Friday night at the museum was particularly dark, if Sebastian Almasy remembered correctly. The sky outside was black and overcast, the moon hidden behind thick layers of clouds that were heavy with rain. In the parking lot, the street lights were dim. The fluorescent bulbs inside the museum flickered with a sort of ominousness, like dread in the form of light energy. Sebastian zipped his grey sweater up to his chin and shivered.

The footsteps echoed loudly. Each time he moved a foot, Sebastian winced, for he knew that the next sound that would assault his ears would make it sound remarkably like someone was following him. He just wanted to go home. He shoved his hands in his pockets and blinked nervously.

Lightning flashed. Thunder sounded. The rain began as Sebastian neared the door. It fell in sheets, and Sebastian could barely see the parking lot each time he passed a window. The nervous hands moved from his pockets to around his own body, the skinny arms hugging his torso. Something didn't feel so right. Something felt strange and horrible. Something felt bad. Sebastian could feel it in the pit of his stomach, clawing up and taking hold of his innards and twisting them into a knot.

He heard the footsteps before they registered in his brain. Sebastian spun. Fear clouded his mind and dulled his senses, dulled his reaction time. He glanced at the hallway behind him. It remained empty. Sebastian came to a halt and stepped nervously backwards.

The lights flickered. Dimmed. Went out completely. Sebastian rationally knew it was because of the storm. Nothing else could turn the lights off so abruptly. Only the weather. He scrambled for a way to see in the darkness of night and storm, and settled on the light illuminating from the screen of his cell phone. The processed, fake light only lit up the floor a foot in front of him, but Sebastian found it reassuring all the same.

"Hello?"

His voice was shaky and echoed from the tall ceilings. He stepped backwards. One foot at a time. He knew that each step was one step closer to being out of the museum and being in his car and on his way home from work to safety. That's what he longed for. Safety. To feel protected.

The lights shot back on. Sebastian turned his head to the left. Beside him was a podium that he knew had not been there before. It was oak, reaching up about his waist. On it, sat a statue. A artifact. Something ancient, from the museum. Something that he knew had to be from his workplace, but something he'd never actually seen before. It was in the shape of a cat, and made entirely of stone. It had been somehow coloured black, though he suspected that the culprit of the shading hadn't been paint. It was much too well preserved to be any kind of paint.

Sebastian knew he should have turned and ran. He knew that if he left then, he could forget the whole incident and then hand in his resignation to the museum's owner the next day. However, it was like the young man was almost in a trance. Something about the figure wouldn't allow him to move. It kept him trapped there, like a fly in honey, stuck and waiting for the worst. Sebastian took a step to his left, towards the statue. It was as if the artifact had taken total control of him. He blinked away rogue strands of dark hair and focused on the cat. He reached out. Picked it up off of the podium. He almost petted the thing, before he realized that somehow it opened.

He clasped the head of the cat in his palm and twisted. The lid of the cat popped off and onto the podium.

A ringing filled Sebastian's ears. It overwhelmed him and made him bring his hands to his ears in pain. The cat fell to the floor. Sebastian winced in pain as the ringing grew louder, as the air in the museum grew colder, and as the lights flickered uncontrollably. On the floor, the cat shook.

The ringing stopped. The cat stopped. The flickering stopped. Sebastian lowered his ears and opened his eyes.

In front of him was a woman.

She smiled almost scarily.

"Thank you," She whispered, "I'm Kiera."

This is a prologue to see if anyone actually is interested in this -massive doubts- so review if you enjoy it and review even if you don't because I need to know whether to invest my precious time in this story.

Kay I love you guys.

-Katelyn