“Where is Mom and Dad?” Jasper asks. Apricot looks up from her desk of papers and laptop.

“They’re on a date tonight.” she continues to type her grueling report on the duties of a state journalist. Ever boring subjects as ever, ones which really had nothing to do with journalism at all. Still the work needed to be done as an assurance to the state you understood when to shut up. Jasper stands in front of her door waiting for Apricot to invite him in. Instead, he tired of waiting and enters anyway. With a loud slam he jumps on top of Apricot’s bed. “Jasper!” she shouts.

“What?”

“Don’t break my bed you little monster.” she barks.

He rolls onto his back snuggling up under her covers. “I’m not.”

Apricot continues to study her textbook “The role of media in civil society is to control the collective narrative and propel people in a positive direction. The advancement of,”

“Hey Apricot, do you think there will be more terrorist attacks?” Jasper asks.

Apricot puts her book down. That is a question on her mind too. “Terrorist attacks” are all the talk of the town now. Every single day it seems there is a new “attack”. All of which are pseudonym for paranormal activities. Yet the public is eating it up. “I hope not.”

“Was it scary?”

“Very,” Apricot lets out a sigh picking her book back up. “Jasper, I don’t have time to talk tonight. I got to finish this paper for school.” she says, half wanting to avoid the subject as she finally had those memories gently tucked aside. Hidden beneath a few layers of slumber and a bit of relaxing gaming.

“Yeah, I know but, can’t you do it later.”

“No Jasper. I played games with you earlier so now I have to finish my paper.”

“Well, can’t I stay here.”

Apricot groans before saying “Yeah but you got to be quiet.”

“Ok.”

She picks up her book looking at what she last read. “So what is that book about?” Jasper says leaning over her shoulder.

“Out.” Apricot says with a finger pointed to her door.

“I was just asking what it was about!” Jasper wines.

“Out Jasper. It is past your bedtime, anyway. Go to your room.” Apricot commands.

Jasper jumps down off the bed running out of the door. “You are such a jerk,” he shouts.

Apricot walks over to her door and shuts it. Before she could make three steps to her seat, she hears a knocking at her door. She opens the door to look down at Jasper. “What do you want now?!”

“There is a dog in my room,” Jasper quakes, his eyes full of an almost convincing act of fear.

Apricot rolls her eyes. “You have been taking home stray dogs again.”

“No, but my window was open. I think it came in from the window.”

If she believed the act, his rouse was up with such a weak excuse as that. Apricot shakes her head. “On a two-story house. Do you really expect me to believe that? I don’t have time for this Jazz.” A dog coming through a window. How foolish did he think she was? It is almost insulting.

“No, I am not lying. There is a dog in my room. It’s black and has a lot of teeth and red eyes.” Jasper whines.

“Then go downstairs until it leaves,” Apricot says not believing anything her brother is saying.

“Apricot!” he shouts at her.

A wave of anger rushes over her as she grips both her fists. A roar follows that shivers Jasper to the bone. “Downstairs now, I don’t want you to bother me again Jasper or else when Mom and Dad get home I will tell them to ground you.”

“But Apricot!” Jasper cries.

“No! I have heard enough, now go downstairs and let me study.” Apricot stomps her foot once causing Jasper to hurry down the stairs.

She sits back down at her desk with her book in hand. It is not long into her study when she hears stirring in Jasper’s room. She smiles to herself. “Silly kid. Thought he could pull one over on me.” A few moments later she hears a loud crash come from his room. Apricot jumps to her feet stomping over towards Jaspers room yelling “What are you doing now?”

Jasper had turned off the lights. “Jasper stop messing around, I have to finish this report tonight!” she growls flicking the switch on to see Jasper’s shelf on the floor surrounded by the pieces of his models. The light flickers off and a sudden chill fills the room. “Phantom,” Apricot whispers to herself. She reaches beside the door and grabs Jasper’s baseball bat. Looking through the dark she spots several red eyes in the shadows. Clutching the bat in hand, Apricot raises it up to her side. “Just like softball,” Apricot murmurs to herself giving a slow swing. The memories of proper form come flooding back into mind. “Feint, perry, riposte.” Apricot whispers to herself.

As Apricot remembers her fencing technique from primary school, the creature makes a step towards her. It appears to be more like smoke than flesh as it moves through the shadowed room and the many red dots suggest it has many eyes about its head. Apricot can just make out its prowl across the room with the streetlight outside of Jasper’s window.

“Come on!” Apricot roars feeling herself grinding her teeth. Her fear being washed away by a rush of unspeakable anger. The wolf monster lunges at her opening its thousand razor teeth. Apricot dives into the creature slamming the bat in its mouth knocking several bloody teeth into the air. It lands on the ground behind her turning its head back to her. “It’s blocking my exit.” Apricot thinks to herself.

The monster stares at her baring its teeth as Apricot readies the bat for another blow. The creature once again lunges at her this time biting her in the arm. Apricot works the bottom of the bat and smashes the monster in the head causing its teeth to tear the sleeve of her shirt off. She does not have time to recover as the snarling beast dives into her again. Her bat mauls the creature in the head slamming it down to the ground. Rising to its feet it snaps at her only to be met with another swing that knocks the smokey creature into the wall. It stands up injured snarling at her.

Apricot grips the bat tight drawing back. “Get out of my house!” she screams jumping up slamming the bat as hard as she can onto the monster’s head. The beast crashes onto the floor as Apricot continues her flurry with the bat. Each blow causing smoke to flow out of the creature. It sparks like a blown circuit. When the flashing stops the lights turn back on, the creature nowhere to be seen as though extinguished into thin air.

She drops the bat onto the floor before falling on her knees. Sweat pours off her brow. She turns her head to see Jasper staring at her with wide eyes. “I told you there was a dog.” Apricot nods her eyes wide with fear. Jasper’s eyes are much the same. They face each other in silence for several moments.

“We can’t tell Mom or Dad.”

Jasper nods shaking, “Where did it go?”

“Out the window.” she groans. “Keep your window closed from now on. I will keep mine closed too.” She has been lying a lot more lately since all of this happened. A part of this made her feel guilty. However, it is better no one knew what is really going on. Especially little Jazz. He does not need these kinds of worries in his life.

Jasper looks around his room. Apricot can feel the frustration and worry from his frown. “What are we going to tell Mom and Dad?”

The room is an absolute mess, everything is scattered about; broken plastic and model pieces littered the floor. “We have to clean it up before they get home. They can’t know anything about this Jasper. They won’t believe us even if we did and you mister will get in trouble for bringing in a stray dog.”

“But I didn’t!” Jasper yells.

Apricot nods her head. “I know. If I told them it came in from your window, they will think I am covering for you. I might get in trouble too. So we clean up before they get home and forget this ever happened.”

Jasper looks over at Apricot’s arm noticing blood has seeped through her light orange shirt. “It bit you? Are you ok?”

Apricot glances at her arm not paying much mind. She looks back at Jasper putting on the best smile she could. “Yeah it got me when I was shooing it out. It’s not a big deal.” Her eyes drift back to her torn sleeve. The wound stung but was not as bad as she expected. The gash amounts to a dull throbbing pain at most she considers. Gazing around the room Apricot picks up a piece of Jasper’s model. “Come on let’s get this finished up.”

“But you have to study,” Jasper’s voice quivers.

Apricot reaches out grabbing Jasper’s wrist. She rubs his hand letting out a sigh. “That does not matter now.”