The silence scared her. Her body started to shiver in fear, her mind wandering into dark thoughts. She was alone in a strange world. Darkness and decay creeping in every corner. Her breath formed into steam, though it was not cold. She pulled back her auburn hair and tied it back. She stumbled in the darkness, and started to hear voices. She walked closer and closer to the source of the voices, growling and scraping could be heard, which made her edgy.

"Cheryl...cheryl...cheryl..." the voices chanted in a whisper. She stood there dazed, watching a small light appear in front of her. She hesitantly reached for it, her hands were shaking. It was further than she thought, she walked a little further. More of the decaying world around her revealed itself. Claws and bloody hands reached for her as she walked, so she began running. Their moans pumped through her body as adrenaline, the chanting whispers became louder.

"Cheryl!...Cheryl!" the girl closed her eyes. She tried to scream but her voice remained silent. Only three words escaped

"I'm not Cheryl!" when she opened her eyes again she stopped. A woman and child stood side by side, silhouetted in the light. The child looked up at the woman and the woman looked down, nodding slowly. They let go of each others hands and the child walked toward her, her body started to burn, bright flames engulfing her body. Her dark brown hair looking oddly familiar. Her face started to melt away, chunks of flesh falling to the ground. The girl grinned a evil grin at her, holding her arms out.

"Bring me home Bella, I want my mommy" Bella backed away, the light from the flames revealed nightmarish creatures, coming closer and closer toward her. She fell backwards, scraping her hands on the rusted metal and she watched the creatures crowd her. Her body was frozen and they all came in for the attack at once.

"TAKE ME BACK!" the child yelled.

"AH!" Bella shot up, cold sweat rolling down her neck, her hair sticking to it. She caught her breath and rubbed her eyes. She looked at the streaks of sunlight hitting the floor, it was morning. She had made it through the night. She crawled weakly out of the bed and wiped some sweat from her face with her hand, she walked across the hall into the small bathroom, the smell of fresh dry wall and a hint of something else caught her attention like it had every morning since she moved to the small apartment. She opened the bathroom door and once again looked at the bright tiles that covered the wall. Some more dull than others, but she found it odd all the new tiles formed what seemed like a circle. She removed her clothes and turned the shower on, slowly stepping in, the warm water felt good against her tense body. She sighed and stood under the water for a while before washing and dressing. She heard her cell phone ring in the living room and walked out, looking at the caller ID and smiled.

"Cheryl? Where are you? You're almost here? I'm not quite ready yet...alright...yeah...see you soon...bye" she closed the phone and set it down. She went to the kitchen and searched through her almost bare fridge. She found a half drunk bottle of water and took a few gulps. She looked in the freezer for any kind of food, hardly. She sighed and closed it. She plopped on the couch and set her feet on the coffee table. Most of the furniture was there before she moved in, the previous owners let her keep it, and some of the furniture from next door too. The couple had seperate apartments before hooking up and moving in together. They came back once in a while to visit, which was who she was originally expecting to come today. There was a loud knock at the door, ella shot up and ran to the door. She clicked the lock and opened it, the dark haired girl standing at her door perked up when the door swung open.

"Bella!" she rushed in and hugged her best friend, "your all wet"

"I just got out of the shower, go ahead and make yourself comfortable, although I don't have much to drink or eat right now"

"We just have to wait for the other two right?"

"Yeah, they should be here in an hour or so," Bella straightened up some things and set them in her room, out of sight.

"I told you that you could stay with me, this place looks so depressing, don't you think"

"I think it's comfortable, it's big enough for me, that way my parents can't stay over" she chuckled. Cheryl stood next to the window and stretched.

"I guess the view is alright, it's better than the brick building blocking my window"

"And that's why I don't want to stay with you. That smelly building next to your's should be torn down" Cheryl chuckled at her comment.

"Different strokes for different folks I guess, did you get cable hooked up yet?"

"No but there should be a few channels on that" Bella went back to her bedroom, searching for a purse to use. Cheryl picked up the remote and sat on the couch, pressing the power button. There was just static at first, but the TV adjusted and a picture came up. It was a dark picture and the noise was hardly audible. She tried to change the channel but the television stayed the same, the picture was slowly becoming clearer, she could make out a head and shoulders, the static sound was getting louder and words were starting to form. Cheryl checked the batteries, making sure there were any in there, two new batteries rested in the back. She slowly looked back up, hearing whispers.

"Baby...come back to daddy, I miss you Cheryl..." her eyes grew wide, a blurry picture came into focus.

"D-dad?"