Chapter 1

"Are we there yet?" I asked my mother.

"No, not yet Hannah." She answered calmly, and continued to stare out her window in the car.

I sighed and put my legs up against the back of the car seat in front of me. My mother, my father, my 17-year-old sister Morag and I were going to visit the lodge we had rented for the summer. It was in some remote location in the middle of the woods called…oh, what was it? Hollow Hill? Hallow Hill, Something like that.

I brushed my long, dark brown hair away from my face as I looked out the window. It was almost dinnertime, so the sun would be setting soon. Then the stars would come out. My brown eyes searched the sky for any sign of a star just coming out. But there were none…At least, not yet. Oh, how I loved the stars. They were just so beautiful…words could not describe their beauty…I wished I could see them, but…

"NO! God, my phone messed up!" My sister's voice brought me out of my thoughts. I glanced at her as she waved her phone around the car.

"What do you mean, 'no service'?" Morag yelled at her phone. She snapped it shut and put on that look, you know, the one that's dripping with anger. I was smart enough not to talk to her, let alone mention that there were no power lines anywhere near, so her phone would obviously not work. She saw me watching her, and glared at me. I stuck my tongue out at her, and went back to looking out the window. 'Very mature…' I thought to myself.

I acted young for my age. Strangers usually guessed that I was 12 or 13, not 16. Of course, I didn't look younger, but no one seemed to take that into account anymore.

"We're here." My father announced as he turned a corner.

"Finally!" My sister cried. My father parked the car, and I jumped out.

We stood in front of a large white house that looked to be from an earlier century. I remember the Inn Keeper talking to me about it when we stayed at his inn for one night on the way here. He told me that the last time anyone lived there, two girls disappeared, and a man was found stuck to the ceiling. I shivered as I tried not to imagine what it would have looked like. I made sure my parents did not find out about this. After that, the innkeeper told me, the house had only ever been rented.

I ran to the trunk of the car and pulled out my suitcase. I pulled it along to the front door as fast as I could. I opened the door and pulled my suitcase inside.

It was a big house: Very big. From the outside it had looked to be about three stories, and it did from the inside too. It had four big rooms on the first floor, and from the pictures my parents showed me, it was the same on the two floors above as well. The front door faced a straight hall and a staircase that began a couple or so feet inside. I could see the back door from where I was standing. To the left of me was a living room, and on my right was a dining room. The kitchen was by the back door, but I would go there later. The house looked extremely clean and tidy; I guessed that someone who lived nearby had cleaned it up for us before we came.

I ran up the steps to the floor with the bedrooms. I randomly chose the room that faced the front of the house, and brought my bag inside. This room had also looked to be cleaned before I came. There was a big window to the right, and a four-poster bed beside it. Across from the door was a desk with a large mirror and a bench in front of it. On the other side of the room were a dresser and a bookshelf.

I ran to the window and looked out of it. I could see the car way down below, and I watched my sister as she entered the house, carrying her suitcase. I put my suitcase on my bed, and then ran out the room.

"I call this room!" I shouted down the steps, and then ran back into my room. A moment later my sister came in, and looked around.

"Oh no fair! I want this room!" She argued.

"Nope, too bad, I called it!" I told her, and she left grumpily, muttering something to herself.

After putting all my clothes in the dresser and stacking all my favourite books onto the bookshelf, filling it up, I put my hairbrush and comb on the desk. I glanced into the mirror. My dark brown hair was wavy and long, and my brown eyes were the same shade of brown they had been my whole life. My skin was a bit darker than my mother and sister, but not dark enough for it to be called anything but a tan.

I wasn't exactly the prettiest person on the block. No, it was my sister who was the beautiful one in the family. Everyone knew it. Everyone who saw her picture in my locker back at school commented on it. If they were a girl, they would say, 'Oh, she's so pretty!' and if they were a guy, they would say, 'Wow, she's HOT!' Nobody ever said anything about me, but I didn't expect him or her to. I knew I was ugly, and I was okay with it. Well, maybe not okay with it, but I was used to it. Used to it enough to be comfortable with it.

"Hannah! Come downstairs! Dinner is ready!" My mother called, and I walked out my room, not looking back into the mirror once.