Sarafina rushed into the bathroom feeling like a steel cable under too much tension. There were drops of blood and shards of broken mirror scattered across the tile floor. Regan stood with her fist wedged against the wall breathing heavily. She was staring at the floor, and her eyes had the wild, glassy look of someone hugging the event horizon of sanity. Behind her, Eva peered around the door frame with an expression that was equal parts curious and terrified. 

'Eva, go to your room,' Sarafina snapped. 

Eva retreated, only to be replaced by Forester. His face went pale when he saw the destruction in the bathroom. 

'What the hell just happened?' 

'Get the first aid kit from the kitchen.' 

Forester disappeared, and Sarafina took a cautious step forward. Regan's breath was coming in short gasps, as if the air was depleted of oxygen. 

'I need you to calm down,' said Sarafina. 'Focus on your breathing.' 

Regan hissed. It was a savage, alien sound. 

'The blood came back. It never washes out. No matter what I do, it always comes back.' 

'You mean the blood on your hand? That's your blood. You cut yourself on the mirror.' 

Regan turned to face her with a twisted expression that was halfway between a mad smile and a grimace of pain. For a second, Sarafina thought she would attack her. 

'Not that blood. The blood in my hair.' 

Sarafina looked at Regan's hair. There were patches of brown showing through the blue dye, but apart from that her hair was clean. 

'I can't see any blood.' 

'Blood doesn't wash out. You can cover it up, but it never goes away.' 

Sarafina took a step back. There was something indefinably wrong about Regan's expression, like a mask painted by an unskilled artist. 

Forester returned with Sarafina's first aid kit; a heavy plastic toolbox full of bandages and sterilised instruments. He hovered awkwardly in the doorway. 

'Do you want some bandages for her hand?' he said. 

Sarafina kept her eyes on Regan. 'Not right now. Right now, I need you to back away slowly.' 

She heard Forester take a few cautious steps backwards. 

'Further.' 

He retreated down the corridor. 

Regan hadn't moved, but her muscles were tensed as if she was experiencing a kind of living rigor mortis. She was looking at Sarafina, but she couldn't seem to focus. It was like she was looking though her eyes and into the back of her head. 

Broken mirror crunched under Sarafina's foot as she took a glacial step backwards. In a few more steps she had backed out through the doorway. She quickly closed the door and let out an explosive breath. 

She found Forester in the kitchen, still holding the first aid kit. 

'I have no idea what's going on,' he said. 'How are we going to get this psychopath out of your house?' 

'Let's deal with the situation at hand first. You stay here and keep her contained.' 

'How?' 

'You're supposed to be a trained protector. Figure it out.' 

'What are you going to do?' 

'I'm going to take Eva and drive into town to get some blue hair dye.' 

Forester's brow furrowed as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. 

'Run that past me again?' 

'In the bathroom she kept going on about having blood in her hair.' 

'And you think she needs blue hair dye to keep her sane?' 

'That's my working theory.' 

Forester took a breath and squared his shoulders. 

'Come back quickly.' 

Sarafina ran lightly up the stairs to Eva's room. Her sister was sitting on her bed chewing her thumbnail. As Sarafina pushed her door open, she looked up with apprehension. 

'Guess what,' said Sarafina. 'We're going for a drive.'

***

Sarafina was normally a cautious driver, but on the way into town she took each corner like there were judges awarding points. Her heart was a throbbing pulse in her chest as she gripped the steering wheel with cold, bloodless fingers. Eva treated the whole trip like a rollercoaster, holding the sides of her seat and giggling as the trees whipped past in a blur of green and grey. 

They were back at the house again in less than twenty minutes. 

As Sarafina parked the car in the driveway of their ramshackle home, she found herself feeling relieved to see that it was still standing. She got out of the car and leaned in to look at her sister through the open door. Eva was still unbuckling her seatbelt. 

'Stay in the car. I'll be back in a little bit.' 

Eva nodded and chewed her thumbnail nervously. 

