Night black as coal rose upon the city, the clouds formed of thick mist covered all of the stars, it was cold too not to mention scary. "Where are the stars mommy?" Tabby asked, "Did the monsters eat them?" she continued. Her mother, Pamela looked at her and gently replied, "There is no such thing as monsters Tabitha, there is nothing to be afraid of, you are safe to go to sleep you will need it for the big day", the girl just stared at her mother for a while her mother was tucking her to bed but then she decided to break the silence and said "But mommy I am not afraid of monsters they are my friends", at which Pamela laughed as she found the child's imagination adorable but Tabby noticed this and struck up a conversation.

"Why are you laughing mommy, don't you believe me?"

"Oh sweetie off course i believe you, will you say hi to your friends for me?"

"Why are you lying mommy, don't you know I can tell when you are lying?"

"Young lady that's enough, this is no way to talk to your mother!"

"Why are you yelling Pamela, you are not even my real mommy?"

"What... How?" she responded and burst into tears

"Why are you crying, I told you I can tell when you are lying I've always known"

Without a word Pamela turned around and walked out of her daughter's room, locking the door behind her. Suppressing her tears she walked to the living room where her husband, Gordon, and their other daughter Sarah were playing. "What's wrong honey," Gordon asked, she didn't answer and she pointed to Sarah to go to bed. Once the girl left she rested her head on her husband's shoulder and let her tears run and she said:

"She knows"

"what does she know?"

"She knows we adopted her."

"What! How?"

" She says that she can sense when I'm lying, whatever that means, and she also says monsters are her friends"

"Oh honey she is just a child her imagination is probably running wild and she probably heard it from somewhere or maybe she found some documents."

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing she will always be our child, this changes nothing and besides she has probably known for a while."

"I don't know if I can keep this up, she has been scaring me lately"

"It will be all right darling, I know it"

But the entire conversation was overheard by Sarah, who hid behind the corner, listening to every word, and after the conversation ended she quickly ran off to her room and went to sleep.

It was morning, at last, the rays of sun spread themselves across Tabby's face but it was her father who woke her up. "Hurry up sweetie you will be late for school, go on and get ready," he said with a smile and an innocent smile was what he got in response, he left the room and went to wake up Sarah. Tabby ran to the bathroom to wash. Her skin was fair and her shoulder long hair was black as night and her eyes had a vibrant auburn, fiery color. After she washed she went back to her room where she stood in front of a closet, which unlike the closet of most seven-year-old girls mostly contained black clothes with the exception of her crimson jacket. She picked up a black dress reaching t her knees and long stockings and went to meet her family in the kitchen. Her mother was shocked for a second but then moved with making pancakes on as she chose not to talk about yesterday.

"So girls are you ready for the first day of school?" the mother asked and both girls cheerfully responded with a yes. The two girls sat next to each other eating their breakfast and Sarah bluntly asked: "Is Tabby's hair black and mine blonde because she is adopted?". Gordon dropped his newspaper and looked at her and Pamela let the pancake burn and did the same. They looked at her and asked

"How do you know that?"

"I heard it yesterday, you also said that she is scaring you, why is that mommy?"

All the eyes were on Tabby now, but she just casually took a break from her breakfast and said "It is because I say things she can't understand" and then continued eating. Sarah was amused by her response and giggled but Pamela gave her a look that would have left a bruise if looks could do so and she dashed to Tabby took her hands and said:

"Tabitha I am not scared of you"

"Not at the moment but often you are, I can feel your fear"

"Honey what do you mean you can feel my fear"

"... Now you are scared again, this is what I meant by things you can't understand but I also know you still love me"

"Oh honey, no matter what I will never stop loving you because that is what mothers do!"

"And fathers too" Gordon added

"But you are not her mommy and daddy, and if she is adopted she can't be my twin meaning that you lied"

"Sarah that's enough, you are in trouble young lady!" her dad said

"She isn't wrong, I know I will never be your daughter," Tabby said

And Gordon and Pamela both tried to tell her she is wrong in tears but the most disturbing thing was that she said it expressionless with a monotone voice as she doesn't even care and that scared the hell out of her mother causing her to cry once again but not even that got an emotion out of Tabby.

The rest of the morning was really awkward, no one spoke to each other or interacted in any kind of way but it was finally time for the girls to go to school, they packed up their things and left the house waiting in front of the car like they were told, the parents gave each other a worried, sad look and this time Gordon didn't even try to comfort Pamela as this time he was just as broken, instead he left the house moving towards the car. When he came out of the house he the girls getting along admiring a stray puppy that was walking across the street, that brought a smile to his face giving him hope that things will work out after all. But it only lasted for a second, because the next moment a grey car sped through the street running over the puppy, Tabby screamed and started crying, her eyes seemed even more fiery and her skin even paler and she ran to the lifeless body of the puppy, broken and covered in blood, she kept crying and screamed at the car that was bearly in her sights. She just sat there in the middle of the road until her father pulled her back, looking at her and saying sorry but Sarah just laughed and said "Maybe your monster friends could have helped him" when Tabby heard that she instantly stopped crying and looked at her with a creepy smile and said "maybe they could". Sarah and Gordon both looked slightly disturbed, but Gordon broke it off and told them to get in the car telling them that they will have a talk once they get back from school. They drove in silence for an hour but the radio was playing, they all had blunt monotone expressions and they drove like that to school. When they arrived at the parking lot Gordon took them out and went with them towards the school to say goodbye but the car was still on, once they left breaking news were on the radio they said that a gray car was found in the woods, completely destroyed and the driver together with his family was found dead, which was only an assumption since the bodies were completely destroyed from what was presumed to be an explosion that occurred once the car crashed. While the announcement was playing Gordon was still saying goodbye to his daughters, but when it started playing Tabby smiled creepily once again.