When Staci awoke she was in a white hospital room and there was a nurse leaning over her. The nurse smiled when she saw Staci awake and asked how she was feeling. Staci ignored the nurse as she jumped out of the bed and ran to the door.

As soon as she stepped outside she collided into Brad, who was waiting outside the door. Brad caught her before she fell and help her get steady on her feet.

“Where’s Cassie?” Staci asked immediately.

“Maybe you need some rest still,” Brad said, trying to lead her back to her room.

“I’m fine!” Staci said harshly, “Where is Cassie?”

Brad sighed and then said, “The doctors are still with her, she hit her head pretty hard and is in a coma right now; Jacob is in there with her.”

Staci sank to the floor; Brad crouched down next to her and put his arm around her, slowly rocking her.

A month later and Cassie was out of the hospital but things had changed since then; Cassie didn’t talk to Staci anymore and was always off by herself. Cassie’s eyes were what scared Staci the most; they were a hard, steel blue color.

Staci was really starting to worry about Cassie and had talked to the doctor about her. The doctor told her not to worry too much about it, that Cassie had gone through a near death experience and needed some time to heal. But Staci wasn’t the only one to notice Cassie’s change in behavior. Jacob had asked Staci a lot about what Cassie has been doing and so had Brad.

Staci was getting ready to leave one day on a date with Brad; Cassie was sitting on her bed listening to music. As Staci reached the door it was hurled open and Jacob barged in. He stomped up to Cassie’s bed and pulled her headphones out of her ears.

“Hey!” Cassie shouted in a cold voice, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“This had gone far enough Cassie; I am not leaving this room until you tell me what’s going on!” Jacob said grabbing Cassie’s wrist. Cassie glanced down at Jacob’s hand around her wrist then up at him. Suddenly Jacob grabbed his throat as though he were choking and fell back. Staci rushed over to Jacob’s side and shouted at Cassie to go call for help. But Cassie just reached for her headphones and continued to listen to her music. Staci hurried and grabbed her phone and dialed 911.

Staci sat next to Jacob’s bed in the hospital an hour later. The door opened behind her and Brad walked in, “I got your message Staci, how is he?” he asked.

Staci continued to stare at Jacob.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Brad said. Staci just nodded and got up. She looked back at Jacob lying in the bed and then followed Brad out.

They went for a walk in the park and Brad put his arm around Staci’s shoulder. Suddenly Staci pulled away and started running. Brad ran after her and found that she was running back to her dorm. He continued to follow after her. Brad caught up with her when she had reached the elevator. He was just about to ask what was going on when the doors opened and Staci stepped inside. He asked when they were in the elevator but Staci ignored him. They arrived at her floor and she stepped out of the elevator and then ran down the hall to her room.

When Brad had caught up he found Staci standing over Cassie. She didn’t touch Cassie but she spoke, “Cassie, this has to stop. I want to know why you are doing this.”

Cassie let out an exasperated sigh and stood up in front of Staci and glared at her, “First of all, I’m not Cassie. Cassie died in the graveyard. My name is Margaret Sanchez.” The voice was no longer Cassie’s voice, it was a slightly higher pitched voice and it was filled with hatred

“M-Margaret Sanchez?” Staci asked, “the girl that died at the age of ten.”

“I didn’t just die, I was murdered,” Margaret said with anger, “My own mother killed me. Now, if you would excuse me, I have to meet someone.” Margaret said and marched past them and vanished into the corridor outside the room.

Brad walked over to where Staci was and put his arm around her, “We need to find away to stop her, she might go back and try to finish off Jacob,” he said.

“How?” Staci asked, “How are we going to stop her? Brad, she didn’t even touch Jacob and she was still able to hurt him, there is nothing we can do to stop her,”

“We still need to try, for Jacob’s sake,” Brad said and then he left. Staci stood by herself for a while and then hurried after Brad.

She was able to catch up with Brad and he had also managed to catch up with Margaret at the elevator. He shoved Margaret hard into the elevator. Margaret let out a yell and then turned back to Brad. Staci hurried in and shut elevator door; trapping the three inside. Margaret smiled and said, “You really don’t want to mess with me.”

But Brad reached forward and grabbed Margaret around the throat. She screamed and clawed at his hand trying to get him to let go. Staci grabbed on to Brad’s shoulder and tried to pull him off. Suddenly the lights turned off.

Pale light surrounded Staci and she looked around and asked, “Where are we?” but Brad was nowhere to be seen. She was no longer in the elevator; she was in the middle of the town. There were people walking around but they didn’t seem to notice her standing there. In fact, one person walking walked right through her.

Staci looked to her left and saw a large platform with a “T” shaped beam in the middle. On either side of the horizontal beam hung a thick rope with a loop at the end; gallows.

Suddenly a clear voice was heard nearby, “Margaret Sanchez, let’s go!”

Staci turned to the sound of the voice and saw an elderly woman dragging a young girl behind her. Staci followed the young Margaret and her mother until they reached a small cottage. The two vanished inside the house and Staci walked right through the door.

Margaret and her mother made their way to a door that led down into the basement.

“I just want to watch Mommy! I promise I’ll stay out of the way,” Margaret said.

“Alright just stay away from Mommy’s caldron,” came the elderly voice.

Staci walked down the stairs and saw in the middle of the room a large black caldron with a bubbling red liquid. Margaret was looking over into the caldron with awe, watching the bubbles grow and then burst. She leaned just a little further and then seemed to rise into the air and fall right into the caldron. She screamed as she hit the liquid and vanished beneath the surface.

For a split second Staci saw through Margaret’s eyes. The red liquid had completely surrounded her. She tried to swim to the surface but somehow the liquid was holding her down. She opened her mouth to scream and the liquid rushed in, burning her insides. The last memory Staci felt through Margaret was the anger that her mother killed her. Then Staci found herself outside of the caldron standing next to Margaret’s mother. Her mother was franticly trying to get to her daughter but she kept getting repelled. Suddenly the water went calm and stopped bubbling. Margaret’s mother reached inside and pulled out her daughter. She sat there rocking her daughter’s lifeless form and crying for her daughter. Staci then looked to see Margaret in Cassie’s body off to the other side. She looked over at Staci and there was a single tear in the corner of her eye. And once again Staci was surrounded by darkness.

The light came back on and Staci was once again in the elevator. Brad was still trying to choke Margaret but she was no longer struggling. “BRAD!” Staci screamed and he turned to her, “let her go, it’s over.”

Brad looked back at Margaret, her eyes were still open but they were no longer blue, they were brown. He slowly released her and Cassie’s body sank to the ground.

“Margaret Sanchez is at peace,” Staci said, taking Brad’s hand.

Brad and Staci walked through the graveyard late one evening; it had been a week since Cassie had been buried, Jacob was fine but was still in the hospital. As Staci walked she felt a small hand pulling at her. She looked down but saw no one there but still, there was a pull on her hand and she followed the pull.

The pulling suddenly stopped and Staci looked around, she was standing by a small grave stone; Margaret Sanchez. A soft wind blew through her hair and a small voice could just be heard above the wind, “thank you.”

Staci smiled and whispered back, “you’re welcome, Margaret,” then she turned back to see Brad standing there. She took his hand and the two walked out of the graveyard together.