Chapter One

The darkness wrapped around the house like a black blanket. The fog was so thick, if you looked out the window, you wouldn't see two feet out and if you dared a step out the door, you would nearly be suffocated by it's heaviness. That is why Samantha Simmons stayed in her own house that night.

You see, her Grandmother had been living with her and the family; thus, she had her own small house out back. When she passed away, the house was given to Samantha, since she was the eldest. The house consisted of a bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, cellar, kitchen, and living room. It had a one-car garage, cute front porch, and a small flower garden out back; surrounded by a white picket fence.

Samantha loved it so much, but she still spent nearly every night with her parents before her bedtime: mostly because there was an acre between her "house" and their house. That was the only thing Samantha didn't like about the house.

It was Christmas time so the house was decorated up for the season. The Christmas tree lights were in a whir and the bells on the picket fence clanged whenever a wind went by, which was often this night.

Samantha had shoulder length brown hair, baby blue eyes, white skin, and a strong Texas accent. She had been born in Texas and her family had moved away when she was six. Her parents had grown up there however so she was around the accent enough where she could keep it going strong.

Samantha was curled up in an armchair, holding a tissue pressed against her face. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks streaked with tears. A pile of wadded up tissues were sitting by the chair. Samantha, in her red pants and white turtleneck, was watching her favorite crying movie, Titanic. Yes, there were very many crude things in the film, but since she had a DVD player, she could easily skip the scenes she disliked.

The wind outside whirled around the house, making a loud whistling noise. Samantha, or Sam as I will call her from now on, shifted her weight nervously and turned the television up so as to drown out the wailing sound. One of the things she hated most in the world was wind. She hated that her room had to be a corner room. Normally, on a windy night, she would sleep in her parents' house, but the winter fog made this impossible.

Sam was very worried. Not only about there being fog during the winter, but also for her family's safety. Every time she heard the wind howl, she imagined her mother crying, her brother screaming, or her father falling off the ladder while putting up Christmas lights, as he had done two days before.

If you haven't found out by now, Sam was very afraid of many things. Such as: bears, sharks, knives, guns, arrows, wind, larger dogs, bees, dark clouds, thick fog, thunder and lightning storms, tornadoes, hurricanes. you get the general idea. She was afraid of almost anything. But the thing she was most scared of, was blood. She could not stand the sight of blood. She didn't loose her lunch when she saw it on television (accept for a video clip of the real thing that happened) because she knew it wasn't real. In fact, Sam was an actress. She acted in her school plays and friend's movies all the time, many of which involved blood capsules.

The branches of a tree tapped the window. Sam quickly and quietly got up from her chair and closed the blinds in all the windows. The shadows were very frightening. The sound continued but Titanic quickly drowned out the sound. Sam glanced at her watch and sighed. It was Midnight and the storm still hadn't let up. How was she ever going to get to sleep with all theses scary thoughts running through her head?

She switched off the television and was amazed at how loud the storm was. By the time she hit her pillow though, she was asleep and dreaming of being on the Titanic. She survived, or course.