(Camryn/Alice)

A young girl was skipping around the house. She was wearing a white party dress with pink lace around the collar. “Mommy, Daddy!” She yelled, smiling. Her golden hair was in small pig tails which occasionally glittered in the light. “Mommy!” She ran down the hallway towards her parent’s room. “It’s me, Camryn!” She shouted. She stopped at the door, reached up to the doorknob and opened the door. “Daddy?” The little girl questioned to the black and dark room. Suddenly, light poured into the room by some unknown source. The girl screamed. Her parents lay on their bed, lifeless and zombie like. There was this loud gurgling sound and this green monster jumped out from under the bed towards her. Its head was grotesque – eyes too many to count were sticking out at random places and its massive mouth contained teeth by the millions. It wrapped its repulsive claw around the child…

I awoke with a jolt, breathing heavily. It was the nightmare again. I must have had it a million times by now. It was always the same thing. I would find my parents dead and then this horrible…creature comes out and attacks me. I know that aliens don’t look like that, everyone who’s ever seen one has told me that they look exactly like us. But to me aliens are little green men from Mars that ask you to take them to your leader.

I get up and started undoing the locks on the door. Since I’ve been living alone, I’ve become more and more paranoid. But what else can you do?

I walk down the hall towards the kitchen. I walk into the room and grab a coke from one of the cabinets. The room feels chilly – and that’s when I notice that the front doors open.

I drop my coke onto the counter and run outside. I don’t know where I’m running to or what I’m running after – or if I’m even running after anything. All I know is that there is the slightest chance that I’m not the only one out here – and that’s enough to get me running.

A voice yells in the distance. I spin around, not knowing where to turn or what direction the voice came from. Hell, knowing me I could have imagined it all.

It’s so dark that I almost run into the river. I stop at the edge and look around, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. Then I see it. There’s something – or someone – in the river.

If this was a fictional story I would just happen to have some rope or some kind of floatation device but unfortunately this was only real life. I grab the next best thing. I heave a log out over the river.

“Grab onto the log!” I yell out.

She or he grabs a hold of the log and slowly swims out. It’s a slow process due to the current. It’s like being caught in a rip – for every step forward you take two back. Slowly the make their way onto the river bank. I can tell that it’s a she – her long hair is dripping wet. She falls to the ground and starts coughing up water. I run over to her.

“You okay?” I asked even though the answer should be obvious. I rest my hand on her shoulder and suddenly pull back, surprised at how cold she feels. She shivers in the chill air.

“Can you walk?” I ask and she nods. I help her up and we start walking back towards the house.

I sit her down on the couch and run to find some blankets. She sits there wrapped up in blankets for a few moments without saying a word. She doesn’t look up at me – just stares at her hands.

“Thank you,” She whispers.

“What were you doing out there?” She pauses momentarily.

“I…came in here but I heard someone so I ran…right into the river.” She sniffs.

“It’s okay, you can stay here.” I try to comfort her. “Actually I’m glad you came – I don’t like being alone,”

“Me neither,” She looks up and stares me in the eye. Her eyes are silver, cold and empty like a bottomless pit. She looks down suddenly as if caught doing something wrong. But it’s too late. I know what that means.

“Please…don’t…” I get up from the couch and start backing away.

“You’re not….You’re not human, are you?” I question.