ok, this chapter is short on words but big on fright! i hope you all enjoy it. once again, i am sorry for the long wait, i've had a rough week. thank you all again for the great reviews, they really make my day. here's the next chapter. let me know what you think.

D: just having fun.

TWILIGHT

Chapter 8

Sam and Evelyn made their way around the large kitchen, gathering up the supplies they would need to make sandwiches. Both children stayed close by each other as they waited eagerly for their siblings to return. They were terrified, plain and simple, and both wanted the older kids back with them as soon as possible. Something was wrong and both of the small children could feel it. The singing was back, growing again as the winds continued to blow against the old house, the rain coming down so strong that the skies were now as black as night.

The storms added something to it all, made the two seven year olds feel even more alone than they really were. Not only were their fathers away, but now the world beyond their home seemed to be shrouded in a permanent darkness. The rains were so heavy, the winds so fierce, and the house so far from the town that they couldn't help but feel the loneliness, sense the solitude. All Sam and Evelyn had were Kerri and Dean, and they wanted nothing more than to be in the eleven year olds' safe and comforting arms.

The pair stayed together for a few more minutes, their fears lessening as they worked. They had made sandwiches loads of times, all four often camping out in either the living room or the backyard when they were together. It was something normal, something safe and routine, and it helped calm Sam and Evelyn's fraying nerves. And so, they slowly and unknowingly drifted to opposite sides of the room, each one lost in their own task.

Evelyn was in a slight daze as she walked from the kitchen into the back den, her mind on nothing more than the stack of trays she knew were kept there. She didn't notice the soft humming as she rummaged around beneath a shelf, didn't notice the growing winds and rain as she searched for her prize. No, all she knew was that she needed trays for the sandwiches, and that they were there, in the dark room off the back of the kitchen. She didn't even hear the slow, methodical tapping until she looked up into the window, looked up to see blank white eyes staring back at her.

Sam didn't know that Evelyn had walked away, he was too busy trying to keep all his little fingers intact while he sliced up the sandwiches. Dean had tried to hide the knives from him, had told him time and time again to use the butter knives, but they just didn't cut through the bread without messing it up. Besides, Sam thought, Dean got to use the big knives and he wasn't that much older. And if he didn't want him playing with them then he just had to learn how to hide them better.

Sam was pulled from his thoughts when the sound of gently humming reached his ears. He slowly set down the knife, his ears trained to the sounds of the house, listening for anything out of place, anything he hadn't heard a thousand times before. And, as he listened, a slow, steady tapping reached his ears, too rhythmic to be the rain or wind. It was almost as though something were knocking on a nearby window. The next thing he heard, was Evelyn's scream.

He ran from the kitchen as fast he his short legs could carry him, yelling at himself for not noticing that Evelyn had left the room. After all, she was his responsibility. He rounded the corner of the small den, his heart stopping at the scene that met his young eyes. There, in the window, was the twisted face of a woman, though not like any Sam had ever seen. She was staring at him, smiling, her white eyes boring down on him like a predator eyeing its next meal as her grotesquely long fingers tapped on the rain streaked window pane.

He tore his eyes away from the window, trying to block the horrid sight from his mind as he searched for Evelyn. He cried out when he found her, laying beneath the window, unmoving. He quickly ran to her side, tears streaming down his face as the tapping grew louder and louder, the sound now mixing with a dull stomping from overhead. He leaned over Evelyn's still form as the window above him began to rattle, the tapping turning into ear splitting scrapes. The thing was trying to get in.

He heard his brother's frantic voice as he felt for his friend's pulse, her breathing slow but thankfully still there. He tried to call out to his brother, but his throat was suddenly dry, the tears continuing down his face as both the scraping and the footsteps grew. Dean and the monster were both racing towards him, and he just hoped that his brother would get there first.

It had only been minutes, but to the terrified little boy if felt like forever before he heard his brother's voice, before he felt his brother's hands on his shoulders, before he heard Kerri call out for her sister. But, above all else he still heard the scraping tap, could still see those white eyes in his mind, and that made him hold on to Evelyn even tighter. He had let this happen to her, he had let her out of his sight and she had been hurt, and as long as that thing was outside the window, he wouldn't let her go again.

