Don't Keep the Lights On

Chapter 2

Hannah's room was full of teddy bears. Mostly they were small, brown teddies with black, soulful eyes. But then there was a giant, yellow teddy in the corner of the room. "Wow." Andrea said. Hannah grinned proudly, which made my hair stand up. Why is she acting so weird? I asked myself, but it seemed so eerie I put it out of my head. "I won that last year at the school fair." Hannah smiled, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Isn't it cute?" I nodded, but my focus was diverted to the spot above the teddy's head. 

"Hannah," I said slowly, "Why do you put your night light above teddy?" Hannah gave me a glare so unlike her that I stepped back. "None of your business." She snapped. "Hey, I'm sorry." I said. Here she goes again. I thought. Why was she acting so weird and not like herself? "Girls?" I recognised this voice. "Hey, mum's back!" Hannah chirped cheerily, like nothing had happened. I raised my eyebrows over Hannah's head at Andrea, who merely shrugged, confused.

We went down to greet Mrs. Bradley. The rest of the day went quite smoothly. Hannah, thank the gods, didn't display any of the weird behaviour anymore that night. On the contrary, she was quite fun to be with. But when Mrs. Bradley finally herded us into the bedroom and closed the door, Hannah padded over to the the teddy bear, gave it three kisses, and turned on the bed light. "Hannah-" Andrea said. "Yes?" Hannah asked innocently. Andrea glanced out the window at the full moon. It shone a bright ray of light at us, lighting up the room just enough for us.

"It's..why did you turn the bed light on? We don't need it." Hannah curled up on her bed, ignoring us in our sleeping bags. "I don't know, it just..feels right. Like it's something I have to do." Hannah murmured. "Whatever." Andrea said drily. I turned away from the bear and eventually fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw a dark figure standing over teddy. I gasped before I realised it was Andrea. I slipped out of my sleeping bag, made sure Hannah was asleep, ad creeped over to join Andrea. "What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Turning the stupid light off. What else? I'm telling you, Hannah's crazy. Why is she acting so deranged?" Andrea whispered back. "I don't know. Listen, this looks like some kind of ritual Hannah does every night. Kiss the bear three times, and then turn the light on? This doesn't just...happen. It's not normal. She's being forced to do it." I vented all my stress, my anxiousness at this problem at Andrea. 

Andrea looked like she might laugh...but then she nodded. "I know. It honestly freaks me out." She took one last look at the bear..and then crawled back under her sleeping bag. I woke up again to a shrill scream. "Hannah!" I gasped, pushing off my covers. Hannah stood by the empty space that used to be the bear. 

"You...you turned off the lights?" She asked.