The amount of pain Markus must have gone through losing Jane like that is unbearable and extremely difficult to imagine. But one thing is for sure, Markus is a strong person. If I ever had to go through something like that, I am not sure if I would ever recover from it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

About a week has passed and the ghost lady has still not decided to show her face.

So Jay and Cedric have decided to stay back at their place for the night. Markus is already sleeping upstairs in the guest bedroom that is across the hall from my room. I am reading this really gripping book that Jay gave me about a week ago. The book is about this girl who thinks she is going to be alone for the rest of her life, when suddenly, out of the blue, this amazing guy comes along and brings a spark into her life that she never thought existed. I know it is a complete romance novel and life never turns out the way they describe it in these books. There is no such thing as love as described in a romance novel. No matter how much you want it to be true. But I do not care. I have decided to let myself fall into this world anyway and I love every word written on these pages. I am so lost in this world of love and peace that I do not realise it is only a few minutes to midnight.

Suddenly, my phone buzzes and, without putting the book down, I reach for my phone on the bedside table.

Moving towards the bedside table, I feel something brush against my arm, but only for a mere second. I flinch and my eyes shoot to my arm to find nothing there but my still outstretched arm.

'Probably the wind or one of my hairs that brushed against it. Relax, Riley, for God's sake,' I try to calm myself, imagining Dad saying that to me when I used to be afraid of monsters under my bed at night. He did not say it in a mean tone or anything. He would laugh as he said it, making me laugh and forget about the terrible creatures that might be lurking under my bed. Thinking back now makes me laugh too and I pick up my phone. There is a message from Jay.

JAY: HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP? ANY GHOST PROBLEMS?

I smile at this, happy to see that he cares so much about me. I quickly text him back.

ME: EVERYTHING'S FINE. NO GHOST IN SIGHT.

I send the message off and then quickly add.

ME: THANKS FOR CHECKING UP ON ME, THOUGH.

My phone beeps again.

JAY: OF COURSE, RI. IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, JUST CALL, OKAY?

I think it is so cute the way he calls me Ri. No one's ever decided to shorten my name, let alone give me a nickname, and I have to admit I really like it. I reply quickly with a big smile on my face.

ME: OKAY, THANKS.

JAY: GOOD NIGHT, RI.

ME: GOOD NIGHT, JAY.

I put my phone back on the bedside table and am just about to turn off the light when suddenly my window bursts open and a gust of wind, mixed with a little rain, enters my room. I jump, startled.

Quickly, I get up to close the window again, getting a little wet in the process. I make sure to lock it properly so that it does not burst open like that again.

"God, that scared the hell out of me. Must have forgotten to lock the bloody thing," I mutter to myself under my breath.

I climb back into bed and pull the covers all the way up to my neck. Carefully, I flick the switch and the room goes dark.

I lie there tense for a moment, my eyes wide open, scanning the dark room in which I can barely see, unsure of what might happen next. But when nothing else happens, I relax and decide to close my eyes.

Suddenly, someone shakes me violently.

"What the hell," I yell, not sure if I am dreaming or not. I slowly open my eyes to see a pale figure looking down at me. The figure seems to be hovering above my bed, as if lying on its stomach in mid-air. The long dark hair falls around the sides, slightly covering the face. But because the figure's face is so pale, it still shines through the hair covering it. It tries to lunge forward, arms outstretched, aiming for my neck. I can feel something wrapping around my neck... tighter... and tighter. I begin to struggle for breath. My arms whirl around in a panicking manner, trying to grab onto anything that might be hard enough to knock the figure off. But I cannot seem to find anything and the grip on my neck tightens. By now I can barely breath and am starting to gasp for air.

"No, Jane, don't," I hear a familiar voice scream and immediately the grip around my neck loosens and then the figure disappears from my view.

Still struggling to breathe, I try to sit up and see what has just happened.

Markus is standing in the doorway of my room, his gaze fixed on the now upright hovering figure, and for the first time I can see who it was that tried to strangle me a few moments ago.

"Jane, my love. How can it be you? I have searched for you for years. Where did you disappear to all these years ago? And why would you want to hurt Riley? What has she done to you?" Markus cannot stop all the questions from pouring out of his mouth. He is like a never-ending waterfall.

Jane just stares at him without saying a word.

"Jane, darling. Can you hear me?" Markus asks carefully.

Jane seems to understand what he is saying, because she nods slightly.

"Please help me to understand what has happened to you," Markus pleads.

At this, Jane begins to slowly float forward, getting closer and closer to where Markus is standing.

He seems a little unsure of what to do, as if he does not know if she will hurt him or not.

"Markus, get out of the way," I croak from my bed. My breath is clearly not quite back.

Before Markus can do anything, Jane just rushes through him and into the hallway.

Markus immediately follows, ignoring my croaky calls.

I instinctively jump out of bed, grab my phone and start dialling, running after Markus in the process.

"Riley, are you okay?" I hear a worried voice on the other end of the line.

"Jay, you need you to get over here right now. She's back and Markus is running after her, trying to make contact... and I'm afraid she's going to hurt him," I croak, now panting even more from running after Markus.

"Okay, hold on, we are on our way," Jay replies. "Just stay on the line, do you hear me, Ri?"

I nod, but then quickly realise that this is a stupid reaction, as he cannot actually see me. "Yeah," I reply quickly.