* * * * * *

Amy DeLuca creeped around her house, careful not to wake Maria. She already had enough things to deal with, she didn’t need to know about this. Besides with luck Amy would be able to handle this herself, but if really needed she could always call Helen. When she heard the soft pitter-patter of footsteps she froze. Then she ran to the kitchen, so it would look like she was making breakfast.

“Good morning honey.” She looked up when her daughter didn’t seem to respond. She watched as her daughter walked around the room. There was something wrong…something off, she couldn’t tell what, but she knew it was something. She could feel it. Slowly leaning against the counter top she watched as Maria stood like a statue in the living room. Then she moved to the door and walked outside.

“Maria? Where are you going?” She quickly went to follow her but when she walked out the door, she couldn’t find Maria anywhere…

* * * * * *

Maria slowly began to awake. She stretched, her whole body was sore and she felt tired…drained…when she looked at the clock she let out a groan. Forty minutes…she would have to hurry to get to school. She never knew what happened during these episodes she was having and it bugged her. But then again who was to say anything was happening? She figured it just had to do with her powers and everything else. She silently chided herself, she was being silly, she had probably been lying here on the floor the whole time. It’s not like she got up and walked outside…right?

* * * * * *

Amy was shocked when she saw her daughter walk downstairs.

“Uh, Maria! Are you alright?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” She said as she walked to the kitchen and bit into an apple.

“Oh well when you came downstairs this morning, you just seemed a little…distracted…”

“This morning?” Maria paused, but then quickly recovered. “Oh yeah…this morning…I was just umm…tired…Oh… wow…look at the time! I’ve got to get going or I’m going to be late.” She walked over and kissed her mother on the cheek and made a hasty exit.

* * * * * *

When Maria finally got home from school she couldn’t have been happier. Coming back to Roswell she hadn’t realized how dull and boring school was. Throwing her backpack on the floor she plopped down and the couch and kicked off her shows. Then she grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV and finally setting on watching Friends. Slowly she began to drift off to sleep to the sounds of Phoebe singing “Smelly Cat” when she a warm sensation on her cheek. Opening her eyes she could only stand in shock at a large black figure. She tried to scream but no sound would come, and then like the blink of an eye it was gone. She rubbed her eyes with her fists and when she was sure nothing was there, she passed it off as a hallucination. She tried to fall back asleep but discovered she couldn’t so finally she decided to watch some more TV. Then out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something walk down the hall. ~It’s just your imagination~ She decided to ignore it and tried to focus all her attention of the screen, but then she saw it again. Finally the curiosity got to her and she decided to investigate. ~This is great Maria…couldn’t just let it go. You know, this is how all the girls get killed in the movies. They just can’t mind their business and run out the door…~ Maria creeped down the hall and then she saw the shadow run into the bathroom. ~Well here goes…~ She walked over to the bathroom, the door was slightly a jar. Slowly she opened it and it creaked on it’s hinges. Then she stepped inside and in the darkness she couldn’t see anything. She ran her hand along the wall looking for the switch, and then turned it on. As they lights flickered on, Maria saw in the mirror an old woman, her skin gray and cracked. Her eyes were white and her hair was piled up and messy on the top of her head, gray like her skin with white strands running through it. Her dress was a faded purple with small flower patterns, and they hung like rags from her limbs. ~Oh my god…there’s a ghost in my house!~ Maria tried to scream but once again found that she couldn’t seem to find her voice. Maria looked around frantically, the door was just a few feet away…she would just run out and then she would be safe. The woman began walking towards Maria, a crooked smirk on her face. Quickly she turned around and ran towards the door until is suddenly slammed shut. Fear flowed through Maria’s veins. She was doomed. She grabbed onto the door handle and rattled it, and tried frantically to open it but it wouldn’t budge. Powers…I have powers…she tried her strength to kick the door open but she was too panicky to concentrate. Turning around she saw that the woman was still approaching her. She pounded on the door with her fists.

“HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE!!” The tears coursed their way down Maria’s face, and then the lights went out… A scream filled the room as a blinding blue light filled the room and then the lights flickered on once again, and Maria lay in a small crumpled pile near the door…

* * * * * *

“Liz! I swear!! There was an actual ghost, AT MY HOUSE!!!”

“Just calm down Maria!” Liz said, readjusting the volume on her phone.

“I can’t!”

“Okay…okay. Let’s just go through this rationally, tell me what happened.” Maria let out an exasperated sigh.

“Fine. Okay, see first I was watching TV, and I was really tired so I was starting to fall a sleep and then I felt this like “brush” against my face and then there was the freaky black thingy standing over me! No joke, but then when I checked again it was gone. Then later I followed it into the bathroom, and okay there was this freaky old grandma woman, I swear she looked liked some drowned rat or something. It was…scary. So anyways I tried to run out but the door like slammed shut, and then the lights went out. Okay and then I just like woke up in the bathroom.” There was silence on the line. “Liz??”

“Okay…are you sure…that… I dunno, this wasn’t a hallucination from extreme stress? Maybe you just tired since you just got back and everything…”

“Liz, it’s not I swear. I know I have a tendency to over dramatize things but this isn’t one of those times!” Suddenly their was a loud rumbling on phone and Liz heard Maria scream before the line went dead.

* * * * * *

“Did you see what happened the last time? We have to be careful if we want this to work!”

“What do we do next then?”

“We wait till she’s alone. When she’s least expecting it, and then we do it.”

“We have to keep her on edge though. Make her think that she’s going crazy. That’s why I have umm…”shaken” things up a bit.”

“What did you do?!”

“Don’t worry…She’ll be fine.”

“She better be.”

“We don’t want to kill her….yet.”

* * * * * *

Max, Isabel, and Michael drove in the Jeep towards the Crashdown when they say Alex and Liz speed by in Alex’s pearl Four-Runner and quickly screech around the corner leaving black tire marks on the road. Isabel looked at Max questioningly, but he didn’t say anything, though his brow was crinkled signifying that he was in deep thought. Finally she couldn’t take it any longer.

“Something’s wrong Max. Do you think we should follow them?” Isabel said trying to keep her calm.

“Isabel. We’re supposed to be keeping our distance. We can’t do that if we keep on following them around. Anyways, how are we even going to know where they are going?!” Michael shouted from the back. The silence filled the air, until realization finally hit him, and Max spoke.