Through a dense fence of fog, a face finally came into view. The man with the gray hair lining his oil slick ponytail smiled at her. But it was no ordinary smile. It was a sadisttic, bone chilling sneer in which he wore. His dark eyes twinkled as his lips parted, "Pretty little native girl. Bleed for me."

The voice.

Leah's eyes opened and she blinked through sweaty eyelids. The voice that had invaded Alice's mouth was so unfamiliar because she had only heard it once. It belonged to the man at the library, she was sure.

She looked around her dark room, listening for any slithering home invaders. The sound of Beo snoring away and the wind howling outside her window was all she could hear. She sat up rubbing her eyes.

That man hadn't seemed like a threat when she saw him, although he gave her chills. But the aftermath of their seemingly harmless encounter was really putting her in a tense place. Never did she think she would be so restless in her own home. She leaned over to her cherry oak nightstand and opened a small drawer.

From the shuffle of odds and ends, she retrieved a necklace with a stone hanging from it. The white stome, with swirls of silver in it seemed to shine in her dark room as if it were catching the moonlight.

Leah had woken up multiple times throughout the night and now she'd had enough. She held the stome between her palms and whispered an old prayer into it. Her words, the words of a Tamanaka prayer, were smooth and sounded exotic in the night silence.

Sighing and dropping the necklace over her head, she held tight to it as it dangled from around her neck. The stone was from her tribe, and made for protection and to soothe a restless soul- just the thing she needed. From growing up with a pure native family, she'd learned a few things that she'd always carry with her.

The Tamanaka tribe she'd come from were very in tune with energy and the world around them, always seeming to have a remedy for whatever they endured. Along with their crafty souls, they did have a lot of emotional problems, of which Leah blamed her highs and lows. But deep inside she wouldn't trade it for gold.

As she flicked on her table lamp, she squint her eyes and peered around before sliding out of bed and wandering to her bay window.  The curtains weren't closed and she got a perfect view of the night sky. Stars glistened and the moon shone like a silver dollar in the onyx backdrop. Sitting on a small bench in front of the window,  she stared out watching the trees blow in the wind.

Leaves spiraled in the gusts and odd branches and twigs flew by. Fall was her favorite season of the year. Leah leaned her arms on the window pane, resting her head in her hands. As pretty as the moonlit scene was beyond her glass window, all she wanted to do was sleep. She felt her eyes getting heavy as the wind howled once more. I just want to sleep. Sleep without another nightmare.

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"Leah! Leah, wake up!"

The sound of Alice hollering woke her up with a startle. Falling backwards off the bench, she hit the floor with a thud. A grunt escaped her lips before Leah looked up to see Alice standing in the doorway with a mask of worry on her face. Immediately, she straightened up and rushed before her, "What's wrong?"

"It's Beo, he's going mad at the back door!"

"What?" She moved around Alice nearly knocking her over and began running towards the sound of her companion's angry bark. It was full of aggression and hearing the animalistic growl reverberating from his chest was unnerving. Beo rarely was angry, it took a good threat to get him going. Leah ran up behind him, calling out his name.

He ignored her and continued to bark with every vocal chord in his body on fire. His frame was bulked up as he pushed with his hind legs. At a glance, the wild genes were taking over. "What is it boy?"

From behind, Alice was more panicked than she wanted to show. Her drowsy eyes managed to widen beneath thick lashes. "What the hell is out there? Why is he acting like that?"

"I don't know," Leah knelt down and put her hand on the back of his neck. He stopped for a moment and turned to her. There was a hunger in his blue eyes, an angry hunger that brought them to a baze. Whatever was out there, he wanted it gone. She nodded to him and stood, beginning to unlock the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Letting him out. "

"But it could be dangerous!"

Leah sent her a glare, "This is Beo we're talking about. Get a flashlight from the drawer next to the sink."

"W-Why?"

"I'm not letting him go out there alone." She opened the door allowing the cool air to rush in and her dear companion to rush out. The sound of his paws on the grass echoed loudly. Heavy thumps hit the earth with a force like no other. The porch light could only light so far and before she knew it, he was out of sight.

She turned to Alice, who was just barely opening the drawer. Watching her pull out the large industrial flashlight and slide it on, her stomach turned. Alice shone the light towards the door, "Are you really going out there?"

"No," Leah replied taking the flashlight from her, "We are." Before she could protest, the sound of Beo barking again ripped through the night. The two of them jumped and charged outside, barefoot and spooked. The door slammed behind them as they raced over the damp grass and fallen leaves heading towards the sound of Beo.

Leah shone the flashlight around frantically. Her yard was quite large, it had been one of the many benefits of her lived in home. But that night she wished it were smaller. Wide green grass in need of another trim flecked back in the florescent beam, casually allowing yellow flowers to peek through. "Is that him over there?" Alice yelled. The light beamed forwards and a black and white Beo came into view. He was yapping at max volume at the top of the fence. The two of them raced up behind him breathing like marathon runners.

Leah pointed the beam at the top of the light wooden fence searching for a sign of anything or anyone. But she couldn't see a thing. Her ears however, picked up the sound of footsteps cracking over dead leaves. "Who's there?" She yelled.

