“I don’t see what the big deal is, it’s only a movie for god’ sake, I’ve watched horror films over at jenny’s house plenty of times.”
“Mrs. Bradshaw shouldn’t be letting you watch horror films Rebeka, you’re too young.”
“I’m almost fifteen…come on, you never let me stay up late, its Friday night…please, I promise I won’t have nightmares.”
“You can’t promise not to have nightmares sweetie, it’s not a choice you get.”
“You’re such a prude; you never let me do anything.”
“I let you do plenty Rebeka, I don’t think it’s appropriate for a fourteen year old girl to be watching horror films.”

“You need to get with the times mum. The video games out now are far scarier than the films. Jenny’s brother plays them all the time.”

“Well jenny’s brother may turn out to be a serial killer or a god knows what.”

“Ha-ha now you’re just being silly. So can I stay up? Can I? Mum?

“Go in and get your father for me Rebeka.”

“You haven’t answered me, can I watch the film?”

“Okay, fine, if your father says it’s alright, then you can stay up.”

“Yes! Thanks mum, you’re the best.”

“I wouldn’t get too excited sweetie, your father won’t be as easy to convince.”

I proceed into the living room to where my next obstacle is watching TV.
“Dad, can I watch the film with you and mum tonight?”
“Ask your mother”
“I did”
“What did she say?”
“She said yes”
“So why are you asking me then?”
“She told me to”
“Well if your mother says it’s okay”
“Thanks dad, you’re the best…mum wants you in the kitchen.”
I go up to my room before we all settle down for the rest of the night. No longer than five minutes pass when I feel an impulsive urge to walk out onto the landing and glance down into the hall. I see dad open the front door, walk outside and shut it behind him. Knowing mum will never allow me to watch a scary movie if it is just the two of us in the house alone, I decide to find out whether he will be back anytime soon. As I make my way down the stairs I can hear her talking in the kitchen. Presuming she is on the phone to one of her friends, I turn the handle on the door and step inside; she isn’t on the phone at all.
Her attention is diverted to the side of the room obscured from my vision. She stops for a brief moment, turns to me and says, “Are you ready to be scared sweetie?”
A faint laugh comes from the other side of the door. As I ease further inside and anxiously glance to where the sound is coming from, I see my dad sitting at the table, smiling. But that can’t be, I had seen him leave the house only a few moments earlier. He glances curiously in my direction, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost Rebeka, are you alright?”
I feel my heart sink into my chest, I reply nervously, “I just watched you leave the house a minute ago dad…I saw you walk out the front door.”
His smile subsides as he now stares with a bemused look upon his face.
“I’ve been sat here talking to your mother since you left the room earlier, Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to let you watch this film tonight”.
Mum walks over to where I’m standing, puts her hand against my forehead, then onto my cheek, “I think we’ll leave it for another night sweetie, you don’t look too good, it’s best we just watch television for a while before you go to bed.”
The last thing I wanted was to be seen acting like a scared child in front of my parents; especially since I gave mum a big speech earlier, on how mature I was. I take a deep breath, clench my fist really tightly and say, “I’m fine; I want to watch the film tonight, I just thought I heard someone leave the house that’s all.”
They look at each other, look back and ask me again, “are you sure you’re alright?” To which I again reply, “Yeah, seriously, I’m fine,”
“Okay so”, dad says, “let’s go into the living room so we can all get comfortable.”
The three of us make our way inside, sit down, switch off the lights and turn on the movie.
Before the film starts I ask my dad what it’s about. He glances over from the sofa he is sitting on with mum, smiles, picks up the cover, tosses it my way and says, “Read the back, I’m sure you’ll find it very interesting.”
A shiver passes through me as I start to read. The film is about people being abducted, murdered and replaced with identical clones. These clones are evil monsters called the Vardøgr who once put into place are to live out their lives masquerading as the people they murder. After I finish reading I put the case down and cautiously glance towards dad, he’s looking straight at me. His face looks distorted in the dark as the light from the TV illuminates his features. He smiles again, sits back in his chair and turns towards the TV. The hairs on my arms and neck are standing to attention. I struggle to keep calm. Excusing myself for a moment, I get up and walk outside to the hall. My face start to heat up as my body fills with nervous tension. I try to make sense of the frightening thoughts taking refuge in my mind, but it’s hard to focus when your heart repeatedly bangs on the door to your chest.
I make my way up the stairs. As I get to the top I have this horrible feeling that someone is behind me. Hesitantly, I turn to see dad, standing in the hallway, staring up at me. He has that same smile on his face only this time it terrifies me. Everything about his presence feels unnatural.
“What’s wrong princess?” he asks, “you’re going to miss the start of the film, you’re not afraid are you? You’re not afraid of the big bad monsters?”
