When I woke up, I was confused and had no idea where I was. As I looked around my room, soon realizing that it was in a hospital, I started to panic, remembering why I was there... and the last thing I'd seen.

Sitting up in my bed, my IV tugging at my arm, I scanned my room for any signs of... of her, but Mom was quickly by my side, forcing me to lie back down. "Sweetie, it's okay," she said, rubbing my arm, which I now realized was extremely sore. "You had a bad reaction to the pain medicine they gave you. You're okay, so calm down." She kissed my forehead. "It's okay. You dislocated your shoulder and broke your collarbone, but other than that you're fine."

"Then why am I still here—" I looked down at myself "—in a hospital gown and hooked up to an IV?"

"Well, when you... when you had that reaction, they wanted to monitor you overnight, just to make sure you were okay." She smiled nervously. "You really scared that x-ray tech to death, screaming like that."

I thought back to what had caused my screaming. "Yeah, I'm sure I did."

"But you're okay, now, and we'll be going home soon. I'm simply waiting for your release papers."

She told me that Dad had gone on to work once he realized I was okay, and that Kylie was at school, so I'd be able to rest once we got home, since it would be quiet.

I could only hope.

A few hours later, I was in the comfort of my own bed, high on whatever medicine they'd given me for my pain. My phone kept vibrating on the nightstand by my bed, but I ignored it, in no mood to talk to whoever it was, having to explain—or lie about—what had happened yesterday.

Craaaazy, craaaazy.

Her creepy voice was playing in my mind like an iPod that was skipping, so I tried to sing another song to push it out, which only made me feel that much more insane. "You're not insane. You're not insane," I told myself. But then again, maybe the first sign of insanity was denial.

It was in the middle of my sanity check when my mom walked into my room. "Amber, I'm going to the store. Is there anything you need me to get while I'm there?"

No, don't go. Don't leave me alone. "No, I'm fine." It was the middle of the day and I was already scared. How pathetic.

My phone vibrated again, causing Mom to pick it up. "Hotness? Who would that be?" she asked with a smirk.

I felt my face heat up. "Oh, that would be Erik."

She crossed her arms. "I didn't know you liked him. I've always wondered why you're into that ghost hunting stuff, and now I know. It's not so much the ghost hunting as it is the ghost hunters."

"No, it's not like that. I went before Erik joined our team."

She smiled that smile that let me know she didn't really believe me. "Anyway, it looks like he's sent about ten messages and called, too, so here...." She handed my phone to me and kissed my forehead. "If you think of anything you need, call me."

"Okay."

Once she left and I heard her pulling out of the driveway, I messaged Erik back. What's up?

Two seconds later, my phone was ringing, and before I could even say hello, Erik was practically yelling at me. "Why haven't you answered my calls? Or my texts? Nick and I have been worried sick. Well, Nick said you were probably fine, but I was worried. I knew you'd ignore him, but I didn't think you'd.... Anyway, what happened? Kylie posted something that said you were in the hospital, that you fell."

Once he finally stopped talking, I explained what had happened, from the toothbrush incident and me running from something that wasn't supposed to exist, to falling down the stairs and seeing Eleanor, if that's even who it was, come after me in the x-ray room. "I feel like I'm losing my mind." I let out a nervous laugh, which made me sound as crazy as I felt. "Have you... have you seen her? Like I have?"

"No." He was quiet for a few seconds. "Maybe the sanatorium, the things that happened there, was just too much for your mind to grasp. Maybe the nightmares are your mind's way of trying to let go of it all."

"But that's the thing. They weren't nightmares; none of it. It's all... real," I admitted.

As soon as the word left my lips, I felt something gently tugging at my hair. Without thinking, I jumped up and smoothed my hair out, causing pain to explode out of my right side, which made me yell out.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Erik asked, sounding worried again.

I looked around my room, which was empty, and felt tears welling up in my eyes. No, I'm not alright. "I... I must’ve moved too much."

"Do you need me to come over? I can finish my work later."

In no way did I want him to witness me losing it. "No, I'm fine, and Mom will be back in a bit."

"Well, call if you need me. I'll check on you later."

I was surprised that Erik suddenly seemed to care so much, but didn't question it. "Okay."

After we hung up, I spent the next thirty minutes occupying my mind and thinking about how he'd told me bye, the way his voice sounded raspy—sexy—as he said my name. I wondered how it'd sound if he was here with me now, but if it was dark, no sun glaring in through my window, and we were alone... naked. How it would sound if he whispered it in my ear, his lips brushing against my neck... while his hand—

A scream pierced through my daydream, my head feeling the full brunt of it, threatening to explode. I quickly covered my ears, pain radiating through my shoulder, but it did nothing to muffle the sound. I got up to run, but when I opened my eyes, everything was black—I was blind. Why couldn't I see? I tried to feel my way out of my room with my left arm, the screaming drowning out all other noise.

"Deaf and blind. Deaf and blind. Gonna make you lose your mind."

I felt rough, cold hands grab my arms, but I jerked away, finding the stairs and making my way down them. I thought I was going to fall again, feeling dizzy from my medicine and disoriented from not being able to see, but pushed through it, making my way down each step.

The screaming had morphed into nothing more than a loud ringing in my ears, but it still prevented me from hearing anything but its shrillness. When I felt the cold hands grab at my arms, again, I smacked them away, crying for it to stop while I tried to make my way outside, like that would somehow help.

