Scarlet had to admit, the house was pretty nice. It was big and white, with green shingles. Jack pointed out that it needed a few simple renovations, but other than that, this house was in pretty good shape.

Scarlet had instantly taken a room upstairs, with the windows facing the other side of the street, where she could practically see into the neighbour's house.

Jack brought in all of Scarlet's things and she closed her door behind him, hoping that he wouldn't come back knocking and hoping that because they were now in a new house there would be the perfect family.

Scarlet started unpacking her boxes, but couldn't shake the feeling that there wasn't something right about this house. She thought it was just the emptiness of the house, the drab walls, and the depressing fact that her mom and Jack were in the room down the hall. But Scarlet believed that there was more than just dire need of redecoration in this house.

I just need to sleep here. It's always like this, Scarlet thought, but the thought didn't really convince her. It wasn't always like this. She usually liked the idea of moving into a new place, where she could meet new people that pissed off her mom more than the other bunch. Although, Scarlet thought she would have to try hard this time, since her last group of friends trashed her living room while her mom and Jack were away and they came back to an empty and messy house. Scarlet sighed as she thought of that time and promised herself that she would invite them all over soon.

Eventually, all of her belongings were unpacked. The small wooden box with her father's picture on it was now sitting open on her nightstand, where she could see it all the time.

Scarlet sat on her bed and thought of the growing unnatural feeling she was getting. She got up and pocketed a knife, then exited her room, taking in every detail, every wrinkle in her bed, and every bookmarked book in her room in case her mom started snooping, then left to go outside.

On her way out, she stopped and looked in a mirror. She saw her face, which was strangely pale, and looked at her body in her baggy black jeans and blue sports shirt with the numbers 666 on the back. She thought that she looked almost normal, other than the paleness of her skin.

"I'm headed out," she called to anyone who heard her and she thought that if nobody heard, well that was okay too.

"Don't you want to spend some family time with us in our new house?" her mom asked, sounding hurt, but Scarlet knew it was just the guilt trick.

"No, not really," she said casually, but she had a cold edge in her voice, and she bolted out the front door.

Scarlet walked around the neighbourhood, getting familiar with the rout to the high school and to the near-by convenience store. She passed a group of kids about her age in a back alley.

"You!" A blonde guy called and she stopped walking, turned, and rolled her eyes. The blonde kid jumped off the car he was sitting on and walked up to her. "I've never seen you around."

"I hope not," Scarlet replied.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa where do you think you're going right now? I'm talking to you!"

"I'm leaving, actually," Scarlet replied and turned away.

"No," the guy growled and stomped up to her, "When I'm talking to you, you are going to stay right here and listen!" He snarled, hands balled in fists and his jaw set. Scarlet slipped a hand in her pocket and brought out her knife.

"Okay, I suppose so, but don't get your panties in a bunch," she said sarcastically, but in a more serious manor she continued, "And unless you want to feel some sort of pain today, I really hope you would let me go…" she pointed her knife at him. The guy laughed and put his hand on the blade of her knife, lowering it.

"What's your name?" he asked, flashing a small, sideways smile.

"Alright…" she took a deep breath and continued, "I'm Scarlet. What's your name?"

"My name's Cory. Over there's Jolene," he pointed to a very blonde girl, who was clicking her gum, and gave them a curt nod, "and then there's Stephen," he pointed to a kid with black hair, the kind of hair that guys like to flip, and he waved.

"So where did you move in?" Jolene asked, "Didn't move into 1428 Elm, did you?"

"Yeah… why is there something wrong?" she wondered as she pocketed her knife.

"Well," Stephen started, standing behind her with his head very close to hers; his voice nearly a whisper, he continued, "awful things had happened there. Families who live there die. But the strange part is… it's only the teenagers who die. The really strange part is, though, that they all die from identical scratch marks, like from razors or knives."

"Ha ha," Scarlet sneered, "that's just bull crap. You guys are just trying to scare me. Well it's not working!"

"Come on," Cory said, beckoning for Scarlet to follow him, "we'll walk you back to your place. To be honest, that place always gave me the creeps, but maybe it just needed people in it."

They four of them walked in silence for a while, until Scarlet jumped up in excitement.

"You want to meet my mom? Don't worry, she hates the people I usually hang with, and I'm not very fond of my mom and her husband, so if she sees you, she's going to be pissed."

"Okey dokey," Jolene said, "Don't worry, I always hated my mom. She was a B-I-T-C-H. Thank God she got tired of me and moved." Scarlet laughed with Jolene for a while, then they were all back to walking in silence.

"So, you go to the school just over here?" Cory asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure my mom enrolled me there. So I take it you guys go there too?" Scarlet replied. They did go there, so they spent the rest of the walk talking about how great and fun the school was when they all stuck together and hung out. They nearly gave Jack and Scarlet's mom heart attacks when they saw the trio that she came home with.

Scarlet spent the rest of the day in her room, trying to get used to it. She couldn't forget the story that Stephen whispered in her ear. Eventually, Scarlet decided to try and sleep, which was quite a struggle.

But falling asleep wasn't as much of a struggle as it was waking up.