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The Man With Ocean In His Eyes by © chibilunacat Has the wind ever cried your name in the night? Have you ever sat alone in your house late at night cozied under a blanket and read a book, one you thought had completely absorbed you, and then you hear the wind moan, a low eerie sound and you are sure it was meant for you, because its calling your very name? Did you ever wonder if it weren't just the wind? Annie had the house to herself that fall night, her parents had went to visit a sick relative in the hospital, and she was looking forward to the peace and quiet. She had her night planned, the money for the take out pizza was in an envelope on the counter, the popcorn was waiting to be popped in the microwave, and the two rented video's were on the the table in the den. The quiet in the house was music to her ears as she picked up the phone to dial for the pizza, her pesky kid sister and brother were staying at friends' houses, this was a rareity and Annie was definately going to make the most out of it. Annie flipped on the T.V. while she waited for the pizza, she flipped through station after station, not finding anthing interesting, but not wanting to start one of the movies untill the pizza came. One of the windows rattled behind her, causing her to jump. "Oh pleeease!" she exclaimed as she rolled her deep blue eyes, then chuckled. "Just the wind, of course!" she assured herself, but couldn't help but have the thought cross her mind that it hadn't even been slightly windy twenty minutes ago when her parents were shuffling out the door and going over the usual last minute do's and don'ts and reach us ats. Now the wind was picking up and dropping off in bursts, Annie could hear a low barely audible moaning traveling with it, this didn't concern Annie though, the wind always seemed to moan didn't it? Annie went ahead and poured herself a drink and got a plate out for the pizza, she left the plate, a plastic McDonalds plate with the trade mark McDonalds charachters on it, on the counter, and took her cola back to the living room and put it on a coaster, she started to sit down when the door bell rang. "That was fast" she thought aloud, assuming it was the pizza being delivered. She rushed to the door and pulled it open without looking through a window or anything. As Annie pulled the light blue, solid wooden door open with a smile on her face and the money now out of the envelope and in her hand, her look changed to astonishment, for a second she thought she saw and elderly man, with mournful blue eyes that looked as he could cry an ocean of tears, and then there was no one. The small porch was empty save for the constantly moving shadows of the leaves and branches of trees that were normally sporting reds, oranges, and yellows, during the day anyway, and the shadows of the chairs against the wall. The dim bulb in the porch light to her left, mounted beside the door suddenly flickered and then blew out with a slight snap. This caused Annie to jump a little. "Huh" she stated, pulling the slightly creaky screen door closed. She gave the porch a final scan and pushed the wooden door closed. "It must have been the light playing tricks, but I swear that guy looked familiar" she told her families calico cat, who had run in when the door was opened. Annie reached down and patted the cat on the head, then headed back to the living room, the cat raced to the kitchen. Annie flipped vacantly through the channels on the T.V. not really paying any attention to it, trying to think of where she saw that face before, the one with the sad eyes. The wind picked up again, and the moaning sound was back, this time Annie turned the television off a second and listened, because for some reason she thought she heard her name being called, but when all was quiet in the house, the wind seemed to stop, and the moaning too. Annie rolled her eyes again and turned the television back on, "Get real Annie" she told herself "Just to many horror flicks and mystery novels!"  Annie flipped through the television channels for about another ten minutes and then the doorbell rang again, Annie turned and looked through the dens doorway into the dark foyer for a moment before getting up to answer the door. This time it was the pizza, unaware that she was doing it, Annie let out a sigh of relief, conuted out the pizza money and gave it to the delivery boy. After he was gone she closed and locked the door and took the pizza into the kitchen, where she put a couple slices on her plate and went back to the den, it was movie time. After the pizza and about half way through the first movie it dawned on Annie where she had seen that guy before, it was in one of her moms old photo albums, a very old picture, but why would she think she saw that man on her porch, and in color no less! Intrigued, Annie left off from the still playing movie and went over to one of the tall oak book cases along the wall. She pulled out a couple of photo albums and went back to her warm seat with them. She began flipping through the pages, scaning the pages for the picture. She passed through page after page, begining to frown, she was well into the second photo album and hadn't seen the photo yet, and she was sure it would be in one of these two. She reached the last page of the second album and scanned it, the picture wasn't there either. She decided she must have missed it and picked the first