• "Miss Melani, will you please come with me for a moment?" The maid's voice held no emotion nor did her face. Her name was, Tanya. Tanya's hands were gently folded over her apron. Shw wore black pumps with thigh high black socks. Her dress was also black. The snow-filtered light seeping in through the windows made the shadows around her more menacing. Melani didn't think so though. Melani, a child of twelve, knew that there was nothing to be afraid of. Everything had a shadow. Well, most things in the world had a shadow. Melani did not want to go with the maid and her depressing air. She knew what the maid wanted. She would taker Melani to her room and, dress her in whatever attire her father had instructed. The only positive thing that would come of this would be that Melani would get to go outside and play in the snow and hopefully if she played her cards right, she would get to stay out past dark. The only time of the day she really looked forward to. Melani stood up from her chair and followed the maid down the hallway. Tanya made her move quickly, despite her best efforts to procrastinate the walk. They reached her room and Tanya held open the door. Melani stepped inside and sighed,

    "What has Papa picked out for me to wear today?" She asked, making her way to her bed. She jumped up onto the queen-sized bed that was much to big for her, so big that her legs dangled at least a foot off the floor. The maid moved to the maple wardrobe next to the French arched windows and opened the door. Inside were Melani's various party dresses, nightgowns and seasonal clothes. There was one dress in particular that Melani had never worn. It was a winter dress, she could tell from the white, mink parka that accompanied it. The dress itself was white as the snow, with satin ribbons the color of stars. Melani always fantasized about wearing it one day. The snow would fall against a glittering midnight background. She would spin in circles, for this was dancing at her age, slowly before being swept of her feet by her prince. Her prince would be a star that fell from the sky. He would kiss her gently before returning to the sky.

    Melani's daydream was ruined by Tanya waving a scarlet dress in her face. Under her feet were black mary-janes and white tights. She slipped out of her nightgown and into the dress she was presented with. She wore the dress with disdain. Her father really didn't know what she liked. Melani had never liked red and it looked horrible against her dark hair and pale complection. Tanya pulled back the front part of Melani's hair and pinned it. Her finishing touch was a bow, always a bow. Melani looked in the vanity mirror, not at herself but the white dress that she yearned to wear.

    "Tanya," She began, "Why can I never wear that dress?" Tanya inspected the contents of the wardrobe through the mirror.

    "Which dress do you mean?" She placed the brush down in between the scissors and Melani's comb.

    "The white dress." Melani said. Tanya's face darkened.

    "Disciples of the night feed on girls dressed in only white." She turned around and walked back to the wardrobe, with one swift motion she shut it. Melani thought the explanation a riddle or metaphor for something simple. Tanya had always been cryptic in her speech and that was probably the thing that bugged Melani the most.

    After Melani was dressed she skipped to the door, singing "Skip to my Lou" . Melani was happy that she could finally go outside. She reached the door but did not go out, instead she looked back at Tanya, who just nodded her head. She opened the door and rushed outside. The cold morning greeted her with fresh snow. Her gaze instantly belonged to the house across the street. That house was older than her father. The people that lived there had died before Melani was born, but they did have a son. A beautiful dark-haired boy that went by the name Nathan. He was four when Melani was born, so now he must have been sixteen. He stayed cooped up in the house with no one but his butler to keep him company. Melani wondered why he stayed inside while the day was so beautiful. He did go to a party her father had held about a year ago, but that was one of the only times she had seen him face to face. Nathan was one big mystery to her and Melani hated mysteries. She sat down by the dirt road and stared into an open window of the house. There he was. She blinked and as quickly as he came he was gone, the window closed and the curtains drawn. Melani contemplated crossing the road to knock on the door but she pushed the thought from her head. If Tanya saw her cross the road she wouldn't be able to escape the house. That would be truly dreadful.

    The day wasted away without haste. To Melani's astonishment, Tanya had called her in early. She was fed, bathed and sent to bed by six- o'clock. Melani was not tired, nor would she be tired in the next few hours. To pass time she sat in her windowsill, staring out at the glow of the city. Everything was eerily silent. There was no noise from the woods or the road. Even the house a mile down the road was still. The only thing she could hear was her own breathing and what she thought were footsteps in the snow. She held her breath. The footsteps grew louder. IT was possibly her father, but he was in London and wouldn't be home before the week was out. Tanya, maybe, but she never stepped foot outside so what would bring her out. Whoever the footsteps belonged to, they got closer and closer to her window. The footsteps were surprisingly soft sounding, as if the snow was cushioning the walker. A shadow crossed her vision. She scrambled down from the windowsill and stepped back cautiously. The window creaked open, but nothing entered. Melani's heart accelerated and she began to hyperventilate. Before she realized it, she had backed into the opposite wall of her room, but instead of the hard wood she was accustomed to feeling. She felt something entirely different, a body. She instinctively screamed, but no sound came out. A hand covered her mouth and another was stretched across her shoulders. She couldn't scream. She couldn't escape.