"No!" I cried sitting up in my bed. My hair was soaked and sticking to my face. I was trembling. I looked around myself in confusion my sleepy mind not able to make sense of my surroundings. Oh yeah moving tomorrow, I thought. I lay down knowing that I wouldn't be able to sleep anymore that night.

The nightmares were getting worse. I had been having them since I heard that we were moving to Melas, Rhode Island near where my Dad was stationed. It was a town where my Mom had gotten a job as a nurse. My Dad would be joining us when in a few months when he got off the six-month cruise thing.

The next morning

"Jenna!" my mother called. I sat up surprised that I had fallen back asleep.

"I'll be down in a minute!" I yelled back. I dressed in my favorite pair of jeans and a blue sweatshirt. My little brother Bobby was already eating breakfast. Bobby had his father's curly brown hair and sea green eyes while I had my mother's pale features and light blonde hair and pale almost ice blue eyes.

"It's been a while since you slept this late," Mom remarked. "I made breakfast." We ate in silence then packed up the rest of the remaining bags. We got into the station wagon; and drove away the moving truck followed. The house itself was fairly impressive.

It was three stories, counting the attic and had a white picket fence surrounding it. It was the house my mother had always dreamed of, and for some reason that I couldn't explain, it terrified me. The movers brought the things inside. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and beginning to arrange the house.

That night while my mother and Bobby were asleep, I went down into the basement. I wasn't sure about what was driving me; I just knew that I needed to be there. The basement was dusty, and we had already put boxes in it. I looked around the basement finding nothing strange. /This is silly,/ I thought. /What am I doing here?/

Suddenly, I saw something-uneven boards. I knelt by them not really knowing what I was doing. I lifted a board up. I was astonished to see a white dress, a cross, and a book. I pulled the items out and I was suddenly thrown back in time.

~*~

"David!" I heard myself screaming. "Please don't do this!" My only answer was a sigh.

"All I wanted was a normal life," David told me. "I loved you and I thought maybe you could learn to love me but you are just like the rest of them."

"David I'm sorry," I sobbed.

"No!" he yelled. "Don't say that! You just want to continue your pathetic existence. This is it! I will never let another human do this to me. From now on, your kind is my life force. You're just food." He suddenly bared his teeth revealing sharp fangs and grabbed my hair whipping my head back. I could feel the pain as he drained me. He let my body fall to the ground.

~*~

I snapped out of the reverie. /What was that?/ I wondered. I walked up stairs taking my find with me. I crawled into bed and soon fell asleep. Surprisingly, I slept all night. I awoke at noon and got up and dressed quickly. I went downstairs with what I had found.

"Good morning," Mom said.

"Hi," I said.

She saw what I was holding and frowned confusedly. "What's that?" she asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me," I said. "I found this in the basement under a board. I don't really know how I found it but-" I stopped not sure of what I wanted to say after that. My mother took the dress holding it up.

"This is beautiful," she commented. "It's not even faded." She examined it then laid it on the table. I handed her the cross. She held it up to the light. The emeralds inside of it cast a glow on the floor. It was made out of delicate silver, and had a large sapphire stone in the center of it. It was finely crafted. "Jenna, if this is real, it's worth a fortune. Tomorrow I'll go to the jewelers to see if it's real. What's that?"

"This?" I gestured to the book. "I didn't look." I opened it. Inside the front cover it said property of Michelle Basset. "It looks like a diary. Why would anyone hide this?"

"I'm not sure," Mom admitted. "Well I'm going to the grocery store. Why don't you and Bobby go to the park?"

"Okay," I said. Bobby came down the stairs. We walked to the park. He found a group of boys playing softball and walked off to join them. I sat down and began to read the diary. I began near the beginning as I often did when I read a book.

~*~

December 13, 1891

Today I met the man my mother wants me to marry. His name is David Harris. He seems nice. I am still not sure about him though. Mother told me that I am beginning to be an old maid. I am only eighteen. I think she's just trying to rush me into marriage. Well the ball is in a few days.

Father seems convinced that David will ask me to marry him within a year. I am not sure though. David seems nice like I said but there's just something not right about him.

~*~

I closed the diary and began to watch Bobby playing softball. /Well,/ I thought /at least he'll be accepted quickly./ I jumped as someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Sorry," a girl said. I stood. The girl standing before me was kind of short, but she had a kind face. Her short brown hair framed her face and she had brown eyes. "Hi," she said. "I'm Kristy. You just moved here, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm Jenna."

"Do you want me to introduce you to my group?" she asked. I followed her to a bench. Two guys sat at the table; one was lying on top of it. "Jenna this is Joel, Ryan, and Justin. Ryan and Joel are brothers." Joel was tall with sandy brown hair and green eyes. He smiled at me; his smile could make any girl melt I was no exception. Ryan also had sandy brown hair but his eyes were brown. Justin had dark blonde hair and sky blue eyes. "Guys this is Jenna."

"Hey," Joel said in a soft voice. The other guys echoed this. Ryan sat up from his spot on the table.

"We don't let just anyone hang out with us," he told me with a smile. I simply raised my eyebrows.

"The quiz?" Justin asked. Ryan nodded.

"They still do this?" Kristy asked Joel who shook his head. "It's way immature." Kristy sat next to Justin. Joel motioned for me to sit next to him.

"Okay," Justin said. "What's your opinion on The Backstreet Boys?"

"Over done," I said.

"`N Sync?"

"The same,"

"Marlyn Manson?"

"The Devil."

"Hanson?"

"His minions," I said. Justin raised an eyebrow.

"Britney Spears?" he asked

"I can't say," I told him. "There are children in hearing distance."

"Horror movies?"

"Watchable."

"Comedy?"

"If it's good."

"Well you passed," Justin said.

"My life is complete," I said with light sarcasm.

"Where'd you move from?" Kristy asked.

"Baltimore," I told her. "My dad's in the Navy."

"Do you move a lot?" Joel asked capturing my eyes with his own.

"Yeah," I said.

"That must suck," he said, "all of us have lived here forever."

"Which also sucks," Ryan said. I looked away from Joel just in time to see a softball hit Bobby. He fell and didn't get up.