2.

The evening of the day when Lexi had her first incident with time, after she had been safely tucked into bed; her parents had a conversation in the living room about the day's events. Anna explains all of which she is aware of to Jonathon, and she does this to the best degree she could down to the fact that Missus Forsythe next door stating she believed she had seen Lexi standing by the gate waving up towards the house only with the fact that she also believed that Lexi looked a little older somehow.

'Yeah well ...' Jonathon responds to what he is told, 'Missus Forsythe ain't no spring chicken, she's pretty old herself. She could have been mistaken.'

'She is as sharp I'd say as she probably ever has been, she rarely misses a trick' Anna Says, 'besides Lexi told me she had seen herself at the end of the garden today before she ... went to that other place ... at least not in so many words.'

'Yeah, about that, there is the fact of what we had seen ourselves the day Lexi was born, remember? There is no way we both could have hallucinated that so ... I don't know.'

'Uh-huh and we have never discussed it since that day. Lexi said she seen us with a baby, and we looked different. That little girl who came to us, was that Lexi we saw?'

'You were holding Lexi; she was brand new that day ...'

'Yeah, but ...'

'There can be no buts Anna. What are you saying? ... That our eight-year-old daughter disappeared today, went back in time to briefly visit with us in the hospital on the day she was born? That's so ridiculous that even thinking about it is insane ...'

'Shush, keep your voice down. It took ages to get her off to sleep.'

'Sorry ... you know better than anyone then I get loud when I get worked up.'

'Uh-huh to that, anyhow, you should have heard her today, she was so upset. And I know as well as you do how insane all this is.'

'I know ...'

It is not easy for mother or father to settle into anything during the remainder of the evening, though when they call it a night, they discover that the oddest of odd days is not done yet. Jonathon heads upstairs after checking that the front door is locked while Anna ensures everything downstairs is powered off.

The door to Lexi's room is slightly ajar. Remaining in the hallway outside the room and trying to be as quiet as he can, dad peaks in to see Lexi out of her bed and facing the wall. Not only that but she is talking too as if she were having a conversation with the wall.

Anna soon reaches the top of the stairs and Jonathon signals to her for her to be quiet and together they observe Lexi. 'Uh-huh ... yeah ...' she says before getting back into bed and covering herself with her blankets.

'The uh-huh thing' Jonathon quietly says once he and Anna are in their own bed, 'she gets that from you, not the talking to the wall part but the word itself.'

'I know ... well, so what now?'

'Perhaps ... maybe we should organize something; maybe have a professional chat with her or something.'

'I'd hate to have to go do something like that though maybe it is necessary.'

'Leave it with me my lady; we'll get through this whatever it is ...'

3.

In many ways, with Greta Turner being a possible exception, Anna Hansen is quite different to the other mothers or vessels who gave birth to one of Satan's nine daughters. For one she is living and not institutionalized. She most certainly had not been killed, murdered by insanity early on after becoming a mother nor had she lost her life due to complications during childbirth nor had she suffered a debilitating loss of energy.

She did not experience strange or odd behaviour in her daughter prior to her turning eight years old as so many other guardians had with their own daughters, if she had experienced anything odd then she would not have been able to connect it with anything in particular. The pregnancy itself had been fairly straight forward. She had no odd or new preferences other than what may be expected with a pregnancy and she had been no more tired than what would be expected with a pregnancy.

What she also did not have in common with those other women with whom she could not know anything about was that she had not been touch by Satan himself, not directly anyhow. However, something Darkness related did occur for Anna Hansen and it occurred when she had been out in a supermarket doing a little grocery shopping.

The difference indeed is that Darkness already done what he needed to do for daughter number nine long before going anywhere near Anna, sure that in itself was to ensure Anna's very own birth. He had set his touch and so much more on Anna's biological mother, Heather Grace, not that Anna Hansen, formerly Anna Brown, knew anything about a Heather Grace ... she doesn't know anything about anyone by that name, nor could she know that Satan is her actual father.

So, months before the end of a century comes along, Darkness pays more of a checkup visit than anything else ...

