10 Chapter Nine.

“Aaahhh!”

Jake woke up, his heart racing and eyes bulging out, he was full of fear. He looked down and his hands were shaking. Panting heavily and covered in sweat, he sat up immediately and stared to the corner in which the Demon had killed him, there was nothing there, no Demon and no blood. He looked around the room while pressing his palm on the one side of his neck to see if it was actually still intact. He calmed down for a bit and quickly glanced beside him. Hailey was laying next to him in the bed and a loud storm seemed to have started in the middle of night.

“It was a dream, you’re fine. It was only just a dream” He mumbled to himself as his heart rate started to settle even more.

He took deep breathes and pinched himself just make sure he was actually awake this time. He got out of his bed and walked towards the window. The sound of the rain pattering on the window seemed to relax him even more. He stood there for several minutes thinking about the dream, thinking about the video on his phone and what his mom showed him, he did not seem to understand what was real and what was not, he could not tell the difference between the dream and reality as he was struggling to remember when he actually went to bed and how. It was all muddling to him, and it worried him a bit. But he also did not want to wake Hailey up and ask her what happened and when they actually went to bed, so he continued to stand at the window and just take a bit of a breather.

Jake Stared into the road outside and he noticed something a bit odd. On the other side of the road, he could see someone standing there, staring directly towards their house. He couldn’t make out who it was because of the rain and the fact that the person seemed to be standing a bit far from the house didn't help either.

“Jake, what are you doing?” Hailey said in a sleepy voice with half open eyes.

“There’s someone staring at the house.” He responded as he turned around to look at Hailey.

He turned back to look at the person outside but there was no one there, he looked to the left and the right of the street to see if they had walked of or not but there was nothing. It was almost as if they had just disappeared into thin air.

“what are you talking about, just come to bed Jake it’s really late.” Hailed mumbled once again with sleep taking over.

“Okay” He responded.

He slowly stepped away from the window as he tried to look again if the figure was still standing across the road, but there was nothing there. He got back into bed and cuddled behind Hailey. It only took Hailey a few second before she was fast asleep in his arms. Jake stayed up though. Still trying to figure out what just happened. He was confused and felt like he was being watched by someone. But who though?

“Could that have been Dad standing across the road” he though to himself.

He eventually let go of the whole situation and went to sleep.

It was 07:00am and Jake was fast asleep. He was however awoken by Hailey who was gently brushing her fingers along his back.

“Oh, I really didn’t mean to wake up” she said to him as she stared into his heavy eyes that were still filled with sleep.

“Good morning to you too” Jake said to her in a deep and sleepy voice.

“I know you’re the early bird between the both of us but geez, is it not too early?” Jake asked her, still struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Uhg come on, it’s Monday. It the start our long summer break and you’re moving in today, so many things to be excited for.” She said with a big smile on her face as she brushed her fingers through jakes long hair.

“Yay.” Jake said ironically, as he tried to head back to sleep.

“And I called my mother this morning. I told her I’ll be spending the week with you guys.”

Jake got up with excitement shooting through his eyes.

“Really, like are you being serious right now?” he said, excited as ever.

Jake hugged her so tight that she could hardly breathe.

“okay, okay. Calm down tough guy.” She said to him as she so desperately tried to breathe. “I’ll just have to talk to your mom about it before I actually tag along with you guys, and then quickly go home to get some extra clothes, so I'll see you in about an hour?” She said to him.

“Yeah sure, I think you’ll find my mom in the kitchen making breakfast or something” he responded.

“Okay no problem.” she gave Jake a kiss and started making her way out. She stopped at Jakes door and leaned against the wall as she turned around to face him.

“Oh, and Jake.”

“Yeah?” He responded.

“I Love you” she said as he looked down and started twirling her foot on the floor.

“I Love you too” he said, as he smiled at her.

