The fire raged on as they ran up the stairs to the attic, Andrew right on Leigh’s heals as she pulled him closer and closer to the door. His vision was deeply affected by the smoke in the air, but it appeared that Leigh could see just perfectly. There was a stream of light coming from underneath the attic door, not quite sunlight, but somehow angelic. Andrew wondered if Leigh’s heart was racing as fast as his was. He watched, when they finally reached the door, as Leigh turned to face him.

     “What are you doing? There’s no turning back now, the fire would kill you!” Andrew shouted over the raging roar of the fire.

     “Do you promise that no matter what’s on the other side of this door, that you’ll never leave my side until this is over?” She asked.

     Andrew was silent for a moment. What is this woman thinking? She came into my life out of the middle of nowhere! Why would I want to lose her now?

     “Well do you?” She rushed him.

     “Of course I do!” He replied, allowing her to pull him through the doorway.

     They both looked at the trunk with astonishment. It was no longer locked, and there was a woman shining as bright as who-knew-what, standing in front of it. She was dressed in a completely all white gown, and looked like a younger version of Leigh.

     “Natalie? Is that really you?” Leigh’s voice cracked.

     The woman nodded.

     “Who’s Natalie, Leigh?”

     “She’s my twin sister, who had committed suicide four years ago.”

     The woman nodded again as if to confirm Leigh’s statement, “I am merely a memory from Leigh’s imagination, locked away in that trunk since the day I died.”

     That’s why it felt like I was being drawn to it. It was Grandmother’s memory trunk. She said that if you placed a special memory inside, it would always be alive somehow. Leigh thought to herself.

     “W…what do you want form us?” Andrew stammered. If she was only Leigh’s memory why could he see her too?

      “Only to guide you both to safety.” Natalie replied, looking at him with piercing blue eyes. Something didn’t seem right with her.

     “Why can I see her too, Leigh?”

     “I’ll explain later, Andrew. If Natalie knows a way out, we should trust her.”

     Andrew watched as Natalie stepped back into the trunk, and then turned to Leigh once again.

     “Leigh, I don’t trust her. I really don’t think that she’s your sister.”

     “Why not?” She asked, waving her hand in front of her face, trying to cool herself.

     The fire had gotten closer to the attic, and the smoke was starting to spew underneath the door.

     “The way she looked at both of…” He trailed off as he saw something rise from the trunk.

     It was the woman again, only this time her hair was matted, and her dress was ragged and black.

     “COME!” She demanded.

      “NO!” Andrew refused, pulling Leigh into his embrace.

     A sweet melody filled the air, and Leigh’s body tightened and pulled forward.

     “What are you doing to her!” He shouted at the woman as Leigh’s entranced body moved closer to the trunk.

     “Getting what is rightfully mine!” She screeched, “Her soul.”

     Andrew rushed forward, grabbing both of Leigh’s arms, pulling her backward towards the door.

      “Time’s running out Andrew, which would you rather have? Your life? Or both of your souls lost forever in the *Dark Lord’s grasp?”

     “I’m not leaving here without her! Leigh? Leigh, listen to me! You’ve gotta snap out of this! She’s tricking you, she isn’t your sister!” He pleaded as she struggled against his grasp.

     The woman let out an ear-piercing scream as he felt Leigh’s body go limp. He looked up, and the woman was gone. He frantically looked around the room for a window, there was one behind the trunk. He drug her body to the window and laid her down. He grasped the crow bar that was lying next to the trunk and smashed the window open with full force. When he turned back to where Leigh had been lying, he saw her body sliding across the floor towards the open trunk. He lunged forward and grabbed onto her torso, yanking her free of the she-demon’s curse. He pulled her to his chest, kissed her head, and dove out the window.

     “Dude are you like, okay? That was like a super high fall you took.” A male voice asked.

     Andrew let out a long moan, and remembered why he had been lying on the ground in the first place; Leigh. He jumped up quickly, throwing his head left in right in search of her.

     “Looking for someone?” A woman asked, as she gasped for more air behind him.

     He turned to find Leigh, sitting up against a tree in the center of the yard. He crossed the remaining space between them to sit beside her.

     “What you did was stupid, I hope you realize.” She said, taking his hand as he sat.

     He looked at her awestruck at what she had just said.

    “Easy there, Jaws, you can close the mouth. I don’t mean that I don’t appreciate what you did for me, but why on earth didn’t you save yourself and let her have me?”

    “Because,” He said placing his hands delicately around her face, “I didn’t want to lose you. And because no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get over this feeling in the pit of my stomach that you might feel the same thing that I do whenever I see you.”

(A Year and A Half Later)

“Do you love me Leigh?” Andrew asked, as they rocked back and forth on the front porch swing of their new home.

     “If I didn’t, would I have married you, Andrew?” Leigh smiled, as she placed a hand on her ever growing stomach.

     He shifted positions to get a better look at her face. He placed a hand on top of her stomach as well, and kissed her forehead.

     “Thank you, for coming into my life, you crazy, beautiful, life-threatening woman.” He whispered.