She shook in terror at the great surprise the empty hallway gave her.

"I could have sworn there was someone following me..." she mumbled to herself. "I guess it's just one of those things."

Not being able to sleep in her room, Alex just laid in her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her room was pitch black, but she could see the general shape of some things in black and white. The girl was a thinker, and she thought up a plan. A crazy plan in her head to find out how to move back to Cleveland, Ohio. She would think up a list of why Cleveland was better than this rotten stinkhole and she would show it to her mom one day. She knew it would work. Her mom loved lists. In Susan's world, lists solved all the world's problems.

She gave up on trying to sleep and reached to turn on her light and read. At the very edge of Alex's consciousness, she heard a voice quietly say, "Don't be afraid of the dark, Alexandra."

Jumping out of her skin, Alex pulled the covers around her a little tighter and laid in the dark. Her book was not, she decided, so important she would get scared out of her mind again for it.

But what was it? It couldn't have been Max; he was the next room over. And, nobody called her 'Alexandra.' That is, with the exception of her doctor and schoolteacher. So it was very formal if someone called her 'Alexandra,' but who would?

'It was just me,' she thought.

Susan, walking into her room, reached to turn on the light so she could get ready for bed.

She heard as her hand went toward the light switch, "Don't be afraid of the dark, Susan."

"Who was that?" she called into the darkness.

No reply.

"You answer me right now. Who. Said. That. To. Me?" she said in a low, serious voice.

Yet again, no reply.

She decided that the first step would be to turn on the light. Maybe whoever was hiding would be lit up and she could see who it was.

But, like before, when her hand went to the light switch, she heard, "Susan, I said, don't be afraid of the dark."

She flinched her hand away and jumped.

'Calm down, now. It was nothing,' she reassured herself. But she was still wary.

She got over it and quickly turned on the light before the scary voice could say anything.

Susan cautiously walked over to her bed and laid down after changing into her pajamas.

What if there was a crazy in the house? The second this thought went through the mother's head, she practically flew out of her bed to check on Max and Alex.

Susan slowly opened the door to Max's room first because her son was only down the hall from her. She peeked through the little crack of the door and saw only the usual things in his room: posters, a dresser, and a bed with a little lump in it where he was sleeping. She breathed a sigh of relief and went around the corner to her daughter's room.

She opened the door a crack to find Alex already asleep and perfectly okay. She breathed yet another sigh of relief and went back to her own bedroom. But, what she didn't know was that her shadow from the moonlight stayed where it was.


Okay, I know. It was a little longer than the first chapter. But they usually are. Anyhow, I really need some reviews on this one. I'll try to post a new chapter every day but I don't know if I can. But, I hope you like where the story is going. If you don't, can you please, please, please tell me in a comment below and let me know. I'll love you forever:) so Merry Christmas everybody!! Byes!!