Later that night, Riku found himself back at his house, in his room. The sun was beginning to set and he grew more and more frantic. What was he to do? He knew that the previous time it had been a dream, a silly day dream, but now, in the fading light it felt more and more real.

He checked each bulb in the halogen lights that really did circle the room, all of them in great condition, as were the batteries nestled in the base. He went to the windows, closing them before it was too late, and making sure they were locked tight before closing both blinds and curtains. Next came the phone, which he disconnected from the jack and unplugged, and then the radio which was unplugged and stripped of its batteries.

Last was the cell phone, which he used to call Sora. He heard ringing, and then a click, but this time, the line was alive. "Hello, Kashoku residence…"

"I'd like to speak with Sora please," rushed Riku, and then, his heart stopped.

"We're sorry we missed you call, but if you'll leave your name and you number and who you're calling for, we'll get back to you in no time. Arigato and bye-bye!"

Riku practically dropped the phone, a despairing curtain drawing closed over his falling face. He fiddled with his phone, after hanging up, and decided to try Sora's cell phone. The ringing began, as excruciating pain. "C'mon, c'mon…" hissed Riku, crossing his fingers.

"Hey, this is Sora…" started the voicemail, and Riku felt as if he'd been stabbed in the heart with a frozen and coarse-bladed knife. He was ready to hang up when he heard it. "…Riku?" Was that Sora's voice, or was that the blood-chilling voice he wished to never hear again?

"… Sora?"

"Hey, Riku!" said the young man's upbeat voice in a roundabout manner. "What's up?"

"Uh… Where are you?"

"Oh, I'm a Kairi's for dinner… Why?"

"Well, I called your house and you weren't home… so I was just wondering…"

"Oh. What'd ya need?"

"Do you want to spend the night?"

"Sure, let me ask." A few minutes passed and Riku grew more and more paranoid, all the lights in the hall on for his fear of the dark, even though there clearly wasn't a dark cloud in the sky. Still, if the creature could turn off his battery operated lights, you never knew…

"I can. So when should I come over?"

"As soon as you can…"

"Okay, I'll just head home and grab some things-"

"NO!" interrupted Riku, acting as if Sora were in the room with him at that very moment, darting forward as if to grab his arm and stop him. He felt his arm brush something, but he took no heed, as he saw nothing and it was most likely just a bug. "Just head straight here okay… You can borrow some clothes from me."

"'Kay," said Sora, seeming as if he had no worries and there wasn't anything but rainbows and butterflies in his life. "Uh… Is something wrong?"

"No, I just need you to get here… soon, before dark."

"Okay, okay, it's just across the street. Gosh, you'd think you were being murdered or something."

"Just hurry…"

"I did," said Sora, the doorbell ringing at that very moment.

Riku flipped his phone shut and tore downstairs, passing his startled mother and father, who were sitting in the formal living room reading after their three course supper. He opened the door before the butler had a chance to do so, grabbing Sora's arm and dragging him quickly inside before slamming the door and locking it.

"Uh… Hi," said Sora, raising his hand slightly to wave in greeting to Riku, his eyes wide open in shock. "There's something wrong."

"Quiet. Not here," hissed Riku to him, taking him by the arm and beginning back up the stairs, giving Sora only enough time to wave and greet Riku's parents politely, but not enough for him to hear their polite replies.

Once they had reached Riku's room, the silver-headed teenager slammed the door, locking the three sliding locks, the two deadbolts, and the five padlocks behind him.

"Uh… I don't remember those," said Sora, quite stunned by Riku's erratic behavior.

"It's a security precaution."

"Did you learn it on a cartoon? I learn lots of things from car-" Sora was interrupted by Riku slapping a hand over his mouth, the only sound in the room their very quiet breathing. Sora confused, kicked Riku, causing him to yelp and Sora glared at him.

"HEY! What's the big idea?" He demanded, his face obviously registering confused fury. Riku was sure acting different, very, very different. It made no sense. He saw the silver-haired boy relax and raised a chocolate brown eyebrow. "Um… Explanation?…"

"Oh," said Riku, seeming to only have noticed him for the first time. "Sora… Don't think I'm crazy… Please…"

"Sure, just tell me what the heck's going on!"

"Okay, okay… Keep it down…" Riku sighed, sitting down on the floor, inside the circle of halogen lanterns, all of them burning brightly. Sora eyed them in a confused, slightly alarmed way, but chose to focus on Riku, who would no doubt tell him what was going on.

