Horrified, I back away from the door as the scraping noise grows urgent. Scratch, scratch, scratch.  The insistent noise grows louder every second. A gruesome image of my deceased mother on the other side of the door, her discolored arms making the hideous scratching noise, blooms in my mind like toxic algae.

"Lizzy, who's outside?" I jump at the sound of Julia's voice, startling me out of my horrific thoughts. My grandmother has a bad habit of sneaking up on people.

I lower my voice to a whisper and hope whatever's outside won't hear us. "I don't know." My voice trembles, "I think it might be mom."

To my dismay, Julia misunderstands my fear. "My baby? You think Sarah's out there?"

I shake my head in the negative. "Something's out there." I glance at the door. "It may look like mom, but I don't think it's her. It's.. something wicked. We can't let it in." I motion for her to be silent, but instead she raises her voice.

"First Sarah, then Jerry. I'm sick of darkness invading our lives. It's the dead of night. Whoever's out there impersonating my daughter's going to be sorry they woke me up." I'm aghast when I feel her move past me in the dark. Urgently, I try to grab her arm to restrain her from opening the door.

"Julia, no!" I wish she'd taken that sleeping aid.

"Elizabeth, I refuse to be frightened by that stupid book anymore." Shaking off my arm, she opens the door in a sweeping motion. A gust of cold wind and rustling dead leaves blow into the hall. Silhouetted in the doorframe, a tall, menacing figure looms before us. Shrouded in long, bedraggled hair, the creature's face isn't visible in the darkness. Frozen by fear, I'm unable to move. Julia looks up at the dark figure and immediately starts tongue lashing the creepy stranger. "Who's there? What the hell do you mean waking us up at three in the morning."

Whatever it is hesitates, then unsteadily shuffles forward onto the wooden floor of the entranceway. Intimidated by the height of the shadowy figure, Julia stumbles back as the lumbering giant advances towards us, and to my horror, further into the hallway. There's a moment of awkward silence before a garbled voice responds. "I didn't mean to trouble you, Mam, but I'm looking for my son, Dylan."

"What?" Perplexed by this information, Julia moves sideways to throw on the light switch and get a better look at the intruder. I hear a blood curdling scream as the long haired man in the doorway gets a full blown look at her.

"Lord in heaven, what's that on yer face?" Dylan's inebriated father points in horror at my grandmother's white, nightly facial mask. "Mother of Jesus ya scared me." He looks accusingly at Julia, unaware of how much physical danger he's now in.

"You're Dylan's father?" I can't help but laugh in relief. "I've seen Julia in her gooey moisturizing cream so many times, I don't register how ghoulish she looks in it anymore."

Julia's not as amused as I am. "Who the hell are you, and what in God's name are you doing here? You'd better explain yourself before I call the police."