Introducing Cassie

Dark Night Seance

"Keira?" the soft voice whispered through the night. She rolled over to squint toward her doorway, where a familiar lanky form was peering in. He ran a hand through his hair before calling out again.

"C'mon, get up. I need to talk to you!" Ritchie whispered, beckoning her toward the doorway, before turning and walking down the hallway. Keira jumped out of bed and hurried after him, as he headed up the stairwell toward the roof.

"Ritchie! Ritchie you're back, I'm so glad to see you!" Keira said as she caught up with him and wrapped her arms around his scrawny waist. He turned to face her, pushing her arms away and looking down at her sternly.

"Keira, this is important, you need to listen to me." He said as they walked out onto the roof. Keira shivered as the rain drenched through her socks and her thin shirt. But said nothing, as Ritchie seemed quite distressed. "Look, Keira... I hate that I'm not here to look after you anymore but I just really had to say something about this..."

"About what, Ritchie? What's wrong?" Keira licked her lips nervously, and stepped back slightly.

"That friend of yours. Cassie."

"What about her?" Keira said defensively.

"You need to shut her out. She's not a friend. Just please, trust me when I say this: stay away from her."

"What? Don't be stupid, she's my only friend, and she's perfectly fine. Thing's are actually getting better now that I'm with her!" Keira retorted. Ritchie shook his head sadly.

"That's what I thought too. Don't you think something is a bit... off... about her. I mean, do you know anything about her besides her name? Where did she come from, who's her family, where does she live? C'mon Keira, don't be niave. She's got you in the dark."

"What are you trying to say Ritchie? She lives above us ..." Keira trailed off as she remembered that Cassie hadn't actually been the room when she checked that one time... "Look, I trust her okay!"

"Don't make the same mistakes as I did, Keira." Ritchie said solemnly before turning to walk toward the parapet. "You remember how that ended, don't you?" He said as he stepped up to the edge.

"Ritchie wh-what are you doing?" Keira's voice caught in her throat as she watched her brother.

"Remember what I said, Keira." He said, as he started to lean backwards.

"Ritchie... RITCHIE!"

Keira woke again with a start, her phone was beeping with her morning alarm, and the first streaks of sunlight were edging their way through the blinds. She sat up, shivering and stared in shock at her drenched clothes. She ripped off her wet socks and shirt and changed into clean clothes, unnerved. She must have left the window open again and not noticed when the rainwater splashed in. Keira pulled the blinds back to close the window, but it was already closed. Her eyes narrowed, as she looked back at the pile of wet clothes on the floor. That was no way they could have gotten wet while she was dreaming... Unless it wasn't a dream.