Next day, on Saturday, Alys woke up earlier than usual. She usually slept at least till 10am on the weekends, especially during summer vacations, but because her parents were on a trip, her aunt Jeanne volunteered to come over every Saturday, to check up on her nephews, shop for the groceries and do the laundry, so Alys had to get up before 7am. Their aunt lived nearby, so it wasn’t a problem for her to come over every weekend.

Jeanne showed up at seven o’clock, which was frankly quite early, however, it allowed her to have plenty of time to do the chores and to spend some time with Alys and Kyle. She absolutely adored them ever since the day they were born.

After Jeanne put the laundry into the washer, she drank a cup of coffee, while watching TV with Alys and Kyle, and then, at about ten o’clock, she got ready to go to the store.

“Alys, are you coming with us?” asked Jeanne, when she and Kyle were already standing at the doorway.

“Nah, I’ll stay at home …” she replied lazily. “My friend’s gonna come over soon, to return the DVD he borrowed from me before the school ended.”

“Ok. We’ll be back in two hours or so.”

“Why so long?”

“Jeanne’s going to buy me a pair of new sneakers,” smiled Kyle. “My current ones are getting too small.”

“Have fun …” waved Alys and then resumed watching cartoons.

About fifteen minutes after Jeanne and Kyle left the house, somebody rang the doorbell. When Alys opened the door, she noticed the friend she was expecting today.

“Hey,” greeted the tall brown-eyed brunette with a small golden-yellow earring in his left ear, and entered the house. “Brought the DVD,” he said and handed it over. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah, my brother and aunt just went shopping,” she replied and closed the door. “So, wanna see the game that I was talking about yesterday? It’s really good!”

“Sure thing,” he smiled and then followed her upstairs and into her room.

When Alys entered the room with a guy, Night completely panicked.

“Please don’t tell me they’re gonna do, what I think they’re gonna do …” he panicked, as he had no desire of witnessing something like that.

“Just a sec, I’ll start up the computer …” said Alys and pushed the button.

She then sat on her computer chair, but just as she was about to type in the password, her friend suddenly leaned over her and whispered in her ear.

“Why don’t we do something even more fun?”

Alys instantly jumped up from her chair and took a few steps away from him, with her back now facing her bed.

“D-don’t scare me like that …” she tried to laugh it off. “What do you mean something more fun? I thought you wanted to see the game?”

“Games can wait,” he began stepping towards her, while she kept distancing herself from him, which ultimately caused her to hit the bed and fall back on it with her back.

And before she knew it, her friend was on top of her.

“Stop it, this isn’t funny!” Alys raised her voice.

“That’s good, because I’m not joking,” he smiled.

Night kept observing the scene from the fish tank, trying to mind his own business, and also wondered at the same time, why aren’t there any feelings of fear coming from Alys. Maybe she wasn’t really disliking it? Maybe that guy was actually her boyfriend? However, no matter how he looked at the scene, that was just unfolding in front of him, he just couldn’t find a plausible explanation for it. Alys didn’t seem to be enjoying it one bit.

The brunette was getting more and more forceful with Alys, as she kept struggling underneath him. And then Night suddenly froze on the spot, as he saw the guy lowering his face towards Alys’s lips.

“There’s … There’s no way in hell I’m letting you do this, you bastard!” Night suddenly transformed into his real form, intending to rush towards the guy and pull him off of her, only to freeze on the spot a moment later, as he witnessed the scene of Alys sending the guy flying off the bed with a kick.

“You little shit …” Alys spoke with a threatening tone and set one foot on the bastard’s chest – near his neck - to keep him down on the floor. “Is this how you treat a girl – and a good friend at that?” she angered with a killer look in her eyes.

And then she suddenly realized that there was a third person in the room with them. She turned her head towards the silver haired boy, who’s outfit reminded of a calico goldfish, and stared at him for a few moments, with a blank expression on her face.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Err …” Night had no idea how to respond. “Hi?”

“Who the hell is this freak?!” angered the brunette, who lay on the floor, and then shoved Alys’s foot away, making her lose her balance and nearly fall on the floor.

Luckily Night quickly appeared behind her back and caught her in his arms.

“What the -?!” freaked out the brunette, as he saw him suddenly disappear and then re-appear behind Alys.

“You, who dare call such a beautiful creature, such as myself, a freak …” Night spoke in a menacing tone. “Do you wish to have a taste of your own medicine tonight?”

“Wh-what are you talking about …?” the brunette nearly trembled in fear, as Night’s furious eyes stared directly at him.

“I can make it so that you’ll have nightmares of other people doing the same thing to you, that you just intended to do to Alys, every single time you go to sleep – for the rest of your pathetic life.”

“What …?”

“If you manage to get out of this house in five seconds, I’ll rethink about wasting my precious time and energy on you. Five … four …”

The brunette didn’t want to waste a single second more around that silver haired lunatic, so he bolted out of Alys’s room and out of the house, as fast as he could, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

“Are you ok?” said Night and looked down, to see Alys’s face, only to notice her angry eyes that were staring directly at him. “Shit,” reality suddenly caught up to him. “I-I … can explain?”

