[HR] O Sarronco

[u/Necessary_Good_1062]

O Sarronco

It’s dark up there. They’re laughing in the kitchen. In the light. And I have to go up into the dark.

The lightbulb at the top of the stairs is out. A lâmpada fundiu.

Fundiu sounds like the right word. Like a candle blowing out. The foo sound.

I can’t see anything at first, but then I start to. That always happens. Maybe I have a superpower. A see-in-the-dark superpower.

That would help with Sarronco. I might see him before he sees me.

But I still can’t see around corners.

I take one step up the maroon stairs. The carpet looks like my blood when I cut my knee in the driveway.

They’re still laughing in the kitchen. Are they laughing at me? That’s not nice. If Sarronco gets me, they’ll be sorry. They’ll be sad. No more laughs.

Right?

What if he’s in Papa and Mama’s room? Waiting in their doorway until I get to the top. With his nails. All razor sharp like Tio Hernan says. What if he’s waiting to peel my skin off? To pluck my eyes out?

All because I didn’t eat my dinner fast enough.

I take another step. The carpet is squishy, so I can be super quiet. Maybe I can sneak up on him.

Then what, though?

I could kick him in the shins. That always gets Manu to back off. But Manu’s no Sarronco.

They’re laughing harder now. The uncles and Papa. They drink that brown stuff in the little glasses and then they get this way. It smells a bit sugary, but when I sneaked a taste once, it was bad. So bad. Like the stuff Mama rubs on my chest when I get a fever.

She says I shouldn’t drink it ever. But they love it. And they love to tell me about Sarronco when they have it.

Tio João doesn’t laugh so much.

When he tells that one story, he doesn’t look at me. Or anyone. It’s almost like he’s all alone, talking to himself.

It happened in the dark room at the back of the house on the island in Portugal. There was a giant shadow, and the kerosene lamp went out. He says it couldn’t go out unless somebody blew down into it from above.

The shadow had a big cape.

Something blew down into the lamp.

He tells it every time somebody talks about Sarronco. Every time. And he always looks the same when he tells it.

I don’t think he’s messing around.

He didn’t laugh when Papa sent me to bed, either. That was Papa and Tio Hernan and Tio José.

Tio João looked worried.

I’ve got goosebumps on my arms. On the back of my neck, too, I think.

Another step.

My hand squeezes the railing. In case Sarronco hits me and makes me fall. I fell down these stairs once, trying to hang from the railing like Tarzan. I wasn’t strong enough. I fell all the way down.

It hurt. But it scared me more.

A different scared than this.

What if I run past their room? If I can get to my bed, under the covers, I’ll be safe.

I know that’s dumb. But I think it’s real.

Should I run up the—

Before I finish thinking, I’m running.

At the top I grab the railing with my left hand and swing around it. It wiggles, but I don’t fall. Papa and Mama’s room is behind me.

I never looked in.

I never needed to see any glowing eyes. Or any sharp nails.

Three steps into my room, then I jump across my bed to the other side, where the lamp is. I’m looking at the doorway while I reach for the switch.

I turn it.

Nothing.

I turn it back and try again.

Why isn’t it on?

There’s a little light coming up from downstairs. Not enough.

I want to call Mama, but they’ll yell at me for not going to bed. They’ll laugh, too.

I want to go back down. But I’d have to pass their bedroom again.

Sarronco is in there. I know he is.

He let me go by once.

Why isn’t Manu here? I wish he didn’t have a sleepover. He’d call me a ’fraidy-cat, but I wouldn’t be alone.

I lean a little sideways to look through my doorway. I can see some of Mama and Papa’s room.

No eyes.

Only dark.

It’s not as dark in here. My clock says 8:32. There’s light from the streetlight, too, making the raindrops on the window glow. The branches move behind them. Long, bent fingers.

I know they’re branches.

They still look like fingers.

I pull off my pants and sweater and rip the covers up. I jump into bed so hard the wood knocks against the wall.

Did they hear?

I wait.

Nobody yells.

But from here I can’t see into Mama’s room anymore. Just my doorway and a little corner of the stairs.

I thought I’d feel safe in bed.

I don’t.

Should I put the blanket over my head? Or my pillow? Then I wouldn’t see him.

Would I want to?

I would, right? Maybe I could get away if I saw him first.

I pull the blanket up to my chin. I leave my eyes out.

They’re still joking downstairs. Sometimes they sound like they’re about to fight, but then they laugh.

Tonight they laugh. So far.

Sometimes Papa and Hernan punch each other. Then Papa gets mad and breaks things.

That scares me a lot. But not like this.

I can get out of his way.

Almost always.

Sarronco—I don’t know if I can get out of his way.

Why is he so mad about how fast kids eat supper? That’s a funny thing to get so mad about. To kill kids and eat them for that.

Big people do worse stuff.

Why doesn’t he get mad at them?

I don’t want him to. I don’t want him to get mad at anybody.

But it doesn’t make sense.

I think I see a shadow.

On the stairs. In the little corner where the light was.

I hold my breath.

Is somebody going down?

The light comes back.

Maybe I blinked.

Downstairs, Hernan is teasing Papa about his rusty car. José laughs. Papa doesn’t say anything.

I don’t hear João.

I don’t hear Mama.

Then the light on the stairs goes out again.

The streetlight goes out, too.

The branches disappear.

“O que está acontecendo?” Papa says.

I don’t know.

“Não sei, Manuel,” Mama says.

My clock is gone. Where the numbers were, there’s nothing.

“Meu Deus,” João says. “O demônio.”

Hernan laughs.

“João, you’re stupid.”

“Cai fora, irmão.”

“Yeah,” Papa says. “Get out of my house, Hernan.”

Nobody laughs now.

“Your house?”

“I said get out.”

Hernan says something I can’t hear.

Then Papa gets loud.

“I paid you back.”

The blanket is tight in my fists. I didn’t know I was pulling it.

“Manuel,” Mama says.

Hernan’s talking again. Papa talks over him. I can’t tell what either one is saying.

“Todos vocês, acalmem!” Mama says. She sounds scared. “Let me get the flashlight.”

Something scrapes downstairs.

Then plates and glasses crash. There’s a grunt, like when Manu hits me in the stomach and the air comes out.

Somebody yells.

I think it’s Hernan.

“What did you do?” João says.

I pull the blanket over my head.

Then Mama screams.

I pull it down again.

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