It was horrible. She did it again. My mommy left me again. She trapped me in the well and I can't get out. I love her so much. How could she do this? I just want my mommy to love me. I want her to be with me for always. So I'm going to find her again; like she found me. I'll hurt whoever took her away from me. I'll protect my mommy. We'll be together and I won't need anyone. I won't need daddy, I won't need the doctor, I won't need you…

"Hey! Check it out, guys!" the boy said, John. "I recorded this the other day when they were showing that movie –what was it called again? –The Ring!" He pulled out a blank looking tape and shoved it into the VCR.

The blue screen on the TV suddenly turned to static then a ring showed up, followed by a bunch of strange and disturbing images. The three friends stared, mesmerized, at the pictures. It was definitely cool.

"You. Rock." Amanda exclaimed when it was over and a picture of a well was on the screen. "I just adore this movie! Can I keep that? I'd like to play a trick on my little brother." She giggled.

"That's mean." Jess exclaimed and poked her friend in the head.

Amanda laughed, "Ow!" Then she said as she took the tape out, "I love Samara! She's just such a deep character, y'know. And I love how they can make you afraid of her but still feel sorry for her and love her. It's amazing. She's amazing."

The other two laughed. "Well, why don't you hop into the TV like Rachel did in the movie?" John suggested.

"Haha very funny." Amanda replied. "I wish I could. I'd be an awesome mom."

"You're sixteen." Jess said, stifling a giggle.

Mommy –

"Well, seeing as she treats us like our mommies, it makes sense!" John teased, earning a smack from Amanda. "Hey! I'm leaving!" He mocked anger and got up to leave.

Amanda sighed and dragged him back to the couch, "Not so fast! Chickening out? We're waiting for the call."

"The call that isn't coming?" Jess joked.

"Yup!" Amanda agreed.

Mommy –

To their surprise, the phone rang immediately after Jess's comment. Amanda was the first one up to get to it.

"I'm creeped out," Jess murmured, "You answer."

"It's your house." John said to Amanda with a smile.

Amanda shook her head at their cowardliness. She looked at the caller ID. The number was all mixed up. She chuckled, "Imagine it actually says 'Seven Days' Now, that would make my day –no, my life!" She giggled and picked up the receiver.

"Mommy?"

It was a whisper. The pleading whisper of a lost child and it scared Amanda to death. "Wrong number," she squeaked into the phone and put it down.

"Who was it? Did she say 'Seven days'?" Jess laughed uneasily when she saw her friend's pale face.

Amanda shook her head. "No. She said, 'Mommy'"

Mommy's voice is pretty. Will she come to stay with me? Will she find me again? Does she still love me?

"I'm telling ya, Mandy," Jess told Amanda on the phone once the friends had gone home, "It was probably an actual kid who was lost and got his mom's number mixed up. You're freaking out too much. She's not after you. Plus, didn't you say you wanted to be Samara's mom?"

Amanda gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I did but it's freaky 'cause the caller ID had the number all jumbled –"

"C'mon! You don't actually think that it's Samara that called you, do you?"

"Well, no, but could you come over anyways?"

"You have your own mommy to look after you. I don't think I'm necessary."

"She's out –like almost every person who dies in the movies –the parents are conveniently out.

"Hey, if it were true, you know the movies! She probably doesn't wanna kill you! She wants you to be her mommy, y'know like Rachel!" Amanda didn't say anything so Jess continued, "Take your picture. I'll take mine and I'll tell John to take his. It's probably nothing so chill."

Amanda sighed and said, "Fine. You're right." She closed the phone and took out her camera to take a picture of herself. Something caught her eye in the camera's mini screen before she turned it on herself. It horrified her. She screamed at the top of her voice.

What she saw from the image before it scared her to death was a blonde woman with her face bruised and twisted in an everlasting look of horror –much like the movie. She dropped her camera and it broke at her feet. She looked around for any sign of the blonde woman but there was none.

She convinced herself it was just her imagination and shakily picked up her phone. She dialed Jess's number again and put it to her ear, waiting for her to pick up. It rang once –twice –thrice. It kept ringing but Jess didn't pick up. She shut the phone and whimpered in fear. A tear fell down her face –then another and another. She was sobbing now.

She dialed John's number the next time and waited for him to answer. To her relief, he did. "Hey, Mandy," he said drowsily from the other end of the phone. "What's up?"

"John," her voice shook and he interrupted before she continued, "Hey, are you crying?"

"Y-yeah" she stuttered.

"What happened?"

"She got Jess. She got Jess. We have to go to Jess's house. We have to. We have to see if she's alright." She cried frantically.

"Who?"

"Samara."

Mommy said my name.

"Listen, I only came because you seem to actually think that Samara killed Jess but this is ridiculous." John said, coming out of the car. He helped Amanda out, who was shivering furiously. Not a sound was coming from her except for the clattering of her teeth.

The friends went to the door and rang the doorbell. Nobody answered. Amanda took over the ringing. She rang repeatedly until she was positive that anyone who was in the house would hear her but they still got no answer.

Amanda sobbed. "I told you." She kept saying the phrase over and over.

