"It's the theif!" yelled Parker. He jumped up out of his chair and ran inside. "Come out asshole and give me my shirt back!" Of course he was joking, but almost wasn't. He had a feeling someone might be around, messing with their stuff. He dropped the stick he had been holding as somewhat of a weapon and looked around the large house.

"You alright Candice," he asked. He moved over to her in the kitchen and could see that she was breathing hard. He sat up on the kitchen counter and tried to calm her down. "It's alright, nobody's here." He moved over to her and hugged her. "You got your friends here, nothings gonna happen." He let go of her and moved into the living room and layed on the couch. Within ten seconds though, the phone began to ring. He sat up, irritated, and picked it up.

"Hello?" The phone was dead silent. "Hello?" he said a little more irritated sounding. He looked at the caller ID and it said unknown caller of course. He started to pull the phone from his ear, but then he heard a small noise like a rattle through the other line. He groaned and then said for the last time, "HELLO!?" Nobody answered again so he hung up the phone and rolled his eyes.

He stood up and walked back into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He pulled out carton of premade burgers and walked outside. "C'mon Candice."

[[My thing won't load past pages so....I guess Derek has been sleeping....PM is I should have him been doing something else.]]

Derek yawned and rubbed his eyes. How long had he been sleeping? He groggily, and slowly, stepped out of his warm cacoon and made his way to where he could sense people.

"Sorry!" He yawned again, "I was sleeping." Derek's face flushed when he saw Amy, he pretended to yawn and walked over to her, "Hey, who's that guy?" he jerked his chin into Oblio's direction. His ears perked up when he heard Candice, but, against his wishes, he went to see what was going on.

"Yeah, Candice?" His voice was sleepy, and all he really wanted to do was lay back and hang out with Amy.

Ali looked over as Candice called over she sounded upset. "Be right back Sharky" he commented smilling lightly and swam quickly to the edge of the lake and climbed out. He roughly dried himself with a towel and walked over to Candice, "Hey Candie..." He soothed softly placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry everything will be allright, allthough i dont think that we should stay out in the dark tonight. its safer inside ok?" He explained softly.

Reinette had really been enjoying the time she was spending with Ali, but of course, not all good things can last forever. And apparently, weird things had started happening.

Rei couldn't help but roll her eyes though. It was just her friends being... well, her friends. They were always loosing things. Or playing pranks on one another. How was this any different?

Climbing from the lake, she followed Ali's example and grabbed a towel. Wrapping it around her form, she made her way inside the house, noticing that Candace was visibly shaken.

She glanced around the room, and nothing came to view. With a sigh, she moved over towards Candace. "Maybe you were out in the sun too long. You should get some rest." She placed her hand lightly on the girls head. "Well, no fever. Seriously, though. Rest is a good idea. Just... don't worry about it. Things will turn up. Its just carelessness is all." She was almost positive that nothing was going on.

"I'm going to go get changed, guys." Walking away from the group, she smiled towards Ali, before making her way towards the room she was sharing with him.

She grabbed some clothes for relaxing in, before heading into the bathroom and quickly hopping in the shower. Once she was finished, she towel dried her hair, and put on her clothes, before going and putting her bikini in the wash. Coming back towards the group, she smirked at them. "So, any new developments? Or are we all certain that we've got overactive imaginations, and we need a beer to fix that?"

Candice was comforted by Parker's hug and concern. She nodded, and tried to reason with herself. There was no one there, there couldn't be. When Ali said that it was safer inside, she unwillingly nodded and shrugged.

"I've gone crazy, probably." Candice said, moving away from the kitchen counter. She heard Parker suggest to have the food outside, and she nodded, moving after him emptily. "Yeah, let's just eat out here." She agreed.

When Rei had suggested that she go to sleep, Candice shook her head fervently. "I'm not tired, I'm just hallucinating. I was out in the sun for a while, that's probably it. I'm fine, really." She said, motioning for them to follow her.

