Every night before she went to bed, Elizabeth would lay awake for hours, staring at her ceiling. She was too afraid to fall asleep, because the nightmares she had seemed so real.

Elizabeth had nightmares for as long as she could remember. Her mother had taken her to many psychologists, but none of them could figure it out. Her family had become afraid for her, because Elizabeth began to act strange, talk to people that really weren't there, and she claimed to see a man walking around the house.

Elizabeth was 6 years old, and she didn't have many friends at school. Her teachers told her mom that she was very quiet and did not talk to anyone.

Elizabeth's mom, Claire, worried about her daughter day in and day out. A few of Elizabeth's psychologists blamed the fact that her father left them when she was three years old, but they were terribly wrong.

The house that Elizabeth and her mother lived in was an old 1930's house, and it was a huge, beautiful two story home. Things weren't always right around the house though. Objects would seem to disappear or move across the room, and Elizabeth was absolutely terrified of the big hall closed on the second floor. Claire believed that the cause of Elizabeth's nightmares was the house. Although she hated to admit it, she believed the house that she fell in love with was haunted. With that being an issue, Claire decided to put the old house up for sale.

The house had been for sale for two months, and not one person had been there to look at it. Claire began to things around the small town of Morningglory, Connecticut that she lived in. People would whisper and gossip about the “old haunted house” on 21st Street. Claire had never heard that kind of talk about her house before, and she had been living there for seven years. The gossip around town about Claire's house began to make her feel uneasy, so she decided to check at the library for any history of the house.

Without finding anything, Claire just wanted to leave the house and keep her daughter safe. Within the next week, Claire's brother, Justin, and her mother, Cara, began helping Claire move her things into a small but nice apartment across town. “I don't know Mom, things just seem different, and I'm really worried about Elizabeth,” Claire told her mom.

“Well honey, I just want what's best for both of you.”

“Yeah, but do you think it has anything to do with, Greg leaving us?”

The room fell silent for a moment, until Cara finally replied, “No. You could've always done better, and Elizabeth needs a real father figure.”

With that being said, there was an awkward silence for a few minutes. After they were finally done moving everything, Clair and Elizabeth began to settle in their new apartment. Elizabeth started playing in her new room, and Claire felt like things were starting to look up for the first time in a long time.

A few days passed and everything seemed to be going great. That was until Elizabeth began talking about the man in her closet. Claire got a feeling that she had never felt before. The second that her daughter mentioned the man, she felt sick to her stomach, and her whole world began spinning. She felt like everything she had worked for was falling apart, and there was nothing she could do to help her daughter.

After all else failed, Claire's best friend from high school, Lacy, referred her to a specialist in Pennsylvania that could hopefully help Elizabeth.

Claire called the specialist, and he agreed to come to their home in Connecticut so that he could see Elizabeth's surroundings. When Dr. Wagner walked into Claire's house, he immediately felt uneasy, and Claire could tell. “Take me to Elizabeth,” he said.

“Is everything alright?” Claire asked, feeling panicked.

“Everything is fine, I just need to speak to your daughter.”

Claire led Dr. Wagner down the hallway and into Elizabeth's little pink and white bedroom. Elizabeth sat on her bed, staring blankly at the closet. Dr. Wagner took a seat right next to Elizabeth on her bed. “Hi Elizabeth, my name is Dr. Wagner. Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?” Elizabeth didn't move.

“Elizabeth, what are you looking at?” Dr. Wagner asked. Instead of answering, she pointed at the closed. “Can you tell me what it is, Elizabeth?” She shook her head no.

“What is it? Tell me what it is,” Claire said frantically. Dr. Wagner gave Elizabeth a piece of paper and some colored pencils. “Elizabeth, honey, can you draw me a picture of what you're looking at?” Elizabeth began coloring on her paper, while Claire held her breath. Finally, Elizabeth handed Dr. Wagner her picture. The picture was of a black figure with bright red eyes. Claire gasped, and her eyes began filling with tears. She ran over to her daughter and held her. She wanted to make Elizabeth feel safe.

