"Quick, hide behind the sofa!" Sarah exclaimed! 

"But I don't want to play this game anymore Sarah, can't we do something else?"

"Well what would you rather do Stacy? Nathan and Wendy won't play with us and Mom and Dad left for the market!"

"Well, we could play...statue!"

"Stacy, we need four people to play. And it isn't even fun if there aren't at least five people!"

"What about Morana! She will play…right Morana?" Stacy looked to here left for a few seconds. Sarah could see or hear nothing. "Morana says she'll play, I just have to do her a favor later."

"Stacy, we've gone through this, Morana is not real, she can't play with us, she's your imaginary friend!

"Morana is too real. Look over there, can't you see her?"

 Sarah turned to look into their tall dining room mirror; she saw what Stacy was gesturing to. A tall woman was standing over Stacy. The woman was filthy. Her hair was frizzled and grimy with grease and dirt. Her face was drenched in dried mud as if she took a bath with the pigs. She wore a black dress, tattered, worn and ripped. But above all the most frightening part was the wide grin on her face, the grin a hunter might get when a rabbit has stumbled into its trap. Sarah turned away from the mirror, horror across her face, she screamed to Stacy, "Get away from there at once Stacy!"

 "Don't be such a wheezer Sarah."

"Stacy, I'm serious! Get over here now!" Sarah looked back at the mirror. The woman had left Stacy's side and was now only a few feet to the right from Sarah peering down at the girl with a menacing stare. The arms of the woman became to straighten as she reached for Sarah. The woman’s grin grew wider as she fed off of her fear.  The woman’s dedicated mud covered fingers became claws as she drew inches from Sarah’s neck. The woman bent over and looked straight into her face, Sarah began to feel weak and sleepy; it was trying to take her. The spirit was thriving on her fear and sapping it up so her wrath could be fully unleashed upon her family. Upon her futile efforts to resist the shadows drawing her from the world, she tried to scream.  The high pitched noise she attempted to admit came out as silence as if she was mute. The woman helps a claw to her chapped lips indicating to not struggle. All Sarah found herself doing was struggling, trying to free herself from the woman’s grasp. Sarah was now overwhelmed by what was happening, she was so weak now, she could barely keep consciousness, she began to settle, slowly leaving her body, as something dark began to replace her.


 Before she lost consciousness though, she saw something rather peculiar happen. The woman in rags looked to her left with astonishment, she snarled and left Sarah. A man rushed to Sarah as she gave way to the gates of sleep.


 


Sarah dreamt. The dreams that came to her made her sick to her stomach. The first was of a man, an angel perhaps, hovering over her smiling with ease. “I am so glad you have awoken.” The man said with ease. “I was almost afraid you’d never wake up.”


 The dream seemed extremely real until she saw her best friend Lily and Stacy playing hide and seek. The thought of them playing so happily together struck her, for they had never liked each other; in fact they loathed one another.


 Suddenly, Sarah saw herself playing with them.  Lily started to count down and Stacy and Sarah ran away, Sarah could hear Stacy speaking softly to someone “…I won’t do that…get away from me…leave…stop! What are you doing? I said go –“The woman that brought Sarah here rose from the ground and became vivid as Sarah saw what was going on. The woman was trying to force something onto Stacy. Where was Lily, or the other Sarah? Why wasn’t anyone doing anything! All Sarah could do was think until -


 “STOP!” she yelled, watching away from the conflict. The woman faced Sarah, grinned and vanished. All of a sudden the scene that materialized in front of Sarah did the same. Sarah looked up to the man standing beside her in panic. The angel seemed no different, still smiling with ease as if nothing had happened. Sarah stood up and tapped the man. Nothing. He remained still in his same pose. “Jeez, you’d win statue in a heart-beat if you played with us.” Sarah spoke as if the frightened feeling inside her had been extinguished.


 The man lost his happy pose suddenly; he looked down at Sarah, with a stare. A cold hard glare as if he was trying to turn her into stone. “I know that stare…” The horror struck Sarah like a brick wall. “Get away from me!”


“Oh child, why would you fight it?” The man began to grin again, the grin of cruel success. His form began to shimmer between the woman’s, in flashes like the strobe lights Sarah had seen at the carnival.  “It’ll be quick…your family’s will be quick, just don’t resist the inevitable, you’re only making it harder…for all of us…”


Sarah hesitated. The woman took this as a sign of her manipulation taking affect and attempted to close in and finish off Sarah. Sarah turned and ran. She ran as fast as she could, adrenaline overcoming fear. Sarah quickly gave a glance behind her, she was disturbed by the woman. Behind her the shadowy figure was only standing there with that big fat grin across her face as the woman went out of sight.


She was unsure of where she was now, it was really dark little light shimmered in from above. Sarah found herself, stuck – a dead end. She was trapped. Sarah backed up against the wall, forcing her eyes shut. “Let…me…go!” she began to chant.


 The woman emerged from the darkness, as Sarah continued to chant.


“Let…me…go!”


“Let…me…go!”


“LET ME GO!”


The woman grinned and absolute darkness overwhelmed Sarah.


Sarah awoke to the sharp sound of a pulse monitor. As she opened her eyes she could see her sister was sitting beside her watching television on a monitor. Stacy noticed Sarah’s awakening and quickly left to notify the nurses. Within seconds a nurse came in, “Well welcome back”, she smiled speaking soothingly, “you were asleep for quite some time. It says here you were brought in with a serious concussion young lady.”


“Is my family here, ma’am?” Sarah squeaked, realizing how weak she was.


“Oh yes, your mother and your little sister insisted to stay here for the night, the rest of your family had to go home, I’ll be sure to get your family. Just sit tight” The nurse left the room smiling as she entered.


As promised, however, her mother came rushing in covering her with hugs, tears streaming down her face. “We almost lost you, if it wasn’t for Stacy and Nathan coming to help you, you would’ve just progressed the bleeding more… I’m so glad you’re okay.”


“You went almonds, way beyond nuts. You were screaming and thrashing and rolling all over the place until you bumped your head on the fireplace.” Stacy exclaimed. “The doctors say you’ll be ready to come home in a jiffy. You should really sleep off that craziness; it’s almost two in the morning.”


The nurse behind them agreed, “Sarah should really get some rest, we’ll talk tomorrow.” Sarah’s family obeyed as they waved goodbye sending Sarah through a wave of hugs, eventually leaving. The nurse shut off the television and instructed Sarah if she needed she could use the bedpan if she had to go. “…however, if you feel too embarrassed I’ll leave the bathroom door open a creak if you must use the lavatory instead.” Sarah nodded, as the nurse smiled and waved to her goodbye.


Sarah tried to let sleep come, but she couldn’t. She felt troubled trying to accept that everything that happened was just a dream. Attempting to sleep, however, she found herself gazing around the dim and dark room. The nurse had left the bathroom light on, so Sarah could see. As her eyes wandered toward the bathroom door, she saw in the crease of the doorway, a tall, black clothed woman in a tattered dress, grinning with an enormous smile.