Daniel watched as his parents left the house for their weekly date night, so that meant he was left home alone with Esther and Max.

Great.

Just what a boy his age wanted – to be stuck at home on a Friday night with his kid sister and some freak who he wasn't even sure who she said she was.

His suspicions first began when she moved in with them.

It seemed like a normal affair, Daniel didn't really care either way if his parents adopted or not, but he was a bit surprised that they followed through with something for once.

There were a few times in his life where his parents had either forgot or just didn't care enough to make the effort – the fact that his sister, Max, went to a special school, they were more involved with the goings-on of her world and the activities that she did, unlike his own interests, which were ice hockey and basketball.

Sure, he had a right to be jealous of Max at times, but then he realised that if his parents were so occupied with her things, he was able to sneak away more often to his friends' house, which he also enjoyed doing from time to time.

His dad was quite fun, and Daniel enjoyed spending time with him occasionally, since he was the only other boy in the family.

He had expressed an interest in wanting a brother, but his mother had the idea of replacing his dead baby sister long before he could even voice his own opinion.

That's when Esther joined their family.

"Hello Daniel," the way she had introduced herself immediately placed a sense of fear into his body, but he tried his best to cover it up.

Something about that little girl smile and doll-like appearance had already been making him feel uneasy the moment she stepped into their home.

"Hey," he had said, shaking her hand with little emotion on his face.

Their eyes met briefly.

Daniel knew she was lying.

He just knew that something about her was off.

Even though he might be an average student at best, he could easily read people's emotions and get a sense of who they were as a person, and he could tell that Esther was no ordinary little girl.
"Can I please have my friends over? It'll be so God-damned boring just watching her open presents all day!" Daniel pestered his mum once again until she finally gave in.

"Hey, watch your language… and fine, you can have your friends over. But you gotta clean your room before they come and help me get the cake before Grandma arrives this afternoon. Deal?"

Daniel agreed with his mum and left her alone with her piano after that.

The memory of that day still stuck in his mind as he headed downstairs to get something to drink after he made sure Max had got to bed okay.

Daniel sighed as he stood there in the kitchen, listening to the constant drip of the sink that was sort of broken that his parents hadn't got round to fixing now.

It was quiet.

Eerily quiet…

His eyes scanned the room, feeling like he was being watched for some reason.

Breathing heavily, he opened the fridge door and grabbed a can of soda from the top shelf.

Daniel stood there, listening… waiting.

He jumped as he heard a creak in the floorboard behind him, turning around to find nothing but the emptiness of the room.

Shaking his head, he thought he must be imagining things.

Closing the fridge door, he turned around and froze.

Eyes.

And a smirk.

A single pair of eyes as dark as the evening sky outside were looking directly at him from across the kitchen bench. How had she even managed to sneak in without making a single sound?

He blinked.

The eyes were gone.

How the hell had she done that?

Daniel knew that the stairs always creaked whenever you walked down them – the door even made a noise when you opened it to head into the kitchen. There was no way that she had been able get downstairs without making a single sound – it was merely impossible.

Shaking his head, Daniel quickly grabbed his soda off the kitchen bench and headed back up to his bedroom.

He shut the door behind him and decided to put a chair in his room up against it for good measure.

He felt safe.

At least, for a little while…