“I've never seen anything like this,” Dr. Wagner remarked.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Claire asked. But before he could answer, there was a huge crash that came from the spare bedroom, and Elizabeth began crying. Dr. Wagner jumped up and headed down the hallway. Claire followed with her daughter in her arms. “I'll call you,” Dr. Wagner said, and then ran out the door.

At this point, Claire was terrified for her daughter. She grabbed her car keys, scooped Elizabeth up into her arms and fled her apartment. It was dark outside, and the rain began pouring down in sheets. Claire buckled Elizabeth in the backseat and then took off to her mom's house.

It was about 10:15 PM when Claire got to her mom's. The drive was about 45 minutes, so Elizabeth was fast asleep in the back. Cara rushed to the door, worrying why her daughter would come over this late.

As soon as Claire walked up to the porch steps and reached her mother, she burst into tears. “Mom, I just don't know what to do anymore,” said Claire. Once Claire got Elizabeth inside and situated on the couch, her and her mother went into the kitchen to talk.

“What did Dr. Wagner say?” Asked Cara.

“Mom, it was horrible. Elizabeth wouldn't talk and then she drew a picture of this black thing with red eyes, then Dr. Wagner ran out of the house.”

“Okay Claire, this is getting out of hand. I think we need to call someone else,” Cara finally said.

Cara and Claire spend hours on the internet looking for anything that might help. They looked up Psychologists and Demonologists everywhere. Finally, they found a demonologist by the name of Rosalie Cook, who only lived about two hours away from Claire. They sent her an email, and could only hope that she would message them back soon.

It was almost 3:00 in the morning when Claire and her mom decided to go to bed. Claire crashed on the couch next to Elizabeth and waited for sleep to take her away from this horrible nightmare. Claire's eyes began getting heavier and heavier, until she could not keep them open any longer. It could have only been 10 minutes when Claire's eyes popped open again, and she was wide awake. She felt a rush of panic go through her body when she realized that Elizabeth was no longer lying next to her. She jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. Not there. She looked in the bathroom. Not there. Then she ran into her mother's room to wake her up. “Mom! Mom! I can't find Elizabeth anywhere! She's not in the house! She's not here!”

“Oh my god, we have to find her!”

Cara and Claire ran outside with flashlights, searching for Elizabeth everywhere. After searching for what seemed like forever, they finally called the police.

The police arrived at Cara's house within five minutes. Claire was sitting on the porch, sobbing at this point. Officer Lance walked up to Claire to ask her a few questions. “Miss Duncan, when and where did you last see your daughter?”

“I saw her 20 minutes ago, sleeping on the couch. She was right by me,” Claire answered. Five police officers came to the scene, and they all began searching for Elizabeth. Claire's brother, Justin pulled into the driveway and ran over to his mother and sister. “It'll be okay, Sis. We'll find her,” Justin said as he comforted his sister. Just as the town's detective began walking up to Claire, one of the police officers exclaimed, “Hey! I think I found something!” Claire, Cara and Justin ran over to the circle of police officers, only to be pushed back. Claire began shrieking when she realized that Officer Lance was holding Elizabeth's lifeless little body. All he said was, “We need an ambulance right away.” Justin drove Claire and Cara to the emergency room where Elizabeth had been taken by ambulance. The storm began picking up again while the three of them hurried inside the hospital. They hurried into the emergency room where several doctors and nurses ran around frantically. There had also been two teenagers brought in from the scene of a bad car accident. “Where is Elizabeth Duncan? She's my daughter,” Claire asked one of the nurses.

“Right this way, ma'am.” Claire followed the nurse back into a tiny white room, where Elizabeth layed in the hospital bed, hooked up to oxygen and bandages wrapped around her head, blood drying in her long, brown curly hair. “Elizabeth took a pretty hard hit to the head,” one of the doctors explained. Claire sat next to Elizabeth on the bed. Elizabeth was still unconscious. “Is she going to be alright?” Claire asked the doctor.

“She's going to be fine. I'll give you a few minutes alone,” said the doctor, then he stepped out of the room.

Claire ran her fingers through her daughter's hair, so thankful that she was alive. Just then, Elizabeth's eyes began fluttering open. “Hey Mommy, I have to tell you something,” Elizabeth whispered.

“Okay, and what's that Sweetie?” Elizabeth's eyes began filling with tears.

“He's right behind you.”