album up again, this time looking more closely at the old photos, and sometimes reading the brief captions her mom had written on small pieces of paper and placed carefully bellow each picture. Halfway through the first album, her second time going through it she paused to look puzzlingly at one picture. An old black and white one of a room with a chair as the main focal point, there was no person in the picture, but her mothers handwritting bellow said otherwise. Her mothers makeshift lable said that the picture was of a man named Arthur Smith, a great great grandfather of Annies mom. "Thats strange" Annie mumbled aloud. She then scanned the picture next to it, it was a picture of a woman who looked remarkably like herself, the woman appeared to be in her thirties or so, she looked rather happy. Annie looked at the label and read the name Annie Saddler Smith on the lable, she was apparently the wife of the Arthur who was missing from the other photo. "Wow, looks like me and has my first name!" Annie exclaimed, talking to the cat who was now sleeping on top of the photo album laying beside her. Annie held the album open in front of her and looked up at the neglected movie on the T.V., the credits were rolling. Annie walked over and shut the television off and stopped the tape and rewound it. The V.C.R. clicked as it set about accepting the commands and then began a low humming as it rewound the movie. Then she heard a noise coming from outside, the wind again, also something following the wind, a voice maybe. She cocked her head to listen, the way an animal might, and she heard it. "Annnieeee" it called "Aaaannnnieee...." it was unmistakably her name, how often does the wind sound like its saying Annie? Inside the house Annie shuddered and the wind died down, but the voice didn't, not right away. She stood still, frozen in place momentarily, her face had gone pale and she had broken out in goosebumps. As soon as she stopped hearing her name she bolted to the kitchen, she grabbed the phone number list out from under its magnetic clutches, crumpling the paper some in the rush, she turned to the phone on the wall, picked up the handset punched in the first few numbers that would put her through to someone who would get her parents and then she stopped. She breathed deeply and hung the phone back up, slowly she put the now crumpled paper back on the side of the fridge, then leaned on the counter while she collected herself. "Don't get ahead of yourself Annie!" she told herself "What are your planning on doing? Calling for your parents? And tell them what exactly? 'Mom, Dad, you gotta come home right away! It's windy now, and the wind, its calling my name! And mom, your great great grandfather has abandoned your picture of him, and I may have seen a ghost!'" she sighed amidst her thinking aloud. "Do they really need that kinda worry, visiting a sick uncle and all? In the hospital no less?" she took a deep breath, turned around to leave the kitchen and screamed, her voice peircing her own ears.  Right in front of her was the man she thought she had seen on the porch, he frowned then tried to speak to her, his mouth moved but he could find no words. Annie turned to find a weapon to ward off the stranger, thinking defensively. She grabbed the first hing her hands came upon, a wooden pencil, and she turned around, holding the pencil threateningly in the air, ready to stab; and the man was gone. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and her normally smiling face was contorted with fear, her eyes darted left, then right, then forward again, and she realized that the man wasn't entirely gone. His eyes floated out in front of her, sad and deep blue, watery as though they held the ocean itself within them. Annie felt another scream traveling rapidly up her throat, her hair on the back of her neck was standing at attention along with the goosebumps that had riddled her body, she dropped the pencil, it made a sound like a snap as it hit the ceramic tiled kitchen floor and it then rolled to the edge of the counter. The scream stay lodged in her throat, and she heard the sound of her own heavy breathing, and the wind was pushing against the windows, as though trying to get at her, and she could hear her name again, as the voice outside called for her "Aaannnnieeee....." it beckoned. Her ears were tuned to the wind but her deep blue eyes were fixed frightiningly on the seemingly floating eyes before her. She felt faint, her legs wanted to buckle and her mind wanted to snap off and shut everything out, as though it would be protected that way. A few black dots swam before her, distorting the intent gaze, she felt light all over, she felt herself sway, she gabbed the counter for support, and a voice spoke, not the wind, but the eyes. "Don't go" it seemed to struggle, the wind slammed the kitchen windows furiously one time and Annie turned to look, when she turned back the eyes were gone. The wind called her name once more and then Annie was left in total silence. She slowly sat down on the kitchen floor and drew up her knees, she wrapped her arms around them and rested her forehead upon them, breathing very deeply. She began to try and calm herself down realizing how badly she was shaking, and tried desperatly to find some reasoning among the scraps of madness. A meow sounded from beside her and she jumped, looking up suddenly, the cat had wandered into the kitchen and was looking at her questioningly. "You scared me!" she said to the cat, and she found herself letting out a slight nervous chuckle. She reached over and pet the cat on the head, the cat began purring and leaned into her hand.  