Author's Note Time! I've rewritten this waaay too many times. Anyways, the first few times I was just being nitpicky. This time I've totally given the story a re-haul so it fits nicely between The Ring and The Ring Two. Okay, ready? BEGIN FIC

. . .Just kidding. UPDATE FEB '06: Changed the page breaks to the "xo" thing. doesn't like the ones Word uses, apparently.

Chapter One: Aidan

I used to love the park.

The one near Katie's house. She would hold my hand and we'd cross the street together. Then we'd sit on the swings all afternoon, talking and laughing and playing together.

I miss Katie.

I still go to the park though. I go after school, so Rachel can have some time alone. She hasn't been the same since the tape came along. I'm not exactly sure what she was doing all that week with my dad. But I know she started seeing things the way I see things. I think she was afraid.

"Things can only get better, Honey. Don't worry about me," she had said with a sad smile. It was yesterday, at my father's funeral.

But I do worry about her; it's my job to worry about her. I worry about everything.

I go to the park to forget things. I like to pretend Katie's still on the swing next to me, and then I look over and pretend to see her smiling face.

But when I look...I see her. She won't let me forget.

That little girl. Samara. 'Go away,' I think. I already know she won't listen. She never goes away. Not even the park and my happy memories could keep me safe.

She's smiling at me. She doesn't talk much.

She only takes me by the arm and shows me things. Things I don't want to see.

I see the horses. There're dozens of them, all on their backs. Their hooves are banging, teeth gnashing, and the sounds they make echo off the walls of the barn and fill my head. Maggots are crawling all over them, eating them alive; eating and eating until the horses are just piles of squirming maggots.

"Can you see it? They were so bad. I made them go away," she whispers in my ear. I don't like her voice.

I cover up my ears with my hands. "It's not right. You killed them. You shouldn't have killed them."

I can hear her anyway. "I didn't like them. I punished them." She sounds so happy. It makes my stomach hurt.

Her voice is getting louder. She never used to talk. Now she's not trapped anymore, and she can do whatever she wants. I should have warned Rachel so much earlier. It's my own fault.

"But I like you. We can always be together."

The maggots are sprouting arms and legs and try to crawl around like little people, wriggling and crying and moaning and starving for air. There are holes where their eyes are supposed to be. The sockets are hollow and the blood is oozing out like tears. They're crying out for mercy, but there's nothing I can do. I wonder if everyone's going to end up like these, her victims.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask. I know it's pointless. She'll never give me a straight answer.

"You and me, we're just the same, Aidan. I want us to be together."

"Then why are you hurting me?"

"I'm sorry," she tells me with a smile. "It won't stop."

She follows me home. She follows me to my room. She follows me everywhere. I can't always see her, but I can feel her presence. I forget what it's like to feel calm.

xxxxxxooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxx

I use my crayons, swirling them around on the white paper and taking out the pictures she shows me. Get out of my head, horses. Get out of my head, Samara. I can't do it at school anymore. It gets me attention I don't need. It gets Rachel in trouble, too.

"Aidan, dinner's ready!"

My art things go back in the box and I head towards the kitchen. As soon as I walk out into the hall, I can smell something burning.

There's some overcooked meatloaf and some soggy green vegetables on the table. "What do you think? Looks good, right?" Rachel's trying too hard to sound happy.

Up until recently, we just used to eat a lot of Chinese food. I didn't really mind it.

"Help yourself, there's plenty to go around!" I'm sitting down, but I don't feel hungry. I'm going to be quiet so I don't hurt her feelings. She looks down at her plate and pushes around some of her food. I don't think she wants to eat it any more than I do.

"So…how was school?"

"It was okay."

I don't know what she wants me to talk about. I'm not going to tell her about the sound of horses keeping me awake during naptime or the feeling of cold hands gripping at my shoulders when I sit by myself at lunch.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"Yeah." It's a nice thing to know, even if I'm not going to take her up on her offer.

"Okay." She's smiling again. It's not a happy smile, but it means she understands. So I smile back.

"Oh, before I forget…there's a box of things for you by the front door. You might want to take a look at it."

"What kinds of things?"

Rachel bites her lip and looks down for a second, then looks back up at me. "Oh, you know…a lot of your dad's old junk." She wants to sound casual, but it's not working. I shake my head inwardly. "Cameras, mostly."

"Oh."

xxxxxxooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxx

It's getting late. Rachel tucks me into bed. She's still got kind of a sad look in her eyes. I think she misses Noah the way I miss Katie. Neither of us will bring it up, though. Rachel's got communication issues. I do, too.

She turns the lights off and goes to her room. I hope she sleeps better than I will...

When the lights go out, it gets cold. She wants to talk to me again.

"I love Mommy. Don't you?"

"She's not your mommy," I growl. "Leave Rachel alone." Sometimes she makes me more angry than scared.

"Mommy loves me the best. You're jealous." She's breathing into my ear again. My teeth are clenched up. It's so cold. "Someday you'll see."

I want to ask her how, what, when, why. But I can't; I can't because I feel like I've been hit hard on the back of the head. I can taste my own blood, and everything goes dark and I feel like I'm being dragged down into someplace cold and wet. It's her dark place.

"We'll be together. We'll never sleep."