The house felt strangely threatening as Sarafina approached. It sat nestled among the trees, backing on to a thin dirt path that led down to the beach. Sarafina circled around so she could enter through the kitchen. She could hear birds calling in the trees, and the distant sound of the waves on the shore, but the house was still and silent. She found the silence eerie, but reminded herself that silence was probably a good thing. 

As she reached the kitchen door, the sense of quiet unease that had been steadily growing in her stomach rose up until it prickled at her skin. The glass sliding door to the kitchen had been smashed to pieces. She stepped into the house through the broken frame. There was broken glass everywhere. She clutched the little box of blue hair dye she'd bought as if it was a protective talisman. 

There was no sign of Forester or Regan. 

She turned down the corridor that led to the bathroom and saw the door at the end of the hall. There was a chair wedged under the door handle. 

'Forester?' she called. 

She heard a faint groan, muffled by the wood of the door. 

Sarafina rushed down the hall. She kicked the chair away and pulled the door open. The bathroom looked like it had been shredded. The shower curtain was crumpled on the floor underneath the broken rail, and water fountained out of a broken faucet that had somehow been knocked askew. Forester lay in the bath like a heap of discarded clothes. There was a star-shaped bruise on the left side of his face that looked suspiciously like the handle of a tap. 

He groaned. 

Sarafina crouched next to the bath and ran a professional eye over his injuries. 

'What happened?' she said. 

Forester's voice came out as a raspy croak. 'She's surprisingly strong.' 

'She overpowered you?' 

'She caught me by surprise. She came out of the bathroom and shoved past me. Then she went to the kitchen and started smashing things. She kicked through the glass doors and threw a chair through one of the windows. I think after that she went for the oven.' 

'Anything with a reflective surface.' 

'Pretty much.' 

Sarafina stood up and rubbed her eyes. 'Why didn't you stop her?' 

'I tried. That's when she grabbed me and threw me in here.' 

'Do you know where she went?' 

Forester shrugged. 

Sarafina left him in the bath and went to explore the rest of the house. Each room was its own picture of destruction. Windows and mirrors were shattered, and photo frames had been torn off the walls. She walked upstairs to the room where Regan had been staying. The corridor leading up to it was scattered with pieces of broken glass. She carefully pushed open the door. 

Regan stood on the bed, gripping the aluminium frame of the destroyed window. She was leaning out into open space and breathing deeply. Her patchy blue hair flapped and twisted in the breeze. There was something about her breathing that seemed calmer than before, as if she'd been suffocating underwater and had finally broken the surface. Sarafina decided to take a chance. 

'Did you break every window in my house?' 

Regan took a gulp of air and coughed. 'I think so.' 

'You know, you're pretty nuts.' 

'I know.' 

Sarafina tossed the hair dye on to the bed at Regan's feet. 

'Not that it matters now, but I got you this.' 

Regan looked like Sarafina had thrown a purse of diamonds at her feet. She snatched up the hair dye and rushed out of the room, pushing past Sarafina as if she wasn't there. Sarafina heard the sound of frantic footsteps descending the stairs, then a yelp. She guessed that Regan had just thrown Forester out of the bathroom with the same level of delicacy she'd used to put him in it. The house shook as the bathroom door slammed shut. 

Sarafina sighed and walked back downstairs. She found Forester sitting at the table in the kitchen. He had his elbows on the table and was holding the left side of his face. 

'She threw me out of the bathroom.' 

'I heard.' 

Sarafina picked her first aid kit up from the floor and dragged a chair around to face Forester. She pulled his hand away to examine his face. Along with his star shaped bruise, he now had a rapidly swelling black eye. 

'You need to learn to get hit less.' 

'You haven't seen how quick she is. She's a monster.' 

Sarafina went to the fridge to find a cold pack. As she opened the door of the freezer, she heard the crunch of someone stepping on broken glass. 

'Knock knock!' 

Sarafina froze with the door of the freezer still open. It was a familiar voice. It dripped with a salesman's patronising insincerity. It was the type of voice that would enter your house uninvited and say 'knock knock' instead of knocking on the door.  

Sarafina felt a sick, nauseous feeling grip her stomach, as if she'd swallowed a glass of motor oil. 

'Gareth.'