CHAPTER 1. an unknown sense

It's Friday, August 16, 2024.

We are greeted with our main character, a young girl named Ashley. She sits on her bed reading a book, the light from the sun slowly going away as it sets. Ashley finishes the book, gets up, and walks over to her bookshelf to put the book back when she hears something.

"Honey, come down. It's time for dinner," her father says from downstairs, catching her attention. She runs downstairs and goes to sit at the dinner table, excited to see what her father made for dinner. But something is off—the chair her mom usually sits in is empty. It's normally filled with her mom complaining about work and how she can't stand her boss.

"Where is Mommy?" Ashley asks with a confused look on her face as she turns to her father. Her father freezes for a while like he's seen a ghost, but he quickly calms himself, taking a deep breath before speaking.

"Mommy went on a business trip. She won't be here for a while," he says with a smile but with a look of worry like he is lying. Ashley sees this but gets off the topic because she thinks it will stress her father. Her deep thought is interrupted by a plate being placed in front of her with chicken Alfredo on it and a glass of juice beside it. But something is off about the juice—some little things float around in it. Not thinking anything of it, Ashley shrugs and starts to eat.

"Slow down, sweetie," her father says with a little chuckle at the end as he watches her eat.

After she finishes eating, she goes up to her room and lies down. Not feeling tired yet, she decides to watch a movie on her TV. She grabs the remote next to her bed on the counter and turns on a movie. She laughs and enjoys the movie until she feels a little weird, as if her body is going numb. She soon realizes her body has gone paralyzed and she can't move. She tries multiple times until she hears a sound. Thinking it's her dad, she closes her eyes to pretend to sleep, but little does she know it isn't her dad because the sounds she hears are growling and heavy breathing.

Realizing it isn't her dad, she opens one eye a little to see who or what it is. She freezes in horror as she sees eyes coming from her pitch-black closet and fingers grabbing onto the edge of the doors. She closes her eyes and pretends not to see it and stays this way until she falls asleep.

In the morning, she wakes up breathing heavily and sweat dripping down her face. She is scared, thinking of the thing or creature she saw in her closet at night. She gets up and runs to her closet and opens it, but the only things in there are her clothes and shoes. She searches around the closet and grabs clothes to change into. Suddenly, she hears the door open. Still a bit jumpy, she grabs a vase on the TV stand and throws it at whatever opened her door.

"Woah, hey, calm down. Sorry, I should have knocked," her father says as he catches the vase she threw at him. Ashley calms down when she sees it is her father.

"Sorry, I'm just a little jumpy from last night," she says, rubbing her arm and walking towards him.

"Hey, it's fine. What's wrong?" her father says as he rubs her head, trying to understand the situation.

TO BE CONTINUED