Once everyone was finished with dinner, Candice's heart felt lighter and she all but forgot about the silhouette from earlier. She sat down in one of the chairs by the water, laying back and looking up at the sky. "Well, I'm exhausted. Food and swimming makes me sleepy like a baby. And Parker, if I'm sleep when you come in and you wake me up, I will hurt you." She said smiling, waving to her friends. She walked up the stairs; the house seemed to empty with their laughter gone. When she arrived in her room, she flicked the lights on and went into the bathroom to take a shower. When she was finished, she wrapped the towel around her body and let her hair hang loose, when she thought she heard a creak in the floor. She said nothing, and remained completely silent until she was sure it was gone. She didn't leave the bathroom though, she was shaken down to her bones.

"You're just tired Candice, go to sleep." She thought, but she still stayed in the bathroom. She wrapped the towel tighter around her frame, looking around the large bathroom before sitting on the floor and waiting for everyone to come inside.

Amy saw the silhouette too. Instead of freaking out like Candice did, she just continued to stare in it's direction, even long after he, or she, or it had left. A blank look was on her face, and she just wasn't listening to anything. Her head throbbed, suddenly she began to think that this month at the lake house wouldn't be so fun after all... The only thing that pulled her back into reality was the sound of a very familiar voice,
"Hey,"

Amy jumped and looked up suddenly, seeing Derek. "Hm?" She said, letting him finish his question. She looked in the direction that he motioned to. "Huh? Oh, that's just Oblio, some stranger Candice brought." She said, looking up at him again and smiling sweetly. "Your face is red. You've been sleeping in the sun too long." She heard when Candice called, and got up when Derek started to walk in, but Parker was already coming out, and Candice soon followed. She figured that everyone was already coming out, so she just shrugged and stood there, feeling like a terrible friend. She'd check up on Candice later.

When the bush rustled again, she looked over at it with worried eyes. She ran inside and jumped on Derek's back. "Protect me from the rodents!" She exclaimed, "HURRY CHILD. Go investigate the bushes for me? I'm scared."

Derek smiled shyly when she said his face was red, and he wasn't about to tell her he hadn't been in the sun, either. Derek glanced out the window and watched something move outside.
"Man, these neighbors must already be freakin out about have a couple of teens runnin' around," Derek sighed, already knowing everything was probably gonna get worse. He then glanced at..Oblio, what did he think he was doing? Popping in out of nowhere. Honestly, this was the kind of ignor-

"Protect me from the rodents!" Derek stumbled a bit when Amy jumped on his back. He laughed lightly.

"Hun, calm down. I'm sure it's just a rabbit or something," He grinned his crooked little grin and grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, "Come on, let's check together," he smiled sweetly at her.

Parker walked outside, and realized nobody was outside anymore with him. They were all back in the house, some in shock of what happened with the whole shadow thing. He took the tray of raw burgers and set them on the counter next to the grill. It was beginning to get dark and Parker could barely see what he was doing. He looked around out into the yard, and could only see a few feet ahead of him. Parker set the spatula down and turned on the grill. He then walked inside, through the sliding glass doors and looked around for a light. He saw Derek and Amy scrambling outside to go look for a mouse or something, and chuckled as he walked by.

Parker looked around on the wall for any light switches that might turn on lights outside. "Hey Candi--," he was about to call her, but he then saw the light switch panel, and decided not to bother her. Knowing Parker though, he'd probably end up making the ceiling fan crash down. He looked out the screen door as he tested each light. It was so dark outside that it would be pretty obvious when the lights turned on. Parker reached the final switch and it finally flicked on about four lights outside, illuminating the pool and the patio. He was more freaked out when he saw a shadow of a person show up, and then quickly dissapear. "What the hell!" He backed up and quickly shut the lights back off. "Guys, get inside and shut the door," Parker said to Derek and Amy. "Hurry."

Candice heard Parkers voice not far away, so she stood up off of the bathroom floor and took a deep breath. She tightened the towel around her frame, and pushed open the door and ran right down the stairs, not looking at anything. She almost slipped and fell, but she caught her balance and ran right to Parker. She heard him say what the hell, and her heart stopped.

