Chapter One: Family And Ghosts

"Grab on!"

A hand reached out, the surrounding area was loud, with everything happening at once. Or at least it seemed like that.

"We're going to make it!"

The voice reassured the person who heard it. Before the person listening could reach up and grab the hand the floor under him cracked and started to collapse in on itself.

"Eagle!"

The voice screamed desperately, reaching down further to grab him.

But it was too late, their hands slipped past each other. And the man who was shouting, who the man falling now realised was in a helicopter, had no choice but to pull away, leaving the man falling with a collapsing building around him.

…

A man's eyes open with a start, his sky blue eyes widening, feeling an arm around his chest, his body tensing at the feeling. Before he relaxed remembering where he was.

A woman's voice comes from behind him. "Bad dream?" she asks groggily. Leaning up to look at his face as he sits up.

"Something like that." He said ambiguously. He then smiled and leaned down and peppered a kiss on the woman's face. "Good morning."

She smiled at that loving tone of voice, now sitting up as well as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He knew that intense look in her eyes, and leaned in towards her.

But before they could continue their bedroom door was swung open. And standing there at just above three feet was a small female child. "Eeww, mommy and daddy are kissing!" she exclaimed comically pointing at them.

The man smirked as he adjusted his arms to now be rested around the woman's waist as he pulled her closer. "That's right, and I'm going to get all the kisses so there's none for you!"

Pulling her closer he kissed her cheek while falling back onto the bed, making the woman fall back with him while letting out a laugh.

The little girl let out a gasp of shock, as she looked at her dad and started to put kisses on her mom. "No! I want kisses too!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and climbing up the bed.

She fell in between the two, putting all her weight on them to separate them, which wasn't much to either of them, but it was funny to see her trying.

The man slipped away from them to give his daughter the win on this one.

With a kiss from her Mam the little girl grew a smile so bright and sweet the man wished he had photographic memory to save this moment forever. "See, i got a kiss as well." she said smugly, although it came out as childish, since she was a child.

The man laughed as he took his daughter in his arms to give his wife time to sit up, with his daughter not complaining about being moved. "I guess you win this time, Joyce." and with a kiss on her cheek from him he let her down when she started to squirm out of his hold.

"Mommy, daddy, come on! I don't want to be late for school!" and with that final announcement Joyce, their wonderful daughter, ran out of the room.

She had only recently started school, and did not want to go at first but once she made friends she wanted to go to school everyday. And then a few months before that, she got her own room, it still took him a while getting used to not waking up and seeing Joyce asleep in her crib beside the bed.

"She's growing up too fast." the man said sadly. He knew she would grow up eventually, but it just seemed too soon.

His wife just laughed at that, while she got clothes out of the closet for both of them. "She's not even that old yet. She's only just started school." His wife reminded him.

The man sighed. "I know. It's just… it seemed like yesterday when she was just this fragile little baby in my arms."

He could still remember being in the hospital in the room with his wife who was giving birth. He swears if she had even a little bit more muscle in her during that day, then he wouldn't even have a hand at the moment.

Before he even knew it, his wife was behind him,arms around his neck and head on his shoulder. With her relaxing against him, and him leaning back to her, just enjoying the moment. "You need to stop stressing, your hair will go grey if you keep at it, Kaeden." his wife warned him jokingly.

He let out a huff of laughter at that. "Who's to say that I'm not already grey, and hiding it with a wig, Eve." he joked back at her, before her hand went up to his head and gave a light tug.

"Seems real to me." she said assuringly.

Kaeden just smirked. "It's just glued down really good is all." He said sarcastically.

Eve just huffed a laugh at that before she started to change into her clothes, semi-formal clothes for her. Eve worked less hours then he did so that she could get their daughter from school and look after her. The only reason she even had a job was because she couldn't stand not working.

Meanwhile Kaeden was a finance manager. He had good hours for his job, and had a good reputation in his company.

When Kaeden finally got out of the bedroom, both his wife and daughter were getting food. Joyce was eating her cereal, while Eve was getting food for herself from the presses.

He walked over to the presses as well and got out bread, butter before getting ham to make himself a sandwich.

While he was making it, and Eve was sitting at the counter eating her food as well, Joyce looked at him with her big eyes with a look that meant she wanted something from him. "Daddy?"

