Yoselyn unlocked her front door, opening the entrance to her residence. Her older sister, Nora, was setting up the dining table. She glimpsed over the archway to see Yoselyn at the doorway. “Hey, you! Do you plan on coming over to help me with this? Mom is almost home!”

Yoselyn frowned, leaving her documents on the coffee table. “Where did she go?” Mario, their most youthful brother walked out of his bedroom, keeping his electronic tablet in hand. His thin physique made him seem taller than certitude. “She just went out. She didn’t say where,” he replied.

Mario faced up, detecting that his sister had just arrived, “Oh hey there, Yoselyn.” He strolled back inside, blocking out the world around him once again. Yoselyn made her way to the far rear room, the dining room, where her sister proceeded to serve dinner. “What do I help you with, Nora?” Nora bobbed her head slightly, giving off the impression of disappointment, “Nothing. I’m already done.” 

Yoselyn let out a smile. She made her way back to her bedroom, caressing the country-styled furnishings as she walked past them. Nora stared suspiciously, pouring the last spoonful of soup into the last bowl. “Yoselyn, are you okay?” She spun to face her sister and replied, “I’ve never been better. Call me over to eat once mother is home. As someone who has been out all day knocking on doors, a nap would come in handy right about now.”

Nighttime. Jack and Kandy sat at the dining table as their mother continued flipping tortillas on the stove. “Do I help you with something, mami?” Jack watched as Kandy stood up to offer a lending hand. Regina thanked her, “No, mija. Thank you so much. Mejor just get me the plates from over there so I can start serving you some.” Kandy disagreed, “No, mom, I’ll help you.” She served Jack a plate of rice and handed him a bowl that contained pieces of stake. 

“Thanks, Kandy,” said Jack. She continued to serve Matias the same amount and took him his bowl, where he was watching the television as per usual. Jack stood up and closed the sketch pad he was drawing on and took it to his room. A cellphone ring was heard, coming from the kitchen. As he walked back out, Kandy’s voice entered his ears, “Yeah, Daisy it’s just two blocks away. No. No, we didn’t move far.”

Daisy had been Kandy’s friend since they were in middle school. They were neighbors, living only three houses apart. Jack just couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been 24 hours yet since their big move, and she was already calling Kandy, claiming that she missed her. “No, don’t worry, Daisy… Yeah, we should. Oh? When today, already?” Jack snickered to himself, seeing the nervousness in Kandy’s eyes. “Okay then, see you later.”

Jack grabbed a tortilla from the center of the table, as their mother walked towards the living room, to sit next to Matias. “Who was that?” Kandy grabbed a tortilla as well, mirroring what Jack was doing. “Dude! It was Daisy! She’s gonna come for a sleepover. I had already made plans to go out with Joaquin.” Jack stood up and reached for some cups from the cabinets, giving one to Kandy in the process, “So, you’re gonna cancel on him?” She hung her lip, making her puppy eyes as to create some sort of endearment, “I already did. But we made plans for tomorrow; to play tennis.”

She continued eating, waiting for Daisy to arrive. Jack did the same, wondering if she and Joaquin had argued over the cancellation of their plans. He skimmed throughout the new place they would call home. “The place is nice, except for that sink there.” Kandy turned to look at the sink behind her, realizing that it was missing the base cabinet’s doors. The bottom section was also somewhat mildewed. 

A few knocks were heard at the front entrance after Kandy received a message from Daisy, stating that she was outside. She stood up and advised her parents that she would open, due to it being one of her friends. She stepped back inside with the hyper, Daisy. “Hi, how have you been?! I know it’s been, like, less than a day since we last saw each other but here I am visiting Kandy at your new apartment,” Daisy proceeded to laugh hysterically once Regina stood up to greet her. 

After a few moments, Jack was back in his room. His parents had already gone to sleep. Kandy and Daisy were the complete opposite of that. He stood up from his drawing station and walked back out to the kitchen, where he found Kandy’s bedroom door completely open. He walked closer to check what they were up to. Kandy stood up to close the door, noticing her brother by the door frame, “Geez, Jack. You scared me. What’s up?”

He shook his head, not knowing what to respond, “Nothing, I was just gonna ask what you guys were gonna do.” Daisy looked over, “Oh, Jack. It’s a really scary movie. I’d rather him not, Kandy. You know people actually fainted at the movies when this came out right?” Jack laughed it off, “I highly doubt that I will faint, so…” Kandy disagreed, “No. It’s like, really scary. Go to bed.” Jack frowned, “Okay?” He turned back around after Kandy closed the door to her bedroom.

He kept in mind what the title of the movie was, to watch it with his friends next Halloween. As he reached for the doorknob to his bedroom door, he heard the same voices from the morning. The difference this time around was that they sounded clearer, “Jack, come here.” He obliged, believing it came from his mother’s room. As he got closer he realized that her bedroom door was closed. He opened it slowly, to see if it was her who called him.

“Mom?” Regina and Matias lay in their bed, sound asleep. Jack stepped back, making sure to not make a noise. He closed their door, as it had been before, and headed back to his own room once again. He rushed inside and took a seat on his bed. “I’m looking at you!” Jack jumped, startled at the voice that came from within his room. His clothes rack started to move as if something were hiding within. “Who’s there?!”

His legs retracted upwards, to be out of reach from the floor. The clothes from the rack started to fall off. Jack stood up quickly, getting ready to bolt out of there. Before doing so, he grabbed his laptop’s charger cable and threw it towards the clothes rack. Nothing. He opened his door and hurried out of there. His lungs forced out a blood-curdling scream as he bumped into a figure out in the kitchen. He fell to the ground and covered his face, when a familiar voice came in,  “Ah! Jack, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” Daisy stretched out her hand for him to grab on. She helped him stand up as Kandy ran out to turn on the lights. 

“What’s going on?” Jack started to tear up. He knew that his story was more than incredulous, it was probably something most people would have brushed off if it had actually happened to them. He felt ridiculed by himself but he felt the need to explain, “I heard a voice in my room. It said that it was watching me.” Kandy shivered, “What?” Daisy shook her head, “Oh, it was probably the neighbor, from where I’m standing, I can see that your window is broken.” 

He nodded, “Indeed, but I doubt that it was the neighbor. I heard it within my room.” Kandy and Daisy glanced at one another, feeling sorry for the crying teenager. They stepped inside his room to investigate. Jack rushed in and jumped atop his bed. “Where did you hear it?” Jack shrugged, “I’m not sure but it came from that direction. Then the clothes started to move a bit and some even fell.” Daisy noticed the markings on the wall. 

“Ay, your room is actually kinda creepy, Jack. It’s so dark and there are markings on the wall. It gives me like, I don’t know, haunted house vibes,” Daisy took a seat next to him on the bed. They watched as Kandy moved the clothing from one side of the rack to the other. She combed her hair back with her right hand, “Nothing. There’s nothing here, Jack. Just try to get some rest and we’ll mention it to mom tomorrow.”

They made their way back to Kandy’s room, where, unknowingly, a child’s spirit followed them into the kitchen. It crawled into the kitchen sink’s base cabinets and observed Jack as he pulled the blankets over him. He smiled, thinking Jack was his new older brother. That Jack’s family was his new family. The boy then looked around to see the small rat hole, and crawled inside, to disappear into the night.