Tickle Monster

Chapter 4

Teegan's POV

I stretched my arms high above my head and yawned loudly, then realizing I was doing this in pure darkness and with a sleeping Jade near me, I quickly quieted down.

I slipped out from under the covers and slid my feet into the fuzzy, white slippers I always keep next to me. My padded footsteps were the only noise in the small house as I passed quietly by the rooms of my brother, sister and father.

The bright light of the refrigerator made the haziness of my thoughts disappear quite quickly. I shook my head and as I was closing the fridge door after getting some orange juice, I heard a very faint almost inhuman laughing noise.

I cocked my head and listened closely but it was as silent as always. I padded back down the hall, only to slip and fall right onto the floor from stepping on some slippery substance that appeared out of thin air. When I reached out to find whatever it was I fell from, it felt like something wrapped its fingers around my waist and yanked me back.

I couldn't help but let out a small yelp but I didn't want to wake up the others. I was a known clutz and didn't need to give Taylor another reason to tease me.

I took a deep breath and stood up on shaking knees throwing a look behind me for good measure. You just imagined it Teegan calm down, calm down.

I again continued down the dark hall but my knees continued shaking so I reached out to use the wall to steady myself. My fingers met with a slimy and utterly disgusting liquid and I pulled my hand away quickly. I started running down the hallway, not caring if my siblings or father woke up now and through the haze of fear in my brain I thought I didn't remember the house being big enough to hold a hallway this large.

I was grabbed from behind again and long fingers slowly wrapped around my mouth and the other hand, or what felt like hands somehow were tightly grabbing my legs and feet, as a voice that sounded as slimy as the wall had felt whispered in my ear, "You're not going anywhere, Teegan."

Sweat was pouring down my face as my eyes frantically searched the bedroom. A faint yellowish pinkish light splashed on its' walls. I finally mustered enough sanity to calm myself down a bit by taking deep breaths and closing my eyes, but the voice kept bouncing around my head. I had heard that voice on the countless nights I had had that dream. But of course that was when I was years younger.

The soft snores of Jade beside me continued and I slowly laid back in my bed, desperate not to go back to sleep but wondering what else I could do at this hour when the sun was just rising.

Jade's POV

Something was weird about Teegan. She's usually pretty outgoing and you can't get her to stop talking. This morning she wore a similar face to that of Willow's yesterday, although Willow seemed to be back to her normal self, shoving large amounts of food in her face.

Taylor had his hair slicked back and wore a neutral expression that didn't show any particular mood. He occasionally joined into the chatter of Willow and I but Teegan just sat there.

The small kitchen, like the rest of the house, had peeling wallpaper. It had small purple flowers on it and had a pale yellow background, although I'm not sure if it was pale because of aging or if it was naturally that color.

After we finished breakfast I pulled Teegan into our room. "What's wrong?" I asked her in a concerned tone.

"Nothing." As hard as she tried to make her voice normal, I noticed something was really bothering her.

I forced a smile, "Why don't we see where Dad got this freaky place anyway." I made my tone lighthearted and I tried to make it sound like I was joking around. In reality it had been bugging me.

"Oh it was on the market and the realtor made it sound beautiful, did you girls know it is very near the town square?" He leaned back in his chair, one hand tracing his jaw thoughtfully.

My father was a slim man with large eyes and a small beard that hugged his chin in patches. He was always wearing glasses that fell down his nose and he always seemed a bit disoriented. He's been that way since mom left, and when she left that door she took his happy smiles and bright eyes. She took away his determination to live his life to the fullest, and my poor father has had to raise 4 children on his own. If I ever see her again, it will be hard to forgive her.

We talked with him a bit more then decided he hadn't noticed anything weird and would therefore be no help to what I guess you could call our investigation.

Were Teegan and I losing our minds or were the weird feelings truly intuition?