vanished. “What is it?”
Carly looked at the vent, that was now quiet. “Nothing, I think. Just my imagination playing tricks on me.”
Will sat down. “Now come here and tell me more about your plans for Christmas.”

Carly smiled and made her way back to the couch. Just as she was about to sit down, someone screamed in agony. Will jumped out of the couch.

“That wasn’t my imagination” Carly said, moving closer to Will. “I’ve never heard someone scream like that before.”
“I have,” Will said. If Carly could have seen his face properly she would have seen he was pale as a snowman. “Back when I was working at the lumbermill, a man got stuck and had the saw split his arm in two. He sounded something like that.”
“Maybe someone needs our help. We should go see,” Carly insisted.

Then there was that whispering again, this time right behind them.

“You have forgotten. But you will remember, oh yes you will.”

Will turned around with the flashlight, but there was no one there.

“You’re right, we should go see if we can help,” Will said with a nervous tint to his voice and started to make his way towards the door. Carly followed. Will reached out to twist the doorknob, but it wouldn’t bulge. He put all his strength into it, but it still refused to move.

“What the fu…” Will started, but was quickly interrupted by the same whispering voice.

“You WILL remember. But others need to remember as well, so then you will die. We must never be forgotten again.”

Will turned with the flashlight again, but still couldn’t see anyone.

“Who are you. What do you want” Carly screamed.
“We want you to remember”
“Remember what? We have no idea who you are.” Carly said. Her voice was starting to get thick and she could feel the tears coming, but she wasn’t going to give up and cry now.

“Who we are is what you must remember. Remember why you dress your entire world in lights. Remember why you celebrate.”
“Why we celebrate…” There was something in the back of Carly’s mind. A story she had heard once. But she couldn’t quite remember it.

Will thought he heard the voice from behind him again and turned back towards the door. As the cone of light fell on the doorknob, there was aloud click.

“I think we can get out now,” Will said as he opened the door. The ran out into the hallway and were met by chaos. Several of the tenants from their floor were running around in panic, as if they were chased by something. Others were looking around themselves in fear, while holding candles in their hands. But the strangest thing was the noise. There was a lot of it and they definitely should have heard it in their apartment. The door shut behind them. Carly could swear she could see the shadows move. She crawled up closely to Will and for a while they just stood there right outside their door, taking it all in.

There was another scream in pain and Mr Sinow, their next-door neighbor wasn’t running anymore.

“We have to get out of here,” Will shouted. “The stairs”.

Carly looked over to the door where the stairs were and instantly discouraged. In front of the door was a wall of darkness. The darkness was so thick it almost looked as if it could be touched. But when will pointed the flashlight towards the door, the darkness just dispersed. To Carly it looked like it was moving away, rather than just being lit up. They ran for the stair, determined to leave the chaos behind them.

Just as they walked through the door, Carly saw Micah Jones from across the hall. He was standing in a corner with a candle, with the darkness closing in on him. The darkness was actually moving towards him, thickening in front of Carly’s eyes. It was there, just outside the radius of his candle. Then there was a swooshing sound, like a gust of wind, and the candle went out. Another scream quickly followed.

Carly ran after Will down the stairs,