"Sammy, Ev?" Dean called, trying to pull his little brother off of Evelyn so Kerri could check her over, but the little boy fought him with everything he had. "Sammy, you gotta let go."

"No, she's still there!" Sam shrieked as he strengthened his hold, the little girl still unmoving.

"Who?"

"The woman at the window, she's trying to get in."

"Sam." Kerri broke in, her voice shaking as she tried to reach her sister. "There's no one there, now let go."

"No!"

"Kerri, the salt's half gone over here." Dean shouted from the window. He peered out into the inky darkness as Kerri ran for the kitchen, their perimeter failing. He didn't see anything, not even a trace of what Sam was screaming about, but that didn't mean that it wasn't there. It seemed to be targeting the two younger children, and that chilled the young hunter to the bone.

"Here." Kerri shouted, throwing a canister of salt to Dean before turning back to Sam and Evelyn.

Dean quickly sealed off the window, surprised when the temperature of the room slowly rose. In all honesty he hadn't noticed that the back room was cooler than the rest of the house, it wasn't much, but it was still there. He looked back at the window, apprehension growing. The wind was seeping through the cracks in the old windows, scattering the light salt, and he knew that it was probably happening throughout the house.

"Evelyn?" Kerri's panicked voice brought Dean back to the room. He eyed the distant forest one last time before dropping to his knees by Evelyn's side, Sam now sitting up, his face wet with tears. Kerri was leaning over her sister's pale and still form, trying desperately to wake her. But nothing seemed to work as the little girl's usually expressive eyes remained closed.

"Sammy, what happened?" Dean asked, grabbing his brother by the shoulders as Kerri lifted her sister, all four moving as quickly as they could to the living room. It was the center most room in the house and the older children both wanted to be as far away from the windows as they could get.

"I was making a sandwich, I didn't know she walked off till she screamed."

"What were you saying about a woman?"

"She was in the window. She had white eyes and long fingers and she was smiling at me like she wanted to eat me. It was her that was singing." Sam continued as Dean sat him on one end of the sofa, Kerri laying Evelyn down beside him. "And then she started tapping on the window, and then scraping like she was trying to get in."

"And then what?"

"And then you came. I tried to keep Ev safe, I really did."

"When did she pass out?"

"I don't know, when I got there she was like that."

"Kerri." Dean began, looking up from his brother. "I'm gonna seal off this room with the salt, will you be ok for a few minutes?"

He looked long and deep into her fear filled eyes, her little sister's head resting in her lap. He knew that she would be far from ok, but they didn't really have a choice, they had no idea how many other windows had been compromised.

"Uh, yeah. I think so. Just hurry up, please."

Dean finished the salt line is minutes, as Sam huddled close by Kerri, both holding Evelyn's hands. She had yet to wake, yet to even move or mumble and it was reeking havoc with their already frayed nerves.

As soon as Dean finished with the perimeter he grabbed the cordless phone from the kitchen and ran into the living room, feeling considerably safer on the inner side of the salt rings.

"How's she doing?"

"She still unconscious and she has a slight fever." Kerri answered, her voice soft and distant. Dean could immediately sense her fear and loss, her little sister laying sick and silent in her lap, the same little sister that had been fine up until mere moments before.

"Ok. I'm gonna call Pastor Jim, then I'll go get the food and first aid stuff from the kitchen. I think staying here is the best bet till our dads get back."

"Yeah, ok." Kerri nodded before looking back down at her sister.

Dean sighed before sitting on the far sofa, his green eyes falling once more on the three people he was supposed to be protecting before bringing the phone to his ear.

"What?" Kerri asked as Dean tensed, his eyes darting to meet her's.

"It's just static. I tried dialing but there's no ring, just static... Wait." He frowned, holding his hand up to his other ear, trying to hear the faint sound. He dropped the phone in horror when he made it out.

"What? What was it?"

"Singing." He breathed, as the sound of something tapping against the front door broke through the terrifying silence.

Dean was on his feet in seconds, running to the entryway of the living room as Sam jumped up, moving as close to Kerri as he could. Dean signaled for them to be quiet as he peered around the corner and down the hall to the front door, a set of long fingers the only thing he could make out against the pouring rain.