I sat up instantly and ripped off my blindfold. My heart was racing faster than Vin Deasil in those weird street racing movies.

I turned my head around frantically searching every inch of my room. It was dark but my eyes were starting to adjust.

I didn't see anyone. Not any of my sisters, or my brother. Just Tonya, and obviously she can't talk. But someone, or something called my name.

I didn't know what to do, I was so scared. I just sat in my bed for a few moments. I couldn't lay back down and go to sleep, and I couldn't, will my body to get out of bed. So I just sat there, for what was perhaps ten minutes. Just waiting, with pure anxiety and fear for something to happen.

But nothing did. My room stayed quiet, and empty.

The only sound was the faint snoring of one of my siblings. Probably Lincoln, he snores the loudest though he won't admit it. Or maybe Lynn.

All I could think was, Someone is in my room, someone is in my room.

My heart raced faster and my chest felt like it was burning.

This is real, this is real and I have to deal with it. What do I do? What do I do?

My first thought was to call out for mom and dad. But as hard as I tried, I couldn't even force a single sound from my lips.

Sharp angled shadows crept up my walls like crooked talons reaching out ready to engulf me in darkness, never to be seen again.

It's just my imagination. Wait was that movement? No I... I don't think so.

I noticed my bedroom door was open. I know, it was closed before I went to bed.

Maybe one of my siblings did come in here, but decided to just go back to their room? Maybe it just sounded weird.

I got up and slowly moved out into the hallway. It was dark and quiet. The only sound was the occasional snore. Usually when one of my sisters comes into my room after a nightmare it tends to be Lana.

"Lana?" I whispered. Peaking my head into the twin's room.

"Lana, are you awake?" I asked.

"Leni?" Lana's twin Lola moaned. "What's going on?"

"I just want to know if Lana came into my room." I whispered. "Lana? Lana!"

"Muh, what?" Lana asked.

"Did you come into my room?" I asked.

"No of course not." Lana said.

"Ugh, why do you care?" Lola asked.

"Well, I thought maybe she had a nightmare." I explained.

"What?" Lola said, getting confused and agitated. "Why would you think she had a nightmare? Did you really interrupt my beauty sleep just because Lana might have had a nightmare."

"I heard someone in my room!" I shot back.

Lola was taken aback by this.

"You probably had a nightmare." Lola said. "Lana and I have been in this room all night."

I backed away and closed the door.

Part of me knew Lola was right. I was probably just starting to dream as I fell asleep. I knew I should just go to bed and forget about it. But I just had to be sure.

"Leni, could you come down here for a moment." My mom's voice came from downstairs.

"Mom?" I looked down the stairs. It was dark, not a single light was on.

"I'm in the kitchen sweetie." Mom called back.

I walked slowly down the stairs one step at a time.

This was weird.

What did mom want?

Why was she in the kitchen?

And why didn't she turn on any of the lights?

I reached the bottom of the steps.

I turned my head to face the kitchen.

"Mom?" I said taking a step in the direction of the kitchen.

"Leni?" I herd mom's voice from behind me.

I spun around to see my mom had just stepped out of her bedroom at the other end of the living room.

"How'd you get all the way over there?" I asked. "Weren't you just in the kitchen?"

"No." Mom said. "I wasn't in the kitchen."

I looked back into the darkness of the kitchen.

My heart began to race again.

"But I heard you call out." I said. "You said you were in the kitchen."

"That wasn't me honey." Mom said. "I don't know what you heard but it wasn't me."

I felt stunned. Confused and scared. I kept looking back at the kitchen, then back at mom.

I could almost sense something lurking in the darkness of the kitchen. I gulped.

"Mom?" I squeaked in a scared voice.

Mom walked over to me.

"Stay behind me sweety." She said.

She flicked on the kitchen light.

We both peered in, and...

Nothing.

The room was empty.

"Maybe you were just hearing things." Mom suggested. "You should try to get back to sleep. You have school in the morning."

"I don't think I can sleep mom." I said. "I'm scared."

