That Sunday Taya was at her house, alone, curled up on her living room couch, clutching her pillow to her chest. She couldn't bring herself to say much since Friday. She had shrugged off Henry's concerns, assuring him that she was fine, it was just a stomach virus. How could she explain to him what had happened to her? How that thing attacked her. Was that shadow a ghost? Or something else? A demon maybe? She shuddered at the thought. When that thing revealed itself to her, it made itself very clear about its intentions. It had wanted something from her. It showed her what it could do, what it would do. But Taya had done something neither of them expected. She had fought back.

     How am I supposed to tell anyone what happened? Should I say anything?

     Her thoughts twisted and turned as she tried to make sense of what she went through. She couldn't have imagined it, could she? Had she nodded off and had a very intense nightmare? But it felt real, she thought.

     Was she going crazy?

     Force it out of your mind, she told herself. Don't say anything to anyone until mom gets back. That was her plan, for want of a better word. In the meantime, she wasn't going back to that building, ever again. No way in hell. Nothing could make her go back there. As she chewed on the end of her long braid she realized that raised another problem: how was she going to explain to everyone? She didn't like the idea of Henry being there but what could she do? Henry’s whole academic career was tied to that place. Besides, what could she tell him? I think I was attacked by a shadow monster? It all happened in my mind?

     God help her, she really did sound insane.

     A year ago I would have been excited by this. She thought ruefully. A pang in her chest, a mix of regret and anger tinged with shame made her look at her phone. She scrolled through the photos, the ones of her and her friends from high school. Taya realized she hadn’t spoken to them in months. Not since graduation...

     Her mind snapped back to the present when she heard her phone ring. It was Henry.

     "Hello?" She answered.

     There was static on the other end then the line went dead. That had never happened before. Her phone rang again, Henry’s face appearing on the screen. She let it rang a few more seconds before answering.

     "Hello? Henry?"

     "Taya?"

     "Yeah, it's me, babe. What's up?" She asked.

     "Listen, something happened.....I nee----"

     "What? Henry, I can't hear you!"

     His voice kept coming in and out between the static, making it difficult to understand him. All noise stopped and for several beats, she heard nothing. Then a voice, dark and guttural and not Henry’s laughed on the other line. She felt like she’d been dumped into ice. Taya stood up, trying to find a signal, something, to connect her back with her boyfriend.

     "Who--who is this? Henry are you there? Henry!"

     The laughing stopped and she heard nothing. She was beside herself, uncertain of what to do. An ear-splitting scream burst from the phone. They both jumped back, horrified. The scream ending as abruptly as it started.

     The line was cut and Taya could feel the fear churning in her stomach.