Mrs Graham was astounded when Sienna knocked on her door. Instead of the wilting violet that would shrink away from everyone's gaze, she was met with a chirpy "hello" as Sienna bounced on her toes. In all the years she'd lived next door, she'd never seen her like this. Sienna had a smile wreathing her face as she began a stream of chatter. "Hey Mrs Graham, are you busy today? Mum said it's okay with her if I ask if you would take me to the library. I totally understand if you're too busy. I know you've probably got a lot of your own stuff to do. Do you have stuff to do? Did you want some help? I don't have anything else to do if you want me to help."

Sienna had her hopeful, eager face turned upward, for the first time looking Mrs Graham in the eye. Her ponytail bobbed as she shifted her weight from foot to foot as she waited for a reply to her outburst.

Completely taken aback, Mrs Graham simply stepped back and allowed Sienna to enter. "Great! What can I help with?" She strode down the hallway, leading the way to the sun-room Mrs Graham favoured. "Are you replanting today?"

Shaking her head to jolt herself out of her reverie, she finally replied, "Oh. Ah, not today Sienna. I was just going to run a few errands." She looked at Sienna's shining face, "You can come along if you want to."

"Oh cool, do you want me to do the breakfast dishes while you get ready?" Still eyeing Sienna, Mrs Graham took a couple of steps towards the stairs, "Thank you Dear, that would be lovely." She could hear Sienna clatter around the kitchen while she changed and collected her bag. She was almost done by the time Mrs Graham came back downstairs. Standing in the doorway she watched Sienna pull out the plug and dry her hands. This was still Sienna, still the respectful little girl that tried to be helpful... yet somehow different. "Sienna?" "Yes Mrs Graham?" Sienna's ponytail swung behind her as she turned to face her, "Are you ready to go?" "You've never wanted to come before." Sienna looked expectant, as though waiting for her to say more or elaborate. Finally Mrs Graham couldn't help herself, "Is everything alright?"

Sienna beamed as she replied,"Yeah, everything's great."

Still confused but seeing Sienna's happy face, Mrs Graham smiled in response.

"Alright Sweetheart. Let's go."

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It took less than 2 hours for them to complete Mrs Graham's To Do list. With Sienna helping with the leg work they'd halved the time it should have taken. As a thank you Mrs Graham treated her to lunch before announcing they had time to visit the library after all.

Sienna practically skipped as they made their way down the street. Walking beside Mrs Graham, sometimes backwards, Sienna kept up a stream of happy, animated chatter, as though years of happiness were finally released. A little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day.

As Sienna stopped for breath, Mrs Graham asked, "So Sienna Dear, what are we looking for?" Sienna's smile faltered for a moment before she kicked it up a notch, "Oh, it's okay. It's just a school project. It's not due for a while so there's no rush or anything." Realising that this was definitely related to whatever was affecting Sienna that day, and with her curiosity thoroughly piqued, Mrs Graham held Sienna's gaze, "Oh it's no trouble dear, and after all the help you've given me, the least I can do is help search for the right books."

She cut off any further protests by opening the library door, "So what are we looking for?" Sienna shifted from foot to foot as she searched for a believable lie. Finally she seemed to settle on something as close to the truth as she could, "We're doing projects about our fears. Like, learn more about it so it doesn't scare us anymore, you know?" Mrs Graham, not having been born yesterday, could tell this was a blatant half truth, but could sense it was the most she was going to get, "So what are we looking for?"

Sienna faced her. For the first time that day she stood still. She was devoid of a smile as she stated in all seriousness,

"Monsters"

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It was half an hour later when Sienna was set up at a table with a stack of books. Mrs Graham had started collecting up books on fairy-tales before realising what Sienna actually meant.

Monsters under the bed, the boogeyman, wraiths, shadow-people. The things that haunt a young child's nightmares.