"Oh honey, nothing's going to happen to you." Mom said. "Maybe try reading a book or something to get your mind off it. Or you could watch tv for a little while, so long as you keep the volume down."

I sighed. I didn't really want to argue or anything. The last thing I wanted was to keep my own mother up because I was afraid of my own shadow.

I went back to my room. I laid back down and closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep. But my eyes shot open at every creek the house made.

I was still awake when my alarm went off. I let out an annoyed grown as I sat up.

I looked over at the empty bed where my sister used to sleep.

"I miss you." I whispered. If Lori was still living here, she would have helped me through the night. I hated being alone in this room.

Maybe mom and dad could let Lincoln sleep in this room. That is if he even wanted to. Lincoln was kind of a lone wolf honestly. He likes his space and I respect that.

The once silent house started to wake up into the normal chaos and noise of everyday life.

I stood up. I felt exhausted. I threw on a light pink sweater with a dark pink stripe along the belly. Along with blue jeans and pink shoes.

I nearly fell asleep on the bus ride to school. Last night was awful.

Must be how Lincoln felt after he watched that scary movie. Not the one that's actually called Scary Movie, I mean an actually scary movie, like a horror movie.

Seriously though, like, can you believe they made a movie called Scary Movie and it's not actually scary. Like, talk about false advertisement. They should have called it Funny Movie, because it's like, super funny.

What was I talking about again?

...

At lunch I sat with my friends Jackee and Mandee. I looked over my shoulder as I sat down.

I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching like, watching me.

"You ok?" Mandee asked.

Mandee had short brown hair and blue eyes. She wore this cute blue turtleneck with a green polka dot skirt.

"You look like you hadn't slept at all last night." Jackee added.

Jackee had long black hair and brown eyes, she wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a beautiful frilly pink skirt.

"I didn't I couldn't" I replied.

"I couldn't sleep either." Mandy said. "I couldn't stop thinking about poor Miguel."

Jackie and Mandee had been as close to Miguel as Fiona and I. The three of us had even carpooled to his funeral.

"Did... Did he send you guys any letters before he died." I asked.

They both shook there heads.

"O M Gosh! Did he send you a letter?" Mandee asked.

"Y-yeah." I admitted. I considered keeping it to myself, but if I couldn't trust my best friends with it, who can I trust?

"O M G!" Jackee said. "Was it his suicide note?"

"Girl, you gotta show that to the police." Mandee said. "It could be like, evidence or something."

"I don't think it was a suicide note." I said. "It was really cryptic. Like he had lost his mind or something. It just said. Oh what was it. 'My deerest Leni, I preyed for you'.

No no wait that wasn't it. It was 'My dearest Leni, I prayed for you' yeah that's it. 'my dearest Leni, I've prayed for you, for he spoke your name.'"

"Who's he." My friends both said at the same time.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Lincoln and I went on a little investigation last weekend, but we found like, nothing. Fiona and Felix said he was obsessing over a rake."

"A rake?" Jackee said.

"And I think it might be a specific rake. I was thinking of going over to his house tonight and asking his mom if I could look around." I said. "Though I think the whole rake thing might be a dead end."

"Seriously though." Mandee said. "You need to show that note to the police. I mean whoever this guy is that Miguel was talking about. It sounds like he could be coming for you or something."

Just then a boy sat down next to us. He was a nerdy looking boy with a red and white striped hoodie, glasses, and short red hair.

I knew this boy. His name was Eugene. He was in my special ed class. He was really quiet but really smart. He just had a lot of trouble socializing with people.

"Um... like what are you doing here?" Mandee said.

"Yeah, you weirdo." Jackee added. "This is a private conversation. So get lost."

"Ugh, guys!" I said to my friends. "Don't be mean."

"Oh sorry I..." Eugine said nervously. "I just wanted say I'm sorry to hear about your friend."

"Aw thanks. That means a lot." I said.

"Leni." Eugine said. "I heard you talking about a note. What did it say again."

"That's none of your business." Jackee said.

"My dearest Lenny, I've prayed for you, for he spoke your name." I repeated again what the note had said.

