Chapter 1

Adalia was a pale, raven-haired little girl, who lived alone in a large house with her grandmother - they were quite comfortable and lived together happily until Adalia asked what happened to her parents. She avoided telling her the full truth until one day, when she decided she could lie no more. It turned out they'd just left, driven off leaving all their belongings and Adalia to be cared for by her father's mother.

"I'd always thought your mother was quite nasty," she told her firmly. "But not evil."

Her father had not wanted to leave Adalia behind but her mother had refused to take her with them.

"I still do not know why she wouldn't take you," she sighed, "but I promised your father to look after you."

Adalia was not shocked, for somehow she had always known. Still, determined to find out more, Adalia started sneaking around the huge house for clues to the past. She had noticed that there was one room in particular that was always locked and she had never seen her grandmother go in, or actually near it. But she knew where the key might be - and one night, she quietly retrieved it, unlocked the door and went in.

Inside was the prettiest room she had ever seen - even though there was a thick layer of dust on everything. The walls were decorated in soft pinks and lemon and the shelves were filled with toys, which, despite the dust, looked rather new. Excited and curious, Adalia quietly closed the door behind her and carefully wandered over to the main bookshelf, her emerald eyes gleaming with wonder scanned the neat arrangement of toys and books. She picked up a cheerful looking teddy bear that was sitting on the middle shelf, and brushed off the layer of grey covering it's velvety brown fur. Her eyebrows raised in surprise as something sharp scratched her hand and noticed a price tag still attached to his left ear. Adalia explored the rest of the bookshelves contents for awhile and was about to retrieve a small snowy coloured dog with brown ears, when a small clang from above made her jump. Cautiously, she glanced upwards. Adalia gasped.

A pale, thin, fleshy coloured object was hanging over the edge of the top shelf. Adalia took a step back and narrowed her eyes. Without much hesitation, she grabbed the chair nearby and positioned it directly below it. She paused momentarily before climbing onto the chair and raising herself to the level of the highest ledge.
"Oh!"
She could now see that the object was infact a dolls arm. Placing her pale hands, which now felt quite cold, onto the shelf, she carefully pulled herself onto her tiptoes. The shelf was incredibly dark for such a light room, but she could see the doll fully now. She blinked silently at its hanging arm that had bent backwards into a very odd pose, perhaps when it had fallen over. Adalia could see why it had been put out of plain sight - the doll was quite scary looking.

It's short blue hair was quite straight, though there was some curling at the ends but on one side of the head it had been savagely cut leaving short, rough clumps of hair strands so she was almost bald. The face was even stranger - on one side there appeared to be a white mask, with a solid black oval where an eyehole might have been. It was harsh contrast to the left side that had the general appearance of a normal doll, but with a peculiar, sad expression. Her lips were blue and curled into a depressed frown and there was a ring of watery blue around her deep sapphire coloured eye which ran down her face - it seemed like she was crying. Adalia wanted to pick her up but felt strangely repelled, like someone was watching her. She looked up, directly in front of her and the blue doll and sucked in her breath. There was someone watching her.

A single, scarlet painted eye stared out at her from the shadowy shelf. Adalia froze. But peering into the blackness, she could see a faint outline around the eye. It was another doll. Gingerly, she reached forward and grasped the body. Pulling it into the light, she saw that this one was like a reverse of the sad doll - this one had longer hair, but a vivid red and again one side was nearly bald but it was on the opposite side, as was the white mask. Her lips matched her fiery eye and her appearance seemed somewhat malicious...

After putting the chair back into it's original place, Adalia slipped back out of the room, locking the door behind her her head buzzing with the excitement of her find. Her free arm firmly gripping the two dolls, she crept back to her room with the intent of returning the key later. Maybe when she'd explored a little more...

Chapter 2

Click.