"Yes sweetheart?" Kaeden asked, he already knew he wouldn't be able to say no.

"Can we go out later to play?" She asked.

"What about your mom?" Eve asked, faking hurt.

Joyce looked shocked at that before fixing her question. "Mommy! You can come with us as well!"

Eve smiled as she hugged Joyce tightly. "Good. I don't know what I would do if you weren't with me."

Kaeden smiled at the image in front of him. The two most important people in his life in front of him, they were the only thing he would ever need in his life.

"I wouldn't know what to do without the both of you either." Kaeden said, meaning the words which his wife knew full well while his daughter was just loving the moment. "And of course sweety, all of us will go to the park later. We'll have a picnic together."

"You promise?" Joyce asked with her big eyes that he could never say no to.

Kaeden could only go around the table and kneel down to her height. "Of course. I promise." He put his pinky finger out and did the same with Joyce's hand as well, before linking them together. "This means I can't break my promise, it's called a pinky promise. And so, I promise that when daddy finishes his work all of us will go to the park for a picnic, as a family." He promised her, with a kind smile on his face.

Joyce smiled one of her brilliant smiles that always lit up his heart and threw her hands around his neck in a tight hug. With Eve joining in from behind Joyce, and Kaeden wrapping his arms around Eve. "Family hug!" Joyce shouted joyfully.

Breaking them out of the loving family out of their peaceful moment an alarm rang from his phone, making Kaeden regretfully pull away from the group hug. "Well, I guess that's me."

He turned off the alarm before grabbing his laptop case with everything he needed for work in it as he headed towards the door.

"See you later, daddy!" Joyce shouts a goodbye to him.

And Eve was walking with him to the door, giving him a kiss before he left.

And after that he went to work. It was difficult at the start, but after getting used to it's nothing but a breeze now.

…

After a few hours Joyce and Eve get back home.

Joyce immediately set up at the kitchen table to do her homework, which was only writing out letters between lines and practicing some simple words.

While Eve started to make both of them lunch, knowing that although Joyce wasn't hungry now she would be soon.

"Will daddy be home soon?" Joyce asked, taking a break from her homework.

"He'll be home soon, in an hour." Eve says to Joyce. "But we won't be able to go to the park if you don't do your homework." Eve tells her daughter, making Joyce gasp at that and start doing her homework again.

A notification pops up on Eve's phone, and when she checks it she sees it's from the security system, opening the app she watches the camera but doesn't see anything, and just guesses it was a bird.

Then as Eve places the small triangle sandwiches in front of Joyce she sees something dark move from the corner of her eye.

Going over to the window though, she didn't see anything other than their back garden.

But it still made her a little cautious, if one of them had happened and the other didn't, she could pass it off as paranoia or the cameras seeing a bird. But it happening twice definitely wasn't normal, and wasn't a coincidence.

"Hey, sweetie." Eve said, getting Joyce's attention. "Go to the toilet, you haven't gone since you got home." Eve said calmly.

Joyce was about to deny it, but decided against it and just listened to her mom.

Hopping down from the chair and skipping towards the bathroom, before closing the door behind her, but not locking it as she couldn't reach the lock and even if she could, she would be afraid of not being able to get out.

Even if Eve was being paranoid she couldn't help it, she was always like that. Her instincts were telling her something wasn't right, and even Kaeden agreed that listening to your instincts was good if you thought something was wrong.

So, Eve subtly picked up a knife she used to make the sandwich, before going to the bathroom door and locking it from the outside, before taking the key and putting it in her pocket.

But after standing around for half a minute and nothing happening, she realised it was just her being paranoid. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, only now realising how fast her heart was beating.

But when she did so, she heard the floor creak. She wasn't moving, so it couldn't be her. Joyce was in the bathroom where the floor was tiles, so it wasn't her. And the floor didn't freak unless pressure was out on it.

There was someone in her house.

Moving past the bathroom again, she made her way slowly towards the kitchen, ready to take down any person who thought they could rob her house.

But she didn't even make it to the kitchen before a hand covered her mouth and a knife was shoved into her side slowly and painfully.

Eve couldn't even scream, only letting out a gasp and a whimper as she found it suddenly difficult to breathe.

And then a voice whispered into her right ear. "Now, I wonder when the father is getting home."