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The house was dark, the wind was blowing, and a tree was scratching at the window.
I sat there, huddled up in my blanket, looking around with wide eyes for the thing that was coming.
I knew it was here.
I knew what it was up to.
And yet I couldn’t make myself hide…
A shadow flew across the room, making me jump.
‘Wh-who’s there?’ I asked, my voice merely a whisper. I was shaking so badly…
There was a scream coming from the next room.
I jumped out of my bed and ran down the hallway to my twin Daniel’s room, bursting through the doorway.
His body was lying on the bed, covered in blood.
I screamed.
The shadow flew across the room, heading towards the doorway.
I knew it was coming…
But I couldn’t move…
It was coming, coming fast…
I couldn’t stop it.
So I braced myself for impact, crossing my arms in front of my head and closing my eyes tightly…
Everything was swallowed up in darkness, and the only things I could see were myself and the shadow…
It passed through me, taking my breath away.
And suddenly, I wasn’t an eight-year-old in her nightgown…
I was a thirteen-year-old in my regular clothes.
My eyes shot open, and I spun around, facing the shadow.
‘Hello, Sky,’ the shadow said, its voice sickeningly sweet.
I knew that voice…
‘You’re shaking…Come here, and let Mommy give you a hug. Don’t worry, sweetie. Mommy’ll make things better…’
‘You’re not my mom!’ I screamed.
The shadow moved toward me, melting into the shape of a woman.
‘Come now, Sky. You don’t really believe that, do you?’
‘Of course I do! My mom doesn’t talk like that!’
‘Then I guess I’ll have to convince you otherwise.’ The shadow took a step forward, its eyes red, and began to sing. It sang a lullaby my /real/ mom sang to me when I was a kid. I clamped my hands over my ears, shutting my eyes tight. When I opened them again, I was an eight-year-old. Tears were streaming down my face.
‘M-Mommy?’ I asked, taking my hands off my ears.
The shadow took a step forward, smiling evilly.
‘Yes, Sky, it’s Mommy. Come here…’
‘Mommy!’ I ran to the shadow, completely convinced the woman in front of me /was/ my mom. I hugged her tight, tears of happiness running down my face. ‘Mommy…’ I said, smiling. The shadow woman hugged me back, but it removed a hand off my back, and the next thing I knew, the glinting of a dagger blade caught my eye…
‘Mommy?’ I asked, frightened.
The shadow woman smiled evilly, and then laughed…
I was back to a thirteen-year-old. ‘Mom? What’s going on?’ I looked up at her face, back to being eight. The face I was looking at wasn’t my mom’s…
It was the shadow’s…
‘Good-bye, Sky…’ It hissed.

“MOM!” I screamed, sitting up, drenched in sweat. I was breathing heavily. It was still night, and the clock on my nightstand stated that it was two in the morning. I drew my knees up to my chest, laid my head down on them, and shook.
I hated that nightmare…
And I hated it more than ever now, especially since my mom wasn’t here to calm me down so I could go back to sleep.
It’s been five years since I last saw my dear mother.
Dad told me, three years ago, that she joined an evil force led by someone called John Auburn…He said that she joined him to protect us, to keep us safe. Dan and me, that is.
I’ve had that nightmare before, when I was five. And my mom would hear me scream, and she’d come to my bed straight away, and comfort me, singing me lullabies, and soothing me back into dream land.
But she wasn’t here anymore.
So I had to comfort myself…
“Shai es ta la bae da.
Dai es ta la bae doh.
Shai es ta la bae da.
Dai oh koh doh…” I sang.
The words were Centrillian, the language my mom spoke.
In English, this is what the words meant:
“Starlight is a memory.
Moonlight is a song.
Starlight is a memory.
Moonlight sings its song.”

After singing the lullaby to myself, I was calm enough to try to go back to sleep. I took a deep, shuddering breath, and laid back down, pulling the covers back over myself. I closed my eyes, took another breath, and soon fell into the other world known as slumber land.