She could hear them. Behind the black and white walls of her bedroom, she could hear the dead. They were whispering about her, and everyone else in her small apartment. She knew well enough that it wasn't a dream, far from it. She wasn't imagining the grossome voices and terrible bloody cries. It was for real, just like all those other times. She tried to keep her eyes shut, as tight as she could. The blanket that was over her whole body, from head to toe, was making her sweaty. Her pj's were clinging to her figure, and her hands were gripping on the fabric of the bed sheets. The voices were getting louder and closer. It seemed like she was in this position since forever. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the living room was heard, and it was slowly being drowned out from the horrific cries from the dead.

"Saki. . ." they cried out for her, "Come play with us. . ."

Why was she hearing her name now? The voices of the ghosts were calling out to her. What could she do? Scream at them? Stay in the position she was in until dawn when they stopped? She couldn't simply ignore them. She was so terrified and confused. Ever since she had moved in, strange things have been happening.

She saw apparations on the walls and doors. She would usually hear heavey footsteps behind her or even on the ceiling. But always, she felt someone's presence and could sense that somebody was watching her. Always watching. In the long dark hallways, she felt an ominious arua and it was always cold. A couple times before, she had almost been killed. Objects were thrown at her, such as her heavey and dense math book. It had missed her head by a centimeter and instead it had hit the wall behind her and made a huge dent. And just a while ago, she had invited freinds over. They were having the same ominious feeling and had seen dark apparitions in the corners. Her friends were so scared that they would scream or shriek of every little sound they heard. The ghosts were having fun scaring her friends. Never again did they come back.

And ironically, this was the only floor that was haunted. The other attendents never complained or witnessed any of these paranormal events in the other floors. So why this one?

The voices suddenly stopped. All at once, they had just stopped. She waited and tried to strain her hearing. Maybe they were whispering among themselves. Or maybe they grew tired of trying to get her attention and decided to try again later. Saki gave out a small sigh and finally thought of getting some sleep. But she couldn't let go of the sheets. Something was telling her that there was someone, or something, in the room next to her bed who was dying for her to look up. But fear was controlling Saki's shaking form. She was too afraid of what she was going to see, even if she saw nothing. As much as she tried to force her eyes closed, they were slowly opening. She saw only darkness beneath the bedsheets and felt her hot breathe against her damp skin.

It was still quiet. Except for the clock. It ticked and it tocked, in a very slow rhythm. She was waiting for the voices to start a riot, like last time. But nothing happened. She waited, but didn't know for how long. Her fingers were trembling and hurting from holding the sheets too tight. Saki tried to loosened her fingers and she was painfully relieved. She finally noticed that all that time from holding the bed sheets, her knuckles had turned a very pale white that was plainly seen in the darkness. Her nail had dugged deep in the palm of her hand. Her breathing was starting to be more like panting for air.

Suddenly, she felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt cold hands on her neck and they were squeezing it with a strong hold. Her hands tried to get herself free from the strangling. Her eyes were bulging and rolled back. She couldn't scream, but her feet were kicking the invisible air and the blanket fell on the floor. She saw, for a slight second, a ghost. She didn't have the time to observe the whole face. But she knew that it was a very young girl, maybe eight, with hazel eyes. All of a sudden, she felt the room spinning and fainted. The strangling stopped and the voices spoke again. Although, she couldn't hear them in her deep slumber. The granfather chimed. It was midnight.

The very next morning, the voices had fallen asleep once the sun showed its' glorious presence in the bedroom. Saki stirred, and felt a cold chill down her chest that immediately forced her to sit up straight in a flash. She panted and wheezed, as cold sweat covered her body. The clothing was sticking to her as she tried to calm down. He head hung and she placed a hand on her forehead. Whatever happened the night before, was real. She knew that for certain. Then something caught her attention.

A strong scent of blood was coming somewhere. She stood up, but her legs wobbled and her knees buckled. She caught herself on the night table, and tried to walk. In the corner of her eye, in her white bedroom mirror, she saw red markings on her neck. They were small hands imprinted that showed up on her skin. But something else caught her eye. In the mirror, she saw someone passed by the door. She turned around but saw no one. She then heard giggling. It was a childish like mocking giggling. She stood there, stiff from fear. She came to conclusions that it could have been a child that tried to kill her last night.

"Come and play with me!" a small voice called. It souded like a little girl, but it sounded sad and afraid. "Please, play with me!" she called out again, "Play with me and my friends!"

The voice was starting to sound faint. It was moving away from her bedroom. Slowly, she walked out to her bedroom door and peered out. She found a trail of blood that led to the dining room. She heard the grandfather clock tick loudly and her feet shuffled against the hardwood floor. Again, the voices were speaking to her. All at once, various voices with various sayings were calling out to her. She tried to ignore them, but they gre louder as she got closer to the diningroom. There was a sudden screech that made her freeze and her head turned to the window next to her. Her eyes widen and her mouth let out a silent scream. Her legs were shaking and hands were trembling.

There, outside of the window, was a little girl of eight years old, hanged. She had a malicious smile and blood was dripping from where she was stabbed in the chest. Her smile widened, as well as her eyes, almost bulging out.

"Come play with me," the little girl said and raised her hand to touch the glass window, only to leave a bloody handprint. The voices continued, and soon, Saki was surrounded by small children. All of them were murdered and had the same sinister smile as the small girl.

"Wanna play a game?" one of them asked, "A game that will last forever!"

Saki was absolute terrified. She was paralyzed by fear. "A-A g-game?" she stuttered.

The children nodded and said in unsion, "Death!"

Hours had passed by, and someone finally found out about the ghastly voices of the murdered children. But, they were too late to save poor Saki. The dead shildren had chosen their victim, who was laying on the floor in the hallway. A pool of blood was under her pale dead body and various cuts were on her face. In her hand, was a peice of paper that was written with her own blood:

Play a game . . . play with us . . .for eternity . . . a haunting . . . a game of death. Just as we have . . .

END