Child's Play

(1) Knocks and Scares

There was a loud knock at the door of the Wilsons'. It was 12:50 a.m. Everyone in the house was sleeping soundly so no one opened the door. Again, the stranger knocked on the door, but harder this time.
Hearing this very loud knock, Kyra woke up suddenly. She walked down the hallway half sleepy, to answer the door. There was one last loud knock and Kyra opened the door. It was very dark and no one stood there. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Kyra questioned, still in her sleep.
Then she turned around to get back to her room.
No sooner had she started walking towards her room, she heard the knock again. Now, her sleep was broken, she turned back, ran towards the door, opened it, and looked around to see if someone was pranking her late at night. "If someone's playing any tricks on me late at night, please come out and show yourself. This isn't funny!" Said Kyra, very annoyed.
No one was there, just an empty road. Her neighbors were also sleeping. This scared Kyra so she just closed the door and ran back to her room. One more knock. This time Kyra ignored it and laying down on the bed, covered herself with a blanket, and tried to sleep.
But she couldn't. The thought of the knock and emptiness kept her from sleeping the whole night.
It was 1:30 in the afternoon. Kyra was sleeping. Summer holidays were going on, so her parents let her sleep as much as she wanted to. They usually don't go on holiday in summers, only in the holiday seasons.
Kyra soon woke up and got refreshed. "I really need to talk about this with Gabby. What if someone is trying to spy on us?" Kyra thought. Then, she sat on her bed and picked up her phone to call her bestie, Gabby.
Suddenly, she noticed a little girl staring at her creepily from her bedroom window. "Gasp! Who is she? Why is she looking at me like that?!" Kyra exclaimed. The face of the little girl wasn't visible much. But she sure looked creepy.
In a blink of an eye, she disappeared. "I've got to tell this immediately to Gabby!" Gabby was her best friend and classmate. She went on holiday every alternate summer vacation and that time, she wasn't going anywhere.

Kyra quickly dialed her number. After a few rings, Gabby picked up the call.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey, Gabby, can you come over to my house now? It's urgent!"

"But what's the matter?"

"Don't ask, just come, quick! All of your questions will be answered."

"Alright, I'll be there in 5 minutes."

"Ya, please make it fast."

Said Kyra and hung up the call. Gabby lived two blocks away from her.
Meanwhile, her mother had been listening. She came inside Kyra's room and asked, "What's wrong, dear?" Startled, Kyra said,
"Nothing mom! Everything's fine. It's just that I was having trouble with our project. We are making a documentary on..on plants, ya! On plants."
"Is that so? You've been acting weird since you woke up. You didn't even wish us the afternoon. And, if it weren't for your talks, I wouldn't have got to know that you're awake now." Said her mother, with a raised eyebrow.
"Actually I was busy thinking of ideas for our project so I-"
<Ding Dong>
The doorbell rang and her mother, Caroline, ran to get the door.
"The bell saved me." Thought Kyra. Then she went to check herself in the mirror before seeing the visitor at the door. When she saw herself in the mirror, she saw the exact same girl behind her which she had seen outside her window. Scared, she looked behind. The girl wasn't there. Kyra again looked in the mirror, the girl still wasn't there.
"Was it my imagination or what?" She said to herself.
"What imagination?" A voice came from behind her. It was Gabby.