Fourteen year olds Lin and Molly were walking home from school together like they always did.  They had been best friends for as long as they could remember.  Lin had long, blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes.  Her seventeen year old brother was the quarter back on the football team.  Lin played for the high school volleyball team.  Molly had dark brown hair and gentle green eyes.  She had two older twin brothers who were also linebackers on the high school football team.  Molly was also on the high school volleyball team with Lin.  They were headed to Lin’s house to work on a science project.

     “I can’t believe Ms. Mada is making us do this,” Lin complained.

     “I know.  She said it was optional and now she’s requiring it,” Molly whined.
     “Oh well,” Lin said. “I guess we have to do it.”
     They walked in silence for a while.  Suddenly, Molly’s eyes widened.
     “Hey Lin? What’s that?” Molly said pointing her finger at something.  Lin looked at what Molly was pointing at.  It was a big, rusty, wooden house lying in the lot that was usually empty.  It had not been there that morning when they had walked to school. 
     “Woah,” said Lin, looking over at Molly.  “I’ve never seen that before.”
     “Me either,” Molly breathed, with her eyes still wide.  Suddenly, she had an idea.
     “Lin?” she said, grinning at her. 
     “What?”
     “I say we go check it out!” Molly said as she took off towards the house.
     “Wait up!” Lin yelled as she ran after Molly.
     It didn’t take them long to get to the lot.  The crispy, dead grass crunched beneath their feet as they slowly made their way to the door.  The steps leading up to the deck creaked quietly.  The whole house seemed to be made of the same old wood. It was a scary place, yet the girls kept going until they reached the front door.  It had a big hole in the middle of it, so that Lin and Molly could see right through into the house.  Molly took the chance to take a peek inside.  Even the inside of the house was made out of the mysterious wood.  There was a staircase in the front area of the house, with a long, narrow hallway on the left side.  On the right side of the staircase, there was a door. 
     “I say we go in and check it out,” said Molly.  “It doesn’t look too bad in there.”
     “Alright,” Lin said shortly.  “As long as you say it’s safe…”
     “It’ll be fine!” Molly assured.  “Let’s go!”
The girls opened the front door, which whined out a long creak.  They stepped inside, as the door slammed behind them.  They looked around wildly. Where to go first?  Molly took the lead, heading toward the door on the right side of the staircase.  She put her hand on the door knob and turned it.
     “Locked,” said whispered.  “Why would it be locked?  I’m almost positive no one lives here.”
     “Molly,” Lin whispered, sounding panicked.  Molly turned and saw Lin trying to open the front door.  That too, was locked.
     “Molly!” Lin cried.  “I swear we didn’t lock it!  How would it lock itself?  We need to get out of here!”
They both started running down the long, narrow hallway on the left side of the staircase, desperately hoping there was some other way out.  As they got toward the end of the hallway, they could see what used to be the kitchen and living room area.  To their relief, there was a door in the back of the house.  As they approached it, they lunged toward it and attempted to open it.  It too, was locked.
     By this time, Lin was crying on the ground.  Molly had always been the emotionally stronger one in the pair, and usually knew how to fix any situation.  Although, she too was scared, she needed to hide it, for the sake of her best friend. 
     “Everything will be okay.”  Molly assured her, crouching next to Lin.  “We’ll find a way out, even if we do have to break a window and jump.”  Lin nodded and started to get up from the ground.  She gave Molly a small smile.
     “You’re right.  But there’s no way we’re getting out of here if we don’t work together.” Lin said.  They looked around, and decided they should try the upstairs.  Maybe they would find a key for the doors or some other way out.  They both started slowly walking toward the stairs, when they heard a loud creak from the ceiling above them.  It seemed as if someone was walking upstairs.  They looked at each other with wide eyes.  They were not alone.
                          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
     They didn’t know if they should go upstairs or try to find another way out without this person or thing knowing they were here.  After all, this house had not been here that morning.  They whispered with each other trying to decide what to do.  They eventually decided they should be brave, and go upstairs.  They made a promise to each other to not leave the other person behind, no matter how scared they became.  They knew that it may be someone that could help them!  They were willing to take the chance. 
     As they slowly tip-toed upstairs, they kept hearing the creaking noises.  Both Lin and Molly were scared out of their minds, but they had to keep their promise to each other.  They were four stairs away from the top, when they started doubting their decision.   Lin turned to Molly.
     “Should we keep going, or can we turn back?” she asked.
     “Lin.” Molly whispered.  “We have to find out what’s up here.  It could help us!  And there has to be some other way out of here.  I just know there is.” she said as she looked toward the top of the staircase.  Lin sighed quietly and nodded.  If Molly kept going, Lin had to follow.  She had promised. 
