Chapter 2

A soft tapping sound made Rosa snap out of her reading, and glance up. The tapping seemed to be coming from down the hall, in one of the bedroom. She ignored it, thinking it was just a tree tapping on a window. The tapping had continued for another five or ten minutes, before stopping. Silence filled the house, almost immediately, after it stopped. It wasn't a normal silence either, no it was a eerie silence. Rosa felt a chill go down her spine as she, slowly, put her book down and got up.

"Tim?" She called quietly down the hallway, only to get silence in return.

Rosa sighed and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, to help calm her nerves. Suddenly, a door slammed shut from down the hall, making her jump. She put the glass down, and grabbed a broom, heading down the hallway. She was halfway down the hall, the front door opened.

"I'm home!" Jonathan yelled, making Rosa jump.

Rosa walked back to the living room and looked at him. "Where you just tapping on the window?"

Jonathan shook his head. "No. Josh's parents dropped me off from the front."

"It must've been a tree branch." She said, sitting back on the couch.

"What was?"

"There was tapping on the window." Rosa said. Swatting the air, as if there was a fly.

Jonathan nodded, put his bag down, and sat on the chair next to the couch. "Where's the girl you and Dad were going to adopt?"

"Her and Tim went to get get the making for spaghetti. Her name's Josie and we'd appreciate it if you would be nice to her."

Jonathan nodded and leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. Rosa chuckled at him, and picked up her book, went back to reading. After another few minutes of reading, the tapping began again, this time though, much louder and seemingly closer. Rosa ignored it, putting it off as a tree and went back to reading.

"We're home!" Tim called, walking inside with Josie right behind him, carrying a small bag.

"Welcome back," Rosa turned her head, and looked at Josie, seeing the bag, and an old looking doll. "What's that sweetie?"

"This is Mariam, I forgot her at the orphanage so Tim said that we could go back and get her." Josie said, smiling, holding the doll close.

"You want to help me cook?" Tim asked over his shoulder, as he started taking the contents out of the bags, and putting them on the table.

Josie shook his head, walking up to Jonathan. When she got next to him she poked him, earning nothing but a snore from the teenaged boy, making Rosa chuckle. Josie tried again and again, until he finally sat up, looking around.

"My names Josie, do you want to come play with me and Mariam?" Josie asked holding the doll towards him.

"Sure." Jonathan responded, glancing around, before standing up and stretching, then followed her to her room.

Rosa stood up and went into the kitchen. "Hey Tim?"

"Yeah?" Tim looked at her.

"How was the store?" Rosa asked.

"It was...something." Tim said, going back to focusing on what he was doing.

"Did something happen?"

"Not at the store, after we picked up the doll, Josie started talking to it."

Rosa chuckled. "She's a little girl. She's gonna talk to her toys."

Tim shook his head. "It wasn't normal talk that a five year old should be doing. It was creepy."

"How so?"

"She talked to it, like it was a person." Tim said, putting the water filled pot on the stove, and turning it on to let it boil.

Rosa sighed. "You'll get used to that. Her imagination is a little wild right now, and she probably feels lonely right now."

Tim nodded and kissed her head. "Yeah. Thanks honey."

"No problem." Rosa said, washing her hands, and helping her husband cook.