2 Chapter 2

About twenty minutes later, we arrive at a small two story house. The doors are red, quite different from the muted blue paint. A tall woman with blond hair, Aaron's mother, opens the door and ushers us inside, rambling about the dark and how we could've gotten run over by a car.

"Hello, Shira! How are you today?" Aaron's mother asks, running over to the closet and handing me a sweatshirt which I put on.

"I'm good!" I smile, teeth chattering from the cold.

"Are you spending the night?" She asks, going into the kitchen to take the whistling tea off the stove.

"Yes, if that's okay?"

"Of course, sweetie! Mitchell, Laura, would you like some tea before bed?" Aaron's mother yells down the basement stairs at her other children. A boy with dark bangs that cover his big, black eyes, Mitchell, runs up the stairs and past his mother, sitting down at the granite counter on a cushioned stool, his short, pale legs bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Laura doesn't want any," Mitchell says in a small, high pitched voice.

"Thank you for telling me," his mother says with a warm smile. "Shira, sweetie, Aaron's in the living room, if you would please bring this over." she hands me two mugs of scalding tea and I take them by the tips of my fingers, thank the kind young woman, and walk as fast as I can to the living room without spilling the burning hot water all over my hands. I put down his glass in front of Aaron, who is cuddled up under a blanket on the couch, watching cartoons.

"Thanks," he says gratefully, grabbing the tea and putting it up to his lips. Once the liquid touches his tongue, he quickly sets down the mug, a bit spilling over the rim, and opens his mouth, hissing.

So there he is, hissing and laughing and shaking his hand like a fan over his mouth. I stare at him and chuckle, shaking my head, disappointed.

We watch cartoons for a while, and a little while in, a pointed-faced, serious looking little girl by the name of Laura comes to sit with us. She watches cartoons with us for some time, then leaves with an annoyed look on her face when her mother comes in, telling her that it was time to go to bed. After that, Aaron and I continue watching, turning down the volume substantially as to not wake up the twins or his mother, who is also sleeping. After the sky had grown pitch black and the only sound heard outside was crickets, I stood up, grabbing the remote.

"Let's watch the news!" I whisper.

"Seriously?" Aaron asks, laughing.

"Yeah! I wasn't joking!"

"But what if there's something that'll give us nightmares?" Aaron says, not laughing anymore.

"Oh, come on! Just a bit! I listen to the news every night, it's really not that scary, usually," I say reassuringly. "You'll be okay." Aaron groans, but nods his head and I switch the channel to the news.

The news is quite boring tonight. Something about an animal escaping a zoo in another state, and then a hurricane warning in Florida. By midnight, something comes up.

"There was a murder at Limmys bar an hour ago. Bartender Phil Tregner found dead. Weapon has not been discovered yet, as it seems that no blood was shed," the news reporter says with a straight face. Aaron looks at me with pure fear in his eyes. I look back at him worriedly. Phil was dead? Murder at the exact same bar we were at just hours before? Nobody else in the bar when the police arrived? It just didn't make any sense.

"Can we turn off the news?" Aaron asks, his voice about five octaves higher than usual. I nod my head quickly and he pushed the power button, and the entire room is pitch black without the light of the television. I can't even see my hand in front of my face. I hear Aaron whimper, and I reach out my hand and squeeze his. He relaxes and exhales loudly.

But the breath gets held again when we hear the door creak open.