     They got to the top of the stairs quickly, but quietly.  The creaking noises from above had become louder and louder.  There was a long narrow hallway right down the middle of the house, with two doors on each side of the hall. 
     “There’s two rooms on each side.” Lin noticed.  Molly nodded and squinted.  There was a candle lit at the end of the hall.  It had to have been lit recently, as it was still standing tall and there was very little wax dripping down the sides.  Then she looked directly down from the candle and noticed something that made her jump inside.  There was a sign that read: WELCOME.  It was printed in blood red ink. 
     “Hey Lin?” Molly said with a shaky voice.
     “Yeah?” Lin said, looking up from her shoes.
Molly pointed to the sign and Lin followed her finger.  When she saw it, her eyes showed utter fear.
     “Molly, we need to get out of here.  Now!” she yelled.
They started running down the stairs as they heard footsteps coming out of one of the rooms upstairs.  Their noise had let the thing know they were there.  They realized this and ran toward the front door.  But, to their horror, they forgot it was locked.  They ran to the back door, and realized that it too, was locked.  They were cornered.  The girls looked up and saw a figure under a black hood heading toward them.  It had followed their sound downstairs.  It appeared to be human shaped.  Could it be a human?  Or was it some other creature?  The figure walked toward them, slowly.  Molly glanced over at Lin, who sat there with her eyes closed.  Molly had seen Lin do that only once before.  The last time she did it was when her dog had ran out into the middle of the road, with a car accelerating toward it.  Lin only did that when she was extremely scared.
                        - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
     The thing finally reached them.  Although, it felt like they had been sitting there for hours by the time the thing got to them, it had only been a couple seconds.  In these slow seconds, Molly had been frantically searching the room with her eyes for any way to get past the thing.  She could find no way.  The girls were cornered and there was nothing they could do to save themselves now.
     The thing stood over them and stared down.  All Molly and Lin could see inside the hood, was pitch black and flaring red eyes.  The thing put its face five inches away from Molly’s, and then suddenly pulled back and turned.  It beaconed them to follow, as it headed upstairs.  The girls followed, only because they were afraid of what it would do to them if they didn’t.  They followed it upstairs, past the candle and WELCOME sign, and into the second door on the left side of the hallway. 
     The space seemed to be an ordinary room.  Although there was no furniture, it could easily have been a bedroom for a child.  As the thing approached a wall, it turned around quickly.  It seemed to be staring right at Molly and Lin.  They didn’t know what to do.  They looked at each other, and shrugged.  They figured they’d just have to stand there and find out.  Then, the thing starting saying something. 
     “Molly,” it said.  “Molly.”
     “How do you know my name?!” Molly asked, horrified.  She looked over at Lin, who was gradually disappearing.   What was this thing doing to her? 
     “Molly!” Lin yelled.  “MOLLY!”
She looked back at the thing as it kept saying “Molly. Molly.”  She blinked twice, hard.  What was happening?  Suddenly she heard a bunch of her friends voices chant, “MOLLY!”  Then, once again, “MOLLY!”.
                        - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
     This time she awoke with a jolt.  Her whole science class was surrounding her, including her teacher Ms. Mada. 
     “Molly, you fell asleep in class!” Ms. Mada exclaimed.  “I was right in the middle of explaining your science project when you drifted off.  I didn’t notice for a while, but when I finally did we all tried to wake you!  I can’t count how many times we had to yell your name until you heard us!”  Molly sat there, wide eyed. 
     “I-I can’t believe I did that.  I’m so sorry.” she stuttered.  She looked around at all her classmates that were surrounding her.  One of Molly’s best friends, Filip was standing right beside Molly, with a black hooded sweatshirt on.  She could barely see his face with his hood on like that.  Then she realized, Filip must’ve been the thing in her nightmare!  He had to be.  Her mind must’ve just added the flaring red eyes to him in her nightmare.  She smiled at him and turned to where Lin was standing.
     “I have to tell you something after school.” she said.  Lin nodded and said, “Okay.”.
     “Now class!” Ms. Mada bellowed.  “Get back to your seats! I need to finish explaining the project.”  Molly smiled as Ms. Mada confirmed the project was indeed, optional.
     As Molly and Lin walked home, Molly explained her dream to Lin.  Lin nodded and listened carefully.  Molly explained everything from the doors being locked, to the thing and Lin listened to the whole thing.  They approached the lot where the mysterious house had been in her dream, and it was empty, like always.  Lin and Molly looked at each other and smiled.  Molly looked back at the lot.  In the distance, there was a figure with a black hood. 
     “Filip, is that you?” Molly yelled.
The figure turned toward them, and it’s red eyes were flaring in the darkness where it’s face should have been.