I breathed in a sigh of complete peacefulness as I lay comfortably on my bed in my hotel room. My straight brown hair fanned out over the white sheets like a wave, and my emerald green eyes sparkled with my usual perky attitude as I stared up at the ceiling.

I looked out the window as I sat up and saw that it was raining pretty hard. I loved the rain when it was a happy little drizzle, but this rain was pelting down as if one drop were to hit me it might bruise my skin. The clouds were dark and heavy. A flash of lightning lit up my room, followed by a booming thunder that shook my body.

"Are you ready, Hailey?" My mom walked out of the bathroom. She was trying to put on a pair of hooped earrings on as fast as she could. She looked at me lying on the bed and her shoulders automatically dropped. "Hailey Angela Anderson, get dressed right now!"

I rolled my eyes and I got up and pulled on my dark skinny jeans and a simple grey A & F tee shirt. I put on a black and green zip up hoodie over top of that and my windbreaker over that. I pulled the hood over my head and grabbed my bag and headed out the door with an umbrella in hand.

My mom, Bridgette, was leading the way down the sidewalk with an umbrella protecting her massive amount of curly black hair. She was power walking to try and save time because we were late for our appointed date to meet my aunt for dinner.

On any other day I would have been taking my time to look around at the beautiful London architecture, but it was hard to get a good look at anything beyond ten feet with all this rain. It was pouring so hard that I had to hold onto my umbrella with two hands, and even then it shook under the pressure.

"Mom! Slow down, I can't see you! Mom!" I squealed.

"Pick it up, Hailey." My mom chirped ahead of me. I jerked into a run until I reached the corner of the block.

"Crap." I muttered. Did she make a turn or cross the street? "MOM!" That's what I get for having a mom from New York and me growing up on a farm in Canada. Just stupendous!

I whipped out my cellphone and held down 2. I held it to my ear but it just went to voice mail. When it beeped I just growled into the phone and closed it. "Stupid, crazy, spaztic.." I muttered some pretty colourful names for a minute.

Then my head snapped up when I heard a splash. It was like a boot stepping harshly into a puddle. I looked all around but I saw nothing.

"Hey!" I shouted, my guard automatically up. My eyes darted back and forth, every fibre of my being telling me something was there. I just couldn't see it.

Another footstep… and another. A steady stride coming right towards me. I called out to the sound, but they didn't respond. This was so not funny.

My hands balled into fists as the feet got closer and closer. Then there was a flash of lighting and in that second of a flash I saw the silhouette of a tall man that was no more than ten feet away. The lighting reflected off of his one hand wielded above his head, but it wasn't a hand. It was a metal hook.

I built up the momentum to scream, but the sound of laughter behind me made me stop. I looked over my shoulder and saw a tiny yellow light hovering a few feet away. In the light was another silhouette, a bit smaller than the other. This one had, by the looks of it, a small knife held out in front of him.

"What is this?" I squeaked.

A more maniacal laughter sounded right behind me. Then I felt a hand wrap around my bicep. I screamed at the top of my lungs and lashed out with my eyes shut. In the darkness I felt my fist meet someone's nose.

That's when I ran.

I booked it until my calves burned, and still I kept running. I ran on until I felt like my knees were gonna buckle under all of the pressure. When I finally couldn't run anymore I hit the ground, landing on my butt. I hardly noticed the water soaking my jeans, and frankly I could care less.

"Hailey!" a voice cried.

A bright light appeared. I squinted at the sudden return from night's darkness and peered up at the sight of my mom looking down at me from the doorway of a house. My Great, Great Aunt Amelia's house no doubt.

"Hi." I said with a nervous smile. I looked down at myself and couldn't help but giggle.

"Inside, sweetie." My mom ushered, running out and pulling me off the ground. "What on earth happened to you?"

I was immediately sent to the couch with a thick wool blanket wrapped around my body. I ran my fingers through my soaking wet brown hair and just sighed with relief.

"Goodness gracious!"

I turned to see Aunt Amelia rush to my side. Despite being 86 years old, she was as spry and full of life as any women half her age. I loved her with all my heart. She was my favourite relative, even when she fussed like this. Not that I blamed her.

"I swear she was right behind me." My mom muttered under her breathe, pacing back and forth on the other side of the coffee table.

"Don't fret yourself, Katherine." Aunt Amelia assured her. "Hailey is here and she is alright. Now my dear, tell me what on earth happened."

"I… I don't know. I was following mom. I don't know how I lost her. She just wasn't there anymore. Then there was someone else. He…"

"Who?" Mom said in alarm. "Did he hurt you?"

"He grabbed me, but I, uh…kind of hit him, I guess." I said with a smirk. "Then I ran here."

Mom sighed with utter relief and sat on the other side of me. She wrapped her arms around me. "That's my girl."

"Well, that's it then." Aunt Amelia chirped.

"What?" my mom and I asked at the same time.

"Hailey dear, why don't you come with me so we can find you a nice night gown to wear?" Aunt Amelia proposed. "I'm certainly not letting you two go back out there in this weather with some bad men flittling about trying to scoop up young girls in the night."

I sighed and stood up. "Thanks Aunty."

"Oh pish posh." She said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand and chasing me up the stairs.

I waited until Aunt Amelia tucked me into bed until I took off the stupid nightgown. I mean ll really, who could ever wear those tacky things? Not to mention they are very uncomfortable.

I reached for my clothes that were hanging on the line, but they were still cold and damp. "Aww man…" I muttered. "Guess I'm sleeping in my undies."

I climbed under the big, poofy white covers and stared at the ceiling for a moment. I listened to the rain hit the window. It was very soothing and soon my mind was drawing a complete blank. Not long after that I fell asleep.