"What? What is it?" She asked, moving closer to see beside him. She saw nothing but the water illuminated. He heard him tell Amy and Derek to close the door quickly, and she started freaking out, still in her towel. "Parker, I'm seriously scared." She said in a childish voice, looking up at him with wide, scared, green eyes. "Can you come with me upstairs to make sure there's nothing there?" She asked, shivering a little in her towel. She stepped backwards away from the window, when she stepped on something hard and tripped backwards. She fell down and frowned, turning to see her phone on the floor. She picked it up with shaky hands, and saw the screen was cracked and there was a message.

"Sleep well." Was all it read. Candice tried to reach her contacts to call her Mom, when she realized the person had stolen the memory card. She put her hand over her mouth and threw the phone away from her, pushing herself as far away from it as possible. "Somebody...somebody was in here." She said dreadingly.

The second Derek grabbed her hand, Amy felt.. safe. It took a little while for her to grab his hand, too, but the two seconds they were holding hands seemed to go by slowly, and she didn't want it to end. But Parker's panicked voice snapped her back into reality. He was telling them to come inside, and being the scardy-cat she is, she immediately pulled Derek inside, closed the door and locked it. "What's wrong?"

She watched as Candice backed away and tripped over her phone. "... Well, at least you found your phone?" She said, trying to look on the somewhat bright side of things. She sat down next to Candice and placed a hand on her shoulder as she began to freak out. Candice started to say something about somebody being in here. Amy just smiled reassuringly. "Candice, relax. I'm sure it's just a next door neighbor playing a trick... Somebody check her phone.." Suddenly, the lights went out. Amy gasped and held onto Candice tightly, "Kay, now I'm scared, too..."

The light came back on a few moments later, and a note was now placed in between the group. Amy looked at the note with scared, wide eyes. "I'm not reading that..."

Derek pursed his lips when Amy pulled him inside. It probably was just a rabbit...and Parker might be drunk..Or super tired. When she dropped his hand he felt...Useless.
"You found your-" Lights went off and Derek felt a chill. He'd always been frightened of the dark but with all the things going on all he could think about was Amy.
"Amy you okay-"The light was back on. Derek cussed under his breath and glanced at the note, "Who in God's name would pull a prank like this. I'm calling the police." He walked over to the phone. After dialing he realised the cord was cut.
"Honestly! This is the most ill-humored joke on the planet."

Ali was in the basement when all the lights went out, he had been reading some instructions on how much fabric softner to put into the washing machine for his swimwear and everyone elses for that matter as he knew he'd probably be the one lumbered with the washing over the next few weeks.

He let out a scream when the lights switched off in the basement it was purely natural for him to do. He slowly bent over in fear and fell to the floor crying and softly hugging himself. He could feel his chest tightening as he began to breathe qiuckly his head pounding into an all familiar panic attack.

Parker was getting freaked out. He couldn't deal with all of this craziness at once. At first, he had just thought it was some creepy sights and misleading thoughts, but now things were getting messed up. Parker looked around at all of the terrified faces, and moved over to the screen door. He yanked the shutters across the glass doors, so they wouldn't have to see out there in the dark, where somebody was lurking, though everyone was beginning to think he was in the house. Parker moved over to the few windows and began to lock them. He moved around the house and double checked all of the windows, and locked the front door.

Suddenly, as he made his way back into the living room with the others, the lights shut off. "Fuck," he exclaimed at the surprise of the lights. They quickly turned back on, and there was a note sitting on the coffee table, between everyone. Amy backed up from the note and said she wasn't going to read it, and it seemed like nobody else was either. Parker didn't either, but since nobody stood up, he bent down and picked it up.

Scribbled on the peice of paper said, Don't forget the garage. Parker dropped the note, and darted to the door that led to the garage. He swung it open and looked out into the three car garage. The garage door was closed and it was quiet. "Fucking jackass!" he yelled, angry that the garage door was closed and there was nothing to freak out about. Parker turned back and slammed the door shut, and right after, he heard the faint sound of the garage door begin to rise open. Parker's eyes grew wide, and he reached for the chef's knife out of the knife rack. He moved torwards the door to the garage, and swung it open again. He looked around, and once again, nobody was around.

