1
The story starts on a day like any other. It was the last day of the year, but colder than any other had come before it. The sky had been filling steadily with ominous looking clouds, hinting to a rainstorm that would come later that night.

	Twilight slowly draped over the city, and residents went back to their homes, most of which had an engagement  that very night. The city had one body of water, which was simply called The Lake. The Jamison family owned the almost perfectly circular island in the middle. It was home to the highest esteemed New Year’s Eve party in the entire region.

	A select few however, did not hold it quite as high. They were the children of the parents that always made it a point to attend. In their opinion, the conversation was dry, the company dull, and the entire night extremely boring. 

	One such child sat in the back of one of the dozen or so cars that made their way across the bridge and toward the parking area. She was dressed in fine clothes, but it was apparent that she had not picked them out, nor was in favor of wearing them. She was dressed in a black collared shirt, a white skirt that met her knees, and a pair of heeled shoes that made her feet hurt.

	Her name was Hannah Merchant, and her parents could be said to have been just like the rest at this point. Mrs. Merchant was rather arrogant, and was quite against her daughter’s interest in the arts– at least the cheap kind. Hannah’s mother would have been very beautiful if she was not how she was at the time.

	Mr. Merchant, however, was a slightly different character. He was considerably kinder, and spoke to Hannah gently. But at times, Mrs. Merchant would override his good intentions, and the girl’s life would slip back into the simple routine; sleep, school, names she didn’t want to remember, places she didn’t want to be.

	But by some miracle Hannah now sat in the cavernous back seat alone, quietly doodling in a black leather journal. The car stopped at the valet, and she looked up and rolled her eyes.

	Searching the back seat pockets for a rubber band, Hannah quickly found one and swept up her soft orange hair. It was completely natural, and it was her only feature that she really liked. Journal under arm, with the mechanical pencil tucked away inside, she stepped out the door with the aid of a grey uniformed valet.

	The Jamison mansion was just that. A Victorian style mansion. Hannah loved houses such as this one, but in her taste, it could do without quite so much company.
	Hannah sighed as she stepped into the chandelier-lit entryway for the fifth time in her life. She had hated it when she was ten, and had hated it every year after that. But she didn’t complain. She may not have liked it, but it was only one night out of every year.

	As she walked carefully in her illogically built shoes, Hannah’s vivid green eyes scanned the faces of those in the room. Almost desperate for a new face, she longed for someone her age that she could talk to. There were plenty of other kids, but they were usually talking to each other. And when she pulled enough courage to join in the conversation, she couldn’t help but feel that they were completely and utterly inane.
	 Hannah spotted a face of a raven haired girl about her age, but never had the desire to lift her feet. The girl’s name was Carmen, and quite frankly, she bothered Hannah. She had never figured out exactly why, but part of it was definitely the fact that she was somewhat of a social butterfly. And Hannah had no desire to be.

	Trailing behind her parents, her heart jumped as she laid eyes on the gigantic spiral staircase. Tugging on her father’s arm, Hannah whispered something in his ear. He nodded, and she took off towards the second floor.
	As she neared the third floor, the hum of conversation began to die down. The hallway before her was dark and quiet. She silently slipped off her constricting shoes and sighed with happiness as her bare feet met the cold wood floor.

	A window was at each end of the hallway, and provided the only light. Hannah had her journal under one arm, and held her shoes in the opposite hand. Peeking into each room, she looked for the best place to relax.

	 There were a few bedrooms, a bathroom, and once she opened into a closet, but at last, at the end of the hallway, Hannah opened into a dark library. As she opened the door further, it squeaked. Making her way across the carpeted floor, she didn’t bother to turn the overhead light on, but pulled the chain of the green and gold lamp on the desk. 

	The bookcases were barely seen in the shadows, and the desk was up against one wall, two windows on either side. Hannah pulled the rolling chair close to the desk and opened her journal to the general middle, tossing her shoes away underneath. A rare sense of relaxation and calmness spread over her. 

	The next three hours flew by, Hannah lost in her various story worlds and creature drawings, now and then fiddling with the heart shaped locket around her neck. At some point in that time, it began to rain, and it still tapped against the windowpanes. The small grandfather clock struck 9:30, and Hannah looked up from her journal. Just as the last chime sounded, there was a flash of lightning, followed a split second afterwards by rolling thunder. 

	Her eyes snapped to the left window for some odd reason, a strange feeling. Through the condensation on the window, a slight movement could be seen. Her spine tingled, the kind of feeling you get when you think you’re being watched...
	Like something is about to happen.

	She hesitated as she thought about leaving the comforts of the library, but finally slipped on her shoes from under the desk and walked out the door. At the bottom of the staircase, much to Hannah’s dismay, she was met by Carmen.

	“I haven’t seen you around,” Carmen said in a quiet, smooth voice as Hannah stepped onto the floor.
	In an effort to cut any conversation short, Hannah replied, “Yeah, well, I haven’t been around.” And then, walking quickly towards the door, she left Carmen raising an eyebrow.

	Outside it was still raining, and quite hard. Hannah thought twice about exploring the outdoors, but after deciding that she had nothing to lose but a pair of hideous shoes, she decided to go ahead. Taking hold of a random umbrella from the stand, she turned the doorknob and stepped onto the wraparound porch.

