Nora sat on her bed and used her crochet needle to create an inticate lace design on the tiny piece of material in her hands. She had only begun making it this evening, after Brooke left, and she'd yet to decide what she would do with it. Her mind was a mess; the crocheting gave her an outlet to process everything.

Nora didn't know what to make of her situation. She was scared; worried. What was happening to her? Why did she keep drifting off? Hearing things? Seeing things?

Nora was petrified of what she'd become. As if losing her mind wasn't enough to worry about, there were the guys in her life.

On the one hand, there was Donovan. He was a nice guy, albiet an often tired one, and a good friend. He had sexy abs, too. And those eyes, good grief she could get lost in those dreamy chocolate-caramel peepers.

But then there was Kaden. When he smiled at her it was like Nora's world was alright; like they had a connection. She didn't fully understand it, though she sensed there was something important there.

Which was absolutely ridiculous.

Puh. A connection.

She'd just met him! Literally.

Why would she have any feelings towards him about anything? She didn't even know his last name.

Nothing.

She knew nothing about him.

It was too soon for any feelings to be there. And yet...

Just then Nora smiled.

Her friend, Brooke sure thought something was there. She gave Nora an earfull once the boys'd left earlier in the evening.

Brooke was a pure drama queen romantic. "You should hook up with both of them, Nora!" Brooke had playfully suggested. "See which one is the better kisser."

Nora had blushed. "Shut up!" She'd told her friend while smacking her lightly on the forearm.

Of course, now though, Nora couldn't get her mind off either of the two.

"And this is precisely why I'm sitting here playing with you," she said to herself and the crocheting supplies on her lap. She picked up her tools and began making tiny knots.

As Nora lost herself in her work a sense of calm threaded itself around her.

Most of Nora's friends whispered behind closed palms when they caught Nora using her needles. They snickered, when they thought she couldn't hear them, because the idea of a teenager knitting blankets or crocheting Irish lace was ridiculously foreign to them.

Nora loved creating, though. She had all intention of training to be a seamstress after graduation. Most of her friends were going into what they considered to be "normal" fields of work, like business and nursing. Nora couldn't wait to wrap her hands around fabrics and strings and lace, though. It was an ancient career choice, and Nora didn't know where her interest in it came from, but Nora didn't care.

As she turned the corner of her cotton thread, Nora's mind began to drift...

Nora was at a party.

Cala and Rudy were in the corner of a room hooking up. Brooke was dancing close with her boyfriend, Benjamin.

They were all in a basement and the lights were dimmed. Music was playing loudly overhead. Two kids had muted the tv and were playing Grand Theft Auto on the Playstation.

In the dream, Nora frowned at the two boys fighting with their controllers to rip a senior man from his cadillac. Who thought of this crazy shit?

Nora'd always hated that game.

Walking away, Nora caught the eye of a guy standing outside a nearby set of sliding doors. A dull, yellow porch light shined on his pale skin. It made him look jaundice. His eyes were magnificent, though, and almost luminous. Nora couldn't describe why, but they called to her. She moved forward and found the handle of the slider. Nora moved the heavy glass door open, leaving the screen slider in place.

"Do I know you?" Nora asked curiously. "I feel like I should."

"Mein Engel," the man said, his voice smooth like velvet. "Not yet, but I'd like to get to know you."

"You would?" Nora asked. She was surprised. Why should this strange boy, this man, want to meet her?

For a moment Nora shivered. She didn't know why. She felt warm enough and the night air was still, stagnant-like. There was no breeze at all.  In fact, it felt like the air in the natural history museum Nora had once visited.

She remembered that day so well. She'd been on an elementary school trip.

At first, Nora had been fascinated. Wild creatures were everywhere; big, small, fierce and meek. There were so many of them. They surrounded her on all sides in each room she entered. It was like being right there with them.

But they'd been stuffed.

A taxidermist had long ago immortalized those poor animals. As she had felt by the end of that trip, a sense of unease grew within Nora now.

Those animals were dead.

No matter how real they appeared, underneath their stuffed and sewn fur, they were dead inside.

Soulless.

And so was this man.

This creature who stood before her, in the shadows just outside the door.

He waited in the dark, lurking beyond the threshold of a thin, screen slider, the only barrier between them.

"Invite me in, Pet," he purred. "We can get to know one another. Maybe find ourselves-"

Nora didn't hear the rest of what the man was saying.

Her feet started moving of their own volition and her hands shot out to slam the glass door shut. Just as she flicked the lock in place the man flung himself into the glass, blood pouring out of his mouth, fangs protruding from his gums. His deathly skin was translucent from the sickening glow of the light outside.

"I'm going to rip your throat out, Mein Engel! Do you hear me?!" He roared violently, thrashing against the door. "You're dead, Engel! I'm coming for you! You're dead!"

With a scream, Nora sat up from her headboard, her lace and needle dropping out of her lap and onto the floor in a heap.

Mrs. O'Malley came running into her bedroom. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Nora, are yah alright, love? I heard you screaming all the way down the hall."

Nora's mom was closely followed by her dad. "What's wrong? Who's in here?" He yelled.

Nora didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her heart was thundering in her chest from fright and her hands were shaking as she leaned over her rose and eyelit bedspread to retrieve her things from the floor.

Her mother had a face full of Noxema face cream. It was starting to drip from her chin and onto her navy blue Dearfoam slippers below. Her nightgown was bunched on the side where Nora guessed her mom had gotten it caught in her underwear in the haste to get to her daughter.

Nora's dad was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts and an undershirt. The boxers were an old Chistmas gift. Dr. Seuss' "The Grinch" smiled from her dad's backside. A Louieville Slugger in her dad's hands completed the ensemble. Whoa the guy who tries to sneak into her room unannounced, Nora thought to herself.

Sighing, Nora exhaled in relief. "It was just a bad dream," she explained. "I'm sorry I startled you, Ma. Dad."

A hug and a Noxema kiss later, Nora was left alone again in her room. Reaching over to her nightstand, Nora picked up her phone.

She stared at the text message from earlier that night. "I'll be there," she texted back to Kaden.