I can’t move, I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out, he starts to walk towards me, still smiling, again he repeats, only this time his voice sounds really disturbing,
“You’re not afraid are you princess? You’re not afraid of ME! The big bad Vardøgr?”
His posture seems motionless as he eases up the stairs. I try to scream but I can’t. The closer he gets the more his features seem to deviate from normal. The stench of his breath is nauseating as his menacing face comes up to meet mine. My whole body starts to shake; he leans over my shoulder and whispers into my ear…“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.”
“Rebeka…Rebeka…can you hear me…are you alright?”
I look up to see mum standing over me,
“What happened? Where am I?”
“Your in bed sweetie, your dad found you passed out at the top of the stairs.”
A vague recollection of the events leading up to my passing out consume my thoughts; I’m reluctant to entertain them. “Where is dad?” I ask.
“He’s in the other room, he was so worried…we both were.”
Just then he walks in and stands directly behind mum, “Aah, you’re awake I see”, he smiles, “you gave me and your mother an awful fright Rebeka, you know that?” He looks genuinely concerned; he doesn’t have that evil grin plastered across his face for starters. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing…yeah…of course I did, I must have.
“Tell me what happened sweetie” mum says,
“I remember standing on the stairs…I saw dad…”
Before I finish what I have to say he interrupts me, “Okay, okay, there’s no need to talk about this now.” He puts his arm onto mums shoulder, “come on honey, let her get some rest, we’ll talk about this tomorrow.” Mum kisses me on the forehead, tells me she loves me; dad looks back as he ushers her out of the room and repeats the same words as he shuts the door behind them. I just lay there, staring up at the ceiling, thinking of how creepy the last couple of hours had been, and how your mind can play the cruelest tricks.
The next morning I wake up feeling refreshed from a good nights sleep. After I get dressed and wash my hands and face I make my way down to the kitchen. Mum and dad are sitting at the breakfast table.
“Hello sleepy head,” mum says to me. “We decided to let you lie in this morning. Don’t worry about school today we’re all going to visit your grandmother in the retirement home.”
“But it’s Saturday mum, why would I be worried about school today?”
She smiles, “No silly, it’s Friday, Why would you think it was Saturday?”
“I’m not sure, I thought yesterday was Friday; we were going to watch a horror movie last night…remember?”
“I think you must have been dreaming sweetie, you’re way too young to be looking at horror movies anyway, now sit down and I’ll make you some breakfast.”
I sat across the table from dad.
“That must have been some dream you had Rebeka, you don’t even remember what day it is.”
“Didn’t I pass out at the top of the stairs last night dad?”
“What…Of course you didn’t, it was just a dream; it’s all in your head.”
Mum rests my breakfast on the table and makes her way upstairs to wash her hair before we leave for the retirement home.
As soon as she leaves the room, time seems to slow down as a disquieting atmosphere slowly creeps up. We just sit there, saying nothing. I focus my attention to the dreary patterns on the table-cloth, almost afraid to look up. He’s staring at me, I know he is. I can feel his eyes fixated to the top of my head.
Slowly I raise my head only to see that same smile on his face that terrified me the night before. “Dad, why are you looking at me like that? You’re scaring me.”
His features change from passive to aggressive in an instant as he whispers in a low intimidating voice,
“Daddy is not here right now princess, it’s just you and the monsters.”
Pure terror shoots through my whole body; I jump up from the chair and run to the kitchen door, just as I’m about to scream for mum I see the front door close. I rush to open it up, but no one is there. There’s no one to be seen outside at all. A voice behind me says,
“What’s wrong Rebeka, who are you looking for?”
I turn to see mum walking down the stairs,
“Mum we need to get out of here quick; he’s going to kill me.”
“Who’s going to kill you? What in God’s name are you on about?”
“Its dad…he’s gone…I saw him leave the house yesterday, that man inside is a monster and he’s going to kill me.”
She runs towards me, grabs me by the arm and screams furiously from the top of her voice, “Stop this ridiculous carry on! What has gotten into you?”
I look towards the kitchen to see him just standing there, staring at me; his evil grin spread from ear to ear.
“Mum we have to get out of here, that man is not dad, he’s an impostor…he’s a Monster.”
“What are you talking about? What the hell has gotten into you? Get up to your room and don’t move until I call you.”
“Mum you have to listen to me please; something is happening in this house, we have to get out here right now.”
A frightening look crosses her face, a look I have never witnessed before, she looks evil. She screams again from the top of her shrill voice,
“Get the hell up to you’re room right this minute young lady, GO! NOW!
As I make my way up the stairs I take one last look towards the kitchen, he isn’t there. I hurry up into my room and slam the door shut. I’m angry, confused, but more than that, I am really scared.
