My family has always been associated with monsters. No, we don't enjoy it. It's more like we have the worst luck in the universe.

And it's not like we try to find monsters. Most of the time, we trip, fall, and ram our skulls into their bony chests.

If I'm being honest, that's what my father did. He's been warning us about monsters since we could understand human speech. At the beginning, we took him pretty seriously, but as we got older we thought he was joking. Then my sister touched a monster. Of course, I didn't believe her. I actually got pretty mad at her for taking dad's side. She was my sister, after all.

My mother could see monsters too, but she's dead now, killed off by the things most people don't even realize exist.

Fair? No. I didn't really start believing in monsters until my mother was killed...mostly because I was there when she died.

---

Imagine this; you're walking in the park with your mother, when she suddenly falls to the ground and gets dragged away. You can't see what's dragging her. Scratches appear on her face as she struggles and you follow her. She starts moving faster, and soon you have only spatters of blood to lead you to where she is being killed.

You hear screaming, and soon you walk into a clearing beneath the trees. It is dark, you can barely see anything, but you can hear screaming and the sound of ripping flesh. As your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, you see nothing left of your mother but a blood stain.

She's dead.

---

I spent a long time fearing my life, waiting for the monster in my closet or under my bed or outside my window to be seen.

For three years, I walked with such caution that it was probably quite amusing to watch me move around and dodge thin air. Truthfully, I couldn't tell you where the actual monsters were, but I was so paranoid that I thought I could hear them.

Some monsters I could hear, especially the ones howling outside my window. It was a comfort to know that they couldn't reach me, couldn't touch me, but it was a discomfort to know that if I made one wrong move they would be able to touch me.

To break me.

To rip me to shreds.

I stopped eating the way a human being should, and when I did eat it wasn't much. The fear in my stomach turned my food from a pleasure to a burden. I figured I'd be better off starving myself than puking up my dinner every night.

I stopped going outside for more then three minutes, just enough time for me to get in and out of the car for school.

And even in school I was scared out of my mind. My grades dropped, I couldn't pay attention, and I jumped at every noise.

To sum this all up for you wonderful people:

Being paranoid sucks.

Those of you who have been paranoid can relate, yes?

I bet I'm making your paranoid right now, actually.

Haha...oops.

---

"GET OFF OF MY HAIR!" I yelled, batting away a zombie's hand as he tried (and failed miserably) to braid my hair. My sister, Jackie, laughed. "Everyone thinks they're out for the brains, but it's always the hair." She said.

I flattened my hair and watched the zombie lumber away, bumping into the door frame twice and walking into the wall once before it found the way out

"Why haven't we put a door there yet?" I asked, pointing outside. Jackie shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, lil' sis." She replied.

I glared at her. "Can't you just call me by my real name?" I said crossly. Jackie smirked. "Nah, I'm having more fun with this."
"Then I guess I'll just proceed to call you fiss."

"And what, exactly, does that mean?"

"Fat, idiotic, stupid, sister."

Jackie laughed. "Puh-lease."

"Is that the best comeback that you could think of?" I teased. Jackie got to her feet and smacked me on the back of the head. "I'm going to go and ask dad about a door."

"Yeah, whatever." I grumbled, rubbing the back of my skull as Jackie slipped by my chair and out the door. 

My phone buzzed and I picked it up and sighed. It was a text from my...er...friend. Yes, that's what we'll call him. 

Look, we weren't dating. We were just friends. Guys and girls can be friends, can't they?

No disrespect, sisters and brothers. No disrespect. 

Anyway I read his text and grinned a little to myself. He was such an idiot sometimes. 

It said: Kora, wanna go hang out today? NOT A DATE, I SWEAR. I wouldn't want to date you anyway...

Sorry, Jax, family's working on getting a new door...possibly. And that's offensive, stupid.

Awwwww c'mon Kora...and at least I'm smarter than you.

He replied pretty quickly, which impressed me, because he never replied. I wondered if he was looking forward to something...

Well...maybe if we get the door soon. And you're nowhere near as smart as me. I typed, waiting for his reaction. The three little dots popped up on my screen, symbolizing that he was working on a reply. 

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

P.s. AM TOO!

I laughed loudly as I stared at the screen. After a moment I set down my phone and sighed, wondering why Jackie and dad were taking so long. 

As I was contemplating going up there, I heard someone scream. I jumped out of my chair and landed on the ground with a crash.

I have zero balance. 

I rubbed my knees and got to my feet as un-clumsily as I could. I then proceeded to sprint to the stairs...tripping three times on my way up.

"HOLY CRAP! GET THIS FRICKING THING OFF OF ME! WHAT THE F-"

Suddenly, Jackie went silent. At a rather convenient time, I might add, but that's not the point. 

I ran into the room and shoved my fist into my mouth to keep from screaming. My sister and father were hanging from the ceiling, wrapped in some sort of...WAS THAT SPIDER WEBBING!?

Okay, I have seen a lot of monsters in my days, and I've learned not to fear them...but spiders? No. I hate spiders with all my heart and all my soul. They are creepy, they are hairy, and they have more than six eyes.

MESSED. UP. 

Jackie's eyes widened, looking at something behind me. I spun around and screamed as a huge spider jumped at me from the wall. 

Out of every monster in the world, it had to be a flipping spider, didn't it? 

Unfair. 

I dodged the spider and rolled into the small couch next to the wall, fear making my reckless. I grabbed the first thing I could find (which happened to be a pen. Woohoo.) and stabbed at the spider as it stood over me. But (obviously) it didn't break through the thick shell. The spider raised a pincer and tried to stab me, I rolled away into its' hairy leg and screamed so loud I'm surprised the window didn't break. The spider tried again, this time making its' mark. My arm burst with pain as blood started to drip to the floor.

"Get down, beast." A deep voice growled. The spider, which had been about to strike again, stopped and crawled away from me. I hopped to my feet, looking for my savior, and found myself face to face with...my sister.

Except I don't think this was really my sister. Her eyes, which had previously been hazel, were now black.

Might I add that she had no whites to her eyes?

Jackie grinned cooly at me, not her real grin, a sickly grin. One that scared the living hell out of me.

"We're coming to your world." She said. "And now, there's nothing you can do to stop us."

Suddenly I felt sick. I looked at my arm and saw blood oozing from it, right were the spider had hit me. As I looked closer, I realized that the wound was turning black. 

I stumbled over to the couch and sat down, the world spinning around me. Jackie smiled again, her black eyes glittering cruelly. "And now...I can finally take my first life..." She whispered, touching a hand to my arm.

It was pure agony for a moment, like I was being torn away, and then suddenly, as if the lights had shut off, the world went black.