After setting Sienna's things on a study desk, the two of them set to work searching through the shelves, trying to find any book with so much as a passage referring to these dark creatures. After finding over twenty books that might be pertinent, Mrs Graham left Sienna ensconced at the desk while she sought out the romance section.

Sienna searched through each book, starting on smaller books, working her way to the larger tomes. It quickly became evident that they all gave almost identical information. From what she could glean, the closest creature that matched what she'd seen would be some kind of bogeyman. That was about the only thing she could be remotely certain of. Reading through epistles on demons, ghosts, and other spookables, the material gave her information on how to avoid or temporarily ward off dark beings;

⦁ keep away from sources of water.

⦁ a broom under the pillow/bed.

⦁ light sources - the brighter the light, the weaker the entity.

⦁ religious artefacts (though different religions stated their icons worked best)

⦁ a horseshoe next to the bed to stave off nightmares.

⦁ 'the Lords Prayer'

The list continued, each item seeming more and more ineffectual to Sienna. These were all weapons to combat the idea of the creature, not the reality of the physical being. They all focused on a concept. A story created to keep children in line by keeping them scared and subjected.

After going through the stack, Sienna reached for the last book. She flicked through the small leather bound compendium. As the pages flicked past, Sienna saw flashes of water coloured illustrations. The familiar pictures of the storybook characters she'd known most of her life confused her at first. Flicking back through the pages, Sienna finally twigged. This was one of the fairy-tale books that Mrs Graham had originally brought over.

Feeling dejected, Sienna closed the book to add to the pile of discarded books. It was as she closed it that an image caught her eye. She snatched it back up and poured through it 'til she found the page again.

A story by A famous writer about a sentient shadow. The story did not hold her interest so much as the picture. Instead of depicting a scene from the tale, there was an all to familiar sight.

A room with a dark faceless shadow emerging from the corner of a bedroom while a child huddled under the covers.

Looking at the picture, Sienna felt a semblance of the tightness in her chest that had accompanied the fear that had oppressed her for over half of her life. This wasn't just a nightmare someone had dreamt up. There, detailed in pen and ink, was the monster that had terrified her for so long.

Too long.

As she studied the featureless face, the elongated arms, the spindly reaching fingers, Sienna felt the tightness ease. A feeling of hollowness; a light, almost floating sensation took it's place. It took a moment for her to realise it was actually a hot rage slowly welling up inside of her. She wasn't the only one. She wasn't the first. This THING was stalking small children. Frightened, defenceless children like she had been.

Mrs Graham, coming back with a small stack of books she was going to check out, stopped dead at the sight of the girl sitting in front of her. It was plain to see that Sienna was in an out-and-out rage!

Her lips were compressed flat and white, while her cheeks flushed an angry red. What scared The old lady was Sienna's eyes. The honey-brown eyes that had sparkled merrily only an hour before, now appeared black and flat, as though the pupils had pulled all the light from the iris and left a void were it should have been.

The sight of such anger, such deep, unabiding hatred, made Sienna appear older. Cold.

...Dangerous.

It was then that Sienna seemed to snap out of whatever had entranced her. She looked over at Mrs Graham with a bright smile, the glint of amber flashing in her brown eyes. "Sorry Mrs Graham, did you say something?" Mrs Graham gave her head a little shake. She must have imagined what she'd seen earlier. Obviously Sienna was just engrossed in the book and focusing on her school project. "No Dear, but we do need to start home. Did you find what you were looking for?" Sienna crinkled her nose, "Yup. You'll never guess. It was in the fairy-tale book you brought over first."

Mrs Graham chuckled. "Well I'm glad I could be of some help to you Sweetheart. If you grab it now we can check it out. Your mother will be home soon."

Sienna gathered up her things and hugged the book to her chest. There was a reassuring spring in her step as she proceeded Mrs Graham to the library help desk.

She would not have felt such reassurance if she had seen the determined look on Sienna's face, or the hard glint that flashed in her eyes.