“What the hell is going on in this house? Who was that person walking out the front door a few minutes earlier? It must have been mum, but that means…the both of them are monsters”. I clasp both my hands together really tightly to stop myself from shaking. I have to keep it together; I need to find out what’s going on.
Opening my bedroom door quietly I creep onto the landing, lean over the banisters and glance down into the hall. What I see shakes me to my very core. Right in front of me I see this hideous looking creature. It looks like a large repulsive insect with numerous oval shaped pores protruding from its flaking torso; they start to burst and the slimy substance inside spreads itself evenly over its gangling body, morphing into human skin. Its head is shaking vigorously from side to side. Hair shoots out from the back of its head as the slime envelopes its face. The color of the hair is red, the same color as my own, the shape of its body fills out and the progression from insect to human form takes just a few moments. The slime from the pores on its back blends proficiently into its body. It shakes violently for a brief moment and then it stops. The creature that only moments ago looked like a hideous insect now looks like me…my replacement…my doppelganger.
This is exactly what I had read on the back cover of the movie last night. My parents have been replaced by monsters and I’m next. I have to get out of here before they come for me. Just as that thought enters my head the kitchen door opens. I hurry into my room and lock the door behind me. I hear footsteps coming up the stairs, slow methodical footsteps; they’re coming to get me. They’re getting louder as they get closer to the top. It goes quiet for a moment, the silence is deafening, my heart is pounding, I can hear nothing but can see shadows moving from underneath the bedroom door. The handle slowly turns.
My palms are sweating, my throat is completely dry and I’m terrified. I scream from the top of my voice “WHAT DO YOU WANT…. LEAVE ME ALONE” I start to cry, I just can’t take it all in, again I scream “PLEASE JUST GO AWAY” collapsing onto the bed I put my head in my hands and just sob my eyes out, “please…just leave me alone, I want my mum and dad…PLEASE.”
Mums voice beckons me from the other side of the door.
“We can see you Rebeka, look up…look up”
I lift my head slowly from my knees, first glancing at the bottom of the door, fixing my gaze up towards the top. I jump back onto the bed when I see the three of them staring at me through the clear pane glass on the top of the door. They’re smiling at me, that big horrible evil smile spread from ear to ear.
“Open the door sweetie, Unlock the door so we can KILL YOU!”
The three of them start to laugh. I run towards the window trying furiously to open it but I can’t, it has been nailed shut. I hear a tap on the glass pane behind me, I look up to see mum with the hammer I presume she used to block my escape.
“Are you looking for this honey?” they laugh again in unison.
I’m stuck, I don’t know what to do, just then they start to bang on the door. They’re coming in, my heart is racing, I can’t think straight, they’re banging louder and louder, they’ll be inside any moment. I pick up my bedside lamp which is the nearest thing to me and use it to break the window. I remove as much glass as possible before trying to squeeze through the small opening. As I do, I hear one last bang on the door before it crashes open leaving the three of them standing there, smiling…always smiling. My mum, ‘or whoever the hell she is’ says she’s going to enjoy bashing my brains in as she makes her way towards me. Panicking, I push myself through the window just as she swings the hammer and come crashing to the ground head first onto the garden path below. Before I lose consciousness I manage to take one last look up towards my bedroom window. The three of them are just standing there, staring down at me…laughing.
I woke up in hospital two days later with severe injuries; the doctors told me I was lucky to be alive. Over the next few days I learned that my parents had gone missing and nobody had any information of their whereabouts. It didn’t make any sense to me.  “Were my parents dead? Who were those people I had seen walking out the front door of my house?”  I had a lot of questions but had no answers.
I explained everything that happened the way I remembered it, but no one would believe me. I was appointed psychiatric treatment over the next few months that followed and was then placed into the care of my mum’s sister. I never found out what had happened to my parents and I could never fully understand myself what exactly went on in the house on that Friday night. It took me a very long time to come to terms with what I thought was real or what I maybe had imagined. I suppressed the memories for such a long time that I forgot all about them. That was until tonight. As I was walking up the stairs on my way to bed, I got a very familiar feeling when I got to the top that someone was behind me. I turned around and looked down into the hall only to see my aunt’s boyfriend Paul, just standing there, staring up at me. He had a big smile on his face, a big horrible evil-looking smile spread from one ear to the next. He whispered to me in an eerily sinister and creepy voice,
“Sleep tight princess; don’t let the evil Vardøgr bite.”