Authors Notes: Hey readers. I was looking through my FF and I noticed the first three chapters are really short so I decided to edit all three chapters in to one chapter.

Chapter 1 - The Nightmare, The Proposal and The Attack

30th July 2007

During the summer holidays the Ridge pub, owned by the Martin's, was busy every day so Elijah, the Martin's eldest child, would take his six-year-old twin sisters on days out to keep them busy. His parents had asked him to babysit the girls last night as the pub was open til two am and the girls would be restless if they had to sleep above the pub where his parents and the girls lived. He and his girlfriend of three years, Myra, loved the girls and were always happy to look after them for the night. He was taking them to the park for a picnic. Elijah hadn't had the opportunity to spend much time with the girls lately because he had been in university for the last four years training as a primary school teacher. However now he had finished university, top of his class, he was looking forward to spending as much time as possible with the girls before his new teaching job started in September. He had managed to get a job at the primary school his sisters were at, St Andrews primary school.

On the morning of the picnic he had woken up early to make the picnic that morning. It was going to be a special picnic because he was going to propose to Myra and he wanted the girls to be there to make it extra special. He had just finished putting everything into his rucksack when he heard a scream from upstairs. He ran up the stairs two steps at a time a into the girls bedroom where Myra was already comforting Sophia. He walked over and sat at the side of the double bed the girls shared when they slept over.

"What happened Myra, is she ok?" he asked slightly breathless after running upstairs.

"She's fine." Myra replied in a soothing voice. "She just had a nightmare. That's all."

"Oh Phia, come here darling. Why don't you tell me about the nightmare?" He hushed as she crawled over to his lap and snuggled into his shoulder.

"I was... in the park...and... and... you were there." She said in between sobs whilst pointing at him. "And Myra...she was there... and Soraya was there too." She continued pointing at his girlfriend and then at her twin sister who was sat up in bed listening to the story.

"What happened next, Phia?" Elijah asked his little sister, slightly concerned as he couldn't remember the last time she had a nightmare. She was too brave and daring to be scared in her dreams.

"Me and Raya... went for a walk... in the tree... and there was a... big dog." Sophia had started to cry again as she continued relaying the story to her big brother who was hugging her tightly to make her feel safe. "He tried to eat us. Then I woke up. I don't want to go back to sleep, Eli, please don't make me." She begged her brother hugging him tightly.

"It's ok now Phia, there's no dog here, you are safe." Elijah replied. He checked his watch which stated it was just after nine am. "It's nine o'clock now so we might as well all get up and have some breakfast. How about I make us all some pancakes. Would you like that Phia?" He asked his sister who was still pressed tightly to him.

"Yes please, Eli, but only if you flip the pancake." She replied.

"Don't I always." He said in return which made Sophia laugh. She let go of her brother and ran out the room with her sister following closely behind her.

"You are so good with kids, Eli. No wonder you wanted to be a teacher." Myra said before kissing him.

"I love you Myra." He stated looking deep into her eyes before locking lips with her.

"I love you too Eli". She murmured as he began to kiss her neck.

"Eww. That's disgusting." Sophia and Soraya said in unison. Myra giggled as Eli started to turn red in embarrassment.

"When are we getting our pancakes?" Soraya asked angrily.

"Fine, fine, let's go downstairs then." He answered. He followed his three girls downstairs and into the kitchen where they sat at the table chatting about hair or something. He went over to the cupboard and got the equipment and ingredients need to make the pancakes.

After breakfast, the girls got changed while Eli checked for what seemed like the hundredth time to make sure the engagement ring was still in his pocket. It had been his grandmother's ring and when she died last year she left it to him in her will. He loved the ring it was elegant and beautiful just like Myra and it had a sparkling emerald stone in the middle.

When they reached the park Eli found a good patch of grass and laid the picnic blanket down. He looked towards the play area and chuckled to himself as he watched Myra trying to push both girls on the swings at the same time. 'She is going to be a great mother one day' he thought to himself as he set the food down on the blanket. When he was finished he called the girls over for lunch. They sat and chatted whilst they ate. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue and there wasn't a hint of clouds. There was a slight breeze which made the air cooler. After lunch the girls asked if they could play in the trees behind them. It wasn't too far away and Eli wanted to be alone with Myra so he could propose so he agreed. Once the girls had left Eli turned around to look deep into his girlfriends eyes. He loved looking into her brown eyes; it was like looking into a mug of hot chocolate.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Myra asked him after a minute.

"Like what, babe?" He asked in return.

"Like you're on drugs or something, you look too happy.

"Can't a man look into the eyes of his beautiful girlfriend anymore?" He replied faking a hurt look.

"Ok, seriously, tell me what you're up to?" she demanded looking a bit worried about why her boyfriend was acting stranger than usual.

"Well if you must know I need to ask you something important and I was thinking the best way to ask you." He stated, looking at her from behind his curtain of shoulder length dirty blonde hair.

"Oh, I'm curious now. Ask me. Ask me." She giggled as she straightened up to hear what he had to say.

"Ok then. Stand up." He said nervously. "Please." He added when he saw his girlfriend disapproving look. She hated being told what to do but obeyed.

"Are you ready?" He asked her with a smile.

"Yes." She replied sounding quite bored that he was asking her such a pointless question. The suddenly he went into his pocket and pulled out a small box and kneeled down before her, still holding her hand. She locked down at him with her mouth opened in shock as tears started to fall silently down her cheek.

"Miss Myra Alicia Johnson, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife so I can look into your beautiful hot chocolate eyes for the rest of my life?" He asked her. His heart was beating faster than he thought was humanly possible. She had let a small laugh escape her lips at the mention of her eyes. Did she think this was a joke? Oh I hope not. I wish she would say something. He was about to stand up when she placed her hand on his chin and lifted it up so they were looking into each other's eyes.

"Nothing would make me happier than becoming your wife." She answered quietly. She took the beautiful ring out of the box and placed it on her ring finger. She looked down at her new fiancée and couldn't help smile as she kneeled down in front of him and kissed him.

"Phia look. Eli and Myra are kissing again." Soraya giggled as she watched them the trees. When she realised her sister had not replied she turned around and saw that her sister was nowhere around. She walked deeper into the trees and saw her sister behind a tree. Curiously she walked over to her sister's hiding place and saw that she was not alone. There was a large dog growling at Sophia. It started walking towards the two girls. Soraya let out an ear piercing scream as she turned and ran away in the direction of her brother.

Eli heard a scream which was similar to the one he had heard this morning. He jumped up and ran into the trees in the direction he heard the scream. He had no idea where his sisters were.

"Sophia. Soraya. Where are you? Answer me please." He shouted into the trees. His heart felt as if it had completely stopped as he ran deeper into the trees. He stopped running and looked around trying to spot even a glimpse of one of his sister but was unlucky. He started to run again when he heard a growl come from behind a group of trees nearby. He went over and looked at what was making the noise. What he saw made him freeze up out of terror. He saw his little sister, Sophia, stood about two meters from a large black dog that was growling at her. He wanted to run and grab her or scream for her to run but he couldn't move or speak.

Sophia was staring into the eyes of the big dog that had haunted her dreams the previous night. This was the part where she woke up screaming. She closed her eyes hoping that when she opened them she would be in the double bed she shared with her sister. When she opened them she saw that the dog had moved closer. She felt something warm pulsing around her body and making her skin tingle. She suddenly felt a lot braver as if she knew everything was going to be alright. She glared back in the dog's eye when suddenly out of nowhere a large gust of wind started spinning around them and her hair was billowing out behind her. The dog made a leap at her. She closed her eyes and she pushed her hands out palms first to try and push the dog away but the impact never came. She opened her eyes to see the dog lying about six meters away from her looking injured. She stood looking at it wondering how it had injured itself and how it had gotten so far away when it had been so close a few seconds earlier. 'Did I do this' she thought as she looked down at her hands. She then heard a twig snap close by and she turned into that direction. She couldn't see anyone or anything but decided it wasn't safe in the trees anymore so she turned and ran back to her brother hoping that whoever was out there hadn't seen what had happened.

Unsure on what he should do after witnessing what he just had he decided to slowly back away before his sister could see him. However, on his retreat he accidently stood on a twig. His sister had been looking at her hands wondering if she had been the one to make the dog fly five meters through the air but she was now looking in his general direction. He now felt terrified in case she did the same to him but she quickly turned and ran away. Elijah went over and had a look at the dog. It was still breathing but it appeared to have broken one of its legs after fallen on it awkwardly. He decided he didn't want to be there when it woke up so he ran in the direct his sister had. When he made it back to Myra he saw that both his sisters were back.

"What happened? Who screamed? Is anyone hurt?" he asked as he got closer. Soraya ran over and hugged him and jumped into her story of what happened.

"I was watching you and Myra from the trees and I turned around and Phia was gone. I went to look for her and I found her near with a big dog. I screamed and ran away, when I got back to Myra, I told her what had happened and she said you had gone in looking for us." She spoke so fast that he had to wait a moment for it all to sink in. He looked at Sophia and saw her sat on the grass shivering even though it was the middle of summer.

"Sophia, can you tell me what happened after Soraya left?" He asked her from a safe distance. He didn't want to get too close in case it intimidated her and she sent him flying.

Sophia looked up at her brother and shook her head. She didn't want anyone to know what had happened. Instead she stood up and walked over to him wanting a hug but when she held her arms out he flinched and jumped away from her. The reaction on his face looked like he was terrified of her. 'It must have been him who had made the twig snap.' She thought as she put her arms around her body and hugged herself tightly. 'He must have seen everything. It must have been me who made the dog move. That's why he doesn't want to go near me. Who would he when there's something wrong with me?' She though as she watched her brother pack away the picnic.

'I shouldn't have flinched.' He thought to himself. 'She's going to think I hate her or that I think she is a freak. I don't think that at all. I don't know what to think. I haven't been around her constantly for a while so maybe this has happened before. I'll have to ask Mum and Dad.'

"Myra. How about we take Phia and Raya to the Pub for tea tonight? We can celebrate our engagement."He knew his voice had shaken a bit at the mention of Sophia's name but he hoped his fiancée hadn't noticed.

"Erm, sure. We can tell your parents and celebrate together." She replied uncertain that it was the best thing to do after the events of today. She wasn't sure what had happened in the trees after Eli had left but she had never seen Eli look more worried and scared then he did right now.