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HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1983.
THERESA HAD NEVER RECALLED A time she had been so terrified in her life.
She was shaking all over as she put her car in drive and was still trembling when she got home. Tess barely even flinched at horror movies, but this... was not a movie.
Her mother thought it unusual that Tess came in without a word, not even a complaint. She ran upstairs to her room and shut the door behind her. Mrs. Sinclair simply put it to her being mad about the curfew.
Theresa stared at her hands, clenching her fists until her knuckles turned white to bring some circulation into them. She could not shake the feeling that something was right behind her, or above her.
Though her mind was still running rampant, Theresa walked into her bathroom and started up the shower. After a shower she would go to bed, and maybe in the morning things would make more sense.
It was barely nine o'clock when she laid down, leaving the lamp on her nightstand on. Theresa laid face up, hands across her stomach, staring. She was afraid to blink, in the back of her head knowing the possibility of something appearing again.
Finally she began to drift off, her eyelids reluctantly rolling back and succumbing to her fatigue.
Then, without warning, there was a loud knock on the door. Theresa shot up, holding her chest as the door opened and her little sister Erica burst in.
"Jesus Christ, Erica! What's the matter with you?"
Erica rubbed her eyes, a Barbie doll hanging loosely from the other arm.
"I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you?"
Theresa did not even get to answer before Erica was climbing in her bed, laying against her sister's side.
Drawing in a breath, Theresa laid back down at once. She was relieved to have someone's company, feeling much more at ease now.
"Your heart is beating really fast," Erica mumbled.
Theresa rolled her eyes. "Go to sleep. Do you want the light on or off?"
"You can turn it off, unless you're a scaredy-cat."
Tess shook her head, reaching over and clicking off the light.
