She was dreaming. For the first time,
she had a dream that actually frightened her.

---

She was in an abandoned street, alone. She was dressed in the clothes she went to bed with that night, but she didn't feel cold standing in the open. The wind blew, the leaves on the empty street started crackling. She turned and turned, but she was still alone. She looked at her surroundings; amounts of trees surrounded the street. It was dark, but she could see thanks to the streetlights. She looked ahead of her, the street was long, it faded into the darkness. She kept her eyes on the road as she took small steps forward. After walking ten feet, she concentrated on an object far away. She stopped walking, she watched as the object neared her. A car, she thought. She waited patently for the car to near. As the car neared her, the streetlights it passed blacked out. She frowned, when she saw that it wasn't a car. It was a figure. Only meters away from her, the figure kept walking. As it walked, the streetlights continued to black out. The figure stopped two meters away from her. Slowly, the streetlight she stood under started fading until there was no light from it anymore. She thought about the figure she saw in the kitchen, it frightened her once more. Green; she saw again as the colour of the eyes. The warmth faded, and it was as cold as ice in the street.


"Happy 19th birthday, princess. It's already 7AM," the figure spoke.


She knew that the voice belonged to the shadow she saw in the kitchen.


"Who are you?" She whispered.


"Me?" A chuckle floated in the air. "You'll soon find out," he then breathed.


"Was it you in the kitchen?" She questioned with a more confident voice.


She wished to see the face of the shadow; she wanted to math the voice and green eyes with a face.


"It has always been me, Nicole," he informed her.


"What do you want from me?" She frowned.


"Didn't your parents tell you about the little game they played many years ago?" The shadow again chuckled.


She thought about the last fight her parents had, she knew what the shadow was talking about. Her body got colder, if that was even possible.


"It's impossible to summon Satan!" She told him in a strong voice. Her voice echoed through the empty street.


Her faith in God was strong. She would not allow anything to make her believe that God wouldn't protect her.


"And yet, here I am," the shadow spoke. He stepped closer to her, then stretched out his arm.


She looked at his arm as if it was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. His arm got closer to her, along with his body. Cold fingers brushed her shoulder, making her shiver. She huffed then turned her back to him.


"I'll be seeing you," she heard before she was awoken.

---

"Honey," her aunt's petite voice spoke to her.


She shot up from her bed with wide eyes. She asked herself what her dream meant and if she really saw a shadow the day before.


"Happy birthday princess," her aunt kissed her cheek. "Get ready, we're almost leaving," her aunt smiled at her before she left.


Confused and happy, she dragged her body out of bed. The nickname 'princess' was one she never liked, her mom called her that when she was a toddler and it grew on everyone. One's imagine can be wild, therefore she pushed her dream to the back of her mind. Though, she couldn't ignore what she saw the night before.

---

She dressed and did her hair after she finished in the bathroom. She then made the room she slept in's bed before joining her aunt and grandma in the kitchen for breakfast.

---

"Happy 19th birthday princess," her mother greeted her.

She smiled at her mother then walked to her father for a hug.


"Happy birthday," he whispered in her ear, followed by a heavy sigh.


She felt a hand press something against hers, and pulled away from her father to see what it was. There her mother stood with a set of keys. She frowned and looked from her mother to her father.

"Your house keys," her mother smiled.


She didn't know how she felt about moving out. Was it the fact that she was going to be living alone, or the fact that she had no one to take care of her anymore, that frightened her the most? She forced a smile for her parents' sake and took the keys from them.


"Thank you," she kissed them both.

"Why don't you have a look, hm? We'll meet you there tonight," her mother suggested.

She looked down at the set of keys and saw an address on a tag. She closed her hand around the keys then nodded at her parents.


"Alright,"

---

She pulled up in front of a house. It wasn't big, nor was it small. It looked about big enough for three people to live in. It was a cream colour with wide windows. Black gates guarded the yard. She looked down at the keys with a frown before she stepped out of her car. She made sure she locked it before she walked to the gate. Her index finger pressed the red button on the remote that was with the set of keys and the gate slowly rolled open. Flowers and green grass covered the yard. A big tree stood in front of the right wing of the house, a swing hung from it. She pressed the red button once more to close the gate, then smiled at the house in front of her.

"This is a new beginning," she whispered to herself. "This is the beginning of my life,"


She walked up to the steps of the house; a big wooden door greeted her. She searched for a key that matched the keyhole and succeeded by the third key she passed. Slowly, she stuck the key into the hole. With a gentle twist of the handle, the door cracked open. Behind the big wooden door, was a living room. A TV, coffee table and a sofa set was already there in the white painted room. Though she could tell that nothing was installed yet, for the TV was in a box and the coffee table and sofa set was still covered with plastic. She closed the door behind her then turned to her right where a small kitchen was. The kitchen was brown and white, a fridge stood next to the small island that was still covered with plastic. She saw a hall, similar to the one in her aunt's house. There were 5 doors in the hallway; 3 on the left and 2 on the right. She opened the first door, which was on her right. A small bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower was built inside of a light blue room. She closed the door then walked to the next door, which was on her left. The door revealed a tiny room. Probably only big enough for a child. There was nothing in the room except for a dresser. She left that door open, then walked to the second door on her left. The door revealed a study room, the same size as the first bedroom. A big wooden table and chair stood against one of the baby blue walls. She then inspected the last two rooms, which was bedrooms. The second last one was big. It had a perfect view of a swimming pool on the side of the house. The last bedroom was bigger than all of the rooms. It had a view of the backyard, where she saw a wendy. Big trees stood in the backyard, beautiful flowers covered the yard too. The backyard was big, it reminded her of her parents' backyard. In the room, was a queen size bed. The walls were a cream colour and the curtains too. A dresser was in the corner of the room next to a small couch. She then saw a door in the room. Behind the door was a bathroom. It was once again bigger than the other rooms, but smaller than the bedroom. It had a bathtub, a shower, two sinks and a toilet in. There was a big mirror in front of the sinks. The window also looked out to the swimming pool. She turned around with a smile. Her parents got her a lovely home. It was bigger than what she needed, but she was sure that the house might have been perfect in a few years from then. She walked down the hallway, making her way to the kitchen. As she turned a corner to enter the kitchen, someone walked behind the fridge. She froze in her steps, it was a male. Dressed in black jeans and a white t-shirt. The man moved fast, as if he knew she was there. She looked around her, searching for something to protect herself with. She saw her hockey set against the wall next to her, and softly pulled a hockey stick from the bag. Slowly, she walked towards the fridge with the hockey stick. As she reached where the male had been, he was gone. She searched the house, but couldn't find him. She then searched the yard, but yet again couldn't find him.

---

"Mom, there was someone in the house!" She threw her hands in the air.

"Honey, you're imagining things," her mother smiled at her.

Her parents came to her house only an hour after she saw an intruder, but they didn't believe her.


"There's cameras in the house," her father sighed.


She snapped her head towards him with hopeful eyes. Her father took her to the second last bedroom where a small TV stood. She wondered how she had missed it when she was in the room. He picked up a remote and scanned through the different camera locations. She noticed that there was cameras in the front yard, backyard, kitchen, living room, hall, and study room. They went through the tape over and over again. But there was no one. She watched herself on the tiny screen as she walked down the hallway. She watched as she froze, but there was nothing, just like her mother had told her. Nicole thought about her dream and what had happened the night before. Was it the shadow? But then again, every time she had seen the shadow, it was a shadow, not a human.

Notes