Mr. Harbor couldn“t stand the deep heart-wrenching pain.

Not even his two beautiful daughters could pull him from his dark smoldering depression.

He took to drinking every night. He would arrive at work drunk and barely sane.

He lost his job soon after his wife“s murder. He barely noticed， he was so deeply

entrenched in his misery.

His daughter“s noticed however.That was when they lost their beautiful house and

had to move into the small unhappy house at the edge of a barren town.

The two sisters clung to each other in soul and spirit.

They kept the memories of their

family alive. It was the only way they found any happiness in

their lives now.

Their father hardly spoke two words to them

unless he was cursing about something. Despite the lack of

communication， the girls never failed to see the depression

lurking behind their father“s morbid actions.

After dragging him to his room， the girls lifted and shoved until

his lanky frame over flowed the too small bed. Working silently，

the girls cleaned up the mess of broken dishes and different pieces he

Had gotten his hands on before he passed out.

"What will we eat off now?" Seventeen year-old Allie worried

aloud.

"Don“t trouble yourself about it. Bark makes a good plate. And

we could go to the dump tomorrow and search for chipped dishes

that nobody wanted." Twenty-four year-old Hella leaned the

broom up in a corner and turned to face her worried sister. "Stop

worrying， Allie. We“ve always made do before. Broken dishes are

a long shot from the end of the world." She forced a cheerful

smile for her sister“s sake. "Remember what it was like to clean

house with mom?"

A smile lit Allie“s face like daybreak. "She made everything a

joy. Cleaning was like a game to her." She remembered.

"Yes." Hella agreed. "And we have her joyful spirit in ourselves.

Everything will be fine. We just have to keep smiling."

"And remember mom“s motto." Allie added.

"The best and beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or

touched. They must be felt with the heart. So don“t be afraid. Be

alive." The girls spoke the motto in unison.

Allie giggled softly.

"Mom always lived and believed that." She whispered. She didn“t

know what caused her to whisper. The moment just seemed

sacred some how， as if it deserved only whisperings.

"She did." Hella agreed in the same low voice. "And so should

we. We must never forget it."

Allie nodded. "Let“s go to bed， Hella. I“m tired."

Hella nodded and carried t

he single half-burned candle to their

room. Hella held it so Allie could see to turn down the bed. Once

Allie was under the covers， Hella blew out the candle and sat the

candle-holder on the floor beside the bed. Hella joined Allie

under the blanket.

All the houses in town had electric lights，

except for theirs. The tiny house was wired for lights， but the

Harbor“s never had enough money to spare for the luxury. "Will

you pray tonight?" Hella whispered into the darkness. The bed

trembled slightly as Allie nodded her head and began the prayer.

After amen was said， Hella soon drifted into unconsciousness.

The clock in the living room ticked off the passing hours. The

floorboards squeaked and the facet continued to drip. Around

three a.m. an eerie new sound pulled Allie from peaceful sleep.

She heard it again.

It sounded like finger nails being raked across

their window glass. She shuddered as the sound stopped， and then

it started again. She heard a groaning sound. It could be the wind

and a tree branch scraping at their window. That thought would

have brought her comfort， except for one fact: they had no trees

near their bedroom. Allie opened her mouth to wake her sister，

but the words stuck in her dry throat. An intense terror filled her

entire body. She was frozen - feeling terrified and extremely

unsafe. President R-has once been quoted as saying: “The only

thing we have to fear is fear itself- nameless， unreasoning，

unjustified terror which paralyzes efforts to convert retreat in

advance.“ Lying frozen in her bed， Allie felt the truthfulness of

that statement. The terror that held her pinned to the bed was

nameless， unreasoning， and unjustified. There was no reason to be

afraid. It was probably on a bad dream that had wakened her. But

then， why did she feel that something was completely and

horribly wrong?

"Allie， what“s wrong?"

Allie jumped， Hella“s sleepy voice breaking her free from her

paralyzing stupor. Somehow， Hella had sensed her sister“s uneasy

emotions and woke.

"I-I don“t know." Allie whispered. "I heard a scraping at the

window. Something just feels wrong. I feel so unsafe."

Hella wrapped her arms around Allie“s trembling body. "Shh....

It“s all right. You“re safe. I would die before I let anything happen

to you" Hella began to softly sing a song that had always

comforted Allie before. But tonight she wanted no part of it.

Pulling back from her sister“s arms， Allie tried to still her

trembling.