Cecilia...

The young girl woke up to the sound of her brothers' deep voice. Opening her eyes, she immediately squinted to the glittering sun.

Cecilia...

This time hearing her name being called again by her older sister, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Looking clearly now, she remembered, she fell asleep in the flower garden in her families backyard. Her siblings were playing near-by with her younger sister in the field. Cecilia smiled.

Cecilia come and join us!

Sister dearest! Come!

Cecilia chuckled and stood up, she shook the skirt of her ruffled over the shoulder style white dress and pulled back her dark auburn hair that came out of her bun and rested on her shoulders. Alexandra, the youngest sister of them all, abandoned her older siblings and ran towards Cecilia. With joyfulness, Cecilia picked up Alexandra and spin around, holding her sister against her chest. Alexandra was so warm, her short black hair felt so soft against Cecilia's cheek. She was so small and delicate like a glass; her purple laced dress fitted her like a glove and matched well with her lightly tanned skin.

Cecilia placed her down and her older siblings joined them. Clarissa, her older sister, was a bright woman. She had all of her blonde hair pulled back in a bun that revealed her long pale neck that bore a golden chain necklace and wore a round collared brown Victorian dress with shirt sleeves. She was quiet intelligent, she had access to many universities in France to have a major in Languages. But she was always too scared to travel far away from home and decided to be at a closer school.

Anthony was a man that Cecilia wished wasn't her brother. He was very protective for his three sisters, he was kind and generous. Other than that, he was handsome. Cecilia admired him and almost fell in love with him. But she knew mother and father would have a fit if she did. His sleek brown hair pulled back but a few strands would always escape and rest on his large forehead and compliment his brown eyes. His dark gray and black coat exceeded his long body in a muscular way to make Cecilia sigh every moment she gets.

The four loved to play together in the garden almost every weekend when they are not in school or at work. Their favorite game is Marco Polo and Hide N Seek. Their laughter always remained in the garden of their own from morning tea 'till dinner. Their mother, a woman named Samantha sat at the garden table, drinking tea and holding their newborn baby brother, Austin, in her thin arms. She gently sang a lullaby that she sang to every one of her children when they were babies. With her husband, Julius, sitting next to her, reading his newspaper or sometimes writes his reports. He worked as a biology scientist in the University of Science, he was very well respected in the University and around town. He sometimes traveled to America to teach students.

The perfect beautiful life anyone could ask…what can possibly go wrong?

Cecilia suddenly felt naked…she didn't know why. She touched all over herself, she had her clothes on. She also made sure again she was wearing clothes. Then she smoothed her hand on her neck and realized her necklace was missing! She gasped and looked all over the ground, then went to the place where she took a nap until she saw a string of white pearls.

Cecilia exhaled with relief. She thought she lost her necklace. It must've attached itself off when she was taking a nap. She picked it up and attached to it was a golden locket. Her father gave it to her a few months ago when she turned 13. It was her memory charm. Inside was two black and white pictures, one with her parents with her mother holding her new born baby brother and the other one was a picture of her two older siblings and her little sister. She gently kissed it and stood up, but instead of the crunchy grass she heard a tap on a wood. She looked down and it was the floor within her house. Turning around, she realized it was her own home. What was she doing in there? Was she not outside a few moments ago?

But something appeared wrong, her house was very dark. None of the lights were on, nor was a candle lit. She heard raindrops falling hard against the glass window and the wind blowing through the ruffling plants.

This wasn't her house. It couldn't be her house.

Cecilia…

She turned around to see who called her name. A tall strange man stood behind her, she couldn't decipher who he was. He wore a long sleeve dark coat and a tall black hat. She couldn't see his face but saw that he had round glasses on. She also saw a long bloody knife in his hand. The blood slipped off the metal and into a small puddle of blood. Cecilia could feel her heart beating against her breast as she stepped back once…twice…then tripped over something hard. Looking down, she screamed on the top of her lungs. She tripped over her father's corpse and stepped into his puddle of blood, his eyes were wide open with red liquid staining his face. When Cecilia turned him over, there was a hole on his chest. His heart was missing! Cecilia burst into tears and hovered over her father, hopelessly trying to wake him up.

"Where were you Cecilia?!" Her father suddenly spoke in a dark demonic voice. Cecilia gasped at her father's reaction. "Where were you?!"

"I'm right here father! I didn't mean to leave you, I'm so sorry!" Cecilia cried. "Please forgive me!"

A cold hand touched her shoulder. Cecilia turned around and screamed again. This time it was her older sister Clarissa, her mouth had a waterfall of crimson blood along with a long thick red line on her throat staining her dress that was once brown.

"I thought you loved us Cecilia. Didn't you love your family?" Clarissa said in a soft cold voice.

"I love you! I swear to god! I do!"

"You're supposed to die with your family." Anthony grabbed her arm as he crawled on the ground. His legs were broken to the side as his femur bone was sticking out. His whole head was stuck sideways as if he broke his neck.

"Please no! I don't want to die! Please!" Cecilia forced Anthony's hand off her arm and stood up, stepping over her father to move away but then her back felt another body. Her mother grabbed her shoulders, tightening her grip.

"You don't love us Cecilia. You're breaking my heart."

"Let me go! Mother! Please! Stop!" Cecilia tried to plea for mercy.

"Be a good girl and lie down for mommy."

"No!" Cecilia tried to get from her mother's grasp but her father grabbed her ankles and pulled, making Cecilia fall on the ground. She struggled to be set free and screamed to let her go. Cecilia didn't want to die. She wanted to live.

Her older siblings held to her arms and pin them to the ground. The strange man hovered over her, still having the knife in his hand. Cecilia looked at him with fearful tears. "Please! Please don't!"

He kneeled in front of her and put a finger over her lips, shushing her from screaming anymore. Cecilia saw Alexandra standing behind him. She was holding a bloody blanket that was her now dead baby bother. Alexandra said nothing. All she did was watch her older sister being tormented. Cecilia's attention went back to the strange man who was holding the knife.

"Shh, hush now Cecilia. It'll all be over soon. It's all a dream." He lifted up the knife as he kept speaking softly. "Drift. Drift away into the darkest part of your mind…and sleep."

Cecilia slightly whimpered and begged once more before the knife was brought down on her and she was silenced. She sat up, screaming and gasping for air. Looking around, she realized she was in her room. Her room at the orphanage. The thick candle sitting next to her at the night table still burnt bright, inviting the shadows to keep her company. She was alone. Cecilia wiped off her sweat and laid back down again, looking at the cieling. She cried herself to sleep like a little girl crying for her mother. But this time she didn't remember dreaming anything. She just slept in darkness just like the stranger said.

Sleep...Cecilia.