"It started a couple months ago, on a stormy night… I began to see strange things, like shadows that weren't shadows… They were real, they could move, take on forms… And they could kill. I remember the first time I saw one I thought it was kinda cute, like a stuffed animal, big yellow eyes, huge black head, tiny body… Kinda like a beetle, but then… I saw what it did. There was a bird flying by it, it reached out its arm, like the lady in the movie we saw last week, an inviting way… The bird tried to land on it, but the creature… monster was too quick. It shot its hand out, stabbing the bird though the chest and then, there was this light… The creature's hand was outside the bird, a bright red glow around it, and the bird just hung in the air motionless… Before it disappeared. Then, the creature… it ate the red light… I… I think it was the bird's heart…"

Sora stared at Riku, his eyes wide, before laughing heartily, rolling backwards on his haunches clutching his sides.

"SORA!"

The brunette calmed, propping himself up on one elbow, but his eyes still shone with laughter. "Sorry, Riku, but you gotta admit, it is pretty out there. Maybe you should watch less TV? Play fewer video games?"

"Sora, it was real."

"Right, and so are Grandfather Winter and the tooth fairy…" Sora rolled his eyes, looking around the room again. "Riku, what's with all the lights?"

"So they can't get me… The shadows, I mean."

"Wouldn't light make more shadows? And what makes you so sure they're out to get you?"

There was a pound at the window. Both boys' heads snapped around, glancing to the drawn curtains.

"What was that?" asked Sora, standing and beginning to head for the window.

Riku stood, grabbing his arm to stop him. "No… Sora, don't. It's… them."

Sora's eyes widened. "Okay, okay. You got me," he said as there was another pound on the window, "Great prank and everything, but it's a little old now. So who's in on it besides you? Kairi? Tidus?"

"Sora… This isn't a prank. Think about it, there's not a ledge outside my window, either of them."

"There could be a tree," said Sora, shakily, obviously growing frightened.

Riku shook his head. "You know there isn't." His voice was so quiet, Sora wondered if they were hiding.

"Open… the… window…" hissed the blood-curdling voice, and Riku felt all the symptoms of fear it caused, noticing Sora's knees beginning to quiver.

"Riku, this isn't funny anymore."

"I know… But I can't stop it."

"Riku…" Sora gasped, the voice knew Riku? So it was a prank? "Sora…" Riku's eyes widened. It knew Sora was there with him… He had just endangered the life of his best friend. "OPEN THE WINDOW!"

The storm-glass could be heard rattling, pounding now on either side of the house. Sora whimpered. "Riku… Please, don't do this anymore… I'm scared. Are you happy? Your prank worked."

The lights all went out simultaneously, even the battery operated ones. The TV screen went blank, it didn't even fade until it was a smaller and smaller point of light like when one presses the "power" button. The computer screen blacked out. Even the neon green glow of the digital alarm clock faded, until neither boy could read 7:16 p.m.

"I know, Sora… But I'm not doing it. I'm scared too."

"Riku… Sora…"

The room chilled with the voice, as if a cold wind had passed through, and the door was thrown open, only neither boy saw the luxuriously illuminated hallway of Riku's home. The doorway opened into nothing. They could see darker shapes in the nothingness, things like rocks or jutting pieces of land… And moving shadows, thousands of them, all with piercing yellow eyes. That wasn't what was in the room though.

Sora saw Riku tense, and he did the same, as the apparition in front of both boys became visible. First, a pinprick of yellow, orange, red, swirling, detestable colors.

"Wh… What is it, Riku?"

It moved forward, and Sora's question was answered immediately. The pinprick, the vortex of warm colors was a cold, inhuman eye, an eye that seemed to pierce through both of their bodies, their minds, their souls. Then the white, the white that faded into crimson, and then nothingness. Sora guessed them to be teeth, but the crimson, what was that?

"Blood," answered the harsh, malevolent voice, the gruesome mouth twisting into hideous shapes as the mono-syllable was spoken.

Sora quivered and felt as if his mind would go numb, as if an arrow had been shot through his brain. The creature could read his thoughts. An eerie dark light shone, as if not light, but shadow was illuminating the room. The teenagers recoiled in horror.

The creature's skin was mottled, white, like paper so transparent, red patches like irritations riddling it, as if the blood vessels had burst and the blood had become oxygenated, and then stained the un-pigmented flesh. The head, most was invisible through a veil of dark, matted hair, looking both wet and dry at the same time, parts tangled invariably, other parts smooth as night. The eye colored so strangely, was sunken, deep shadows ringing it, and neither boy could tell how far it went into the skull. The mouth, twisted and fanged, was lipless it seemed. The body, rather long and thin, was bony, as if the creature never fed, and the fingers, long and sinister, did not end in the usual rounded manner, but rather in vicious, blood-stained points. Looking down to bare feet, they saw the toes were the same. The creature wore some type of soiled gray shroud, the cloth in tatters and rags, and the creatures ragged breathing caused no movement whatsoever.

It stared at them, and they stared at it, none spoke a word.

"What do you want?" asked Riku, trying to be bold, but his voice coming out weak and pitched much higher than normal.

"I want… you to die."