Short horror stories

Children's giggling

  My wife was out with her friends one night, so it was just me and my 9 year old son at the house. It was beginning to get late so I was just relaxing in the living room and watching tv while smoking a cigarette. My son was just in his room playing with his toys. He was a pretty quiet kid for the most part, and he was very well behaved.
  I was beginning to fall asleep on the couch before I heard my son making strange noises in his bedroom. I couldn't tell if he was giggling or crying. Concerned, I got up from the couch and walked over to his room.
  "Garrett? Are you alright?" I asked him as I approached his bedroom door. Suddenly, all of the sounds stopped. It was silent. "Garrett?"
  When I opened the door, I panicked when I realized that he wasn't in the room. I checked under his bed and in his closet but he just wasn't in the room.
  "Garrett!" I called out his name through out the house. Nothing.
  I froze when I heard little footsteps upstairs, it sounded like a young kid running back and forth across the halls.
  "Garrett? Come down here! What are you doing?" I called up the stairs.
  The footsteps stops, but the sound of the giggling I heard earlier started up again. "Garrett, this isn't funny! It's way past your bedtime! No more games! Get your ass down here!" I called up.
  The giggling continued, seemingly getting louder. I started to get annoyed. I was getting tired and I wanted to get to bed.
  I walked up the stairs, hearing the creaking of the wooden steps with each step. The giggling got louder as I approached closer. I couldn't tell if it was because I was getting closer, or if it was because the giggling itself was getting louder.
  Once I had made it up the stairs, I slowly walked through the upstairs hallway. I felt around the wall for the light switch, but I couldn't find it. It was strange because I turned on that light switch everyday, but I just couldn't find it. All the could do was to continue roaming the dark hallway.
  "Garrett!" I called again. I reached for the lighter in my pocket and switched it on. All I had was a small light to see in front of me.
  "Over here..." I heard a voice whisper from behind me.
  I quickly turned around, expecting to see my son standing there. Instead, all the saw was a shadow that was around the same size of my son.
  I couldn't understand what was happening. I could see his shadow, but there was no sign of him anywhere. I brought the lighter closer to the shadow, trying to get a better look.
  "She took my body...but she left my shadow...now I'll live like her..." The shadow whispered.
  I froze.
  "It's not enough, she wants to steal your body too," the shadow whispered, pointing behind me.