It was a late afternoon in the middle of winter and the sky was dark and gloomy. Kate had to leave quickly as she was running late for her friend’s party. Monica didn’t even say goodbye to her mum. She hurried to the front of the house and knocked on their door.

Monica was excited as she hadn’t seen her cousin for 2 years since she moved to another country.

Dezmon Martha’s husband answered the door. He looked confuse he wasn’t sure what to do but he invited Monica in and helped her with her backpack. This was the first time she had met Dezmon. He looked a bit overweight but maybe it was due to the fact that he wore too many layers of clothing. He had piercing feline like eyes and dark skin. She looked tiny next to him; He was two meters tall and held himself proud. The house was a mess, boxes piled from corner to corner one on top of another. Monica’s mother had warned her that they had recently moved and she may have been an inconvenience for them. But she didn’t care she was to self center and wanted to see the little angel.

Martha was sitting on the right side of the lounge room nursing Abigail. Martha had been like  an older sister she long to have, she was so close to her as she often took care of her when her parents were busy. Monica had always admired her for her long beautiful brown straight hair and her perfect skinny body. She was kind, responsible and intelligent.

To Monica’s surprise she seemed tired and clumsy; she thought that maybe she was sick. Gloria didn’t seem comfortable greeting Monica it was as though she was hiding something. Gloria kept looking around and seemed uneasy.

Not saying much Gloria pointed she could sleep upstairs on the left and that the bathroom was at the end of the corridor.

That afternoon Gloria cooked, setting the table she called Monica short after she had a bath to have dinner. Monica hadn’t seen the baby or Dezmond around. She was beginning to feel unwelcome as her cousin had built a barrier between them as though she wasn’t there.

They had dinner unusually early at five; Monica tried unsuccessfully to talk to Gloria as she kept answering questions with yes and no. They had a homemade Hawaiian pizza and coke. Monica felt so weird sitting on the table without anyone talking.

At around 6:30pm Monica helped her cousin clean up. Short after Monica got sent to bed without explanation. Being a late sleeper to be told at 10 years old to go to bed was really harsh to deal with. But it wasn’t her house to complain; she understood it was because her cousin needed a rest from nursing the baby.

Monica played for a long time with her mobile phone laying on the bed in her pajamas hoping the night would end soon enough; she didn’t have any credit to call Lucy her best friend. She was stuck in that dark empty room sleeping on a mattress next to a massive window that made noises like a babies rattle.

To her surprise she fell asleep at half past eight; a record time in her life’s history. She could’ve slept through the night but she got woken up by a strange loud scream. She wasn’t sure what she heard; it could’ve been a dream but it was enough to break her sleep cycle.

She was then too afraid to stand up and turn the light on so she curled up in a ball with her doona; covering her body from head to toe. She heard steps and glanced carefully at the door and soon after she saw a shadow outside her door. She was terrified, goose bumps invaded her tiny body and she couldn’t help but shiver.

Monica gathered all her strength to put her little body up and warn her cousin that there was a robber in the house. She slowly opened the door and step by step she went down stairs; everything was in semidarkness. Half way into the corridor that lead to the kitchen she heard her cousin screaming louder and louder. Martha and Dezmon were infuriated braking plates and throwing cutlery at each another. The poor little girl watched helplessly not knowing what to do she had never been in such a situation. It wasn’t her place to say anything. So instead she sneaked up stairs and hid under her doona once more until she dozed out.

At half past twelve Gloria abruptly went in Monica’s dark room breathing heavily, her voice was cutting as thought she was scared of something. Gloria was whispering into Monica’s ear

“We have to leave now I can’t stay here any longer is too dangerous; let’s go quickly before he comes back, get your things”.

Monica was scared and uncertain of what was happening, she had little time to process what was happening so she did what she was told.

They both went quickly downs stairs. Before closing the door Monica felt that they were missing someone. Monica pulled Gloria’s arm back in the house and said…

“Gloria you can’t leave Abigail here, we have to get her first”. But Gloria wasn’t listening she said desperate…

“Let’s go before he comes back”

They ran down the street hiding from bush to bush as fast as they could. Something big and brown was following them and poor Monica was sweating. The voice that came out from the creature was familiar, at one point Monica realized it was Dezmons distorted voice saying

“You can leave if you want, but Gloria stays no matter what”.

He was agile like a puma; the faster we ran the closer he felt. It was so dark Monica couldn’t see him but Gloria kept violently pulling her forward.

Monica thought she was going to die; she ran as fast as she could in the end there wasn’t any place to hide or to run to; just an old clothes line and fences too high to climb. They were traped and there was no going back, as the monstrous creature was so close behind. They climbed on top off the clothes line thinking they will be safe.

The big yellowish eyes stared at them with fury and Monica just closed her eyes praying to God to save her. All she could hear was Gloria screaming uncontrollably. Soon Monica realized she wasn’t harmed nor was the beast waiting for them under the clothes line to devour them.

It was just Gloria pulling her hair and screaming, crying at the top of her lungs. Dezmon approached Monica as she went down the clothes line and said gently…

“This is why she wasn’t supposed to leave the house, she needs help. Please take her home”.

As Monica turn around to look for him he was gone, by that time Gloria sounded much more settled so Monica asked her politely to come down and follow her. Up in the main street Monica call a taxi and give directions to go to her home. She wasn’t going ever again near that creepy house nor was she handling her cousins breaks down alone.

Twenty minute later they arrived at Monica’s house and she asked the taxi driver to wait a few minutes. Kate, Monica’s mum paid the taxi driver money and helped Gloria in.

Kate didn’t need any explanation from her daughter she knew exactly what was happening so she made the necessary arrangements to fix the problem. By the time everything was organized for Monica to go to bed she heard a car pulling on their drive way; on the side of the car was written “ROYAL DISTRICT MENTAL FACILITY”.

It was then 6:00am and the sun was coming out, her mum looked at her from outside and nodded to her motioning for her to come out. Monica went out to say goodbye to her cousin and Kate told her about her cousin’s tragic story.

Gloria’s German husband had been driving with their three weeks old baby girl around the block to send her to sleep and they accidentally crashed in to a river; minutes later they drowned. Gloria blame herself ever since and couldn’t cope with her life. Gloria was admited for a year into a mental facility and a month ago she had been discharge.

Monica was paralyzed she was trembling she knew now that she had seen Dezmon’s ghost he was only trying to help.