The dull gold coloured handle turned slowly and swung inwards as it was pushed open. A soft stream of light flooded into the dark corridor behind, which was silently swallowed up again as the door swung shut.
A long relieved sigh escaped through Adalia’s lips as she turned the key to lock herself in the abandoned nursery. She glanced nervously around the room, her eyes blinking rapidly to adjust to the dim light and tip-toed forward to sit on the lone chair by the side of her old but shiny, white cot. It was shiny because ever since Adalia had discovered the room three days earlier, she had been in whenever she could, cleaning and dusting.
She wanted the room to be… hers.
Really hers.

For Adalia was now convinced it was meant to be hers as a baby, but when her parents had left abandoned her, the same thing had happened to this room. This was strange, as surely she would have lived here with her grandmother anyway. But it seems this wasn’t the case…

After scouring everything that was in clear view, including shelves, boxes and cupboards, it was time to investigate the not so obvious. Ducking down beside the bed, Adalia peered underneath, staring intensely into the blackness. She caught sight of a light shape, and staring harder she could make out the form of something large but flat – a book, maybe. Curiosity getting the better of her, she scrambled underneath – since her short arms wouldn’t reach far enough. Nearing the shrouded object, she could now see it was a tatty looking photo album. It was a rusty red colour and most of the gold lettering had been roughly scratched off so the words were impossible to make out. Adalia brought it out into the soft light of the nursery, which illuminated the aging album cover. It was a sharp contrast to the clean and new-looking room.

Her heart was now beating much faster than before as her fingertips carefully slid over the remaining flakes of lettering. Clearly this wasn’t something for anyone to see… especially not herself. She paused momentarily, wondering this was a good idea after all. If there was something in here that she…or anyone …really wasn’t meant to see…
No, she thought. Not now I’ve come this far.
Sucking in her breath slightly, she lifted the edge of the book, her eyes widening in anticipation. Seconds later, a bright, white page was revealed, which when compared with the old-looking cover, quite surprised Adalia. The page was so white in fact; she had to narrow her eyes but when she did so, she noticed some tiny black lettering right in the bottom corner. Adalia slowly bent her head forward to read it.

“When the time is right,
Tomorrow or tonight,
We shall come and fright.”

Her eyebrows rose. “What the…?” She sat there, staring intently at the words and pondering what on earth they could mean.

Eeeeeeeee…k.

“Oh!”
Adalia’s head swung around in the direction of the noise and quickly ducked behind the bed. Soft light seeped under the closed door of the nursery and as her eyes peered around from her hiding place, she could see the shadows of someone’s feet right outside the door.

Did I lock the door? Please tell me I locked the door…

Not daring to even blink, Adalia watched with bated breath as the doorknob started to turn slowly… then rattled wildly. Scared incase she was discovered, she squeezed her eyes shut. Then as soon as the rattling had started, it suddenly stopped. A sinister silence fell. Adalia bite her lip and gazed at the motionless shadows still by the door. Unsure of what to do, she glanced around and her eyes fell to the red book by her side. Bizarrely, the page had turned over and what was now shown was a drawing.
A drawing of two dolls.
Dolls with masks covering half of their faces.

They look like the same dolls from the shelf !

Curiosity getting the better of her, Adalia stared at the image, promptly noticing the words scribbled below it.

‘Jira and Marja.’

“Hmm…”

Realising she had made a sound, she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth - remembered the person behind the door. She turned sideways slowly, eyes wide, dreading what she might see…

But the shadows had disappeared.

Chapter 3

It took a long time before Adalia dared leave the nursery. And after that little escapade, she vowed not to go in again ever if she didn’t have to. Her findings were too important to be found and taken away from her.
For Adalia loved dolls. Her grandmother wasn’t sure why, as she didn’t actually play with them. But to collect them seemed to give her a fulfillment she couldn’t really explain. And for these particular new dolls, there certainly would be no explanation…

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“Come on, eat your vegetables.”

“I am.”

Adalia did her best to stay on her grandmothers’ good side because tonight she was going out, leaving Adalia on her own. Well not entirely on her own, there was going to be a babysitter. But for what Adalia wanted to do it was perfect, because the babysitter wouldn’t know what she wasn’t supposed to have.