Annie chuckled again and then stood up, she was still shakey but she wasn't about to sit on the kitchen floor untill her parents were home either. She walked back to the den and flopped back into her seat. She picked up one of the photo albums and flipped through the pages absently so her hands would have something to do, but her mind was slowly wandering a thousand miles away. "Don't Go" she quietly and absently repeated aloud, "Don't go where?" she then questioned. The wind began to rise again, and the voice right along with it, but Annie hardley noticed, not untill the voice grow louder, and now it was saying more than Annies name, it was saying "Aaannnnieeeee..... come to me Annnieeee, come to meee....." it was begining to sound like the enchanting voice of a woman. About an hour had passed with the wind picking up and dying down and the chanting voice was begining to stay pretty constant, it kept inviting Annie to come to it, and Annie was begining to consider it, just to shut it up. She had not seen, nor heard anything from the man, or his eyes for that matter, this at least was a little comforting.  The was upstairs now, lying in her bed, she had gotten a quick shower, shuffled into her bed clothes, and now lay down, snuggled under the covers, her head lay on the pillow, the bedside lamp was on, keeping the room lit dully, and her book lay open and forgotten, she couldn't concentrate, and she knew she was about a thousand miles from sleep. She could only lay there and listen, and wonder if anyone else, a neighbor or something, could hear her name in the wind. She was willing to bet they couldn't. She starred at her bedroom door, it was closed, mostly to keep the cat out, and the knob began to turn, she sat up a little, but did nothing more but watch, she didn't think much anything else could shock her tonight, not after all that had happened so far. The door opened, stayed open a moment or so, and then quietly closed. She listened as the sound of footsteps came a bit closer and then stopped a few feet away from the bed, she looked at the area where they had stopped. She shivered as a cold chill crept around her, and she snuggled the covers closer. "Annie" the voice of a man said. "Annie dear, I finally found you! Where have you been?" the mans voice asked. "I never stopped looking for you, never once, why did you leave me, I was so sad...." he sounded on the verge of tears, but there was nothing to him but a voice, Annie still knew who he was. She could remember his eyes.  "Look sir" she started "I am not who you think I am. My name is Annie, yes, but my last name isn't Smith, its Robbison. I am not even out of high school yet!" she told him, trying to keep her voice under control, trying to keep fear out of it. "Annie......?" he questioned. "What was it you heard that night Annie, you said 'It's the wind, the wind is calling me, she wants me to come to her" after a while you seemed to go half mad and you just ran out, just tell me what happened, where did you go?" he asked, seeming to ignor what Annie told him. "Mister, I don't know what you are talking about, I havent went anywhere, but...... " she paused for a moment "but the wind, it is calling me, why would it do that? What would the wind want with me?" "They, they said" his voice broke a moment and he sobbed "they said that they found your body broke on the rocks, bellow the cliffs, but I didn't believe them, I knew, I, I just knew you were still out there somewhere." He paused again sobbing, this time for a bit longer, "and now I found you! I finnally found you" he cried. "Just why would you think I am her?" Annie said, getting frustrated. Outside the wind began to beat furiously on the window, and the voice grew louder still, begging, pleading with Annie to come out to it. Annie was growing more and more confused. "What do you want with me?" she yelled, looking out the window of her bedroom. "Youuu!" the wind seemed to yell back. "You can't have me!" she yelled, slamming her fists down. "Noooo!" the voice of the man said, sounding very old "Noooo" he sobbed "Not again, don't take her again!" he called, and his voice broke into sobs again "Not again!" he choked out at a whisper. "Oh Annie don't go, I'm so sorry!" he cried. Annie was more confused than ever, what was going on, she wondered. "What is it, what does the wind want with me?" she asked the voice. "Not, not the wind, don't you recognize the voice? It's your sister Annie, your sister, Its Elizabeth." he sobbed again "This is all my fault." she heard his feet shuffle quickly across the floor, her door quickly opened, the footsteps left and the door slammed shut, she heard the footsteps run down the hall and down the stairs, sobbs were flowing with it. Annie sighed heavily and then crawled out of bed. She knew she had to get to the bottom of this before something bad happened. She wished her parents were home already. She left her bedroom and went downstairs, she followed the sounds of the sobs to the den, she entered the room and stood by the doorway a moment listening to the sobs that had no body to make them, she wished she could console the man, but she could only stand and wait. "You really don't recognize the voice? Don't you remember?" the choked voice asked