• As she sat teary eyed in a dark, lonely alley she could remember the kind warmness of her father's smiling face right before it happened.

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    "It's been so cold lately" she stated. "I know, it's a good thing the neighbor let us borrow firewood." Said her father. Adellaine giggled, "yes, they're so nice." She stared into the flames while trying to get warm by sitting close to the fireplace. The night frost began to settle outside and it became colder.

    Her father moved the newspaper from the front of his face "There's been a lot of murders lately and according to the reports they've all been the work of demons." Adellaine daydreamed into the fire while replying to her father's comment. "How terrible."

    Adellaine never knew the reason why demons began dwelling among man, so she asked "Dad, why do demons live on earth?" Adellaine's father paused a moment then began "Well, long ago, Hell began to overflow, and demons had no place to go. So Satan made a bargain with the human race saying that demons would be able to live among humans as long as they agreed to abide by our rules. So the humans agreed." Adellaine gave her father a puzzled look "but if they have to abide by our rules, why have there been so many killings by demons?" Her father answered "Ah, well of course there are always the few who disobey the rules, those being criminals." Adellaine stared deeper into the fire "Oh…."

    A moment passed and it became silent. She looked up at her father who was sitting in his recliner and smiled; he smiled back. Startled by a noise outside, both Adellaine and her father looked towards the front door.

    They stayed staring a moment, curious as to what the sound was. Seconds later, with a loud crash a hand burst through the wall length window right next to the front door. The hand reached around quickly feeling for the lock as Adellaine's father jumped up and ran to the door. He tried holding it shut for as long as he could as the door bounced and shook and shouted at Adellaine to hide. Frightened and confused, she looked around for a place to hide. She looked at the couch and saw that there was room behind it. She crawled into the space between the sofa and the wall.

    Unable to hold the door shut, Adellaine's father's feet started slipping against the hardwood floors. His strength was weakened and was thrown back as the door swung open. Scared and worried , Adellaine peeked out from behind the sofa to see what was going on and if her father was ok. She saw two demons in her living room, they were now standing over her father who was on the floor. "What do you want!" she could hear her father shout. The demon replied with "Oh, nothing much" he then turned to his accomplice "I do love the taste of frightened human's flesh don't you?"

    Adellaine watched as the demons lifted their arms into the air ready to strike. Their arms came down upon him and Adellaine clenched her eyes closed as she heard her father cry out in terror. Adellaine still behind the sofa shivering and frozen from fear could hear the sounds of her father howling in pain as his flesh was being torn from his bones.

    Adellaine began to cry uncontrollably as the demon's feasted on her father's dead body. Not being able to help herself she let out a shriek of horror. "What was that?" said one of the demons.

    Realizing they had heard her, Adellaine jumped up from behind the couch and ran out the back door as fast as she could. She kept running for as long as her legs could carry her which was about a block or two. She looked around and spotted a small dark alley to hide in.

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    She sat there wondering whether or not to believe what had just happened and she began sobbing quietly. After sitting there a few moments and weeping she could hear one of the demons "I think I saw her run into this alley."