Disclaimer: I don't own Sarah.

Sarah lay awake, watching the shadows move across her walls. Her curtains were drawn and there were no lights on anywhere in her room; there should be no shadows. And yet the fact remained, they were there, and they were moving, creeping silently towards her in the stillness of her darkened room. She was no longer afraid of the shadows; they had haunted her every night since moving to this new town. They never touched her, never harmed her in anyway, and yet she couldn't bring herself to take her eyes off of them. Every night she lay awake, watching as they silently made their way across her room.

Her family had moved to this small Southern California town only a few weeks ago, just after her seventeenth birthday, when her father's job had transferred him here. She hadn't minded, there had been nothing holding her to her old hometown anyway. She had never had any friends to speak of and lately most of the things that had once made her happy there had begun to seem hollow. Here she was only a short drive away from her mother in Los Angeles, and her proximity to the beach was nice. It seemed like a quiet town, and that was fine with her; she had had enough adventure to last her a lifetime.

But from the moment they got here, strange things had started to happen. Little things at first, like disappearing earrings, or finding doors open that she knew she had just shut. But recently, the little things had gotten bigger.

Last night she had been in her room doing homework. She knew she was alone in the house, but she heard noises coming from downstairs in the kitchen. Common sense told her to stay upstairs and ignore the noises, but Sarah had never really been one to put much stock in common sense. She had gone downstairs to investigate, and was puzzled to find all the cabinets and drawers open and pots and pans and utensils strewn all over the floor. She quickly put everything away, not giving herself time to think about the implications.

She had turned around then and headed back to her room, when she heard a loud thunk behind her. Slowly she pivoted, not really wanting to know what had made the noise, but unable just to keep moving and head to her room as her mind was screaming for her to do. What she saw when she turned around made her blood run cold in her veins. Once again, all the cabinets and drawers were open, their contents littering the cheerfully tiled floor. It seemed a simple thing, and yet was unimaginably horrifying. However, as bad as it was, it couldn't compare to what was right in front of her. A large butcher knife hovered in mid air less than eight inches away from her face, so still in the air she had not even seen it at first. It almost looked as though it had been thrown at her from across the room and caught in the nick of time by unseen hands.

For a moment she simply stared at it, her mind unable to process what she was seeing. Finally her fear took over and she screamed, causing the knife to fall clattering to the floor. She turned and ran up the stairs without looking back, and didn't stop until she was in her room with the door shut. She was pretty sure that what ever was out there couldn't be stopped by a locked door, yet she felt marginally safer despite that. She sat with her back against the door, silently thanking any gods that were listening that Toby had gone with her parents tonight.

She pretended she didn't hear the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, ignored the scratching at her door, and by all means she blocked out the persistent sound of breathing that came through the keyhole just above her head. She had closed her eyes and hummed quietly to herself, pretending she was in a much happier place. The tune of the song would have been familiar only to her, as she was the only mortal who had ever heard it, and this made it all the more comforting. In her mind she was far away in a safe place, dancing to music that played just for her, in the arms of the only person she knew who might be strong enough to protect her from whatever was on the other side of the door. She closed her eyes and let the memory take her away.

Her fantasy came crashing down around her, though, as the door behind her shook with a loud bang. Her eyes flew open, and her heart was pounding in her chest. For a few moments there was silence, and then another crash into her door. This one was so strong she had felt it reverberate deep into her bones. She balled her hands into tight fists and covered her ears with them, but still the banging continued. She wanted to scream, but she wouldn't give it the satisfaction. So she had sat there for hours, never moving, feeling her tenuous grip on reality being pulled away from her with each passing second. Then the banging had stopped, as suddenly as it began, and downstairs she heard the front door opening and the chatter of her parents entering the house.

Only then did she allow herself to move away from the door. She had stood there for a few minutes, waiting for the banging to resume, but her parents' arrival seemed to have sent her unseen tormentor away. Numbly she shed her clothing and made her way to the bed. She lay there quietly waiting for the tell tale shriek of Karen discovering the mess in her kitchen, but the sound never came. Perhaps whatever had caught the butcher knife had also put the kitchen back in order. Or maybe you've just gone insane, an unpleasant voice whispered in her mind. She pushed the voice away and paid in no heed. She knew what had happened was real, after all, she had seen stranger things, hadn't she?

That had all taken place hours ago, and yet she was still awake, keeping vigil over the shadows. They had begun their nightly journey almost as soon as she turned the lights off, and she had spent a great deal of time pondering their nature. She had no idea what their intentions were, whether they were malevolent or benevolent. She had no clue as to their origin, or why they seemed only to come at night. They had never harmed her, even on the occasions when she had been unable to fight off sleep. She didn't think they were connected to whatever was in her room tonight, because they seemed to have no trouble getting in, if in fact they ever left at all.

Whatever they were, she realized, they would be there whether she slept or not. She couldn't continue to lay awake all night watching them, she was making herself sick. With a heavy sigh she closed her eyes and rolled to her other side, determined to ignore them and get some sleep. She had nearly drifted off when an almost imperceptible sound had caught her attention. She opened her eyes once more, this time facing her window, waiting to see if the sound returned or if she had just imagined it. A long moment went by in silence, and she had almost given up, when suddenly she heard it again: a faint scraping on the window in front of her.

Her mind pleaded with her to close her eyes and go back to sleep, and yet she found herself sitting up and walking towards the window. Slowly she made her way across the floor, her heart thudding in her chest. Her mind was screaming now, begging her not to open the curtains, not to look outside, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Before she could think anymore about it she reached out and threw the curtains open to find…nothing. There was nothing outside but trees and wind. She let out a shuddering breath and leaned her head against the window, her eyes closed. Her hands were shaking and she felt like she might throw up. She knew she couldn't go on like this, but she didn't know what to do. She couldn't talk to her parents about it, knowing from experience that they already thought she was a little crazy. Who could she turn to? And who would believe her if she did? She felt bitter tears rolling down her cheeks and absently wiped them away.

All she could do was go back to bed and think about it in the morning. She turned and straitened her shoulders, heading back to bed. As if an afterthought she remembered that she had left the curtains open. She turned around once more to close them, and came face to face with a pair of glowing red eyes watching her from the other side of the glass.

She couldn't move, couldn't breath. She actually felt her heart stop in her chest, and she struggled for air. She tried to scream, but there was no sound, only a pitiful mewling that even she couldn't hear. She clawed at the curtains, finally closing them and shutting out the horrible eyes, but she could still see them, they were burned in her brain.

Somehow she made it back to bed, diving under the covers and pulling them all the way over her head. She stayed this way all night, never sleeping, never even close to sleep. Sarah Williams was at that moment painfully certain that she would never sleep again.