her. "No, I have no idea whats going on!" she stated softly. "Why would it be your fault? she then asked the voice. He heaved a sigh and then started "Well if you really don't remember then I suppose I must tell you." he said, sounding as though he had no choice. "Before I met you I was courting your sister Elizabeth, I became engaged to her. I went with her to meet her family and I met you, her little sister. You were much younger than Elizabeth and I, but I fell in love with you right away, but I was confused. I thought I loved your sister, but I realized it was you who had captured my heart. I guess you can say I jilted your sister Elizabeth, I called off the engagement. It took a while for me to get you to agree to let me court you. Are you sure you don't remember this?" he broke off. "No I don't know anything about it" she stated. "Well" he said, sounding as though he would rather not be telling the story. "She got very upset. I suppose I must have broke her heart, thats what everyone claimed anyway, and she decided that she was going to get even with me. She got into some bad stuff, black arts or magic or something. She changed, she was always hurting people after that, being mean to them, anyway, one day they found her in her boarding room where she was staying she was hanging, and there was a note. I don't remember what it said exactly, but in it she vowed to get even with you and I from beyond the grave, but no one took her seriously, no one, I mean she was dead! No one comes back from the dead!" he stated. Annie swallowed hard, during the speach the mans oceany blue eyes had appeared again, but that was it. "Well I used to believe no one came back from the dead too, but now I am not so sure" she told him. "I mean you're here!" she tried to smile. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Never mind that." she said "Just a few minutes ago in my room did you hear her voice, this Elizabeth's voice, out in the wind?" she asked. "Yes, I did." he stated, it was hard to tell by his eyes alone whether this confused him or not, this whole ordeal. "And, back when Annie left you, to goout to the wind, did you hear the voice then?" she asked. He was silent for a moment. "No" he said, quietly. "Strange, you heard it this time but not then" Annie stated. This made her wonder something else. "How long did you look for Annie?" she asked him. "Oh, years!" he exclaimed, "I lost count, but I traveled many places, searching for you!" he stated, a bit proudly. "And what year do you think it is?" she asked. He suddenly began looking around the room, suddenly aware that his surroundings were mostly like something he had never seen, foreign to him. She could read this in his eyes. The wind was slamming forcefilly at the windows, and Annie looked over at them, one of the windows had cracked. The wind slammed again and the windows blew into the room in a jagged array of projectile pieces, Annie just had time to cover her face, but some of the glass stuck in to her, poking out of her arms and various places on her legs and torso. She cried out in pain, and uncovered her face, the voice was right outside the window, calling to her, but it wasn't a nice and coaxing voice anymore, it was cruel and full of venom. "Annie, I am growing impatient" the voice stated, a pale face materalized outside the windows, the chin was kind of sharp, the cheekbones high, she seemed to have light brown hair, it blew all around her, and she appeared to be flying or floating, her legs were pointed back some, but not quite out behind her, her dress was white, she appeared to glow, and her eyes appeared to be coal black. "Annie, come to me, now, I don't want to hurt you, you belong with me" the voice held a powerful tone and Annie found her self moving towards the woman. The woman disappeared for a moment as though the wind blew her apart and then she appeared again, and evil smile played upon her face. Annie felt blood creeping down her skin in several places, it felt like spiders running across her, she looked down and gasped, there were spiders, hundreds of then running down her arms, her legs, her stomache, hundreds of little black spiders. Annie screamed and began swiping at them, the woman outside the window laughed a mean laugh. The spiders all disappeared but Annie was still swiping at herself, not even realizing she was causing the pieces of glass to dig in and rip her flesh more, untill the pain shot through her. Still out of nervousness and fear she swatted at herself more.  She forced herself to stop, it still felt like spiders running down her but, it was only the blood racing towards the floor. Tears had pooled in her eyes from the pain, and she began picking glass out of herself. First out of her arms and then her chest and stomache, luckily the pieces weren't in very deep. She moved on to her legs, begining to sobb a bit now. She hadn't even noticed that the man was gone now. Annie swallowed hard, during the speach the mans oceany blue eyes had appeared again, but that was it. "Well I used to believe no one came back from the dead too, but now I am not so sure" she told him. "I mean you're here!" she tried to smile. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Never mind that." she said "Just a few minutes ago in my room did you hear her voice, this Elizabeth's voice, out in the wind?" she asked. "Yes, I did." he stated, it was hard to tell by his eyes alone whether this confused him or not, this whole ordeal. "And, back when Annie left you, to goout to the wind, did you hear the voice then?" she asked. He was silent for a moment. "No" he said, quietly. "Strange, you heard it this time but not then" Annie stated. This made her wonder something else. "How long did you look for Annie?" she asked him. "Oh, years!" he exclaimed, "I lost count, but I traveled many places, searching for you!" he stated, a bit proudly. "And what year do you think it is?" she asked. He suddenly began looking around the room, suddenly aware that his surroundings were mostly like something he had never seen, foreign to him. She could read this in his eyes. The wind was slamming forcefilly at the windows, and Annie looked over at them, one of the windows had cracked. The wind slammed again and the windows blew into the room in a jagged array of projectile pieces, Annie just had time to cover her face, but some of the glass stuck in to her, poking out of her arms and various places on her legs and torso. She cried out in pain, and uncovered her face, the voice was right outside the window, calling to her, but it wasn't a nice and coaxing voice anymore, it was cruel and full of venom. "Annie, I am growing impatient" the voice stated, a pale face materalized outside the windows, the chin was kind of sharp, the cheekbones high, she seemed to have light brown hair, it blew all around her, and she appeared to be flying or floating, her legs were pointed back some, but not quite out behind her, her dress was white, she appeared to glow, and her eyes appeared to be coal black. "Annie, come to me, now, I don't want to hurt you, you belong with me" the voice held a powerful tone and Annie found her self moving towards the woman. The woman disappeared for a moment as though the wind blew her apart and then she appeared again, and evil smile played upon her face. Annie felt blood creeping down her skin in several places, it felt like spiders running across her, she looked down and gasped, there were spiders, hundreds of then running down her arms, her legs, her stomache, hundreds of little black spiders. Annie screamed and began swiping at them, the woman outside the window laughed a mean laugh. The spiders all disappeared but Annie was still swiping at herself, not even realizing she was causing the pieces of glass to dig in and rip her flesh more, untill the pain shot through her. Still out of nervousness and fear she swatted at herself more.  She forced herself to stop, it still felt like spiders running down her but, it was only the blood racing towards the floor. Tears had pooled in her eyes from the pain, and she began picking glass out of herself. First out of her arms and then her chest and stomache, luckily the pieces weren't in very deep. She moved on to her legs, begining to sobb a bit now. She hadn't even noticed that the man was gone now. After Annie had removed all the glass from her person, the glass she could see and feel, she cleaned it off the floor. Some of the pieces had sliced her fingers open as she plucked them from herself, and the fingers now stung. She went upstairs to the bathroom and began cleaning herself up, she was in a bit of a daze now. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, glass was twinkling and catching the light in her hair. She shook her hair out in the trash, then used the mirror to help her see to pick some of the other glass out, she was sobbing again. Afterwards she changed out of her bloody torn clothes and put on some clean clothes, she started to climb into her bed, then looked across to the window in her room, that the wind was now beating against, the lady appeared beyond it, and began to laugh, Annie bolted out of the room, she heard the the window blow in behind her, and the insane laughter grew louder for a moment. Then "Annie, come on dear, come out to me and I will leave you alone, come on" the voice coaxed. Annie stood in the hallway, breathing deeply, she turned to her left, towards the stairs, and saw the man standing there. She walked towards him a few paces, and stopped, she looked directly into his eyes. "I am not alive anyore am I?" he asked, a bit timidly. Annie stopped herself from being short with him and said "No, you are not, and as far as I know I am your great great great grand-daughter" she finished. He only nodded, and seemed to contemplate something. "Then I must ask you to forgive me for earlier, for not listening when you tried to tell me" he stated. It was Annies turn to nod. "I think that I must straighten this mess out with Elizabeth." he informed her a bit sadly. "I must make her see that you are not who she thinks you are. I think she must be under the same assumption I was, that you are her younger sister. I think perhaps I was sent here to protect you from her." he said.  "I will try my best to do just that." "Thank you...." Annie said, not really sure; alot had happened to her in one night, a lot of stuff she still didn't quite understand. The two of them headed downstairs, Annie behind the man she hardley knew, in the hallway Annie grabbed a light coat and pulled it on, the man patiently waited for her. Then the two went out the front door, out into the wind. It didn't take Elizabeth long to appear in front of them, this time she actually put both feet on the ground. "You have finally come to me....." she broke off, a troubled look crossed her face, she realized that the man could see her "Arthur?" she questioned, unsure. "Yes Elizabeth, it's me" he said, resolved. "You can see me?" she questioned. "Yes, I can." "But how... how, I am supposed to appear only to Annie!" she exclaimed, she was now beginning to sound a bit angry, as though her "powers" were failing her in some way by not appearing only to Annie. "I am not alive, and I suppose your spell must protect against only living souls not seeing you, save for Annie" he told her. Her brow creased. "A technicality. You can't stop me, I am too powerful, and I am taking her!" she informed them. "No." He stated firmly. She stepped back a moment, becoming more unsure of herself. She then laughed again, but the laugh wavered. "What are you going to do to me then, to stop me?" she inquired. "Elizabeth, this girl is not your sister." he told her. She raised her eyebrows at him, then looked at her. She smiled then. "You can not fool me that easily!" she laughed. "Come along Annie, quit stalling." She gave a one sided smile and raised one hand, palm up towards her, then lowered it, Annie felt the crawling sensation again, she looked down, not being able to stop herself, she took a few steps back and screamed, not only were spiders crawling all across her but snakes were striking towards her feet, one wrapped itself around her leg and began slithering up then something moved her hair from beside her ear and she looked over, a large rat was perched on her shoulder. Annie screamed louder and smacked the rat off of her shoulder, then kicked her leg, trying to free the snake from it, the other snakes, feeling threatened by this began striking at her foot, a blacksnake latched onto her big toe. Annie kicked wildly and began hopping backwards some. Elizabeth laughed the whole time. "Stop it!" Arthur commanded. "Stop it now, that is not your sister!" Elizabeth stopped laughing and looked flatly at him. "Quit trying to fool me!" she roared. "Look at her clothes, look at the houses, the roads!" he shouted "Are these things you can remember being here?" he asked. She backed up, looking confused, looking at the things around her, she backed up again. "But.... but, she looks just like Annie, it must be her!" she reasoned. Annie still screamed and danced wildly. Now some lights were coming on outside and inside houses, some neighbors were coming out on porches, concerned. None of them could see Arthur or Elizabth, none of them could see what was wrong with Annie. A few of the male neighbors began approaching her. "It's not her Elizabeth, let it go!" he commanded. "No!" she yelled, she tried to lunge past him and towards Annie "I must have my revenge!" "You already had it!" he growled. She stopped still, looked at him bewildered, her eyes flashed. "But, but....." desperatly she tried to run past him again, towards Annie who was still dancing and screaming hysterically, one of the neighbors had grabbed her shoulders and was trying to calm her down and get the story out of her. Arthur grabbed a hold of Elizabeth, she began to cry in her frustration. "Elizabeth, there is no place for us here, we must go." he stated, Elizabeth threw herself in his arms and began pounding his back, but the spiders and snakes disappeared from Annie. Annie looked up and dead into Elizabeths furious eyes. "Her..... her eyes, they are blue!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "Annies eyes were green!" she said. She stopped struggling in Arthurs arms, she backed up a bit and looked into his eyes. "Oh Arthur... why!" she cried. "Come on Elizabeth, lets go. I am truly sorry that I hurt you, I really didn't mean to, but don't you think I have had enough punishment?" he asked, "And Annie too?" A blue light enveloped the two, Annie stared at them, the light swallowed them, and then disappeared. Annie collapsed in the neighbors arms. "A...a uh a snake, I saw a snake!" she said to him. "Is that all? Geez, you scared the crap out of us!" he exclaimed. After Annie explained that a snake had given her a fright and everyone had went back inside their houses, she stood outside a moment and collected herself, her parents had just pulled in as everyone began shutting off their outside lights again, the wind was perfectly still. Her dad stopped the car and her parents ran over to her. "Annie? Honey is something wrong? Why are you standing out here so late?" her mom questioned. Annie smiled a bit embarassedly and said "I saw a snake Mom, that all!" her mother sighed and her dad got back in the car and pulled into the carport. Annie walked inside with her mother. "Oh yeah, and the wind picked up awful fierce for a while, it blew in the den windows" she stated. "What!" her mother exclaimed. "It's alright, I picked up all the glass, but I didn't know what to patch the windows with." she told her. "Oh Annie, you should have called...." she broke off to tell her husband who had just come in through the kitchen. Annie was standing in the den's doorway, she walked over to the book cases, one of the photo albums as laying open on the floor in front of it. She bent and picked it up, Arthur was back in his chair. She smiled. "Thank you!" she whispered and put the album on the shelf. "Oh honey are you alright?" her father asked, coming across the room towards her. "Sure Daddy" she said, and hugged him. "Oh, the window in my room blew in too" she remembered aloud. "You sure it was just wind? Your room is facing the other side of the house?" he questioned. "Yeah Daddy, just the wind." Terra Mae 10/16/2001