CHLOE climbed into bed, wondering if her bloody eyes were even real in the first place. Maybe she was paranoid about the scary movie and imagined it.

Whatever happened, it was done now. No more blood. She can go to sleep, finally.

***

Dream Chloe wobbled out of her bedroom, entering a wintery forest.

The cold breeze blew a snowflake onto her nose. She shivered. Even though it was a dream, she felt a chill when it landed on her skin.

Chloe glanced left and right, snowy trees were all she could see. The tiny snowfall trickling down from the sky amazed her, bringing her lips to a smile. She reached her hand out to catch the falling snowflakes until they slowly melted in her hands.

With every step, Chloe felt the crunch of the thick snow underneath her feet. The sound of stepping in the snow always made her gnash her teeth together.

BAM!

The sound of her bedroom door slamming shut startled Chloe, making her jolt. She turned around and tugged at the doorknob, but the door remained shut.

bang! bang! bang!

Her little fists pounded on the door, "Hello?!" she shouted.

A whooshing sound tickled her right ear as if the wind had passed by it. She immediately turned around to notice a small ball of light float behind some trees.

She heard the whooshing sound again. This time a little softer. She began to follow after the light.

Chloe followed the mysterious ball of light until it lead her to a pond. The pond was frozen over, the grass surrounding it was wet.

She lowered to her knees and peered around looking for the ball of light when suddenly she heard a voice.

"Your growing. Don't worry, it won't hurt to change," it said.

The floating face covered in paper revealed itself from across the pond, this time with the crickety body attached.

The woman from the movie placed a boney hand on a nearby tree. Her hair flew back and forth like a fire, but with snow particles spread amongst the strands of hair.

Her face remained emotionless as she spoke, "You are of age, Chloe. Once you change, everything will feel better," her voice layered with other female voices.

"What do you mean?!" Chloe shouted, almost angry as she rose to her feet, "Is that why I'm bleeding?"

"10 years..." the woman whispered, now behind Chloe, hair whisking around, tickling Chloe's ear.

***

Chloe blinked awake. She shivered as a ghostly feeling of the cold winter breeze spread down her body to her toes.

She turned on her side and stared at her bedroom wall, wondering what the woman meant by '10 years', until morning.

***