The old oak floor creaked in front of the bed, and Mike quickly awoke from his slumber. He tried to feign sleep while slowly opening his eyes to peer around the bedroom. All he could see was darkness, but this darkness enveloped the space and was even blacker than he had ever seen before. A chill ran over his body as he lay motionless between the sheets and his heart began to beat faster. The sounds began to move across the floor, as if footsteps were coming closer and closer to his side of the bed. As whatever seemed to be lurking in the room inched to the place right in front of him, Mike quickly leaned up to pull the switch on the lamp to his left. He expected someone to be standing there watching him. There was nothing. Except for himself and his sleeping fiancée, no one else was in their room.

Mike sat there completely still, listening to Kate’s breathing beside him, straining to hear any other noises emanating from the room. He tried to calm himself as he sank back down into the mattress. ‘What are you afraid of?’ he thought. ‘There’s obviously nothing here.’ He tugged on the light switch again and the darkness returned, although not as black and eerie as before. As he laid his head back down upon the pillow, he felt his eyelids closing, and drifted slowly back to sleep.

Again, he was awoken from his slumber. Again, he heard the movement of footsteps in front of him. He opened his eyes as widely as he could, hoping to see what hid inside of the darkness.

“Hello?” he whispered, glancing down at Kate to make sure he didn’t wake her. “Who’s there?”

Mike sat quietly, waiting for something---anything---to emerge from the shadows. He heard a response; the one thing he was not expecting to hear. He leapt from the bed, scared senseless as a wave of shock moved throughout his entire body. Kate jolted awake and sat completely upright trying to make sense of the situation.

“Mike?” she called. “Mike, where are you?”

Mike used the wall to pull himself to his feet, still staring into the darkness ahead of him. Kate leaned over and turned the light on, examining her fiancée’s face.

“What’s the matter? Did you have a nightmare? Mike?” Kate followed his stare as he raised his shaking hand and pointed forward. She didn’t see a thing, just the armoire that was placed awkwardly in the back of the room, and the small mirror hanging on the wall.

“Babe, what’s wrong? Come back to bed, will you?” she said quietly.

Mike walked over to the bed and slowly lowered himself into the mattress. He stared, unresponsive, towards the walls surrounding him. Kate tried to reason with him for several minutes. She felt herself growing more afraid as she studied his face. Mike was her protector. She had never seen him so upset and disturbed before, and it made her nervous. Kate looked suspiciously around the dusty, old room before pulling the switch of the lamp on the bedside table. The darkness swept back over the room quickly, ready to ambush the couple. Mike practically dove for the lamp, racing to turn it back on. He shot a fearful glance at Kate, and asked her to leave the light on for the rest of the night.

The two laid there silently. Kate waited to catch a glimpse of whatever was terrifying her fiancée, but fell asleep after an hour of her futile attempt. Mike stayed awake, his eyes staring at the slanted ceiling above his head, his ears searching for a sound. As the morning light began to gleam through the frozen window pane, he glanced at the clock. Six fifteen. His tired eyes began to close; they were burning from the lack of sleep. Mike felt the bed beneath him move once more, creaking as it did so. His eyes opened quickly, only to see Kate climbing out from under the quilt. She smiled at him sweetly, but realized how truly startled he was as she looked into his eyes.

“What was going on last night? I couldn’t even get you to talk to me. You know you can tell me anything,” Kate said quietly, looking down as she spoke.

“Some things you just wouldn’t believe,” Mike replied as he rubbed his eyes with his hands, trying to make sense of what happened. He sat for a moment with his eyes closed, and his hand upon his face. He felt the bed sink down, and looked up to see Kate sitting next to him.

“Try me,” she said inquisitively. She waited quietly, and stared blankly at him as he gathered the sense to speak.

