AN: Hey guys! This is a new story I've been working on. It's more horror themed and I had lots of fun starting it.

So just some shameless advertising, I've recently started up a account and I'm looking for pledges to help fund my various projects. I really want to be able to take the time off work and focus on producing more writing for you and myself. The fundraising is just icing on top of the wonderful cake I get from writing for you guys! I just need a little help to get things rolling along.

My is this username: mhae, but if you can't find me, go on 's website and add /mhae onto the end

The amount you pledge or donate is entirely up to you and I am appreciative of every bit. will also allow me to have a more intimate interactions between us, so come leave me a message! I would love to get to know you. Every pledge or donation (regardless of size) helps a lot!

Cheers,

Hae

Prologue

"And the mouse went to sleep, quiet and sound," my mother said softly as she closed the small story book. It was the same one she had read to me a few nights ago - I wanted to remind her - but I was too captivated by her voice to do so.

She pulled the covers tightly around me, making sure I was tucked in. I could smell her shampoo, a sweet lavender scent, faded from the day. My mother had a tired face. Even so, her eyes twinkled as though they were trying to keep them from smiling. Her lips were a paler colour. She had lost some weight lately, attributing it to her lack of sleep. She was beautiful though. The most beautiful woman to this eight year old and I wanted to remember her. I'm not too sure why, but that night, I did not want her to leave.

"Mommy," I said quietly, "Can you sleep here tonight?"

I closed my eyes as she planted a soft kiss on my forehead. Her soft hair tickled my cheeks as they hung from her face. I looked at her with my pleading eyes. I was scared. For absolutely no reason at all. I was scared.

I was eight, I knew fully that there was no monster in the closet or under my bed. I knew that the Tooth Fairy was my mother and that the real monsters are people who lurked in the streets looking to kidnap children. I didn't want to tell my mother, but I also knew that Santa was really my father dressed up. And of course, I knew that the things that go bump at night are nothing more than my imagination gone rampant.

So why was I so scared?

"Honey, I have to go back to my room," my mother answered softly, "You're a big girl now."

I frowned, hoping that my sadness would prompt her to make an exception to this whole big girl ordeal. Poking my arm out from under my covers, I nudged her gently. She patted my hand and placed it back under the covers.

"Come on now, I love you," she said as she tried to comfort me.

I answered her, "To the moon and back."

She poked my nose softly with her slender index finger.

"To the moon and back," she agreed.

I giggled and made a boop sound when I gently tapped her nose with my index finger in return. A pale porcelain doll sitting in my mother's rocking chair caught my attention. It looked beautiful, almost eerie. I had never seen this doll before. It garbed a beautiful white dress with blue laces, much like the one that father had bought me last week. Her long plastic curly blonde hair framed her face. Her crystal blue eyes stared blankly in the dark.

"Mommy," I said as I struggled out of my covers again, "Why is that doll in here?"

"Calliope," my mother said over her shoulder, her voice suddenly sounded colder. Her face was hidden by the shadows.

This wasn't my mother.

"She's here to make sure you stay in bed dear. No matter what. Be a good girl and stay in bed."

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up hearing blood curdling screams from my parents' bedroom. I got out of bed and crept to the door and peered out into the darkness. I looked towards my parents' room for the comfort of my mother when suddenly I felt wet hands grab my shoulders from behind. I was spun around and came face to face with a deranged woman taking form of my mother.

"I...told...you…" she panted those words, "To stay in bed!"

I shrugged her off violently and dashed back into the room, scared of my own mother. There was blood on her hands, likely my father's. Breaking the one rule that my parents had in the house, I locked the bedroom door and hid under my bed. I didn't dare to move until the air filled with flashing lights and sirens. I held my breath as my door was kicked down by an officer clad in black. He tried to coax me out from under the bed, but I was reluctant.

The doll was no longer looking into space. It stared directly at me as I got out from under the bed. I must have ran into it when I dashed in. The officer picked me up in his arms and carried me out to the front because my legs were unwilling to walk.

"This news team is here reporting the recent murder that rocked our small town in Newport. A wife, a mother, called the police to surrender herself after brutally slaying her husband of 10 years. This seemingly loving family torn apart by this act of atrocity. But things may not have been so picture perfect for this family. It seems that the husband was an alcoholic who frequently beat his wife. Ligature marks and bruising on the wife's body seem to support these accusations...," the news anchor paused as she caught sight of me wrapped up in an emergency blanket provided by the paramedics and the police. The woman uncomfortably gestured for the cameraman to stop filming as she turned and took a small step towards me. She got down on one knee to meet my eyes. She offered her hand to me.

"I'm Meredith," she said quietly over the roar of sirens. The flashing lights painted her and my skin blue and red.

"I'm sorry honey," Meredith continued, "That this happened to you."

The older woman rubbed my shoulder before standing back up and gesturing an officer to come by. I could see the faint wrinkles in the corner of her eyes starting to form. They reminded me of my mother. I stared at her as the officer ushered me away into a police car. She stared back as the car slowly pulled away.

That was 20 years ago...