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James and Carole were going down to visit their aunt for the summer. The twins never met her before but their mother had told them so many stories about her; they felt as if they knew her already. They were excited when they got off the plane , and their aunt met them at the gate. She look just as they'd imagined her. Long wavy red hair and she wore a long dark dress and her smile shined with such love, she was radiant.
"James, Carole!" Their aunt said, her voice ringing with glee. "It's so nice to finally meet you, both!"
They three of them shared a brief hug and then were swept away by the large crowds.
When they got their luggage and called a taxi they enjoyed long conversations of their lives as the taxi drove them way out into the country-side. When the taxi stopped in front of a rather large house. The twins looked at it in awe.
Three stories!! "I thought you lived alone Aunt Maggie," Carole said getting out of the taxi.
"I do. It used to be your grand parents house but they left it to me when they passed. So I thought I'd just move in, to keep the house in good shape." Aunt Maggie had gotten their luggage from the taxi trunk and payed the taxi driver as the twins approached the gate and waited. Aunt Maggie opened the gate, the twins, grabbing their individual bags, ran up the drive to the house.
"It's a lot bigger up close," James observed looking up the side of the house.
"Well it is a house, James. Not the Apartment we're used to," Carole reminded him, her hand on her hip.
"Okay you two, the bedrooms are on the second and third floors," Aunt Maggie said as she opened the door. "Take your pick."
The twins raced up the stairs to find the best bedroom and decide which one was Aunt Maggie's and which was the best for them. Carole selected a room on the third floor, James picked the room directly below it and next to Aunt Maggie's. James' room was nice with a beautiful view on the hills and woods across the street. Carole's room had the same view but she could see a clearing in those woods that James could not.
Carole opened her window and stuck her head out, "This is so nice." She breathed as she closed her eyes and felt the breeze.
"Hey, Carole!" James shouted up at her from his room's window. Carole looked down at his head sticking out the window. "Aunt Maggie says dinners going to be ready soon; wash up!"
"Alright!" Carole called down and turned back to the room. The walls where covered with white doves on a purple background. She thought it to be very pretty. She left the room to go freshen up in the bathroom across the hall; she didn't even notice the sign above the door that read:

"It all began when someone left the window open."

When all three of them sat down to eat dinner the sun was just about to set and Carole looked out the large dinning room windows just in time too see a few white birds fly past it. "Oh wow! Those birds sure are beautiful!," she said as she stared out after them.
"What birds?" James asked, his attention shifted from his food to the window.
"We can bird watch tomorrow." Suggested Aunt Maggie. "So, tell me more about your lives in the city!" She missed the city but she prefers the country-side now-a-days.
James started to tell her the story of his and Carole's first day int middle school. Carole wasn't paying attention, she was watching the sun set and then a few more white birds flew by. She was mesmerized by the beauty when she was suddenly brought back to reality by an elbow to her side.
"James! Don't do that!" Carole snapped. "That hurt."
"Sorry." James said not at all like he meant it. "I was just trying to get your input. You where there to after all."
"Yeah, yeah." Carole said turning to Aunt Maggie and joined the conversation.
After dinner they played a few board games in the living room until James started to fall asleep sitting up. Aunt Maggie helped him to his room and then said good night to Carole as she walked upstairs to her room. When she got there the birds on the wall paper where missing! She looked around the room confused. They where all missing! She decided her mind was just playing tricks on her, it was dark and late after all, so she went to bed sure they would be there in the morning.
The next morning when she woke up she was horrified. Not only to the fact that the birds where still missing, but there was a lump of a dark something laying in the middle of her floor. She stared at it for a second to try and figure out what it was. It looked kinda slimy but also rough in some areas. She had the thought to touch it when it suddenly started moving!
She was on her feet in seconds and ran screaming out of the room. When she reached the stairs James was at the bottom and Aunt Maggie was coming up the hall.
"What's wrong?" James asked as his sister flung her arms around him and moved behind him.
There's s-something in my room!" She stammered. Aunt Maggie looked up the stairs, as if she could see into Carole's room from where she stood.
"What did it look like?" James asked as he tried to get out of Carole's Death-Hold.
"Like... like this big black .... BLOB!" Carole said as her grip on her brother tightened.
"Which room did you pick, Carole?" Aunt Maggie asked she continued to stare up the stairs.
"The one with the pretty bird wallpaper." Carole answered. "Why?" Aunt Maggie suddenly turned pale. The twins looked at her concerned and confused.
"We need to get out of the house." Aunt Maggie whispered, "... NOW." She turned to the twins and pulled them toward the stairs that lead down stairs.
"What's going on?" James asked as they headed down as fast as they could.
"I'll tell you later, go now!" Aunt Maggie tried to shout quietly. She ushered them to the door and just as she got it open Carole screamed. Aunt Maggie turned to face a dark glob dripping down from the ceiling and stopping right at face level with her. "Get out now!" She shouted at the twins.
"But, Aunt Maggie...!" Carole cried.
"Go!" Interrupted Aunt Maggie. "That clearing you saw from your window go there!" Suddenly the blob dropped down from the ceiling and grabbed at Aunt Maggie and the twins.
They ran outside but Aunt Maggie stopped running suddenly. The twins turned. The dark thing had Aunt Maggie by the ankles and was pulling her back to the house as she screamed at them. "Get to the clearing! Hurry!" Her body began to disappear into the blob. The twins started to run again and as they did they heard Aunt Maggie scream as ear shattering scream of pain which stopped short.
James started crying. "What clearing was she talking about? He asked through sniffles.
"The one way far in the woods. I could see it from my room but it was really out there." Carole said. She was beginning to get tired and out of breath, as was James. They started walking but did not dare to stop.
"How far do you suppose the clearing is?" James asked looking around. They had entered the woods a long while ago and it was VERY quiet.
"I don't know, but we should pick up the pace." Carole replied. Suddenly the could hear leaves rummaging and twigs cracking at a rapid speed behind them. They didn't even have to look at each other for them to know what they should do. The sprinted straight ahead. Away from the sound.
James began to lag behind a but as he reached his limit. He had never been very good at running Carole grabbed his arm and began to pull him along with her.
"James, come on!" Carole said when he just stopped moving. She turned to her brother but was faced with the most ugly, misshapened, undead face. Not her brothers but the blob's. It looked at her, with it's cold dead eyes, in a way that made her skin crawl. She let go of her brothers wrist and screamed.
When she came back to her scenes she realized what had happened and that she HAD to get to the clearing. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She heard her brother's screams of agony and then nothing.
As she ran as she cried and she cried until she couldn't see through her tears anymore. She continued running. She ran when she saw the clearing just ahead of her. She could see into the clearing. She saw the white birds from last night at dinner. They where circling around in the clearing and she knew that if she could only reach them they would protect her. She knew that they had been protecting the house until she let them out.
She ran towards them trying to get out of the woods and into their safety. Her muscles hurt and she ached all over but still she ran. Her breathing was pained and her thoughts where blurred and yet as she ran she felt something grab her wrist. She grabbed a tree just on the outskirts of the clearing and pulled herself toward it but the slimy thing that had grabbed her wrist pulled harder. She was afraid to look back. She felt a cold liquid like substance beginning to consume her and then all went black and all she knew was pain. She screamed but she knew her scream was in vain.