• Alice swayed from side to side. Something felt wrong. She was standing alone in her room, an ominous feeling seemingly seeping through the very walls that confined her. Something feels.. weird.. She thought.

    "Alice! Time for breakfast!" Her mother called to her from downstairs.

    Alice snapped back to reality.

    "Coming, mother!" She yelled back. She walked out of her bedroom door.

    Alice Burdington was your average girl. Her eyes were an icy blue, her hair long and glistening in the sunlight. She was of an average height, not really lanky, not really stout. Alice was a sweet and shy girl, but never seemed to fit in, and, as always, a misfit's mother was either over protective of her child, or rejected it with her whole soul and body. Alice's was the protective type.

    She, rather surreptitiously, made it downstairs in a matter of seconds, turning the corner to see her mother standing at the kitchen counter, grazing margarine onto her toast. They smiled at each other, remaining silent. Alice sat and began eating her eggs quietly.

    "... So, it looks like it's about time for you to go," Her mother said, breaking the invisible wall between the two.

    Alice peered up at the clock in her room. 7:35 it read.

    "Oh, yeah. Bye then mom," She said, kissing her on the cheek.

    She grabbed her fluorescent pink book bag. She walked to school everyday, a sort of tradition she had made into a habit after her father died. He always walked her to school.

    She opened the doors to Scarlette Middle School, or as she liked to call it, her living hell. She sighed, walking reluctantly down the tiled floors. She looked ahead to Miss Bowle's room, the wretched English teacher who only wanted every kid's life to be ruined.. kind of like her own.

    As soon as she sat in her seat, Derek, the biggest of her annoyances, walked to her desk, slamming his palm onto the edge of it.

    Alice spurted up, almost screaming, but welled herself up in enough time. "A-Are you crazy!?" Alice whispered loudly.

    Derek gave her a smirk. "Yes, in fact I am," He chuckled manically.

    His face turned serious.

    "Now to the point. tonight's Halloween, right?"

    "Duh," She retorted indifferently.

    "Then, I dare you to spend the night in old Valentine's Mansion," He said, a giggle detectable in his voice.

    Valentine's Mansion was an old abandoned mansion a few blocks away from town. It was old, and no one had lived there for ages. All of the kids were too scared to go there, especially for trick-or-treating.

    Alice flushed. "You are crazy! That place is-" She didn't get to finish.

    Miss Bowle sent her a Death Look. She sat up straight, making the Evil Temptress that was her teacher turn around. She looked down at her piece of paper, writing a note to Derek. 'Like I tried to say, that place is scary! No way I'm a going in there!' She wrote on her paper. She quietly passed it to him. He looked at it for a moment, and then scribbled on some more writing. He gave it back to her. 'What if I told everyone to leave you alone? If you do it, I promise I will!' She thought for a moment. Was it worth it? Sighing, she wrote her answer. 'Okay...' Derek's face lit up.

    "Okay, just make sure you stay in there all night."

    "Why do you want me to do this?" Alice asked, cutting him off nearly.

    He gave her a wide smile.

    "Because, everyone in the entire school wants to know if that house is haunted. Who better to do it then the one that no one likes?"

    She looked at him with a grim glare.

    "Kidding, kidding! We just want to know," She sighed.

    She rolled her eyes at his bellowing. "Sure, sure, fine. Now go away." She rammed at him, and he fell into his seat.

    The day seemed to fly by after that. As soon as Alice knew it, she was trudging home. She opened the door to her house, telling her mother that she was spending the night with a friend. Her mother's smile shown bright, obviously happy that she was making some companions. She agreed in a heartbeat, and Alice ran up to prepare supplies. She packed a flashlight, just in case the lights didn't work, some snacks, a pair of clothes, and a camera, just so Derek and the other demon children knew she actually did it. She walked downstairs, waving to her mom, and took off to the mansion.

    ~~~~

    She looked up at the hazed mansion, breathing heavily; her heart seemed to fall out of existence. She took a brave step, then another, then another. As soon as she knew it, she was standing in front of the creepy villa. She reached a shy hand up to open the door, her hand touching the cold, brass knob, and she grasped it and then pushed it open. She closed her eyes out of fright, walking into the building expecting her death to follow. After a few seconds of eerie silence, she slowly opened her eyes, seeing the mansion in front of her. It looked dark, but still kind of normal. She expected something.. scarier of course. That was an understatement itself. She walked in, lying her bag on the shagged carpet. Old lamps lay demolished on the hard-wood floor. She ignored them, not wanting to think what put them there.

    She looked to her left and right, seeing a few doors. She was scared, but her curiosity got the best of her. She took a few steps to the right, picking a door and opening it, thrusting it forward as if she was going to kill someone. She looked up, seeing it was just a kitchen. She prayed that no roaches would be looming around. She shivered at the thought. Walking in shyly, she looked down at the black and white linoleum. The house wasn't really all that bad. Lifting her head slowly, she fell backwards, screaming and pointing. There lay a big brown head, looking as if it would eat her. After she had screamed (a shrill scream, that was) like she had seen a caterpillar for a second or two, she noticed that the head wasn't eating her. She examined it closer, seeing it as a dead deer that was probably mounted on the wall until it fell off. She stood, and then brushed off her pants. The floors were dusty to say the least. She walked out of the room, too scared to explore more thoroughly. She got her thoughts together, and took a few steps forward. She heard a few sounds, and she stopped dead in her tracks. A low cackle laughed from somewhere, and she didn't particularly want to find out where.

    A few minutes of extreme cowering ended slowly as she trudged forward to another door, doing the same method as previous ones. She covered her head for any men with axes, and looked ahead at the dull pink room. There were mangled dolls strewn across the floor. The bed had been massacred by mold. She sighed in relief. The room seemed normal enough. She took a few steps forward, stopping abruptly as she stepped on a doll, but kept moving forward. Then, something caught her eye. She looked to the corner of the room. There was a door. From the outside, it didn't look like there were any extensions to the current layout of the house, and she doubted it was a closet for the fact that it didn't look extravagant enough to be one. She cringed a little, and took a few paces forward. She slowly opened the door.

    "BOOO!" An unknown enigma screamed.

    Alice nearly fell to the ground. Her face turned porcelain white, and she screamed as loud as possible.

    "Calm down.. I'm sorry I scared you so bad.." A sensitive voice said, giggling a bit. She sounded childlike and.. slightly vehement about her apology.

    She looked ahead, seeing a little girl. Her hair was dull blue, and she wore a beret, complimented by her long dress. Her dress had a figure of a moon on it. Only, something was wrong. She seemed to have a certain aura around her, and it wasn't normal. Then it struck her.

    "G-G-G-G-GHOST!" She screamed. The little girl laughed. "Yeah. I'm a ghost! A friendly one though. My name's Lumina. What's yours?" She asked sweetly. "A-Alice," Alice mumbled suspiciously. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. I just want a.. friend," Lumina said, her eyes welling up. Being a ghost, she was obviously lonely.

    Lumina looked up at her. "Will you be my friend?" She asked. Alice thought for a moment. A ghost? Well, she never did really have a true friend. And this girl seemed like the right material. Then again.. ah, what harm could it do. "S-sure," She said, making the girls eyes light up gleefully.

    "Yay! Okay? how bout I come home with you so I don't have to stay here anymore?" She asked.

    Alice wasn't cautious of her anymore.

    "Sure. Just hide in my book bag," She told her.

    She walked out with the ghost by her side, and picked up her book bag, the ghost happily sucking herself in like a vacuum. Alice thought how she did it, but brushed it off. She picked up her book bag, putting it on her back, and walked out of the house. She didn't care about the stupid, naive dare anymore.

    After a few minutes of walking and talking to her new friend, she looked ahead at her home. After all she had been through, it was as if she hadn't been home in years. She walked in the door with a smile on her face, and her mother stared at her from the couch.

    "Oh, home so soon?" She asked her.

    "Yeah." She told her back.

    "So, did you have fun?" She asked.

    "Yep. The time of my life."