“I woke up, maybe around two. I heard something moving, but I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the hallway or inside the room. Something sounded like it hit the floor by the bedpost, and I knew it was coming from in here. I couldn’t see anything, it was so dark. There wasn’t even light from the moon showing through the blinds. I waited, and I listened. It sounded like footsteps. You could hear it so clearly. Heel, toe; heel, toe,” he began. “I turned on the light, expecting someone to be there, just watching us. Nothing. I pulled the switch again, and tried to go back to sleep. It started again! The footsteps were walking around the bed, getting closer to me. I decided to talk to whatever was there. You know, like how they do in the TV shows. I…I asked who was there…and it answered.”

“What? What did it say?” Kate asked excitedly.

“Well, it didn’t give me a name. It just spoke in this bone-chilling voice. Low, growling…almost evil. It said, ‘Get out of my room.’,” Mike said quietly as his voice began to trail off.

Kate didn’t know what to say. Was it his imagination? Was it a dream? She slowly got up from the bed, and walked over toward the aged window. As she pulled open the blinds, a shocked sigh escaped from her lips. Mike was by her side in nearly an instant.

“What? What’s going on?” he asked.
As he looked out through the fogged window, he saw nothing but a blanket of white covering the green landscape he had just seen the night before.
“That must be at least two…maybe three feet of snow, Mike. This isn’t the city,” Kate began. “We’re way out in the country. There’s no way this road will be plowed any time soon. So…”
“We’re stuck here…” Mike finished.

As the couple stared motionless out of the icy window pane, a small knock echoed on the bedroom door. Mike and Kate turned to see Mrs. Hart peeking her head through the door frame.

“Good morning!” she said cheerfully. “I hope you both had a good night’s sleep. I just got finished making some French toast. Would either of you like some?” She stood in the doorway smiling at the couple, oblivious to the tense expressions that dressed their faces.

Kate turned to Mike as they caught each other’s glance, and they stood in silence as they pondered the invitation. This woman was kind enough to take in two complete strangers for the night and cook them breakfast. But something about this situation just didn’t feel right.

“Um…” Kate began, unsure of the right decision. “Thank you. We weren’t expecting a bed-and-breakfast,” she said with a smile, trying to be as polite as she could. “Of course we’ll join you.”

“Wonderful,” Mrs. Hart said, smiling all the while, as she turned to go back downstairs.

When he was sure she had gone, Mike turned to Kate and lowered his voice so much that it was barely audible.

“Something isn’t right about this place. I don’t think we should stay here again. We need to go. We need to leave,” Mike whispered nervously.

Although Kate was doubtful as well, she really didn’t want to be rude.

“She’s just trying to be nice. She cooked us breakfast for God’s sake. And there is absolutely no way we can drive through that, are you insane?” she hissed back to him.

With their eyes downcast, they began to make their way downstairs. The sweet smell of maple syrup seemed to pull them down the stairs. As the two entered through the kitchen door, they were again greeted by the smiling old woman.

“I didn’t know if you two liked powdered sugar or syrup better, so I grabbed both,” she said sweetly.

Kate and Mike slid out the chairs surrounding the oval table and began to eat. They were hungrier than they thought, and in minutes every piece of toast had vanished from their plates. Mrs. Hart sat quietly, sipping from her steaming cup of coffee. The couple looked up as the woman began to speak.

“I hope Alice didn’t bother you last night. She told me she’d be quiet, but with her you never know,” she said, still smiling.

Mike’s expression changed quickly, and his wide eyes stared at his empty plate. He didn’t know what to say, or how to say it, but he wanted answers.

“Why didn’t you invite Alice to breakfast?" he asked nonchalantly. “We would love to meet her.” He watched skeptically as Mrs. Hart shifted nervously in her chair.

“She never eats breakfast,” the old woman replied. She folded her napkin neatly on her lap, and regained her calm as that same smile again spread across her face. “Well. Would the two of you like to sit by the fire in the living room? It’s much cozier than this freezing kitchen,” she said.

Mike didn’t want to play games, and he began to pry.

“Why don’t you invite Alice to sit with us?” he asked her.

“No, no. She’s very busy now. Come on; let’s go into the living room. The cold air is coming in through the kitchen window and its becoming unbearable,” Mrs. Hart replied.

