The Strangers

This is a story designed to bridge the gap between The first Strangers film and the second one, which is upcoming. Please review or comment, I don't mind any constructive criticisms. Okay, enjoy!

"Can't we leave it til tomorrow night?"

"Too dangerous. It wasn't so hard last time, was it?"

"I don't understand why, though."

"If you didn't want to part of this, why did you join us?"

"I- okay…tonight, then."

"This is a great party, Shelly," the boy with floppy brown hair and startling green eyes said.

"I know, isn't it? And here I was thinking everyone was going to be bored stiff," grinned Shelley. Her long blonde hair was down tonight, freshly washed and conditioned, and her blue eyes were outlined by thick black eye makeup. She looked beautiful. It should have been the best night of her life-her 18nth birthday, a huge party, and everyone was enjoying themselves, dancing to the music, chatting and laughing. But something was ruining it...

"Tom…do you...do you think…" she began, suddenly, inexplicably filled with emotion.

"What?" said Tom, watching her carefully.

"Oh, nothing," Shelley said, turning away. She was being stupid again, she knew. After all, it had been months now since…

"She'd be here," said Tom quietly. "There's still a chance they'll find her, Shell."

Shelley felt tears prick her eyes. She turned away so Tom wouldn't see.

"Sorry," she laughed. "I'm just…let's go get something to eat."

It had been exactly 4 months, 2 weeks and 3 days since her twin had gone missing. Her twin sister, whom she loved more than anyone in the world, even more than her parents. They'd done everything together, and looked so similar even their parents couldn't tell them apart some days. When she'd gone missing, Shelley had felt torn apart. She'd got depression, lost all hope, had to go into hospital because she attempted suicide. All her friends pretended it hadn't happened, they didn't want to ruin her night. Especially Tom. If it wasn't for her ex boyfriend, Shelley thought she'd have gone mad- even more so.

"Hey Shell!" It was Kathy, one of Shelley's best friends. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, her red hair swept up into a clip, her brown eyes shining.

"Hi, Kathy," Shelley beamed, hugging her tightly. "How's the party?"

"It's amazing, Shell. Honestly. Can I still stay over tonight?"

Kathy always slept over on Shelley's birthdays, and vice versa. They'd been friends since Primary school. Tonight, Kathy, Shelly, Tom, Matthew (Tom's best friend) Chloe and Amelia (two other good friends of Shelley's) were staying over.

"Sure. That'll be great. We can go shopping tomorrow or something, if you want."

"Cool! Right, well, I'll see you later… I'm going to find Matthew or someone. Bye!"

Kathy ran off. She was always excited and happy. That was why Shelley liked her. She was kind and friendly to everyone, unlike many people that she knew… ones who'd turned on Shelley after she'd been admitted to hospital, saying she had drink problems, or other unkind rumours. In fact, apart from the ones staying over tonight and a few others, Shelley didn't know who to trust.

The night went on. People got louder and louder. Shelley found herself being swept into a whirlwind of excitement, not caring about the mess she made to her parents beautiful summer house. She'd worry about that in the morning, and anyway it couldn't be that bad, right?

As Tom was going to the bathroom, he passed the hallway, and heard a knock at the door. A late party guest? He went to answer it, ready to welcome whoever it was in, with a cheerful smile on his face.

But when he opened the door, he saw…no one he recognised. Either someone had smashed the porch light or it wasn't working, and everything was total darkness. Tom wondered what time it was… didn't he have work tomorrow?

"Is Tamara there?" asked the woman standing there. She had dark hair and that was about all Tom could tell, it was way too dark to see anything else.

"Uh, who? Are- are you here for the party?" said Tom uncertainly.

"Is Tamara there?" repeated the woman unnervingly.

"Um, no, sorry. You must have the wrong house, I guess. Bye." Tom shut the door, feeling a little creeped out. What sort of a weirdo goes knocking on people's doors at about 4 o clock in the morning? Putting it down to some sort of messed up prank, he pushed it to the back of his mind and went to the bathroom- after making sure the door was definitely locked.

"Well?"

"No. Not yet. We'd never get away with it."

"Oh."

She tried not to sound relieved.

"We can try again later. It's only…"

He paused to check his watch.

"20 to 2. We've still got time."