“You’d better.”

After a few minutes of discussion – which consisted mostly of Night trying to persuade Alys that he wasn’t some kind of a cosplayer or a mad-man, who broke into her house, for whatever the reason – Alys finally gave up and decided to believe what he was saying.

“So you’re telling me that you’re a demon that eats fear?” Alys asked once more, with a doubtful expression on her face.

“Exactly,” Night proudly replied, glad that he finally got through to her. “And here’s another evidence – see the fish thank over there? The calico goldfish is missing, right?”

“Hmm?” Alys looked at the fish tank for a while, only to see that the fish was in fact missing. “What did you do to Sparky?!” she suddenly angered and faced Night.

“Calm down, calm down! I’m Sparky! I mean … I’m not Sparky, I’m Night, but …”

“What did you do to my fish?” she asked in a voice full of malice.

“Nothing! I was that fish! I’m the one you bought!” Night hurried to explain. “I swear! Look, I’ll show it to you!” he added and then transformed back into the calico goldfish – re-appearing inside of the fish tank.

Alys and the calico goldfish stared at each other for a while and then she suddenly approached the fish tank and spoke to the fish.

“So, are you trying to say that not only you are a freaking demon, but also a peeping tom?” she looked at Night with an evil glare.

“What are you doing, Night …? You’re just digging your own grave, with every single word you say …” the calico goldfish cried in his mind.

Night then disappeared once more and re-appeared outside of the fish tank – behind Alys – in his original appearance.

“I-I couldn’t help it …” he stuttered, as he was trying to explain himself. “It’s your fault for changing your clothes in the room!”

“It’s my bedroom, of course I’m gonna change my clothes in here!” blushed Alys, as she faced the boy. “D-did you look …?”

A moment of complete silence went by and then Night cheerfully answered the question.

“Of course not! There’s nothing worth seeing on a small busted girl like you, so why should I even bother?” he smiled, thinking that he was saved from Alys’s wrath, since he didn’t see anything, but oh boy, was he wrong.

“Ha?” she spoke in a furious voice, scaring the boy.

“Dammit, I will not let myself be intimidated by a mere human! Pull yourself together, Night! She’s just a human girl, for crying out loud!” he reproached himself in his mind.

“Well, whatever …” Alys suddenly dropped her angry attitude, since she was actually quite relieved to hear those words, to be honest – about the fact that he wasn’t looking, that is. “How should I explain this to my brother, when he gets home …?” she sighed. “He’ll be devastated, when I tell him, that the fish, we had picked out together, died.”

“Why not tell him the truth then?”

“Ha?” she glared at Night once again. “How the hell do you even expect me to explain something like this to my little brother? ‘Hey, Kyle, guess what? Today I found out that we actually bought a human-looking demon, who can also shape-shift into fish to peek at girls, while they’re changing! Ohoho, what a surprise!’ – is that what you’re expecting me to say?”

“Well, you can leave the peeking thing out … And I already told you I wasn’t looking!”

“Says a GUY! Do you really expect me to believe you?! All guys are pervs – it’s practically in your genes!”

“Oh, then you must’ve surely known that fact, when you brought that friend of yours up into your BEDROOM, right?!” he quickly returned the blow.

“W-well … T-that was … Ugh …” Alys found herself unable to retort.

“What’s wrong? Kitty got your tongue?” Night kept on going, provoking the orange haired girl.

“A-anyway … I … I can’t possibly tell Kyle about this, because there’s no way he’s gonna believe me. And I can’t possibly tell him that the fish had died either …” she found herself in a huge dilemma.

“Well, I’ll be sticking around for a while longer, so you don’t have to tell him, that the fish had died, just yet. Actually, you don’t have to tell him anything to begin with.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alys gave him a suspicious look.

“I’ll just keep on swimming around your fish tank, until I get a taste of your fear, and then I’ll be out of your life forever,” he smiled.

And then Alys suddenly began laughing. However, her laugh was anything but cheerful. It was the darkest, most evil laugh that Night had ever heard in his entire life.

“You seriously think you can make me tremble with fear?” she gave him a challenging look, which was overflowing with her self-confidence. “Very well then, challenge accepted!”

“Are you seriously challenging me? Me, the great dream demon Night? Ha!” he laughed and stepped closer to the girl, so that they were glaring at each other from only a few inches away. “A mere human like you stands no chance against someone like me. I’ll be having you tremble in fear in no time! And I’ll be sure to give you a nightmare that will keep you unable to sleep properly for three nights in a row!”

“We’ll see about that,” she smiled devilishly.

And then a racket, that was suddenly heard from downstairs, interrupted them, dispersing the tensions between them in a flash.

“Alys, why is the front door open?!” aunt Jeanne shouted, after she and Kyle both entered the house and put down the bags.

“My friend just left and I didn’t go down to close them yet!” yelled Alys in response.

“It’s rude to let the guests leave by themselves and not walking them to the door, you know?!”

“Sorry!”

“Come down here and help us put the groceries away!”

