The clock blinked red in the corner of the room, declaring that it was now 4:01 AM.  A time when most people were in bed, but Dawn was not most people.  She was still staring at her computer monitor in the dimly lit bedroom.  While her family slept soundly, she was deliberating between hair colours with her friend online.

“OMG, have u seen this Tangeine Glo??”

“it’ll be perfect with this Fire Red! lol”

Dawn typed excitedly.

“OMG YES!!”

“U have GOT to show me pics tomorow! my mom is making me sleep now. :(“

Holly typed back.

“Awwwww.  ttyl”

Dawn went back to her internet search, hunting for outrageous hair colours, as the little icon beside Holly’s name went grey.   She hunted through her friend’s list, but no one else seemed to be on so late at night.  Dawn sighed, she had really wanted to show someone this next picture, the girl in the image featured hair in the same shades as a peacock.  She briefly considered sleep, when she heard a scratching sound in the corner. The noise sent her skin crawling down her spine.  She turned slowly turned around to look at the dark corner, but there was nothing to be seen.  A bookshelf, filled with porcelain dolls and old sketchbooks, and a heap of dirty clothes filled the corner, and nothing moved.  Dawn turned back to her monitor.  The shadows felt a little darker in the room now, almost like fingers as they inched across the floor.  The goosebumps continued as Dawn tried to calm herself. “There’s nothing in the corner.”  She muttered, staring at the monitor.  “Nothing at all.” But her mind disagreed, convinced there was something behind her.  Watching her, with bright red eyes.  She turned quickly, fast enough to flutter the pages of her sketchbook, but the corner remained empty.  Reluctantly, she turned back to her computer, not quite willing to tear her eyes from the corner, when something moved in her peripheral vision.  She turned her head quickly, coming face to face with her mirror.  But the reflection she saw was not her own. “Hello Dawn.”  The words of the demon staring at her echoed in her head.  It stared out of her mirror, glowing red eyes with black stripes on it’s face, two horns nestled in a shock of messy hair.  She stared in horror as she realized it looked exactly like the demon she’d drawn last week.  “Now that I’ve escaped, you and I are going to have a some fun.”

(Art courtesy of my cousin, Eve)