I decided to continue this story after three years and thought that I should flesh out the first chapter a little more. I'm not expecting chapters to be any longer than this. In fact, they'll probably be much, much shorter in length.

Disclaimer: This isn't mine.

Ending, Start: Part 1

The moment Sarah stepped into her house she knew something wasn't right. She couldn't say exactly what it was, but something felt different. She told herself she was just being paranoid, but when she couldn't find the babysitter she began to shake. She spun around the living room, wildly, looking for signs of a break in, but found none.

"Emily?"

She heard a sob from upstairs. "Emily, is that you?"

She didn't hear a reply and ran up the stairs, and instinctively headed for her daughter's room. Inside she found their babysitter on the floor, her face wet from her tears. She breathed a sigh of relief. If the babysitter was still in the house, her daughter was still there, too.

"Emily, what on ea-"

The teenager wouldn't look at her. "I'm sorry, so, so sorry," she said as she stood up and began tidying the room.

Sarah hadn't even noticed the state of her daughter's room. To say it was a mess was an understatement, but it wasn't what she was worried about.

"Don't worry about this, Emily. I can sort this mess out tomorrow."

The girl nodded and wiped her cheek with her shirt sleeve.

"Emily, where is Rachael?"

Emily looked at Sarah with new tears in her wide eyes. Sarah had never seen Emily like this before and prepared herself for the worst.

Oh, God, I wish Andrew wasn't halfway around the world right now…

Emily looked down at her feet and Sarah took a step closer.

"Where is Rachael?" She tried again. "It's okay," she lied, "You can tell me."

Emily spoke so fast, her words jumbled together, that Sarah only caught the end of what she said. She took a deep breath. She hadn't just heard what she thought she heard, right? Of all the things she had mentally prepared herself for, this was definitely not one of them.

She ran her shaking hands through her hair. "You mean to tell me that… that…" She really couldn't wrap her head around this.

"I found the book and Rachael refused to go to bed until I read it to her… I didn't think it was real."