“She isn’t alive is she? She’s dead. Alice is not alive,” Mike whispered.

“Don’t say that! Never say that!” the old woman yelled desperately. “She gets so angry when you say things like that…” She shook her head, and then let it fall into her wrinkled hands.

“Alice was the one in our room last night. Or rather, we were in hers,” Mike said quietly, he stared downwards as he spoke.

“She haunts this house,” Kate breathed as her face grew paler and her eyes opened wide.

“No! She just doesn’t want to leave me. She wants to stay here with her mama!” Mrs. Hart cried. “She can stay forever.”

As she spoke, darkness began to sweep over her green eyes, and the previously smiling disposition became cold and angry. The old woman glanced uneasily at the faces of her guests and retreated slowly backwards to the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

“Mrs.-,” Mike began.

“NO!” the woman screamed. Her voice was no longer that of a sweet elderly woman. It was the voice Mike had heard last night in the darkness; low and growling. “Get away!”

Mike jumped back, and his legs began to tremble beneath him as he stared at the old woman in the rocking chair. He searched blindly for Kate’s hand as he reached behind his back, never taking his eyes from the woman’s stare. As their fingers locked he tightened his grip, squeezing her hand until it faded to white. The two began to back up slowly and thought only of the brass knob on the white front door.

The old woman stood up, her face pointed down, but her eyes glaring up. She began to step forward, her footsteps heavy as she moved them slowly across the hardwood floor. She screamed wildly as she lunged toward the couple and they pushed past her into the kitchen.

“Time to go!” Mike exclaimed fearfully as the two tore from the kitchen to the upstairs bedroom. The sounds of their thumping footsteps echoed throughout the hallway as they ran through the bedroom door.
Kate ripped her coat from the hook on the door as Mike pulled on his snow boots. She yanked the armoire doors open, pulling out the few sweaters and pants they had brought with them and shoving them into an open suitcase at her feet. Mike lifted the suitcase as soon as Kate had gotten the zipper closed. He grabbed her hand and the two rushed for the bedroom door, only to have it slam in their faces.
Mike threw down the suitcase, and began pulling and twisting the old door knob frantically. He threw himself against the door to try to break it down, but it was no use. He turned, searching the room for some possible escape.
“The window!” He gasped. “We can get out through the window!”
Mike flipped open the rusty latches on the sides of the window and climbed onto the roof below.
“Throw me the suitcase!” He called to Kate.
She quickly tossed the luggage through the window and scrambled out of the house behind it. The roof lowered as it descended towards the ground, allowing the two to slide down into the snow.

“Oh my God!” Kate cried. “The car is still buried under all of this snow!”

“We’ll have to dig it out…fast!” Mike replied.

He pulled her arm swiftly as they ran towards the covered driveway, sprinting through the snow to reach their buried car. He dove onto the hood of the S.U.V, frantically pushing the snow off of either side. Kate began to claw at the frozen windows, wiping away the white blanket that covered them. The frantic couple heard a loud crunch behind them and paused to listen. The old woman’s boots were crushing the snow underneath of them as she trudged towards the driveway.

“I only need to start the car…” Mike whispered as he stood frozen. Mrs. Hart took another step. He leapt toward the driver’s side door and climbed inside, where he sat hysterically trying to twist the keys in the ignition.

Mrs. Hart began to run, as fast as one could run while trudging through a snow-covered path. Kate’s fear overcame her, and she yelled out.

“This is your home, Alice!” she screamed. “You can stay as long as you want to!”

As soon as the words escaped from her mouth, Mrs. Hart stopped running. She stood, silent and motionless, in a drift of snow.
The sound of an engine roaring to life broke Kate’s momentary trance, and she stumbled backwards and frantically climbed into the car. Mike laid his foot on the gas pedal as the car charged forward and out of the driveway.
Kate looked back to see the old woman still standing in her yard, with the same smile she had previously wore again plastered on her face. She was waving them goodbye.