Hailey went downstairs to look for Diane and she found her making breakfast just as Jake had said to her. She asked her if she could stay with them for the first week of the move. Seeing that schools were closed for their summer break, Diane thought it would be a wonderful idea. Hailey rushed home to take a shower and pack a few things for the upcoming week,

Still in his room, Jake laid in his bed with his arms behind his head, and as he was facing the ceiling, he thought about what could have possibly happened last night. He thought of the video he took and quickly grabbed his phone to try figure out what was real about last night and what was not. He opened the video and started watching it. He looked at the corner window of the house to see if he could see anything. But there was nothing there, he scratched his head in confusion. He was confident that all of that actually happened.

“oh well, it really must’ve been a dream then.” He said to himself as he got out of his bed.

Jake went downstairs to find his mother cooking in the kitchen.

“Good morning Mr. I hope you slept well.” Diane said to him with a wide smile on her face.

“Something like that.” He responded with a blank look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Diane asked him as she dished up some food on his plate.

Jake explained the dream he had to his mom, and more.

“I don’t know, I just had some crazy nightmare last night and it is really starting to bother me. I actually don’t remember going to bed. I do not know what was real and what was not. the only thing that I can say was real is some person who was standing outside across the road last night. It almost seemed like they were watching us. Which sounds a bit ridiculous to be honest. I mean who would stand in the road at 02:00am in the middle of the night. I turned around for a second and suddenly they were gone. Like they just disappeared into thin air. And obviously that girl or demon wasn’t real either, otherwise I’d be dead by now.” Jake said as he took a sip of the coffee his mom had just handed to him.

“Jake, who was outside last night?” she asked him, slightly concerned.

“I do not know I could not tell. Honestly, it just looked like a shadow, it was dark, and the rain did not help either.” He said to his mom.

“A part of what you told me is true though.”

“What do you mean?” Jake responded as he looked at his mother.

“You bursting into my room, that actually happened and oddly enough I was on my laptop, we spoke for a while and I showed you the cctv footage and then you left. There was a shadow in the footage, you can go have a look if you want. It really freaked me out Jake, a lot. You did however seem to be half asleep. I actually did not know if you were sleep walking or if you were actually awake because you’d just go mute and blank for few seconds, which was a bit strange because I’ve never seen you do that before. The first part of your story is true then you passed out on my bed for a few minutes. once you got up you did not even say a word you literally just left and went to bed.”

“So, you’re telling me that the shadow in the cctv footage is real?” Jake said as he jumped up in pure shock.

He rushed to his mother’s room and grabbed her laptop. Jakes heart started racing as he was anxious to actually see what was on that tape but at the same time, he was terrified. He did not know what to feel, but he watched the footage anyways. Every single detail about it was exactly the same. The shadow in the one corner and it suddenly moving to the other. His heart sunk and confusion started drowning his mind. But something caught his attention about the footage, the shadow that he saw in the tape seems to be the exact same one as he saw outside last night. the shape of the figure and height seemed to be identical and a part of him seemed to sense that he knew the hidden figure, he just did not know who.

He grabbed the laptop and went to the kitchen to show his mother. He thought that maybe she might have a better clue as to who it may be.

“Mom” he said to her as he put her laptop on the kitchen counter. “remember I said something about seeing a shadow or a human figure standing outside across the street last night?”

“Yes?” she responded. She stopped washing the dishes and dried her wet hands with her pants as she walked towards him.

“This is the exact same shadow.” He pointed to the figure in the screen of her laptop. “do you think you may know who it is by any chance? Something about the height and shape seems familiar to me I just can’t put a finger on it.”

“Jake, just as I said last night, that looks like Hailey to me.”

“How mom? It can’t be Hailey because on both nights I was with her. She was in my bed when I saw the person standing outside, and when I turned around to look at Hailey and looked back outside, that person was gone. So how could it be Hailey?” he answered.

“You have a fair point. Look we don’t have time to try figure this out okay, we have to meet with the agent at the house just now and Hailey is going to be here any moment from now. Oh, and Jake.”

“Yeah?”

“Do not mention to any of this to her please. Not until we actually figure out what is going on okay?”