Suddenly, my head started to spin even more than before, causing me to fall into the wall. At this point, I had no clue which direction the back door was. Am I even in the kitchen? I rubbed my eyes, which did nothing to help my vision, before covering my ears again and sliding down the wall. "Stop. Stop. Stop." I don't know if it was the fear of it all, or just an adrenaline overload, but I began to scream, my voice matching the ringing in my ears. "Stoooop!"

I felt hands on my arms, again, which forced me to scurry across the floor to try to get away, but they followed. I tried so hard to see, but my vision was darker than night. Not knowing what else to do, I held my hands up, tears pouring from my sightless eyes, and begged for it to leave me alone.

"Please... just stop." I covered my face, wanting to get away... get away from myself and whatever was inside me. "Why are you doing this to me? Just stop... please...."

I heard a familiar laugh that faded into two words, echoing through my mind—crazy, crazy. Once the last word was spoken, the ringing in my ears stopped.

"Amber? What's wrong?" I heard my mom yell. "Amber! Talk to me." She was crying, too.

I uncovered my face and saw her squatted on the floor in front of me, her hands still wrapped around my arms. The fear I'd felt reflected back at me from her face, which was staring at me in alarm.

"I can see." I could see and hear, which caused me to jump forward and throw my good arm around her neck.

She held me in silence, soaking up my tears with her shirt, and I realized, then, that there was no way to explain this one away. How could I explain something to her that I couldn't understand, myself?

"I like you." I looked up at the sound of the eerie whisper as it floated across the kitchen, but no one was there except for us. "I think I'll keep you." Her voice was in my ear, now, and I felt her breath against my hair.

Chills erupted across my skin as I smacked at my hair, which caused Mom to look at me. "What is it, Amber?" She followed my eyes, but apparently only saw what I saw, which was nothing. I was surprised when she reached down and rubbed her arms, which also had goosebumps.

"Nothing," I lied, as we slowly headed back toward the stairs. “I must’ve been sleepwalking.”

I started to ask her if I could sleep with her tonight, but knew that wouldn't be a good idea, since I hadn't slept with her since I was, like, four or five. If I hadn't fallen, I'd go sleep over at Tanya's house, but doubted that would matter, since I was the one being haunted, not my house. Nope, whatever that was going on was inside me. I shivered at the thought.

"You sure you're okay?" Mom asked, knowing that I really wasn't.

I nodded while the voice in my head sang, "She thinks you're crazyyy, crazyyy... that's what they say...." I tried to ignore it, until I heard her—with my ears, not inside my head—at the bottom of the stairs, causing me to turn around and look at her. "Maybe I should kill her, too." She smiled, baring her rotten teeth at me, but as she spoke, her mouth never moved. "I don't like people thinking I'm crazy, do you?" It was then that I noticed the ax in her hands.

I practically pushed Mom the rest of the way up the stairs and into my room. "Amber, stop pushing me."

I ignored her as I shoved her into my room and looked back down the hall, glad to see it empty. I spun around to grab my door, but when I turned back around to shut it, she was there, her face so close to mine that when she spoke the rancid smell almost caused me to gag. 

"I can't hear them... if they're all dead," she whispered.

I tried to shut my door, but she stuck her ax in the way, causing it to thud hard against it. I yelled at Mom to help me, knowing she had to see what I saw, but she didn't come to help, leaving me to fight her by myself. I thought she might be too frightened to move, until I heard her say my name, pushing me to the side.

"Amber, your shoe is in the way. If you'd put your shoes up like you're supposed to, you wouldn't have this problem." She stood up and gave me a look that matched one of the many others I'd gotten today. "Why are you pitching a fit?"

I looked down to find that the ax was, in fact, my shoe, and that the hallway was now empty. "I... I...." I stepped back, thinking Mom might be right. Maybe I did need to see a doctor. Maybe my blood levels were off, causing me to get mixed up, which was an understatement. Maybe I had some rare virus that was affecting my brain, making me see and hear things that weren't there. Maybe....

"Hello? Amber? Are you listening?" Mom asked, looking concerned again. Heck, I was concerned, too.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I'm just tired. I don't think I need any more pain medicine. It makes me loopy," I tried to explain, hoping she believed it.

"I agree," she said as she kissed my forehead and told me to lie down. "I'm going to put up the groceries, since they're probably spoiling, and then start on supper."

"Okay." I wasn't hungry but didn't mention it, knowing it would worry her that much more.

As I turned around and made my way to my bed, each step guarded and deliberate, I was scared. No, scared wasn't what I was—I was utterly and completely terrified. Most things happen after you go to bed, hidden in the darkness. Nighttime is when the bad things come out, since they know they'll have a place to hide; under the bed, in the closet, masked by shadows. Evil lurks in the dark, right? The witching hour was supposed to be at 3:00 a.m., not three o'clock in the afternoon.

If it's this bad during the day, what would happen once the sun went down? If I could barely make it through the day, how was I going to make it through the night?

As I looked out my window, watching the sun slowly fall behind the trees, any hope I had left fell with it, thinking about the words Eleanor had said, wondering what they meant... afraid I might know. "I think I'll keep you."

I think I'll keep you.