"I also heard you mentioned something about a rake." Eugine said.

"Yeah, but it's probably a dead end." I said.

"It's not a dead end," Eugine said in a serious tone. "Trust me. Meet me buy the library tomorrow night. I might have the answers you seek. It's not safe to talk here. He could be listening."

"Sure I'll think about it." I said.

Eugine left the table and went back to sit with his friends.

"Ok, that was creepy." Mandee said.

"Yeah, you can NOT meet that creep tomorrow." Jackee said.

"He's not a creep." I said. "He's just awkward."

"You know he totally has a crush on you right?" Mandee said. "I see him looking at you all the time."

"Oh he's harmless." I said.

"Are you sure?" Jackee replied. "How do we know he's not the one Miguel was warning you about in his letter."

"I don't think Miguel was talking about anything human." I said suddenly.

"What do you mean, not human." Mandee said.

"I don't know." I said.

...

After lunch I had English class. We were learning something about homonyms, words that have more than one meaning. Or something like that. I couldn't pay attention. I mean I usually had a hard time paying attention, but now I was just too focused on this rake mystery. The rest of the day was the same.

...

After school, Jackee, Mandee and I went over to Miguel's house.

I paused for a moment before knocking on the door. His mother looked about as sad as you'd expect after what happened.

I greeted her. And asked if we could come in. Luckily we've hung out with Miguel enough that his parents knew us by name.

His father was sitting on a recliner in the living room watching tv. A beer in his hand.

I couldn't imagine what they must be going through right now. We asked if we could see Miguel's room. His mother led us upstairs.

I immediately gasped as I opened the door.

On the wall above his bed, were four huge claw marks, like something massive had slashed the wall.

Each slash was longer than my arm.

"What... did... that..." I said in a terrified voice.

"Honestly we don't know." His mother said. "They just appeared in our boy's room one night. We looked everywhere. We called the police, animal control, everyone we could think of. We couldn't find any signs of an animal, or any signs of a break in. we think that maybe the paint just cracked or something."

"Do you have any rakes?" I asked.

Miguel's mom gave me a weird look. It was an odd question I know.

We went to the garage where we found a perfectly ordinary bamboo rake with a red wooden handle.

I held the rake in my hand. Nothing really seemed off about it. Just an ordinary rake.

"If you need to borrow our rake, be my guest." Miguel's mom said. I could tell this was all very weird to her. Her son just died and here's this weird girl asking about rakes.

"Uh, yeah sure." I said. "Thanks, I'll bring this back to you as soon as I can."

"Why did you borrow their rake?" Mandee asked as we left the house.

"Well, Miguel was talking about a rake before he died right?" I said. "So I'm going to bring this rake home and have my sister Lisa look at it. She's like a total science wiz, if there's anything odd or supernatural about this rake, she'll find it."

...

"Hey Leni." Luna said as I walked in the door of my house. "Sweet rake dude."

"Oh, yeah." I replied. "I got it from Miguel's place. I'm going to have Lisa take a look at it."

"Why, it's just a rake, dude." Luna said.

"I don't know, Miguel was saying something about a rake before he died." I said. "I think there might be more to this rake than meets the eye."

"What? Like it's a transformer or something?" Luna said.

I looked at her blankly, then I looked at the rake. "Umm.. I don't think so. But maybe."

"Uh huh." Luna said. "You know I am really, sorry to hear about your friend. Miguel was a good guy."

"Yeah, he was." I sighed. "was."

"You know what." Luna said. "My band and I will be playing at October fest this weekend. And I'm gonna dedicate my performance to Miguel's memory."

"that's real sweet of you." I said. "thanks."

I told Lisa about my find. She was the only four year old I knew with a Nobel prize. She clearly thought my request was odd. But she agreed to help me and run some tests on Miguel's rake. She told me she'd be done sometime tomorrow.

...

It was night. I sat on my bed closed off from the rest of the house. Waiting as the loud house grew silent once more.

I turned out my light, put on my blindfold and started to fall asleep.

After a few moments a felt a presence in the room. I lifted my blindfold. My heart stopped.

