A/N so this is the chapter were some things start to happen. And I'm not going to give anything away either so you'll have to read and find out :P Enjoy

Part 4

Like the morning before Mia had woken up with sand in her bed again. So the theory about cat litter couldn't have been true. She had dreamed of Paradise for the second time and sand appeared in her bed again. Mia scooped the sand into her hand and sniffed it. The sand smelt like Paradise; the sweet, floral smell that sometimes smelt too sweet and became sickly. "Stop growling, Fug." she hissed at Fugly as she tipped the sand out her bedroom window.

Her mother and father were still sleeping. Mia suspected they came back later than they planned. Downstairs the house was cold. Colder than it should have been for the beginning of autumn. Mia placed her hand on the radiator in the hallway. Stone cold. Grumbling, Mia opened the creaking door to the basement. She stood at the top of the stairs staring into the blackness. As she stood on the first step it creaked loudly. Mia inhaled loudly and continued walking down the steps.

There's a light switch on the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Just a few more steps . . . Where's that light switch? Ah! There it . . . oh no! Dad!

Mia flicked the light switch on and off vigorously. The light bulb on the ceiling didn't even flicker. Mia moaned and hit the wall with her palm. Either she could go upstairs and freeze to death or try to find the main heater's switch in the dark and get eaten by a mutated beast.

Oh, just stop it, Mia! There is nothing down here! You're so paranoid.

Mia bit her lip and proceeded into the darkness. The light from upstairs was flowing from behind her but it didn't help her sight. Her eyes made out odd looking shadows and turned them into fearful things. At one point Mia had been certain she had seen a little girl standing in the corner of the basement. But after ignoring these thoughts, Mia managed to find the heater switch. The dim red light of the main heater switched on and stared at her like a hideous red eye. Mia shook her head. "Get it together, Mia." she whispered to herself. She had never had these kind of thoughts before when she came down to the basement. But then again the light switch had worked back then. She ran back up the stairs and took one last look down into the basement before shutting the door. Her eyes made out the shadow of the little girl again but Mia ignored it and slammed the door.

The radiators were beginning to heat up already. It felt nice to be up in the light instead of being down in the dark. The clock in the kitchen read 11:20 and her parents still weren't up yet. Instead of going to wake them, Mia grabbed her school bag from the doorway and dumped it in one of the chairs in the kitchen. She set the toaster up on the side and put two pieces of toast into it, poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat down at the table. She pulled two sheets of paper from her bag and a pen. The first sheet of paper was maths homework. It wasn't too hard; Mia had been placed in the bottom maths class after a heated argument with one of the rich girls in her old group. Before she knew it Mia found herself in the bottom class (or the dunce class, as Mason called it once) studying work that was way behind other groups.

Mia finished the homework quietly and easily and backed it back into her bag. She pulled the other sheet of plain paper over to her and began doodling. She filled up the whole sheet with little drawings of flowers, stick men, hearts and other little ideas when she started smelling smoke. She raised her head slowly from the paper and sniffed. As she took in a huge whiff of the burning smell the fire alarm started to beep loudly. Mia jumped from her chair and turned the toaster off quickly. As she pulled the chair around so it was below the fire alarm she heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. When she pressed the button and the beeping stopped her parents stood in the archway looking glassy-eyed and tired. "What's going on?" her mother yawned.

"My toast burnt."

Her father rolled his eyes. "Totally useless. Did you burn anything else while we was gone?"

Mia hopped down from chair and stared at her father. "Gee thanks, Dad." she said as she grabbed her school bag from the chair and her piece of paper. The paper landing in the bin and her bag hit the floor again. Her parents heard the front door open slowly.

"What about your toast?" her mother asked.

"I'm not hungry." Mia barely said back. She closed the door behind her and sulked over towards Mason's house.

XXXXXXXXXX

Mason offered Mia a cup of tea. She took the cup from him and set it on the end table. Mason sat next to her on the settee. "Had another fight with your Mum and Dad?" he asked.

Mia nodded. "They just don't seem to understand me."

Mason patted her on the back. "I know how you feel. Bloomwood is horrible." He looked over at her and smirked. "So, when I got home yesterday Suzie was telling me about this weird dream you had. Sounds quite cool."

"Did she explain everything?"

"Yep. Even the part where you thought this, erm, Paradise? Yes, that's right. She even told me the part when you thought Paradise was real." Mason laughed.

Mia laughed too. She knew Paradise was real now, but there was no point in telling Mason; he would only question her and secretly judge her sanity just like Suzie had done. "It was a strange dream."

"But it does sound better than this place."

"Any place is better than this place!"

Mason laughed loudly. "Hey, are you all right? You look very tired."

Mia half smiled. "I feel tired."

"I think you could do with an early night. Fancy another cup of tea?"

"I haven't even finished this one yet." Mia held up her cup.

Mason took it from her. "Its gone cold. I'll make you a new one."

Mia nodded and watched Mason leave the living room. She did feel really tired. Maybe she hadn't gotten as much sleep as she had thought. Mia frowned but didn't realise that she had rested her head on the arm rest. Yes, she felt really tired, and her eye lids were too heavy. Maybe shutting her eyes for a few minutes wouldn't hurt . . .

XXXXXXXXXX

Mia woke up with a start. She was on that damn beach again that. Mia looked down at herself and stared at her faded shorts and her red polo shirt, and this time she was wearing converse. She smiled to herself and went towards the village.