Beo growled, teeth baring. He rushed to the other side of her, eyes locked to a certain point of the wooden barrier. More footsteps crackled. Leah looked at Alice and she shook her head in protest, "Don't do it."

Without answering, Leah put her hands on top of the fence and pulled herself up. With an armpit pinching the post, she flashed the light beam around. Nothing but an autumn mess rushing around in the wind was to be seen. "Hello?"

A loud snap echoed and startled her, almost making her slip. She tried to stabilize by pushing her feet into the fence; but all that did was stab splinters into her skin. She called out in agony as the poked further into her flesh.

Alice pushed her hands against her butt to try helping, "Are you okay?" Her ice cold hands bled through the pajama pants she wore, making goosebumps travel across her skin. Leah shivered still searching for a sign of anyone, "Yeah its just splinters. Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

An even louder snap sounded. This time amidst the red and brown colors of the forest, a hefty shadow darted across the beam of light she projected. It made Leah gasp and lose her grip, causing her to fall backwards onto her friend. They stumbled back, catching their footing in a clumsy fashion.

"I saw something!" She huffed holding the flashlight steadily at her chest. Her eyes were as wide as the figure she'd seen, "It was huge!"

"What was it, a bear?"

Beo began to bark again at the fence. But soon after, his loud protests grew into a low growl and he began to back away from the fence slowly. Not stopping to think or ask questions, the two of them copied him.

It was then apparent that whatever had been out there was coming closer. Footsteps again rustled on the ground. The three of them waited, holding their breath. The wind whipped around the trio, sending spirals of long hair into different directions and then, suddenly the footsteps stopped.

What came next was a shock to all of them. A loud bang against the fence sent them stumbling backwards. Beo growled, but after the second bang he began to whimper. Leah shook her head at his reaction, "Something isn't right, Beo isn't afraid of anything!"

Alice pulled her arm, "Let's go in!"

"No!" The boom hit the fence again cracking a board. Fragments exploded into the air like confetti. The girls were frozen as the impact continued. Watching and waiting as if hypnotized, both expected something horrific to happen next. They locked arms as Beo stood between them and the fence still prepared to protect.

The bangs got heavier, more fractures in the fence appearing and they went on until suddenly... they stopped. They just stopped with no rhyme or reason, no steps or a sound to follow.

Alice turned to Leah, "Is it gone?"

She shrugged and moved the light from one point of the fence to the other. There was no sign of anything and there was no noise coming from the other side. Leah gulped and looked down at Beo, who didn't seemed threatened anymore. She lowered the beam and surveyed her yard, "I think whatever it was, it's gone now."

"Are you sure."

"I guess. "

"I hope so," Alice wiped her face which had begun to perspire even in the chilly night air. Her mascara had smudged forming faded circles around her cocoa eyes. No longer red with lipstick, her lips parted, "What the hell was that?"

"We should get inside," Leah started making a limping voyage towards the porch light. It was just an illuminated sphere in the distance and it seemed to take forever to get back. But as soon as her feet hit the pavement, she was glad to be closer to home.

They all carried themselves in the house, door locked and double checked behind them. Alice plopped on a dining chair and rubbed her eyes, furthering her mascaras end. There was no hiding the fact that she wanted to scream and ask a million questions, but neither of them knew how to start, or how to answer their curiosities for that matter.

Leah returned the flashlight to its drawer and stroked Beo on the head, "Good boy. I can always count on you." The charming husky licked her foot as if he knew of her splinter collection. She smirked and hobbled to a dining chair, sitting down and putting her foot on her knee.

Her spooky friend watched her began removing wooden fragments from her dirty skin, wincing and leaning forth, "That was crazy."

"I know," Leah replied yanking a long spike from the ball of her foot. She twisted her face up as a thought crossed her mind, "You don't think it had something to do with earlier, do you?"

Once the words left her lips she knew good ol' Alice Reels would hiss and moan at her about the whole situation.  But what she needed to understand was that it bothered her book worm friend, especially so close to home. She slowly pulled out a short jagged splinter and gazed up.

Alice was already shaking her head, "I should have seen that one coming. It was probably a bear or something. Or maybe a homeless person. Don't go sticking this to that and you know what I mean."

"A bear wouldn't have stopped, it would have growled and make a lot more noise than that. And when is the last time you saw a homeless person wandering around here anyways?"

"We don't know because we didn't see. But anything, well not anything, but a lot of things are possible."

"And that is a possibility," Leah wiggled her toes and rubbed the bottom of her foot. Once she was sure she was rid of all the splinters, she stood up gathering the pieces and walked them to the trash. The sound of her bare pitter-patter mixed together before both stopped. Her steps however ended before they got to the trash can. She swallowed hard, eyes blurring up, "Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you come here. Now?"

Alice pushed out the chair and dragged her feet until she stood beside her. Eyes locked, jaw opened and spine tingling, the two of the stood cautious and spooked.

On the ivory tile was a symbol in a medium shade of violet. A circle with an infinity symbol,  or figure 8, had stained the floor. Leah turned to Alice, "Still think the two aren't connected?"

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They say 3 days is all you need to start a habit, you've made it to chapter 3-- are you addicted yet?! --A