I had just reached my house as it started to pour rain. I could have sworn I heard thunder, too. I stepped inside, my shoes were muddy and I had to wipe them before stepping off of the mat.

“That was a fast walk,” my mom said as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Yeah, it was going to rain. I didn’t want to get soaked,” I answered.

“Understandable.”

“Yeah,” I said as I headed for the living room. My sister was sitting on the couch in the dark, watching a movie on our small TV.

“What are you watching?” I asked.

“The Grudge,” she replied, her eyes not leaving the screen. She patted the seat next to her, motioning me to sit next to her. I sat down, watching as the Grudge engulfed a girl, ripping away her soul and her youth.

I’ve seen this movie before. It’s not too bad, scary wise. In the dark however, was a different story. To be honest, I’ve never actually seen a horror movie in the dark before. This is definitely new to me. I never really thought it would make a difference if the lights were out, but I guess so.

I flinched as the Grudge struck again. My sister however, is different than me, she can stand movies like this and she’s always been the one to be brave at times like these. I really do envy her, she’s so much better than me for some reason.

I continued to watch the movie, trying not to flinch when something scary happened again, failing miserably in the process.

“How can you stand movies like this?” I asked Harmony curiously.

“Not that hard,” she stated, “all you have to do is suck it up.”

I stayed silent, she’s so rude sometimes. I really don’t understand what goes on in her mind sometimes. People say twins can read each other’s minds, but that’s a total myth. Harmony and I are far from reading each other’s minds. I just doubt we would ever get that close to each other. 

It wasn’t long before the movie was done and over with. I breathed I sigh of relief as the credits rolled down the screen.

Harmony stood up and walked out of the room, I followed close behind.

“Is there something wrong?” I questioned her.

“No.” She simply said.

“Harmony, I know you. There is definitely something wrong,” I worried.

“Mel, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me, okay?” she said harshly, avoiding eye contact. I stared at her in disbelief; she’s honestly never used that tone of voice with me before.

“Har-”

“Stop it,” she interjected. I stopped in my tracks. She really meant it; she really didn’t want me around right now. I watched her trek up the stairs, leaving me alone in a complete state of shock. Huh, that’s never happened before.

I slowly moved up the stairs after she slammed her door, hoping that she hadn’t noticed me walking after her.

I cupped my hands around my ear and pressed it against her bedroom door. I could hear her quietly sobbing. I knocked softly, praying that she wouldn’t mouth off if I tried to figure out what was wrong. I heard her mumble something in response to my knock but it was inaudible.

“Pardon?” I asked her, listening closely for her reply.

“Go away,” she sobbed. What in the world is eating her?

I opened the door, dodging an airborne stuffed frog that she had whipped at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked again. She looked at me; her eyes and face were red and blotchy from crying. She didn’t answer me.

“Okay, I’ll leave then...” I nodded.

“...Wait-” she managed to whisper, just as I was about to leave the room. I turned to look at her; she gently patted the seat next to her, motioning for me to come and sit next to her.

We were both quiet for a long time, neither of us saying a single word.

After about twenty minutes, I noticed that she had fallen asleep. Her breaths were even and deep. She moved around a little bit, signalling that she was dreaming, so I stood up to leave.

 Going to bed I could hear that crazy cat meowing madly. I moved the curtains aside and watched it run in circles, chasing something that wasn’t there. I could still feel my arm stinging- it had turned the skin around it red and blotchy.

Even when I used a pillow to cover each ear, the cat was still audible and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I picked up an old slipper that I don’t use anymore and shoved opened the window, chucking the slipper at the cat, hitting it square in the head. I smiled smugly. That’ll teach it a lesson.

I tucked myself back in bed, smiling in victory. And that’s when I drifted off to sleep.

***

I woke up to a loud hissing noise, it was still dark outside with dark storm clouds still hanging low in the air, and there was a strange green light shining into my room from behind the curtains. I peaked outside, curious as to what was causing the light.

The light was bright and it was hard to see where it was coming from. I waited until my eyes were adjusted enough. As the light dimmed, I could see the vague outline of a girl.

She was kind of short but by the way her hips curved I could tell she was my age if not a year younger, though it was hard to make out her facial features.

She was just a dark blob of nothingness. The only thing I could see were her green, piercing eyes, staring up at me; the eyes of an innocent child. But the way she was staring, told me that she was anything but.

No matter how much I wanted to, or how much she frightened me, I couldn’t look away. That would be impossible.

After a while of staring at me, she gave me a grin. The light dimmed some more, and I noticed she was holding a cat. The same cat who had scratched me. I could feel my arm burning and it was becoming inflamed.

She continued to smile and she pulled something else out from behind her. It was pointy, and ragged. I automatically knew what was about to happen.

“No...” I whispered.

I watched in horror as she took the object and pierced it through the cat with such force that it went almost all the way through. She then proceeded to pull the object down, slicing the cat open. I winced, wishing that it was possible to look away; wishing that somehow I could wake up from this nightmare.

With one last smile, and even a wink, she turned around and walked off, dragging the deceased cat behind her.

***

My eyes shot open. I staggered to catch my breath and to cease the rapid beating of my heart. I stepped down onto the floor, flinching when I realized how cold it was. The curtains were blowing wildly in the wind and only now did I realize that I had never closed the window from last night. 

I peaked outside. It was quiet and I could see the cat lying on its belly, fast asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a bad dream.