John sighed and looked at Amanda nervously. Maybe she was just out, he thought anxiously. He put his hand under the doormat and pulled out a spare key. He used it to open the door to the house. The house was ominously silent.

Amanda grabbed his arm as he made his way to the light switch. When the lights were on, it was easier to make their way to Jess's room. Her door was ajar and there was a blue light coming from it. John pushed the door open and saw that the light was coming from her laptop. There was no sign of Jess.

They then went to the TV room because it was the only other room with some light. When they entered, they found Jess sitting with her legs crossed on the ground in front of an open TV. Her arms were outstretched in front of her and she was holding her camera in them as if photographing herself.

"Jess? Are you alright?" John said. He went into the room –Amanda followed of course because she was clinging to him. He put a hand on her shoulder and she fell backwards onto the ground at her friends' feet.

Amanda shrieked and dug her head into John's shoulder. He was stiff and dropped to his knees, bringing Amanda down with him.

Jess was dead as dead could be. When John stirred her, her arms fell limp at her sides and the camera fell onto her stomach. Her face was twisted in horror or whatever it was. It was incredibly terrifying. They never imagined that the movie would be true.

Amanda timidly took the camera from her dead friend. She looked at the photo that Jess had snapped if she had snapped one at all –and she had. Jess was smiling in it and it looked like a child was embracing her- Samara. But it looked like something photoshopped because Samara looked all static-y while Jess was clear.

John gasped and looked down at the girl again. He winced and looked back at Amanda. "It's true. What does she want?"

"A mommy." Amanda breathed. "Then she's gonna kill you too maybe –for being in the way. You should go. Go away before she gets you too."

"I'm not leaving you so some dead girl can get you, Amanda!" John cried.

"But you'll die!"

He held his breath then said while letting it out, "Fine. But if she's trapped in that well, she can't do anything –so how?"

"I said I'd be her mommy." Amanda reasoned. "So she –" she paused, thinking of what to say.

"She got hope." John suggested.

"Hope gave her strength for one last search for her mommy."

As she said the sentence, a well appeared on the TV.

"She wants you."

"I know she does."

"You're actually going to do it?"

"She's giving me no choice."

With a nod, John decided to leave.

We never needed them, mommy.

When John was gone, Amanda stared at the TV.

"Mommy, are you coming?" a voice whispered.

Amanda shook her head. "Find another mommy!" she shouted. "Why does it have to be me? Why?"

"Because I love nobody else."

Amanda ran out of the room. She ran past Jess's room, only to see the laptop screen turn into an image of a well. She gasped and wanted to close her eyes and wake up from her nightmare. She ran down the stairs, slipping on the watery steps and stumbled to the bottom. She saw John turn around and see her coming.

"What?" he said, "N-no!" he shouted.

"John?"

He shook his head and began edging away from her. What Amanda failed to realize is that John couldn't see her. He saw Samara coming towards him –whispering his name. Then he was in the well. The top was closing on him. He saw the ring and cried out.

Amanda sobbed when her friend's face seemed to turn into that same face that Jess had. He dropped to the ground lifelessly. Amanda couldn't scream anymore and choked. She dropped to the ground and yelled, "Why, Samara? What do you want? I can't be your mommy!"

You're leaving me then? Mommy?

It was a dead end. She had no choice. Her friends had died so easily at the hands of a young, love-starved child. She looked around her. The lights all over the house had gone out. But there were ominous blue lights everywhere –even in the kitchen, where Jess's mom had a TV for the cooking channel. Amanda sighed and went up the stairs. She would be Samara's mom.

She went to the TV room and walked around her friend's body. She touched the TV screen which felt like water under her hands.

"I love you, mommy."

She sobbed, "I love you too, Samara." Amanda braced herself and leapt into the television.

Everything around her was almost in monotone –dark, like Samara had seen it. She wandered to the well. The lid seemed to radiate a dark aura –the evil aura of Samara. Everything inside her –her brain –her heart –her hands –her feet –seemed to tell her not to touch the lid. She wondered. Maybe this aura was what the animals felt around Samara's presence in the movies.

She knew she had no choice though. Samara didn't give her a choice. She pushed the lid open with all the force she could muster. She heard a muffled and terrifying voice of rejoice. Samara was happy. If Samara was happy nobody got hurt. As long as Samara had her mommy, nobody got hurt.

"Come and get me, Samara."

"Mommy!" the little girl exclaimed.

Amanda heard pattering. Samara was climbing up. She dared to look into the well and saw the ghost climbing up rapidly like some kind of animal. It didn't take her long to get to the top. She emerged. Amanda shut her eyes.

"Don't be scared, mommy. I love you, mommy." Samara repeated the word mommy. She seemed to like the taste of the word on her tongue.

Amanda nodded and opened her eyes. Samara grabbed her "mommy's" hand, burning her, and led her to the forest.

"Let's play, mommy."

Mommy, you came for me. You did love me. I knew you did. We didn't need anyone. Not John. Not Jess. Not anyone. We have each other. We'll be together from now on. I'll have you and you'll have me –for always.

FIN