Horror stories!

👇

‘The Curious Dark (Vol.1)’ – By Mark T. Bates