I tickle the tiny feet of my little sister, giggling with her as the contagious laughter fills the room.

"You're so ticklish, Katie! You're so ticklish!" I baby talk to her, laughing. My mom enters the computer room, reaching her arms out to pick up my little sister.

"Now what were you doing that got her so tickled, Gray?" She asks me. I point to her feet.

"She's so ticklish, Mom! It's the funniest thing ever!" I exclaim. My mother laughs at my excitement, but I'm not interested. Something catches my eye down the hallway. It apparently gets to Katie as well, because she starts screaming and crying on my mom's shoulder. Mom, oblivious, chuckles.

"She must be tired. She's had a long day." She says, then starts to walk down the hallway to the room I saw something in.

"Wait, Mom! Don't go in there!" I yell, trying to stop her. My mother looks annoyed, shakes me off, and continues walking. I grab her arm and try to drag her back towards me, to where it's safe. But now in the middle of the hallway, I can see what it is in the room. It's a skeleton, tall and bony, towering over the fireplace in the living room.

"Stop it, Gray, you'll make me drop your sister! There's nothing in there!" Mom says, clearly frustrated. I let go, scared and shaking. I look back into the room I came from for a second, and when I look back, my family is gone. No one in sight but me and the scary... tall... skeleton. Which is now charging towards me at full speed.

"Wait! Mom! Katie! Where are you?! Heeeelp!!!!" I scream, running as fast as I can. But there's nowhere to go. I'm stuck. I try to shake open the front door, but of course it's locked. Screaming and thrashing was no use against the bony hands that reached towards and grabbed me. I was face to face with the creature. At first, it did nothing but stare at me with its black, empty voids where the eyes were supposed to be.

"...hello?" I asked it. As soon as the word left my mouth, the skeleton went stiff, and before I knew it, it had snapped my spine and I was crumpled on the floor, unable to do anything.

~ END ~