“Coming!” replied Alys and then faced Night again. “Don’t you dare take a single step out of my room, while my aunt is here, got it?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he assured her, while Alys headed out of her room.

She was gone only for about three seconds and then returned back. She peeked inside at the doorway and looked at Night.

“Umm … About before … Thank you …” she quietly thanked the silver haired boy for helping her, making him blush a little, and then headed downstairs.

When Jeanne was done with the laundry late in the afternoon, she made dinner for her nephews and then returned back home. When Alys and Kyle were finally alone, Alys nervously faced her little brother, saying that she’s got something to tell him. She decided to tell him the truth. Kyle listened to her explanation about Night very carefully, his interest growing stronger with each passing second.

“Sparky is actually a demon?!” Kyle raised his voice, once Alys was more or less done explaining the situation. “That’s awesome!”

“Eh …? Awesome? Aren’t you scared or anything? And you actually believe everything I just told you?” Alys was amazed by his reaction.

“Of course I believe you – you never lie to me after all!” he smiled. “And why would I be afraid of Sparky? You said he helped you with your rude friend, right?”

“Well, that’s true, but …”

“Can I go see him?!” Kyle quickly interrupted her in excitement and quickly ran up the stairs, without even waiting for his sister’s reply.

“Kyle, wait …!” Alys immediately ran after him and soon found herself back in her room.

“Where is he?” Kyle looked around and then spotted the calico goldfish swimming inside the fish tank. “Come out, Sparky,” he knocked on the glass, making the fish turn towards him. “Alys told me about you. Is it true that you’re a dream demon?” he spoke in excitement, his eyes sparkling like two blue diamonds.

The calico goldfish kept staring at the boy for a while and then suddenly disappeared.

“Huh? Where did he go?” wondered Kyle.

“So you told him, huh? And there you thought he wouldn’t believe you …” spoke Night, who was now standing behind the boy.

“Well, most people wouldn’t believe something like that, without seeing it with their own eyes,” frowned Alys.

“I guess you’re right … Our kind rarely interacts with humans like this, so it’s no wonder that you consider us as creatures that only exist in fantasy. I was also quite doubtful that you’d believe your sister right off the bat like this, without her even showing you any proof of what she said,” Night then spoke to Kyle.

“That’s because Alys never lies to me – not even on April Fool’s,” smiled the orange haired boy in reply.

“Just how bloody attached is this girl to her little brother …?” thought the silver haired boy to himself.

“So, how long are you going to stay?” Kyle happily went on.

“Until I manage to scare the living hell out of your sister with my nightmares,” he smirked.

“Then you’ll be staying with us for quite a while, huh?”

“Wha-?! Of course not!” angered Night, since the boy just suggested that he will most likely fail in his attempts of scaring Alys many, many times. “Who do you think I am?” he proudly retorted. “I’m the great dream demon Night, who is well known in the demon world, as one that had never ever failed in giving his victims such scary nightmares that they all trembled in fear all night long – giving me plenty of fear to feed on!”

“Ha! We’ll see about that!” laughed Alys. “There’s no way in hell you’ll ever succeed in scaring me.”

“Oh, yeah? And how can you be so sure, Miss Ginger?” he provoked her.

“Because there’s not a single thing in this world that I’m afraid of, my adorable little Sparky,” she spoke in a fake friendly voice.

“Every human being is afraid of something – don’t try to act so though. A human girl like you stands no chance against me and my nightmares.”

“Are you sure? Then you’d better hurry up and think of something I might actually be afraid of, before you starve to death,” she gave him an evil smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be having you screaming in fear in no time.”

“It seems that this summer vacations are going to be very interesting,” thought Kyle, while those two kept on provoking each other. “I’m so glad I chose to stay at home,” he secretly smiled to himself.

Alys and Night kept on arguing back and forth for quite a while, until they both got tired of it. Kyle eventually returned back to his room, in order to play some computer games, as their constant arguing began to bore him to no end, leaving those two alone in the room. They were so busy fighting with each other that none of them even noticed that Kyle had left the room.

When they both finally had enough, Alys logged into her favourite online first-person shooter game, to calm herself down a bit, while Night threw himself on her bed and stared at the ceiling. He hadn’t had any fear to eat in the last four days, so he wasn’t exactly in his top condition – thus the arguing wore him even more than it should. His constant use of his powers of shape-shifting and teleporting, plus the effort of giving Alys nightmares that proved to be absolute failure, wasn’t helping much either, since it only helped increasing his hunger and exhausting him even further.

“I won’t be able to last much longer, if this goes on …” thought Night.

But no matter how worse his condition became with each passing day, he refused to move on to another human, without giving this girl her dose of scare first. His pride wouldn’t allow it.

He continued giving Alys nightmares night after night, only to have her reacting to them with joy, instead of fear.

“Shit …” he cursed as he suddenly collapsed on his knees in the hallway, near Alys’s room, as his legs wouldn’t hold him up anymore. “I think I’m nearing my limit … If I don’t get any fear to eat soon, I’ll … Shit … I won’t let her win … I definitely won’t let this girl win ...”