Disclaimer: I don't own The Ring or its characters.... the unfamiliar characters you see are my creation. Otherwise it's all The Ring.

((This is all from Samara's point of view.))

Chapter One

"Here we go, the world is spinning,

When it stops, it's just beginning,

Sun comes up, we laugh and cry,

Sun goes down, and we all die…"

I sing quietly by the well. It is a song that I heard Mommy used to sing a lot, in that soft voice of hers. The voice that always comforts me.

I pick a flower slowly. Daddy loves me, he loves me not. Daddy loves me, he loves me not. Daddy loves me...

"Samara?" a voice says behind me. I don't need to turn around. I know that comforting voice. It's Mommy. I continue singing softly, wondering if she hears me.

I feel her hands grab my shoulders. I shiver. Mommy never touches me. Not even to hug me.

The well is too close for comfort. Is Mommy going to throw me in?

No. Mommy would never do that to me.

"All I ever wanted was you," she whispers, wrapping her lean arms around me. I shudder. What is going on? Why is Mommy sentimental all of a sudden?

"I love you, Mommy," I whisper. I feel a wetness on my shoulders. She is crying. Mommy has been crying a lot lately, over me. I am sorry. I don't mean to make her cry.

"I know, baby," she whispers back. Mommy never calls me baby unless she is really sad and wants to comfort herself, thinking I am still her baby.

But I'm not a baby. I have seen more than any grown girl would ever dream of. I am not a baby anymore. I don't know if I'm even human.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" I ask her. She releases me and plays with my long hair.

"It's nothing, baby," she answers, combing it with her long fingers. "I love your hair."

Mommy likes combing hair.

"Mommy, would you ever hurt me?" I ask her, not feeling reassured. She looks at me in surprised, I can tell.

"No, baby. I would die before I hurt you," she says, giving me another hug. I finally smile. Mommy would rather die than hurt me. I am grateful.

"Why are you playing by the well, baby?" she asks me. "You could fall in." She takes my hand. "Let's go home."

"Is Daddy there?"

"Daddy's out with the horses, sweetie. He's taking them to a farm overnight. You could sleep in Daddy and I's bed tonight."

I nod, though I know I could never sleep. The horses would still be in my head. "Okay, Mommy."

We walk away from the foreboding well, and I know everything will be alright.

For now...

( () )

The next day, Mommy takes me back to the place where I'm forced to sit on a chair and answer questions. They say it helps Mommy, so I bear it. I sit quietly as the strange man asks me questions in that bright, white room.

"Samara, are you feeling any better?" he asks.

"I feel the same," I say.

"Can you explain, Samara?" The man always says my name in sentences, as if I am stupid. I'm not. I know my name.

"I feel..." my sentence dies off. I can't answer the strange man. I don't know what I feel. I feel like a little girl again.

"Samara? Are you going to answer?"

"I feel small," I say.

"You are just a small child, Samara."

I glare at the black screen. "No I'm not." I have been through more than you'll ever deal with, Strange Man.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"I never sleep."

"Were you with the horses?"

"No."

"How come you didn't sleep?"

"I just can't."

I can tell Strange Man is frustrated. He wants a logical, scientific explanation. He always does.

"Where did you sleep last night?"

"With Mommy."

"In her bed?"

"Yes."

"You didn't feel any urge to fall asleep?"

"No."

"Samara, I'm going to need more than a yes or no answer." Strange Man is trying hard not to sound impatient.

"It's all I can give you," I say innocently.

"Samara, I see you drew more pictures... of a well. Can you explain to me this well?"

"I stand by it."

"Is that all?"

"No."

Strange Man's voice does sound impatient now. "Then what else?"

I pause, not sure how to answer.

"Samara? What else is about that well?"

I clutch the knees of my dress. He has no right to intrude on my thoughts, he really doesn't. But Mommy says he is for the best.

"It..."

"It what, Samara?"

I swallow. "It... something should've happened there, but it didn't."

"What should've happened there?"

I don't want to answer. I'm starting to feel uncomfortable, like I always do. I want Mommy back here.

"Samara?"

"Something big should've happened there... something that time would've showed for eternity... but it didn't. The future's going to change... in a big way."

(O) DIAGNOSIS: Hallucinations, delusions. Shows signs of depending on intuition. Recommend therapy at Dr. Marina.

"Mommy, am I crazy?"

"No, Samara. You aren't crazy." Mommy sounds impatient.

"Mommy, why am I different?"

Mommy doesn't answer. Mommy looks worried now. I suddenly wish I hadn't asked that question to distress her.

"It was the pho--" Mommy stops herself.

"The what?"

"It was nothing. You're not different, Samara. You're not crazy, either. You're my little girl, my daughter. My heart." She kisses the top of my head.

I'm not convinced. I didn't mean to wrench the phone out of Mommy's hand, that one day. Mommy was on the phone, and she was twitching and jerking like one of my dolls when I play with them. She had this strange light around her. I was scared she was going to be hurt, so I wrenched the phone from her and spoke into the reciever, "Who are you?"

The caller made an indistinct noise and I saw a vision of a well. The well by my house. I saw horses. I saw Mommy and Daddy dead. I screamed for release but I was just shown even more visions. Finally, it stopped and I saw a woman, her yellow eyes leering and her red hair the colour of blood...

I had cried and jerked Mommy awake after I slammed the phone down. We both sat there and cried that entire day.

The visions had started after that day. Is that what makes me different?

I don't want to be different. I want to be normal.

That caller... she will pay.