.................Harriet POV.............

drip...

drip...

drip...

the dripping tap echoes through the house, breaking the hollow silence that fills the rooms.

The thing in my head starts crawling across my skull in impatience, I haven't fed in a few days. I push the gnawing thoughts to the back of my mind and start to wonder what to do with Brian so he's out of the picture.

Tasmin sits stiffly on the stairs absentmindedly biting her thumb nail. She looks so pathetic sitting there, eyes puffy from crying and hair hidden under an over sized hoodie.

"Hey Taz?" I say quietly, careful not to send her back into a fit of tears. "Should we go downtown and get something to eat? We have no food."

Tasmin shrugs, avoiding my eyes as she taps her fingers in time with the dripping tap.

"Come on let's take your mums car, I can drive."

Well, I think I can, looks simple enough. If a human can do it then so can I. Grabbing the car keys off the counter, I gently coax Tasmin off the staircase to which she gets in the passenger's side without batting an eye as I lurch the old Holden into drive.

"You left the handbrake on." Tasmin croaks.

"Oh hah, right." I gulp nervously, making my way jerkily to the supermarket.

..............Tasmins Pov................

Somehow we make it to the supermarket in one piece, Harriet drives like a maniac all the way here.

"Do we need milk?" Harriet asks me nonchalantly, Humming as she grabs a bottle. "Hey is that Alex?"

I see Alex's spiky hair before anything else as she quickly runs up and gives me a hug. It's comforting to see her, something normal.

"Wow you have gotten like, really thin Tazzy what have you been up to? Don't see you much at school these days."

I smile weakly, quickly averting my eyes. "Oh I'm good, I've been quite busy is all."

Alex and Harriet look at each other knowingly.

"What?" I ask defensively.

Alex snaps back into her perky voice. "Nothing! I'll see you around Tasmin, hopefully." Grabbing a bottle of skim milk, she disappears into the confectionery aisle.

I notice blonde hair dye and bleach in our shopping cart among the baby carrots and apple juice.

"Um why is this in here?" I pull the hair dye out with a picture of a yellow blonde model grinning on its cover.

"Oh I'm thinking of dying my hair blonde for a change. We can look like twins!" Harriet twirls a black tendril of her own hair, eyeing mine with an unreadable expression.

"We should go." Harriet hastily turns the cart around, pushing it towards the exit. I watch as she wiggles the cart past incoming customers down the narrow aisle.

"Harriet!" I puff, trying to catch up with her. "The checkout is over there." I point in the opposite direction, nodding to the attendant at the counter.

Harriet whips around "I know, I'm trying to make a break for it; Keep your voice down" she hisses quickly.

"What!" I squeak in alarm. A swift nudge in the ribs silences me as I meekly follow, hiding my face in my hoodie. As we pass through the doors, I think by a miracle we have made it until an alarm blares obnoxiously sending us into a frenzy as we sprint to the car. A scrabble of footsteps and muffled shouting quickly follows behind.

"Shit Shit!" Harriet huffs with urgency. "Grab what you can out of the cart and jump in the car, Ready?" I nod, breathless, scooping up bread, apple juice and yogurt while Harriet grabs the baby carrots, bleach and hair dye before ditching the cart into the legs of our pursuers.

The car doesn't start right away, sending us into a panic. My heart thudding like a drum as Harriet swears at the car in frustration.

"Come on you stupid old thing," She turns the key forcefully. I look over my shoulder to see the shopping attendants red in the face as they run towards us, only meters away. The car splutters into life suddenly, Harriet takes the opportunity to spin the wheel out out the car park, tires screeching leaving the smell of burnt rubber in her wake.

Laughing like a mad man, Harriet speeds out of town with her famous wide grin plastered on her face. "That was soooooo crazy! I can't believe we just did that, I've never stolen anything before." I sit in silence, unable to comprehend what I just did, what we just did.

"My god Taz you're not gonna sulk about this are you? It was fun, admit it."

I turn away from her, looking out the window to passing traffic. "We just stole about one hundred dollars worth of food. I can never show my face in there again, what is wrong with you?" I ask with poison on my tongue.

Harriet's smile fades, in its place a stony expression. "What's wrong with me? Well sorry Tasmin, but we did this together whether you like it or not. Your fault as much as mine so quit fussing and suck it up." Her voice softens a little as she sees my eyes start watering. "We need to stay together ok? I'm sorry this hurts you but we have no money right now, both of your parents are away and I'm sure they wouldn't want you to starve right?"

Wiping my eyes I consider her words, Harriet's right, As always. We did this together and we have to move on. "I guess." I murmur softly.

"That's the spirit!" Harriet exclaims as she pulls up to our house.

Brian meets us at the door, already eyeing what I have in my arms. "You bought apple juice!" He squeals gleefully.

"Hah yeah we bought it" Harriet smirks as she picks up her box of her hair dye. "Can you help me with this Taz? I want to dye my hair now."

"Yeah ok" I walk over and take the dye from her hand, reading the instructions. "Says we need to bleach it first, let's do that over the sink.

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Harriet stands close to the mirror, admiring her new blonde locks. "You did a good job Taz, I love it." I smile widely, proud of myself in a weird sense. Harriet beckons me over so we stand side by side. "See? we do look like twins." I try to keep smiling, but my bottom lip starts to tremble.

"Whats wrong?" she asks, her voice dripping with concern.

I look down at my bunny slippers feeling a pang of contempt "I just don't feel like myself anymore." Harriet puts her arm around me, her elbow resting on the bruise on the back of my neck, making it throb. "Aw Taz don't be like that, you're just having a rough time with your parents is all. I nod, shrugging her arm off as I climb into bed. she doesn't understand.

"Night." I whisper as Harriet turns off the light. I hope sleep will come and I hope it will come quickly.

The creature prowls my bed, its silver eyes glinting in the darkness, it's black lipped smile promising terrible things. I lie frozen stiff, unable to tear away my gaze from its long tongue as it slips out between its jagged jaws, only inches from my neck......

I scream until my throat is hoarse, sitting up sharply in my bed. I turn my head to see the bed next to me vacant. Harriet's gone.

'I'm just seeing things' I insist to myself. Shakily rising out of my bed, I start to go downstairs when I see down the hall from my room, Brian's door is open. He never does that, still afraid of monsters and things that lurk in the dark hallway. 'If only he knew the real monsters live inside your head' a voice whispers in the back of my head. I walk briskly to Brian's room, feeling the back of my neck prickle with a sense of dread. I walk in, his bed empty also, curtains are open, flooding the room with soft moonlight. The window is open too, I reach to close it when I catch a flash of glinting silver out of the corner of my eye.

I lean out the window to see Brian standing outside on the roof of the house, swaying dangerously close to the edge.

"BRIAN!" I scream, clambering out the window. I nervously tread over the roof tiles, still slippery from last nights rain. I notice his eyes shut, his head resting on his shoulder.

"Oh god he's asleep" I croak in alarm. Careful not to startle him, I gently grab his arm, leading him away from the edge. Once we get to the window I shake him a little, patting his face so he would climb back inside. "Brian? wake up, Brian please." His eyelids flutter for a moment before opening. The whites of his eyes completely bloodshot, He recoils away from me screaming.

"GET AWAY FROM ME, PLEASE, LET ME GO!"

I let go of his arm in surprise, I watch horrified as he slips over the edge.   

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~ Authors note ~ 

Tasmin's starting to reach her breaking point, will this send her over the edge? Did Harriet have anything to do with this or was it wishful thinking? let me know in the comments and remember to vote if you enjoyed this chapter.  

And remember, there's more than what meets the eye.