It was extremely dark in Paradise. The only source of light was coming from the moon and stars, but it didn't bother Mia. As soon as she reached the village she would be able to find out some more fascinating things about Paradise. But when she reached the village all the curtains hung from the doorways of the huts were closed. Mia felt like she was intruding if she opened on of the curtains so she peered from an opening that appeared to be a window. Inside she could see Elle sound asleep in a hammock. She was smiling to herself in her sleep and constantly clicked her tongue. Mia sighed and turned away from the hut. There was no point in staying in Paradise if she was the only on who was awake. As she walked towards the beach she heard someone sop. Mia turned quickly and stared. "Hello?" she called. More sobbing came from the village and was joined by painful moans. Mia felt bad for just standing there and couldn't help but follow the sobs. She saw a young girl standing by the Leader's hut with their back turned to Mia. The girl's yellow nightdress was torn and dirty around the edges. "Hello?" Mia whispered. "Are you okay?"

The girl sobbed harder and ran through the trees. Mia sighed. She didn't want to chase someone through the jungle late at night, but she would despise herself if she didn't help the girl. She quickly followed the sobs until she reached the girl, who had her head resting on a tree so Mia couldn't see her face. Her cries became soft little sniffles. "Ar– " Mia began to say, but stopped when the girl turned around to face her.

The girl's thick dark brown hair hung in front of her face. Mia stared at the girl as she raised a claw-like hand. She pointed her long finger at Mia and curled it, beaconing Mia to come towards her. "Come." hissed the girl, her finger curling continuously. But Mia just stood there, staring at the young girl's long messy hair and her pointed finger.

After curling her finger one last time the girl let her hand drop limply by her side and stood lifeless in front of Mia. Mia wasn't sure if it was just her eyes but the girl seemed to float after dropping her hand. Mia looked down at the girl's hovering feet as the girl flung her hair back viciously. Mia's eyes snapped up to the girl's face and she felt her body freeze in fear.

The girl's skin was grey-blue and empty black eye sockets stared at Mia. The girl's thin grey lips moved into the shape of an O and she took and huge breath. With that breath, Mia felt like all of the heat was being sucked out of her body, and it felt like her soul was too. Mia's knees gave way and she sank to the floor as the girl hovered closer to her so she was floating right above Mia. Then something came into contact with the back of Mia's head. Something hard. She felt her face hit the ground and her soul enter back into her body. Mia heard the girl – or whatever it was – scream and leave Mia alone on the ground.

XXXXXXXXXX

And that was when Mia woke back up. She was shaking that much when she woke up that she fell off the settee and landed on the floor. Her breathing trembled as she crawled onto her knees and touched the back of her head. It was very sore and when Mia removed her hand and looked at it it was covered in red liquid.

"Mia? You all right?" Mason rushed over and gripped Mia's shoulders. He wiped her nose with his thumb. "Your nose is bleeding." he said, soundly alarmed.

Mia bit her lip, tasting the blood from her nose. Something or someone had hit her in the back of the head while that thing had tried to steal her soul, and her face had hit the ground and that made her nose bleed. But Mia didn't dare tell that to Mason; he would either freak out or think she was crazy. "Umm, yeah, I fell off the settee. I think I fell asleep." she said.

"You did. I came in and found you fast asleep, so I just left you here. Is your nose okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Hmm. Maybe it would be best if you went home and showed your Mum and Dad." he said.

Mia nodded. The back of her head was throbbing in time with her heartbeat. Her legs were shaking as Mason helped her off of the floor. "You'll be fine." he encouraged. He handed her a tissue from his pocket for her bleeding nose. Mia left his house in a hurry. She was lucky that he never noticed her head wound. How would she be able to explain that? But it didn't matter. Mason didn't notice and had left Mia to run back to her house.

When Mia reached home her mother had made a fuss over her nose and head. The two of them sat in the kitchen while her mother bathed Mia's head with antibacterial formula. "What happened?" her mother shrieked. She ringed a cloth dripping with the misty liquid and dabbed Mia's head. Mia yelped and flinched in her seat.

"I can't really remember." Mia lied. "Me and Mason was climbing trees, then I fell forward and whacked my nose on a thick branch. The next thing I knew I was lying on the ground with a bloody nose and a cut head."

Her mother sighed. "Please don't go climbing trees, Mia. And look! You've ruined your top!"

Mia looked down at her polo shirt and saw the trail of blood that had stained the purple material. "Will it come out?"

"Not without a lot of effort!"

Mia pulled a face and looked down. "I was only asking." she muttered.

"And I'm only telling." Her mother began to dab at her head again. "Early to bed tonight. You've got school in the morning."

Mia looked at her feet gloomily. She hoped that she wouldn't go back to Paradise again tonight, that encounter with the little girl had been too much. Maybe that was what she saw down in the basement this morning . . .

Oh, don't be so stupid! You only saw a shadow, and that girl in Paradise can't hurt you! Yes, I know there was blood when you woke up but . . . but . . . Oh, I don't know. Mia sighed and stopped thinking about the little ghost girl and paid more attention to her dreams. If she tried to dream of something other than Paradise then maybe she wouldn't go there again. It was a plan worth trying, after all. And even if Mia did go back to Paradise there would be people around to help her. Mia smiled to herself and forgot about the pain in her head. Tonight couldn't go wrong, she was sure of it.

So what did you think? I found this chapter quite creepy myself, but that's just me. Tell me what you thought of it. P.S. The next chapter might take some time to be updated, sorry guys.