All art by Mandy Roberts.

"It's . . . it's Rebecca. I'm not lying," she said, when he turned to glare at her. "She's here. She just walked out of the lake. She said that you can't see her, that she's tried to visit you whenever you've come out here before."
Evan turned back to the lake. "Where?"
"Right in front of you," Lucy said. "Hold . . . hold out your hand."

. . . moving the flashlight beam restlessly. She didn't even know what she was looking for. Why she was up here in the first place. It was more than a little morbid, and--
Then she paused, and moved the flashlight beam back. There, tied to one of the upper rafters, was a piece of rope. It had been cut less than a foot away from the rafter itself. She quickly moved the beam away, but couldn't get the image out of her mind.
Well, you found something, she thought caustically. Happy?

. . . then the doll stepped off the shelf. Lucy heard the porcelain shatter and immediately sat up, pulling her feet away from the end of the bed as she started to reach for the light switch.
Her hand didn't have time to reach it before the doll pulled itself up onto the footboard. Half its face was broken off, and one of its legs was cracked, but still it dragged itself up onto the bed.

She knew that she'd have to pass those stairs if she went out the front door, but she turned and ran for the exit anyway. She didn't know where the back door was, and the last thing she wanted was to get trapped in here with whoever was making that noise.
She raced past the stairs, even as she heard footsteps heading down, but she didn't turn to look. Couldn't.

. . . she closed her eyes tightly as an image came to her mind, of a man standing there. She started to wonder why she thought of that, but before she could come up with a coherent answer she was reaching out her hand, brushing her fingertips across a cheek that she couldn't see.
That wasn't even there, she thought, cursing at herself as she quickly stepped away. She put the box back into the closet, futilely trying to ignore the fact that for an instant, her fingertips had felt cold.