I relaxed and shoved the window closed, making sure not to pin the curtains in between the windowsill and the window itself.

I walked back silently to my bed. It was so quiet, and all you could hear was the tiny tapping of a tree on the window pane.

Sleeping wasn’t as easy as I expected. I thought that maybe since I knew the cat was alright that I would get good sleep. But the nightmare was still stuck in my head. I could still hear the hissing of the cat in my head, it sounded so real.

I closed my eyes, but opened them again when I realized I could still see her face in my mind. The constant feeling that she was outside my window was unbearable and if I stared at the dark corner in my room long enough I could see her standing there smiling at me.

I closed my eyes tightly, pushing all of the evil thoughts out of my mind.  But even so, I could still hear the girl’s laughter ringing through my head, sending shivers through my entire body until my whole body hurt.

I hugged my pillow tightly and as time passed, my eyes became droopy. But just before my mind was gone I could hear the wind whispering against the window pane, goodnight.

***

My alarm clock buzzed loudly in my ear. All thoughts about last night’s nightmare drifted distantly from my mind as I looked at the time on my alarm clock. It was seven o’clock; the bus would be here soon.

It was Friday morning and the storm clouds were still in the air, showing no sign of disappearing. The feelings I had at the moment were far from the frightening ones I had last night, no matter how scary last night had truly been.

The look on that girls face was still fresh in my mind, though it wasn’t at all scary to me now that it was morning. I could still picture her face; her innocent, wide eyes still stood out to me.

I shook the thought out of my head, today was going to be a happy day. It was Friday, after all. Nothing was going to tear apart my mood today.

I smiled at my mom as I came downstairs and into the kitchen.

“What’s for breakfast?” I asked.

“Bacon and eggs,” she announced cheerfully. I rolled my eyes at her; she was such a morning person. I mean, I'm in a good mood, too- but at least I dot go around looking as cheerful as she does every morning.

“Mom, stop being so cheery in the morning,” I demanded, “It’s really creepy...”

 “You’re such a prude,” she laughed. She set down a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me and I began to dig in, ignoring her insult.

Harmony came walking downstairs, looking tired and drowsy.

“You look tired,” I commented.

“Yup,” she mumbled. I just left it at that, if she didn’t want to talk to me then fine, I can play that game, too.

My mom raised an eyebrow at me but quickly returned to cooking when I gave her a dirty stare.

 I looked at my watch when I was done eating, I didn’t have time to shower, drat, I probably smell like sweat due to last night.

“C’mon, Harmony,” I said, “it’s time for school. The bus will be here soon.”

She stared at me for a moment but eventually stood up begrudgingly. We walked outside, passing the sleeping cat in our front yard, attempting not to wake it up in case it attacked us or something.

Five minutes past and we were now at our bus stop, waiting for the bus to get here. There was a cool breeze flowing through the air and it sent shivers up my spin, indicating that it would rain soon. I just wanted to get into the nice warm bus before then. It would be preferred.

It wasn’t too long before the bus arrived and we were able to go sit down. I found an empty seat in the first row. I sat down with my book bag as a cushion. To be honest it wasn’t too comfortable.

Two minutes into the bus ride, Matt plopped himself next to me.

“Hey Mel,” he greeted.

“Hey, Matt, what’s up?” I smiled.

“Not too much actually, my life’s a little bit boring right now,” he replied casually, “how about you?”

I thought about it for a bit, “Meh...” I muttered.

“Sounds interesting,” he laughed.

“Oh, yes. Very,” I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. We were quiet for a moment.

“So how’s your sister?” he asked after a while. I was quiet, debating on if I should ignore him or not. I decided against it, after all, it would probably make him like me less than he already does.

“She’s okay, I suppose,” I muttered, remembering last night and how much she had cried. He didn’t say anything after that. The rest of the bus ride was absolute silence.

***

After school, I went straight up to my room. I had a lot of homework to complete and only a few days time to complete it in. My room was surprisingly warm considering I had left the window open last night. I walked over to the window, peering outside to see if the sky was still gloomy. Yep, they were still out there, looking just as gloomy as before.

Just as I was about to return to my homework, something caught my eye. I focussed in on it and realized that the fickle cat was still outside lying outside on the front yard in the grass.

“That’s strange,” I mumbled quietly to myself. I walked downstairs quickly, trying not to bump into anything on my way down.

            I opened the door and stared at the cat for a while. It hasn’t seemed to have moved at all since last night. My stomach twisted and churned, making me all the more nervous.

            I walked over to the cat, stomping my feet seeing if it would wake up. When it didn’t, I kicked it. It still stood still. I kicked it again, this time harder. It flipped over.

            I stared at it in absolute horror. And after my brain registered what I was seeing, I screamed. My mom came out running to see what had happened.

            I pointed, with a shaky finger, making her gasp and cover her mouth with both of her hands.

            We were now both staring at the inside of its underbelly. It was ripped open and from what I could see, the object that was used was a garden gnome; because it was still sticking half way into its stomach. The cats face looked completely horrified; like it had experienced the worst pain that anyone could ever endure.

            At first I wasn’t sure what to do or what to say, but all I knew wasthat my nightmare had come true...

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Authors note- hehe didnt u just love that last part? i know i did!

so guess what? i made it to the 'wuts hot' list!

...too bad i'm like #900. i would love for u guys to comment and rate if u liked it as well plz :)

and u can share it and get ur friends to read it too if u wanna. help get this higher up on the list!