After excusing myself from the table, I went into the living room with Caleb, and we watched TV until we were called up to the second floor.

Once upstairs, Mr. Harmon took Caleb by the hand and told him to look at his new room. Mrs. Harmon and I followed them inside.

Caleb and I gasped at the same time as we looked around his new room, his aquarium and dinosaur themed room.

He had his own bed, twice the size of his old bed. It consisted of dinosaur sheets, neatly folded blankets, and T-Rex shaped pillows. The walls were blue, green and painted with all sorts of wild forest colors. To the side of his bed stood an enormous red lava lamp that nearly touched the ceiling. Around his room were all kinds of planes, race cars, and toys. There were even model cars like the one's dad used to have.

Caleb was smiling from ear to ear. I knew that he was still sad about losing mom and dad, but right now, he was happy, and it made me glad to see that.

Mrs. Harmon called me over. She said we would a take a look at my room now.

The room was painted light pink with purple polka dots in all sizes all over the wall. My bed had pastel blankets and pillows. There were a few things strewn around such as electric cars and planes, stuff I actually liked. I don't know how the Harmon's knew that I wanted that kind of stuff, but I'd always preferred it over toys. There was a huge makeup kit on the desk and a few notebooks for writing. There were also paint supplies. Like Caleb, I got a lava lamp, except mine was orange.

"We hope you like it dear," Mrs. Harmon smiled.

I turned to her noticing her arms were out for a hug. I nearly started crying. She hugged me. However, it wasn't like mother's hugs.

"If you ever need anything, just ask me. I'm here," she said while stroking my hair.

Caleb and Mr. Harmon stepped inside of my room, and we thanked the Harmon's for everything. They suggested that we get ready for bed because it was late and that we would have all the time in the world to play and enjoy our new rooms tomorrow.

...

The nights were the hardest for me. Getting over my parents was not easy, I started to cry. My crying paused for a second when my door opened, and I saw a short silhouette standing in my doorway.

"Caleb?" I asked concernedly while getting up.

"I'm scared," he said monotonously, not coming into the room. "Can you come sleep with me?"

Before I could answer, Caleb walked away into the darkness. I went after him. I looked to the left and saw his silhouette walking in the wrong direction and toward the stairs. Of course, I rushed over to stop him. I didn't want him to fall and break his neck. It was dark after all.

By now I figured that Caleb was sleepwalking. His room was in the other direction. I struggled to catch up with him in the darkness and finding a light switch would take forever.

I finally got by the stairs where Caleb was waiting. It was still hard to see him, but I managed to take his hand and carefully lead him toward his room, quietly.

"Your hands are so cold," I said to him concernedly.

He didn't answer me.

"Caleb? Are you awake?" I pressed again, looking down at him to see if his eyes were open, but it didn't seem like they were.

"Hey? Caleb? Are you awake?"

Panic set in. I don't think that I'll ever forget that terrifying sound.

It wasn't Caleb. The voice I heard was slow and grim and sounded like an old dying woman. No, two dying women. I definitely heard more than one voice. I started to back away, and as I did, I saw two eyes open, staring right back at me. These eyes began to rise higher and higher until just two eyes were floating over me.

My body wanted to collapse. I screamed and as soon as I did the eyes vanished, just like that. The lights on the third floor came on. The Harmon's ran out of their room and toward me, asking me what happened.

***

It was hard for me to explain everything, but I managed. Mrs. Harmon sat next to me on my bed with a cup of juice. She was telling me that it was probably nothing. She started going on about how maybe I'm just too stressed out and that I imagine things.

She offered to sleep with me, but that made me feel a bit awkward, so I declined. She went back to bed. I tried to go back to sleep, but it just wasn't happening. I didn't exactly want to stay awake either. This was going to be a long night.

***

Check out and her book: