Eden lived in a small cottage-like house at the end of a dirt road with her mom and various pets. Ever since she could remember, Eden had always had at least two animals roaming around her house. Mainly because her mother could never meet a sad-looking animal without bringing it home. Her mother worked as a nurse in the nearest city, so she wasn't home a lot. 

Eden made it to the end of the main road and turned on to a narrow gravel road marked Avian Dr. She passed each house on the street counting the mailboxes as she went until she reached her own driveway. 

 She heard the eager whine of those waiting to greet her.  Sadie was first to the gate, tail whipping and causing her whole body to shake, a normal thing for an Australian Shepard like her. Next was Shadow, a large Bernese mountain dog. Last to the gate was little Bianca, a dachshund who's stomach barely left the ground.

As soon as Eden opened the gate to the front yard, the three fur balls couldn't help but jump for joy, and before you know it Eden was on the ground being showered in kisses and scratching every belly she could find. Of course, she couldn't stay long, there was still one more to greet. She walked up the stone pathway from their front garden to the large oak door and took off the key from her necklace. She turned it until she heard a click, and as she opened the door a scream came from inside the house. Eden wasn't alarmed, of course, she knew it was just Bubbles getting a bit too excited. 

She swung open the door quickly and opened her arms to hug her 150-pound hunk of love, her pig Bubbles. He nearly sprinted at the sight of Eden and happily squealed. Eden stood there for a moment scratching Bubbles belly, it always took this long to be welcomed home and she wasn't even in the house yet. She stood up from being bent over and noticed an orange flyer in the doormat. She picked it up and read- NEIL CARSON'S FALL BASH, OCTOBER 30 8-12. Eden rolled her eyes and crumpled the flyer.

"Stupid parties," she muttered.

Eden finally stepped into the entry way and took her helmet off, revealing an even messier bundle than before. She walks into the kitchen down the hall to see all the cupboards open and everything on the counter. Eden furrowed her eyebrows. Maybe, she wondered, her mom started to clean the kitchen and then had to leave for work. She still thought it was suspicious. With caution, she unpacked her load from the store and hid it in the shoebox in the back of the cupboards. She began to put the pots and pans away still wondering who could have made this mess. Of course none of her dogs were four feet tall and had pose-able thumbs, so that narrowed it down. She tried to get this out of her head and figured she would just call her mom later. 

Eden's kitchen was like a picture straight from the ’70s. Her mom had grown up here and refused to change anything in the house. The living room across from the kitchen still had the same worn leather couch and matching sofa chairs, and the walls were still covered in her family portraits and school pictures from decades ago. This didn't bother Eden though, she enjoyed hearing the stories of the house. 

Eden continued cleaning the kitchen when she remembered the flyer she found on her doorstep. Eden never had very many friends, because she liked spending so much time with her mom and all of her pets. Her mom was always telling her she should go out more, she even said to her once "Maybe you need to spend less time with nature". Eden looked to Sadie, who was following her throughout the kitchen nose in the air.

" I don't need to spend time with kids if all they do is talk about each other and post stupid pictures about it." She turned to Sadie as she finished putting the last pot away and pondered, "if you could talk, I wouldn't need to talk to stupid teenagers. But I guess mom is right, and if I went she'd be happy to hear that I'm not spending Friday all ...." 

She was interrupted by her phone buzzing, a rare event unless her mom was calling to tell her she had to stay at work. She opened her phone to see it was a text from an anonymous number. 

-Hello Eden

Eden thought for a second, it had been years since she had given anyone her phone number, and no one had any reason to text her.

-Hello? Who is this?

She waited for a response, biting her cheek in anticipation. 

When she saw no reply, she turned back to Sadie, "probably some dumb kid from school, I'm already regretting deciding to go to that party." Eden sighed and Sadie just stared.

"You're absolutely right, I could just not go." Her phone buzzed again.

-Don't worry you'll meet me real soon

They kept typing, Eden started to worry now, she hated this small town but there was one thing she hated more. Scary things happening in a small town.

- I'll look for you at the party, you're going right?

Eden didn't want to go anymore. But something told her she had to, she had to know who this person was, how they got her number, why they were texting her, and why they wanted to meet her. Her head started to spin, and her breathing became shallow. She picked up her phone to reply when she got a call from her mom. She answered it 

"Hello."

"Hi mom!" she said, switching to an annoyingly joyful voice.

"Just calling to make sure everything is alright."

"Why wouldn't things be alright, are you okay?"

"Woah, yes I'm fine, just making sure you have something to eat tonight, sweety what's wrong?"

"oh, I...I just...Did you leave all the pans out?"

"That's part of the reason I was calling, we got ants in the cupboards so I started to clean them out before work, I'll finish tomorrow."

"I can do it. And I'm going to a party this Friday."

"Woah, you want to clean and interact with people, who are and what have you done with my daughter?"

"I am your daughter," Eden barked back.

"Oh honey I was kidding, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah"

"Okay well, I have to get back to work, hug the babies for me."

"Okay mom, love you."

"Love you too."

Eden hung up and went back to responding to the anonymous number

-WHO ARE YOU? I'm not going to that stupid party if you don't tell me who you are.

