--2--

I woke up that next morning to find my mom sitting next to me on the couch watching the news. She seemed as if she was trying to act in a play but had no previous acting lessons. I could see her body ridged with nerves. The TV kept talking about the demons, to not leave your house at night because of how bloodthirsty they were. They talked about the mass murders, the bodies found, the reports of what happened in the morning when daylight shone down on the earth and all the demons seemed to fall to the ground in a deep sleep and be pulled back under by the same holes they erupted from. They talked about them stealing clothes off peoples backs and how if they entered your house, they would turn to ash, but they would try to get in anyway. They talked about how mysterious they were, and why they were here. Conspiracy after conspiracy came out none to be proven. I sat up when I remembered.

"Mom where's Hallie?" Nerves rushed over my body.

"Her and your dad are safe, they're at the hospital and your sister is in stable condition." My mom's chin quivered, and tears welled up behind her eyes. "Cacy, your sister is going to need you more than ever now, you remember what happened?"

"That wasn't real was it? There's no way," my heart thundered in my ears. My mom began to cry. The mug she held in her hand quivered.

"Baby Girl it's going to be okay, your Dad remembered his military training stopped as much bleeding as he could he drove her to the hospital."

"How did they make it?" My hands started shaking.

"The demons don't like light, however they can survive bullets and if you're outside of your house or car they will harm you. If you invite them in they have free reign. Were only safe behind doors," she came over and hugged me the tightest she ever had.

That night was the first night where the demons showed up. They have shown up every night since then. Its been three years. No one is allowed out after dark anymore, because everyone knows if you are, your fair game. If you have to go out after night its usually for emergencies only or work. The military offers guarded car rides for these occasions. Work places now have closed car ports, if they don't they aren't open over night and the work is done at home online. Every night people who don't wear headphones or ear protection while they sleep might hear tapping, singing, crying, or screaming outside their windows. This is because they want in. It is now known a known fact around the world that if you invite them into your home they can survive, but no one is dumb enough too, and those who are have already been killed or taken. The demons haunt and hunt humans every night, some rumors speculate that if they pull you down with them to the center of the earth, then you become one of them.

Every night I do rounds around the house before the sunsets making sure that the windows and doors are all locked. After rounds I go to my sister's bedroom, usually by this time she is out of the shower and in her pjs sitting on the bed. I take her prosthetic and lean it against the bedside table and then go to brush her hair. This is our routine I brush her long blonde hair dyed black as she takes off her makeup. Everything remains except her dyed eyebrows.

"Do you want me to brush yours Cacy?" She says after all the tangles fall loose from her hair.

"Sure!" I give her a warm smile because I know she needs it. She scoots behind me as I move towards the edge of the bed. I face our mirrored sliding closet doors as she takes out my large unkempt bun. My face looks sunken and tiered even though I'm sixteen I feel like I'm much older.

"Your hair has grown so much." Her hands were shaking as they always do. "If you don't want to sleep here you can sleep in your room tonight I'm fine really!" I haven't slept in my own bed since the accident. If I do Hallie ends up in a panic.

"I'm fine love, I like sleeping with you. Its like a fun sleepover." She releases a breath of relief.

Whenever I chose to sleep in my room Hallie would end up with a horrible nightmare. She would knock off her headphones and scream for help which would wake up the whole family making us think something had busted into the house. So now I am always with her.

After she brushed my hair and made a long braid, I walked over to the desk chair and grabbed the headphones that are on the back of it. I put them over her ears and gave her a tight hug. After she's in bed I shower and do my routine making sure I never leave her alone. I got out of the shower and put on my dads old T-shirt and a pair of running shorts. I look at myself in the mirror and the bags under my eyes look as if they got two times darker. I hear tapping on the bathroom window. Its him. He sing songs my name and simultaneously scratches the window. Its the Demon that almost took my sister. He floats around our house and if I ever see him in the widows he always points at me and grins. I make sure Hallie is fast asleep before this happens. He hasn't stopped for three years. He's not here every night but when he is I know that I wont sleep well. I walk out of the bathroom ignoring his pleas even though its hard to get his voice out of my head. I see his large shadow outside the window behind the curtains. He presses his large hands on the window making the horror movie that the world is now resonate even more in my mind. I walk over to make sure the curtains are all the way shut so my sister won't see.

"Cacy?" I turn to face her. " Watch out!"

"What's up?" I looked at her face that was suddenly ridden with terror. "What?" Glass shards hit my back as a shattering sound floods my ears. I fall to the ground as something heavy hits my back. I see a brick laying beside me. I get up and spin around and as I do my briad flies out the broken window. My head gets yanked by my hair as I see a huge fist at the end of it. My sister is screaming, and I hear my parents burst into the room behind me. It's too late by then because the demon has pulled me out the window by my hair. My stomach gets sliced by the shattered window pane. It wraps its big hand around my neck and stares into my eyes. I look at its face and recognize it as the one who almost killed my sister.