Tina's eyes snapped open to pure, thick darkness. What was that to the left? Just a glow in the dark star sticker. She sighed and closed her eyes again.
No, wait; it moved. Back a bit, to the right, and then closer to her. Her heart rate quickened.
"Riley?" she whispered down to the lower bunk, "Are you awake?".
"I am now, thanks to you," a sour reply drifted up.
The light bobbed again, coming a bit closer.
"Do you see it?" Tina asked.
"See what, cousin dearest? Its past midnight, we're supposed to be sleeping. Not seeing anything."
"But there's a weird light. Its moving and I'm scared," Tina said. Riley sighed,
"It's just a firefly most likely. Now go to sleep, we're going to the amusement park tomorrow. We'll be super tired and cranky." Tina relaxed a bit. Yeah, it probably is a firefly. I am such a baby, she thought to herself.
Suddenly the light switched from a yellow-greenish glow to violet, red, and back again. Tina clutched the bed sheets a bit tighter
"Fireflies don't switch colors, do they?" she asked Riley in a panicked voice. Another light had appeared down on the lower bunk where Riley was laying.
"Let's sleep in the living tonight." Riley stated and quickly fumbled out of the bed, tripping over the bed sheets.
Tina slid down the ladder and followed Riley out of the room.
"Shall we wake your mom?" Tina asked as they walked quickly along the short hallway.
"No, she'll just think us crazy," replied Riley.
Tina claimed the little leather couch.
"Fine," Riley grumbled, "I'll sleep on the floor." She dragged out a dusty blue yoga mat from underneath the couch. They both settled into a somewhat troubled sleep.
=^.^=
A hushed meowing started in Tina's right ear. It became more and more urgent.
"Riley?" she asked, still lying down, "Do you have any cats?"
"Of course not, Mickey Mouse. The billy goat made me do it," Riley replied sleepily, "Climb Dedushka, climb! Oh, pancakes!"
The meowing increased. It felt as if there were a million cats swirling around in her head.
"Riley!" she exclaimed.
"What is it now?" Riley said crabbily. The two mysterious orbs of light came whooshing out of nowhere towards Tina. She quickly jumped off of the couch and fell onto Riley. A groan came up from underneath Tina.
She was unable to get up quick enough. The lights turned an excited yellow as they started pulling Tina towards the pantry in the kitchen nearby.
"Help!" she screamed, "Help!". Nobody in the house stirred except for Riley. She stood up and was standing there shocked for a second, but she quickly came back to her senses. She took four long strides and jumped on to grab Tina's feet. The orbs quickly jerked Tina into the pantry as Riley crashed to the floor. The pantry door quickly shut followed by a loud popping noise. Riley got her feet and opened the pantry door to find... nothing.
Absolutely positively nothing. No Tina, no light, not even any food or shelves. It was completely empty. A sudden darkness engulfed Riley as she fell to the floor.
=^.^=
Riley's eyes snapped open to the warm sun shining through the bay windows. She got up to find her mom watching TV in the living room. She knelt to her knees in front of her mom and started bawling.
"Tina... I just don't know," she babbled between sobs, "taken away... weird lights..." Riley's mom patted her softly.
"Don't worry kitten. It was just a bad dream."
"Really?" Riley wiped her nose, "Where's Tina?" Her mom had a puzzled look upon her face,
"Tina? Who is Tina? Let me make you a cup of tea while you're still recovering from your dream,".
She stood up and walked over the pantry, where the tea is stored. She then opened the door to find that it was empty. Wiped clean as a baby's bottom. Even the shelves were gone.
"What the..." she started but never finished.