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“Because she screamed ‘sister’with so much force I think my mind heard it even in my sleep, and it woke me up and-” I begin, but don’t want to finish.“And, what?”

“She feels cold, Momma, like she’s dead?” I whisper.

“Have you told the others?” She asks. I don’t want to reach out to them because what if someone’s still watching? They would find me, and I can’t afford that right now. Hidden is how I need to stay.“No, because what if this was all just a silly dream, and I’m overreacting?”

“I’m not entirely sure, darling.” She sighs. “There is always a possibility of that, but what if it’s something more?”

“Like what? The end of the world?” I shout. “I’m sorry, Momma, I didn’t mean to take that tone of voice with you. You know how I get when I can’t figure something out.”

“Alright, dear, maybe you should try and get some sleep. What’s the time over there?”

“It’s two o’clock in the morning here, Mom.” She never has grasped the time difference between her realm and where I choose to live, The Ember Moon Realm or Earth as the Humans call it. “For the millionth time, it’s an eight hour time difference.” I chuckle.

“Oh, you know me, dear. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there, I’ll never remember that.” She laughs.

“I know, luckily I’ll remember for the both of us.”

“Now, you try and get some rest. Want to say hello to your dad before you go?”

“Sure thing.” I mumble, as I hear rustling from the phone being passed to Dad before he speaks.

“Hey there, pumpkin. How is everything?”

“Hi, Daddy, everything is okay.” I sigh, switching the phone from one shoulder to the other. “I just had a weird dream and wanted the comfort of Mom’s voice.”

“What about your old man? What can I do to help?”

“Offer me some words of wisdom?” I ask while shrugging my shoulders as if he could see.

“I can do that, sweetie. Don’t let these dreams consume you. That’s what they want. They want you to focus all your time and attention on them, causing you to forget what’s important. Dreams sometimes contain darkness, and you don’t want to be caught in her web, unless you are the light she needs to make it through.”

“If that message isn’t as cryptic as it sounds, then I don’t know what is.” I laugh, but he may have a point.

“It sounds like you just need to get some more sleep.” He chuckles into the receiver.

“I know, Daddy. I’m going to go now. Tell Mom I love her, and I love you, too. I’ll talk to you both later.” I make kissing noises into the phone.

“We love you, too, darling girl.” He says, mimicking my kissing noises. “We’ll talk to you soon.” And with that, we both disconnect the call.

Setting the central air at sixty-five degrees, I put the phone back on the nightstand. I switch the lights off and crawl back into bed. Settling underneath the covers with the ceiling fan on high is the best and only way I can fall asleep.

“Ahhh, this feels amazing.” I sway, snuggling more into my covers. I close my eyes as I drift off into la, la land.

I’m out of breath, gasping for air as if I’m drowning. I sit up and look around, but I can’t see anything.

“You can run, sweet girl, but you can’t hide.” Says a deep voice.

“What the hell?” I shout into darkness. “Who are you?”

“You’re not asking the right questions, sweet girl.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your sweet anything.”

“No? We will see about that.” He says.

“I’m sorry, why are you in my house?”

“Am I really in your house or are you dreaming, sweet girl.”