There sitting at the end of my bed was a dark figure. It was sitting in a strange unnatural pose that I couldn't explain. It was almost as if it was injured. It was also breathing rapidly like a dog panting in the heat.

Somehow though, I didn't feel any fear for this creature. I almost felt bad for it. Which was like, totally weird right? This thing breaks like, into my room and instead of being afraid, I actually feel bad for it? But it didn't seem scary, more hurt, and sad.

And somehow...

Familiar...

My eyes adjusted to the dark and I could make out more details of this creature. I gasped as I realized what, or should I say who it was...

I turned on the light next to my bed. The light was dim and this person had their back to me. But I would recognize this person anywhere.

"Miguel?" I said, feeling confused.

His sleeked back dark brown hair and thin stature were unmistakable. He had his back to me and was doubled over like he was in tremendous pain.

He was wearing a red sweater that was soaking wet. I don't think I ever saw him with a shirt like that. And something about it was very odd. The stitching looked off somehow and it had a white stripe running down the back.

And why was it wet? His hair was dry, but his shirt was soaking wet. And I mean really wet, as the light from my desk lamp glistened off of it.

I had so many questions. Like how was he still alive? Did he fake his own death. If so, How? And Why?

I'm pretty sure he had an open casket funeral. I saw his body. Was it some sort of body double, or maybe a dummy?

Did he hire someone to dig him back up after the funeral?

So many questions, but all I could manage to push out was...

"W-what? How?"

Miguel turned to face me, and I let out a shriek of terror, louder than I thought possible. My heart was racing so fast it was as if my entire chest was vibrating.

That "sweater" he was wearing...

It wasn't a sweater...

He had been skinned from the neck down. I was looking at his skinless flesh. What I thought was stitching, was actually, muscle fibers. And the white stripe on his back were the tendons attaching his back muscles to his spine. And it was his own blood that had given him that wet glistening look. Blood that ran down his body and created a huge red stain on my bed where he sat.

I looked down at his pecks and abs. and I mean his ACTUAL pecks and abs. I watched the wet red squishy fibers expand and contract as my friend breathed in and out.

I looked up at his face and gaged at the site.

Half of his face had been torn off. I could see the teeth in his mouth, all the way back to his molars, the curved bone that had once shaped his cheek. One of his eyes bugged out and rolled around in a bare socket.

Strands of red wet fibers hung down from his chin like a meaty wet beard.

He almost looked like that Batman villain, what's his name. the one with like, two faces. You know, that guy.

Only with a lot more blood.

Then, when I thought this couldn't get any worse. A second dark figure stood up behind Miguel.

This figure was completely cloaked in darkness, no matter how hard I tried to look at him, no matter how much my eyes adjusted to the dark.

It was like this second figure was a living shadow. But it was definitely alive, it was moving.

The shadow figure was tall and thin. At least a good couple inches taller than I or Miguel.

Then the figure raised one of its long gangly arms. It had five fingers on each hand. Well technical four fingers and a thumb. At the end of each finger was a long sharp claw. Each claw was like, the size of my arm, and the width of a kitchen knife.

With those long claws its hand looked almost like a... like a...

Then Miguel opened his mouth to speak.

His voice was strained and filled with pain. I could see the muscles in his face move as he choked out each word.

"He is... The Rake." Miguel said.

Then the monster thrusted his hand downward at poor Miguel.

Just as the claws struck Miguel's skull...

I woke up.

I woke up screaming, ripping off my blindfold.

I looked around. My heart pounding out of my chest. I was panting heavily and soaked with sweat.

My room was empty. No monster, no blood, no Miguel.

It was just a dream.

I sighed with relief and felt myself slowly start to calm down.

Just then my younger sister Lynn burst in the room, fallowed by Lincoln and Luna.

"We heard you scream, are you ok?" Lincoln asked.

"Did someone break in?" Lynn asked. She was holding a baseball bat, ready to swing at any intruder that meant me harm.

"No I'm ok." I said. "No intruder, just a bad dream."

Right then I was just so grateful to have siblings who were so ready to protect me.