Eden slammed her phone down on the counter, fidgeting with frustration.

"Damn it," she whispered. She realized she had been clenching her fists, and opened her palms to see deep red marks where her nails had been.

-You'll know

Eden decided to give up on Mr.Anonymous and began to take out the pots and pans to clean the kitchen.

It was later that evening, and Eden got up from her bed to eat dinner. Eden’s room was a mess. She had a habit of dropping things on the floor, not picking them up, and was always losing things in the abyss of her room. However, for the few days out of the year that her room was clean, her mom would say it was a wonderful sight to see. She had lights hung all around, and no empty wall space. She filled it with anything beautiful she found; posters, leaves, food wrappers, art, and funny pictures of her dogs. She had a twin bed against one wall that was rarely made but always filled with pillows and stuffed animals. She refused to get rid of any, so she stacked them up in a tower on her bed every morning. On the opposite wall, she had a cluttered desk covered in old assignments and scribbled drawings. Eden usually drew whatever came to her mind. Sometimes it was a flower she saw on her way home, but others it was a recreation of a drawing in a book she read about demons.

Eden walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She stood there blankly and pointed out things in her mind. She hated the size of her chest, and how long her hair was. She hated her wide hips and the roundness of her face. She blinked, standing completely still. After a few minutes, she walked out, heading towards the kitchen with a stale expression. A loud bark came from outside.

“Shadow get in here,” Eden yelled into the darkness. The barking continues, so Eden walked towards the back door. She sees Shadow barking towards the fence that backs up to the forest. "Shadow, come," Shadow doesn't even flinch and continues barking at the woods. Eden rubs her eyes in frustration and opens them to see someone standing pressed against the back fence staring at Shadow. She blinks again and they are gone. "Shadow, in the house now, " She yells, shaking in fear. Before closing the door as Shadow trots in she looks around the backyard but there is nothing there. She locks the door and takes a deep breath. Her mind starts to make up excuses for what she witnessed, trying to forget it.

She quickly makes dinner, peering over her shoulder every time she turns around. Eden runs to her room at the end of the dark hallway, and the quartet of four-legged creatures follow her. She slams the door, and before she knows it, she is fast asleep with Bubbles at her side.

She wakes up the next morning to a loud RING RING RING! She wipes her eyes and makes her way to her desk, where her mom insists that she keep her childhood landline phone "Just in case of emergency" She picks it up 

"Good morning Eden," says a strange voice

Too tired to think she replies" Hello? Who is this?" 

"Cheez-its and skittles huh? The voice says with confidence

"What? Can you please just tell me who this is?" Eden groans, not remembering her encounter from last night.

She gasps, realizing this is what they had just said.

"How do you know what I bought, Jeremy is that you, look this is not funny, and if this about the hair ties I took, I'm sorry but can you please just tell me who this is." Eden was fully awake now and the same panic from the night before was back.

"I'll see you tonight," they whispered

"No you won't, I don't want to go to the stupid party anyway," Eden yelled, now more furious than scared.

Eden screamed and smashed the phone onto the desk, cracking it in two. An empty ring still rang from the phone, boiling Eden's rage even more. She unplugged the phone from the wall and threw it across the room. She took a deep breath as a toothy grin peeled across her face, they couldn't call her anymore.

Eden walked out of her room like nothing had happened, ready to start the day. She danced to the kitchen and greeted the dogs, Bubbles already by her side. She fed each of them, and then prepared herself a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. She sat down on the couch and pulled out her cell phone, to her liking, she had no new notifications.

She spent the rest of the day drawing and playing outside with her dogs, completely ignoring the smashed telephone on her bedroom floor. Eden tip-toed around the house with a lingering fear, always looking behind her, and checking behind the curtains before she sat down in the living room. Before she knew it, it was seven, and she had to get ready for the party. The butterflies kicked it and her stomach was already swirling. She got dressed for the party, assuming from the dozens of stupid posts already made by others going to the party, that it was a costume party.

 Eden went to her mom's closet and found her short black dress. She slipped the dress over herself and looked in the mirror. She hated it. She hated everything about it. She hated that it was so tight you could see every dip and wrinkle of her body. She hated how feminine it made her look. She hated that the neck was so low she had to pull it up so you couldn't see her bra. She screamed at the mirror, angrily trying to pull the dress off, but ending up in a tangled ball on the floor. Her sobs were muffled because of the dress that covered her face. She squirmed more, finally finding herself without the dress on. She walked to her room and opened the closet door. With tears still running down her face, she pulled out a black t-shirt and black jeans. She pulled the t-shirt over her head, almost immediately feeling euphoria. She grabbed a large black cloak, and a ghost face mask from the garage before returning to the mirror. She now stared back at a smiling face.

She locked all the doors and fed the dogs once more. She was just about to leave when she got a call, momentary fear, and rage built in her. She picked up the phone and answered with a sweet " Hello!"

"Hey sweetie, how are you, off to the party soon?"

"Yeah I was just about to leave, I fed the dogs and locked up."

"Okay, have fun, text me when your home please"

"Okay,  I will"

"Okay bye, be safe"

"Always," she said with a smile. She put down the phone and shoved her helmet over her head. She said goodbye to the dogs and Bubbles and got on her way.