Brandi woke with a start to the sound of her parent’s bedroom door being smashed to kindling, though it sounded more like the hut that her family lived in had been destroyed.  Sitting up in bed, shaking terribly with fear, Brandi held the bed covers to her throat as she tried to muster the courage to get out of bed and see what was happening.<br/><br/>Only a week ago, Brandi had lived in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of America.  She had no idea about the circumstances that had led her father to move his family here to this God forsaken place, even amid protests by his wife and cherished daughter.  She would never have dreamed that the reason for their being here was closer than she could have imagined.<br/><br/>Brandi thought she could hear other sounds, sounds like voices, or a low, almost thunderous growling.  In Brandi’s confused state of half wakefulness, she thought that perhaps the voices were of rescuers, or, at worst, onlookers, those who had heard the noise in the night and were just curious.  She had to know,<br/><br/>Dressed only in a bra and very brief bikini panties, Brandi crept out of bed and over to the door.  As she slowly pushed her bedroom door open, she heard a sound she could not identify, it was a soft, wet, sound, like a rolled up, soaking wet newspaper being ripped in half.  Little did Brandi know that the sound was of her mother’s body being torn apart and then voraciously consumed.<br/><br/>As soon as Brandi took a breath, her blood ran cold.  The air was heavy with the smell of sulfur and blood.  More than anything, Brandi wanted to slam the door and hide under her bed, but she forced herself to look at what had happened, no, what was happening right now, in her parents room.<br/><br/>Brandi crept slowly out of her room and moved slowly to the blown out doorway to her parent’s room.  The sounds coming from the room were terrible, threatening to freeze her to her spot, but she forced herself forward.  She could see a gruesome creature on her parent’s bed, and what appeared to be a dark liquid running down the walls and puddling on the floor.  Was that blood?<br/><br/>Then Brandi saw one of the heads of that gruesome monster bend over what was left of her mother’s body and rip a leg free with a terrible tearing sound.  That was all Brandi needed to see to convince her that she needed to get back into her room.  NOW!<br/><br/>Brnadi slammed the door to her room and leaned against the door until the terrible noises from the other room ceased.  When the noise had ceased, Brandi felt a sudden sense of curiosity and felt unable to control her own actions; she had to open the door.  She managed to open it only a crack though, some part of her wanted to throw the door open, but her terror was able to keep that part in check.<br/><br/>Through the cracked door, Brandi saw a person walk by, not a monster, but an ordinary person.  A young woman actually, and she seemed to be wearing her parent’s clothes.  A voice in Brandi’s mind said, “Follow her,” and the suggestion was so strong that Brandi almost obeyed.  But in the end, she held her place.  This was the first time that Brandi heard the voice.  It was the voice of a woman, not unkind, but somehow domineering, the voice of one who is used to being obeyed.<br/><br/>Brandi did not leave her room until morning.  She could not sleep at all after her nightmare, for that is what Brandi wanted to believe she had had, instead, she wept.<br/>