Sarah couldn’t sleep the night previous— she had tried, and tossed and turned and she just couldn’t sleep. The girl was too worried, too stressed to actually get sleep. But tonight, she would sleep soundly, or she would try to at least. This time she had decided to sleep over at Nyx’s house— she knew the older girl wouldn’t mind, and she honestly wanted to get away from her own house for a while and she was sure her father would be fine. And so she had baked cookies for her and they stayed up and talked— her about bugs, and Sare listening intently trying to scrape off every little detail that she would give her, almost as if she were a child listening to an intense story. And then it was time to sleep and she had curled up on an extra bed in Nyx’s house and closed her eyes. And then they were open and she could have sworn she heard laughter— her laughter, her own laughter ringing through her ears. So she swung her legs out of the bed and glanced quietly around the room and she nearly sucked in a breath. When did she— Sarah heard the laughter again, louder, and her attention snapped to the door of the bedroom she was in, no longer at Nyx’s house. The laughter dissolved into giggles and she took a deep, shaky, breath and stood up and walked to the door, opening it quietly and peering out, and she saw nothing. So the brunette walked out and down the hall, and that’s when she heard the laughter again and she opened the door she assumed it was coming from and again saw nothing. She continued walking— and stopped as she stood in front of her mother’s room, and she could hear the laughter again and a bright flash caught her attention and she shrieked, clamping a hand over her mouth as the laughter stopped abruptly. “…Sa…rah..?” Her eyes grew frightful as she heard the voice, quiet, and questioning, hesitant through the door and she backed away from the sound. That’s when the door creaked open and she saw the charred hand— oh God, the hand. “..Sa…rah…come…play..?” The door opened wide and she didn’t think her eyes could grow any wider and she stared, in shock and fear, at the two bodies that stood in the doorway— one the size of a ten year old and the other taller, both charred, skin melting off and bones revealed all over the body, with little bits of scraggly hair falling from their heads. Her chest tightened and her mouth opened to scream as she fell backwards but no sound would leave from her lungs except a low whine. “..Sar….ah..mo..mmy..wants to play..” “Oh, God, please no.” She had started to back away on the ground, her voice cracking as the two slowly made their way to confront her, and the little one started giggling again. “…why..did you…leave..Sa..rah..?” Sarah had backed herself straight into wall and glanced around the room and her heart nearly stopped as she saw that the walls had narrowed to only give enough room for the three of them— and she stared back over to the two corpses, her heart beating fast in her chest, and her mind in a rush. She could almost hear the sound of her rapid breaths, in and out, in and out. “O-oh, please, oh God, leave me alone…” Her voice was broken as she spoke and the taller one grabbed at her so she screamed and ducked and hit another wall. “…she…on..ly…wants..to play..” “Please..I don’t want to play..” “..you..don’t..” The smaller one had gotten a nearly savage look in her eye as she spoke, and it’s head tilted just slightly and Sarah heard the crack of a charred bone breaking. “Please..oh God..please..” She screamed again as the taller one tried to grab at her hair but her strands fell through boney fingers and the girl could feel hot tears falling down her cheek. “Sa…rah…” “..please..” “Sarah.” Her eyes snapped up to the two as her voice came out more clear and she could barely see them through her blurred vision, but they were so close, oh God, so close— “Sarah!” And her eyes shot open as she heard her name again— and she couldn’t remember closing them so she sat up almost rapidly and looked around the room. “..Oh..Sarah..” Sarah’s eyes rested onto Nyx’s and the elder girl pulled her into a hug as she sobbed in relief, clinging onto her as if her life was at stake. “Please..please don’t let me go..” Her voice was broken and she didn’t care but Nyx had stared at her with a worried glance and held her tighter, stroking her hair lightly as Sarah sobbed into her shoulder. “I won’t.”