"Mama?"

She walked through the house, tears streaming down her face, as silent as her feet on the wooden floor. She knew it was cold, knew it should be cold, but couldn't feel it. She hadn't been able to feel anything for so long.

Her life was barely even a memory now. A few impressions of light and warmth, smiling faces and open, welcoming arms. She had been happy, that much she knew. Happy with the man who was her husband; happy with their baby son. One of her clearest memories was of him happily gurgling up at her from safe within her arms. She had been happy and she had been loved, but that was all in the past now.

Now she simply wandered, lost but not. Trapped in her own house for decades past her time, doomed to haunt the hallways forever. Doomed to terrify generation after generation of children when they saw her sleek shining figure in the moonlight, tears streaming down her face and blood streaming down her dress.

For it was only children who could see her. Something in their innocent and care-free nature resonated at odds with her own guilt and condemnation making her visible to them at night.

She was still there during the daylight hours, still wandering, they halls they ran through happily playing their games of chase or sobbing at some small problem which to them was the end of the world.

She was unable to deny that she longed to be able to gather them up and comfort them at those times. Longed to be able to touch them even, a gentle hand on their shoulder to reassure them that everything would be fine by tomorrow. To do all the things, she never had a chance to with her own child.

But that was all her own fault, and neither had she been able to deny that fact. She knew that this was her punishment for her actions. Forever to see and crave, but never to experience. For who was she to deserve that luxury? She was nobody. She was nothing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mandy lay on her belly, idly doodling flowers in the afternoon sunlight. Her granny had given her new pencils to color with and she had experimented with all of the colors now and picked out her very favorites.

Hearing a slight creak behind her, she looked over her should expecting to see her older brother waiting to torment her, but there was no one there. Mandy was very happy about this. She hated Luke and often wished he would leave her alone.

Focusing on her pretty flowers once again, Mandy began thinking about this big, old house that they had moved into just days before. Luke had tried to tell her it was haunted, but she was big enough now to know that she was just tricking her and trying to make her be scared of the dark again like when she was little.

There was another creak behind her, but again no one was there.

"Luke, stop being annoying!" She yelled for good measure, just in case he was in the next room trying to scare her. She would show him that she knew it was him and not some stupid ghost that he'd made up.

A few minutes later, Mandy stood up and took her picture through down to the living room where her Mummy was feeding her new baby brother.

"Look at what I drew, Mummy!" Mandy exclaimed proudly. Her mother looked at the picture and Mandy's favorite smile light up her mother's face.

"That's lovely sweetie," she said sincerely before leaning over and kissing her on the forehead. Mandy felt a glow of pleasure. "Do you want to go pin it to the fridge, so Daddy can see it when he gets home?"

Mandy thought this was a wonderful idea, instantly running into the kitchen and sticking her picture to the fridge with her very favorite magnet. It was a rainbow of all the color with a happy sunshine peeking out from behind it. She stuck it up as high as she could reach, standing on her very tiptoes to put it high up before running back out of the kitchen.