Parker looked for the garage door controls, and found it. He pressed the close door button, and once it was closed, he ripped the cord out, so it wouldn't work. Now this creep couldn't get in even if he wanted to. Parker had a feeling that he was already in here, though.

Candice watched Parker as he went crazy trying to get the garage door to break. Candice heard Ali scream in the basement, and she turned toward the sound. Her eyes were wild with fear, not knowing where she could get the courage to go down there. She ran upstairs quickly, grabbing the first piece of clothing she could find, which was oversized blue t-shirt. Candice then dashed back down the stqirs, stopping before the basement door and yanking it open. She walked blindly around, searching for Ali while yelling for him. She finally tripped over his rocking form, and she quickly reached out and yanked him up.

"Come on Ali we have to go!" Candice said frantically. She pulled him behind her while running, and for the quickest second, the lights flickered on. The same sillhouette that she had seen earlier was standing a straight 3 feet in front of them, holding something pointed. "HOLY SHIT!" Candice screamed. She used the light to her advantage and all but dragged Ali behind her up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, she saw the figure right behind them. Candice slammed the door behind her and pressed her back against it. A sharp knife stabbed through the door centimeters from her shoulder. Her eyes widened and the knife disappeared from the door.

It was silent then, and the lights went back off. Candice's breathing hitched and she heard the upstairs window creek. She remembered the emergency exit down there, and began to silently cry. If you went through the exit in the basement and climbed up the side of thehouse, you could get in the upstairs window.

Ali let out a cry when Candice literally dragged him up the the stairs, he stayed on the floor his whole body shaking in fear it was still dark without any light Ali felt anything but safe. He grabbed onto Candice's legs as a form of comfort as well as mumbling softly to himself not really making sense this was all too much like his time in the school closet so much darkness and the feeling of coldness.

"Can't...it's dark....so dark....cold....cold....." He begen to cry softly giving light whimpers everynow and then still holding onto Candice's legs.

When the lights came back on, Amy was relieved. She let go of Candice and looked up at Derek. "Yeah, I'm fine..." She said, getting up. She watched as everyone left the room, until it was just her and Derek in the room. She looked over at Derek and walked up to him. "Come on!" She said, pulling him up the stairs. "I'm scared to go up here alone and I need my cellphone..."

As she made her way up the stairs, the lights went off again. "Crap.." she mumbled under her breath. The stairs were lit enough for her to see, though. There was a window on the top of the stairway, and the moon was quite big, and bright tonight. Amy hesitantly continued her way up the stairs. She got to the last three steps from the top. When she stepped on one, it creaked, and as if on cue, a shadow of a person showed up. Amy's eyes went big. The shadow seemed like it was walking, but then stopped. It threw a cellphone in front of the steps, and the screen was lit. The shadow then walked away.

Amy waited a few seconds before she slowly crept up the stairs and picked up the cellphone. It was indeed hers, and, like Candice's, it had a message on it. The first thing she checked for was a signal.. No bars, no luck. Her eyes slowly moved over to the message. She read it out loud, "Watch your step...."

Suddenly, a bloody, cold hand fell on top of hers. She screamed, and threw the phone at the wall before stumbling back on the steps, about to fall. She held onto the railing and stared at the hand, shaking and whimpering. Blood was just draining from it, and from the looks of it, it was a woman's hand. The palm had writing on it that read, 'sleep well'. Amy wanted to run away, but she was frozen, traumatized, even. "D-Derek.." She said softly, tears streaming down her face. "I'm not okay, anymore.." She suddenly wondered where everyone was. Amy turned back to face him, "Do you know where everyone went?"

Reinette had been there when the lights had gone out. She had seen them flicker too, and go out, but this didn't really worry her. They were in the mountains. Didn't that stuff happen a lot?

But it wasn't just the lights. Everything seemed to escalate, and the moment she heard Ali's voice cry out, her fear level went from almost nothing to... well, pretty worried. What was he screaming about?

"Ali!" she called out, and winced as Candace slammed the door from the basement. Ali was with her, and he curled himself almost around her legs. She ran from where she was at, and slid to the floor, her arms immediately finding themselves prying his hands off of her legs so the poor girl could walk. But the sound of something metal piercing through the door caused her to fix her vision on the sight of Candace's frightened face, and the metal knife that was slowly retracting from the door, just inches from the other girls head.

Rei bit her fist to stop the scream that almost came from her mouth. Her grip on Ali tightened slightly, and she almost practically pulled him towards her - half to comfort him, and half to comfort herself. The steps behind the door retreated, and the lights went out once more. Candace whimpered, and Rei immediately began searching frantically around herself for everyone.

"Where the hell is everyone? What the fuck is going on?" she said, her voice slightly elevated, but in an almost whisper. Her attention turned to the two people in her immediate vicinity - Candace and Ali. Her first instinct was to make sure Ali was okay. "Whats the matter?" she questioned him, pulling him close to her. He was shaking and whimpering, and she just wanted to comfort him.

But her eyes turned up towards Candace, worry finally evident in them - obviously something was going on. They couldn't just ignore it now... "What happened?" Her voice was gravely serious. Things were escalating to a point that she didn't want to admit - but it was obvious that whatever just happened wasn't an accident. Somebody was out to murder.

Ali groaned again as someone began to pull him away from Candice's legs He was reluctant to actually let go of her legs "No...no" His arms flailed in the darkness but he grabbed onto the nearest person which was Rei he flung his arms around her crying into her body his own shaking heavily. he spoke again his voice was dry and crackling and blocked through his own tears. "Dark....so...dark...it's...cold in here....and...dark...always dark...." He shivered heavily as he clung to Rei for dear life as if she was a rope to heaven. Didn't anybody think to bring a torch with them?

Everything seemed to go so fast, and it didn't help that it was pitch black in the house. "Fuck, fuck, fuuuck," said Parker as he paced around the house, trying to figure out where everyone was. He heard screams coming from the door to the basement. He didn't know what was going on, but he wish he did. It scared him everytime he heard a scream, not knowing if someone was hurt, or is someone needed help. He moved to the side of the house and looked out one of the windows, outside into the dark lawn and trees. There was a house nextdoor, without any lights on except the outdoor one by the door. Could they be home? There, maybe Parker could call the cops.

Parker decided he was heading next door, but it would take some stealth. He didn't know where the man or men were, but he had to be careful. Parker thought he'd say to everyone where he was going, but then the guy chasing them would hear him. He moved to the front door, and opened it up slowly. He still had the knife in his hand from before, and readied it so he could defend himself. Parker inched out the door and looked both ways on the porch to see if anyone was out there. He was safe. He looked to his left and saw the house, only about a hundred yards away. But, he had the huge feild to cross of no trees and open feilds where anyone could see him. He'd have to run quickly. Parker readied to run, and hopefully get in that house.

Derek cussed over and over. What in God's FUCKING name was going on? All he wanted to do, was come and have some, maybe get Amy go on a date with him-Amy! He hadn't even noticed her pulling on him. "Oh..okay," he murmured. He knew this was a bad time, but she was so warm....The phone being thrown hadn't even woken him up from his ditzy moment. But when Amy started crying...he didn't know what to do. He realised he wasn't such a man.

"Please. Amy. Don't cry. Please. I won't let anyone hurt you," he brushed her hair back and wiped off a tear with his thumb, "Let's go find them..." he gave her a quick, reassuring kiss on the head and grabbed her hand.

Amy looked up at Derek as he brushed some hair out of her face and wiped her tears away. He made her feel so safe sometimes, when he wasn't acting like a sarcastic little brat and was actually serious. She smiled at him and nodded, and grabbed his hand back immediately. Amy was blushing, but thankfully, it was unnoticeable because it was so dark. She started to walk up the stairs, staring at the hand with the message written on it. She wondered why this guy kept telling them to sleep well.. How could anyone sleep knowing there was a guy in the house? As she walked, she started to hug Derek's arm. It made her feel safe, in some ways. Besides, he was keeping her warm.

Amy stopped when she heard some whispering coming from behind a door. It sounded like Reinette, a little. But then again, it could just be a trick. She saw horror movies. She looked over at Derek. "Do you think they're in there?" She whispered quietly.