	The air was wet and refreshingly cold. Raindrops pounded the gravel driveway and slid off the long lines of cars lining the sides. Not one was parked on the manicured grass. Hannah opened the umbrella and took a giant step off the wood plank floor of the porch, her heel snapping and causing her to falter to one side.

	Great. Now she would be grounded for sure. Sighing, she picked up the heel and tossed it back onto the porch with much more force than necessary. Without even the thought of going back inside crossing her mind, she awkwardly made her way down the driveway, each raindrop that hit the umbrella being felt in the handle.

	As she neared her family’s car, she scolded herself quietly for letting her imagination run away with her. But just as Hannah turned back toward the mansion, that same peculiar feeling crept over her. 
	She quickly looked over her shoulder.

	Although she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, Hannah was sure that something else was out there. It was just there. She felt air rush by her, and a chill went down her spine, causing her to look over her other shoulder.

	A flash of lightning, and time stood still. The raindrops froze in mid-air, and the yellow lightning bolt was clear against the dark east sky. The water that once lapped at the edges of the island froze in mid-wave.

	Hannah’s breathing became deep as she tried to convince herself that this was all a dream, and she had fallen asleep at the desk on the second floor. Or even better, she hadn’t been to the party yet and was still fast asleep in her bed.

	Kicking off her broken shoes and dropping the umbrella, she ran for the door, wet gravel crunching beneath her feet, stationary raindrops hitting her face and clothes as she went. As she stepped onto the porch, everything began to distort bizarrely. The car wheels grew oddly large, and the house came alive, complete with dozens of bright yellow window-eyes and snapping door-mouth.

	The darkness that once had been exclusive to the sky dripped down through the horizon, crawling through the gravel, engulfing the house, coming toward her running bare feet. This dream had quickly turned into a nightmare.
	Carefully dodging the sharp, wooden plank teeth of the house, she ran down the deck as fast as her feet could carry her. Then there was no house. Only the floor beneath her feet, and darkness beyond. And even the floor began to disappear, swiftly being eaten up by darkness. Tendrils of dark matter crept toward her feet, the only floor now what she was touching.
	Her thoughts ran wild, but eventually strayed to a small downtown ice cream parlor that she had once been to in her early childhood. Wishing she was there now more than ever, with her hands over her eyes, she began saying quietly to herself, “This is only a dream. This is only a dream...” 

	A sound unlike any other that had been in her world before invaded her thoughts. It was like a poison of panic, causing her senses to fail. She wanted to be somewhere else.

	There was no longer gravel beneath her feet.

	In fact, judging by feel, the ground under her feet was now a wet sidewalk. Removing her hands from her face, she found herself to be correct. Hannah was downtown, and right in front of the ice cream parlor that she hadn’t seen in over five years. Quite confused, she looked up at the hanging wooden sign. It was in the shape of an ice cream cone, but the paint was heavily faded and chipped.

	She pushed open the door, and a nostalgic ding of a tiny bell was heard. But her attention was turned from the empty interior of the shop as yet another sound came to her ears. The clatter of hooves.

	A horse-like figure streaked down the sidewalk. Although its general direction was toward Hannah, it gave chase to a man in a gray trench coat. He looked quite distressed.
	He was rather plain looking; average clothes, long-ish copper hair and glasses.
	The horse figure was obviously not like any other equine Hannah had seen. Apart from its glowing crimson eyes, not much of its figure was anything other than black smoke.
	As the man came closer, he seemed to not notice her. But as he passed, his hand caught hold of her shirt sleeve and pulled her along. “MOVE!”
	She ran along the cold sidewalk, bare feet pounding. Hannah was slightly annoyed at the man for pulling her into the chase, but deep down, somewhere she had rarely been before, she knew that he had done her a favor.
	Before she knew it, the tall man turned sharply into a dark alley, pulling her along. Deciding that this was all a dream, she made a conscious effort to enjoy it.
	The tall man stopped halfway down the alley, and it spurred momentary panic in Hannah. She turned around, just like he had done. There was nothing behind them but the alley.
	Then they turned back.
	It looked the same, but the form was different. The dark, swirling mass that had taken the shape of an equine was now standing in front of them as a large wolf.
	“I hate it when it does that,” The man mumbled to himself.
	Hannah’s eyes met the glowing ones of the wolf. She could feel a sense of dread, nothing like she had ever felt before. It was perfect fear.
	He took her hand in his leather gloved one, snapping her out of a trance, just as the wolf lunged forward. “Close your eyes!”
	Hannah did as she was told, but almost opened them again as she felt the ground come out from beneath her feet. The next thing she knew, they both tumbled to the ground rather suddenly. Hannah opened her eyes, and they were at least twenty feet from where they were, but past that had turned into a wall of darkness, the wolf gone.
	Hannah and the tall man laid on the ground, but he wasted no time in standing up. He offered a hand. Hannah was awestruck. “How’d you–?”
	He cut her question short. “Don’t ask. At least not right now. We have to move.” And with that, they were on the move again. The end of the alley was approaching swiftly. Panic once again took hold of Hannah as she saw the brick wall at the end. And yet they continued running down the passage, the ground disappearing behind them.
	“C’mon, not now! Open!” Said the man, his coat flapping.
	The instant before they hit the wall, a light filled doorway appeared.