“I won’t be gone too long, just a few hours Adalia.”

She nodded in reply, her mouth full of food, increasingly eager for 6 o’clock to come. Her mind was buzzing with excitement. Clearing her plate, she noticed she was being watched suspiciously.

“Is something wrong?”

“Huh? No…” Adalia replied, trying not to look away.

Oh no…does she know?

“It’s just…” her grandmother peered at her. “You’ve been acting …funny, lately.” She shook her head and got up, clearing the table. “Never mind.”

Looking somewhat worried, Adalia went to her room and sat on her bed. She glanced at the clock.

5:53pm. Not long now.

It had been a struggle the past few days. She had not wanted to risk reading another page of the book incase she was found out, so had hid it away until she was sure she could read it without the worry of her grandmother walking in.

…Tick, tock, tick, tock.

“Adalia!”

Her grandmother peered around the door. “The babysitter is here dear,” she paused, seemingly bemused by her grandchild’s expression, “well…come and introduce yourself.”

Wanting to get this over with, she promptly jumped up and followed her grandmother out of the room. As they headed down the hallway, Adalia saw a girl of around seventeen hanging her coat up. She beamed as she noticed the two approaching.

“Hi, May!” She chirped. She dropped a red bag at her feet and pulled out a small notebook, handing it to May, who hurried scribbled something down.

“Erin, this is Adalia. Adalia, this is Erin.”

Adalia observed Erin closely. She wore a lemon coloured top with a few pretty ribbons decorating the neckline. Her light blue jeans covered much of her trainers and her long dark hair was tied back loosely with a scrunchy to match her top. Judging by her voice and cheery hello, she seemed to be rather bubbly, but Adalia only received a fleeting look in return.

Beeeeeeeep!

“Oh! Taxi is here,” she passed the notebook back to Erin. “Be good Adalia!” And without waiting for a reply, she left.

There was a stony silence after the door clicked shut, as the mood suddenly seemed to cool. Erin bent down and picked up her bag, putting the notebook back in.

“Well… I have homework to do.” She walked towards the kitchen, obviously knowing her way around the house. “Do you need anything?” She asked without looking back.

“Um, no thanks.”

After a few seconds thought, Adalia decided to follow her. If her evenings plan was to work, she needed to know where exactly Erin would be and how long she had to hide the book if need be.

Erin was already sat at the kitchen table and writing speedily, many books spread out in front of her. A shiny white lamp bathed her and the tabletop in front of her with soft light, making her seem almost angelic. But that obviously wasn’t the case, as she noticed Adalia immediately but only glanced up at her and without saying a word, continued writing. Not particularly bothered by this however, Adalia went back out and headed for her room.

Closing the door behind her, she went over to a bright green toy trunk in the corner of her room and lifted the lid. Beneath the many colourful stuffed toys was the something Adalia had been longing to look at, but had had to wait for the right time. Hesitantly, she pulled the deep red book from its hiding place and sat down on the soft carpet, her back to the door.
The cover of the book still puzzled her; its gold lettering had obviously meant something at one time but with only fragments of letters here and there it would be impossible…
She peered closely at the space where the words should have been, tilting it in the light to see if it gave any clues. It didn’t - but gasping suddenly, Adalia spotted something that she hadn’t before; towards the bottom of the cover were a number of slight indents making up various shapes. She eagerly ran her fingers over them to make sure she wasn’t imagining them and then lifted the book up further into the light. Narrowing her eyes, she could clearly make out two rows of symbols; a central heart, on the left of that another heart but this one had a knife piercing it and on the far right two wavy lines which Adalia thought could mean waves or water.

“What is this all about…?”

Lost in her thoughts, Adalia didn’t hear the almost silent footsteps creeping up to her door.
Neither did she hear the doorknob turn and the door open slightly.

A cold draft of air entered the room and breezed past Adalia in silence, moving a piece of her dark hair to the front of her face.
Adalia froze.

Someone’s here.