Only twenty years of age as of such time when the September of 1999 had come around and already, she had been six months married and had a home with her husband while sharing bills and everything else which comes with such a situation along with acquiring a routine of grocery shopping. It more than seemed in a way that some things had come way too soon though life is to be taken as it comes, and we all do the best we can with whatever comes our way.

Yeah, at twenty there may be some expectation of responsibility though there should have also been plenty of time to party and do whatever young people get up too. At that things were actually good; she could have still made time to party even though settling down felt as if she had settled down a little too early in life.

Hubby Jonathon being just the one year older could be well up for partying too, with a house, a car and so on life certainly did feel a little ... settled. With such things there can come financial considerations too. Both Anna and Jonathon had jobs, Anna's came with a little less hours than Jon's and that was fine and despite all the settled-ness a need for a child or children was not yet all that strong.

Yeah, they both wanted children though indeed no rush was felt, they had all the time in the world. With being settled and having routine Anna had stated she would be going grocery shopping on a certain day in particular, one she would have to herself, and the inquiry is made as to if Jonathon had any requests. His only request moments before heading out to his place of employment was for a cartoon or two of orange juice, juice with bits within it if that were at all possible.

Only one car between the two at this point in time, something they both hoped would double in the coming year or so if all went well and, on this day, Jonathon would make use of the car. He was long gone too by such time a hazy rain began to fall, but hell, the local store was not all so far away, and Anna would rather get the grocery shopping done and dusted sooner rather than later.

By the time Anna got to the store the rain had begun to come down quite a deal heavier, there would be no major rush to leave the store or so she would have thought so a stroll through the store could be done at a leisurely pace. Aisle by aisle Anna took her time, picking essentials first before deciding on what else she might pick up before heading home.

In an instant and while still in the early stages of her shopping, Anna thought the store looked a little darker all of a sudden. She hadn't seen any lighting go out or anything of the likes; this was just something she thought odd. Supermarkets are usually quite bright and not as dim as this one seemed to have become. Perhaps a storm is on its way and the rain outside is something more than just the average shower. As she looks through items on a particular shelf she felt as if someone was getting overly close to her position.

Not one who normally complains, Anna turned to do just that, whoever was invading her space needs to back away. Before getting a single word out, Anna indeed turned to be surprised that the nearest person to her was over sixty feet away from her, still something disturbed her senses. Turning back to the items she had been choosing from, Anna once again felt a presence right behind her.

Right, someone really needs to back off, someone needs to stop messing about and leave her be. Turning a full three sixty there is no one close enough to have invaded her space. Is she being filmed? Is some kind of prank being played? Not a chance of that being the case and Anna is sure of that. This is menacingly irritating. Once more she attempts to continue shopping and once more the feeling that her space is being invaded grabs a hold of her.

That's it, no matter how heavy the rain may be falling, Anna is going home, and she is only taking a few of the basics with her. She can't handle whatever the hell it is that is bugging her.

Jonathon arrives home after dark surprised to find his and Anna's newly christened home is sitting in darkness. Anna had not rung him or left any kind of message to inform him that she might be going somewhere, and if she had been going somewhere this late in the day she surely would have left the porch light on. As it is the porch light is not on and neither is any other light within the home as far as Jon can see.

Despite the darkness and the silence with which he is greeted, Jonathon calls out for Anna and there is no reply. He turns some lighting on and heads into the kitchen then opens the fridge and the first thing that he notices is that there is no orange juice in there either with or without bits. He runs a tap and fills himself a glass of water then stands back for a moment in wonder.

Taking out his phone he sees he still has no text alerts or any missed calls or voice messages. Not that he doesn't trust his newly wedded wife, he does, completely, he calls her more to inquire as to if all is well more than anything else. He hears a tone ringing through his phone then hears a distance ring tone sounding out.

Someone's phone is ringing in another room; more specifically it is Anna's phone that he can hear. And so, the search begins. The ringing phone is upstairs somewhere, it is in the bedroom he and his wife share. He turns the light on and is caught by surprise to see Anna cowering in a corner on the floor crying. Immediately he goes to cradle her.

'Hey, hey ... what's wrong babe? Are you alright ...?'

Six weeks after this day, confirmation comes that they are pregnant with their first child.