"It's me, Sam, don't scream."

Sam sat up, sheet bunched and clenched in both hands. "Chiro?"

His mattress shook ever so slightly. Sam bent toward the side and swallowed a screech when a dark head of hair popped out from beneath the bed. His body didn't react fast enough to stop his land from lashing out.

"Ow Sam!" Chiro hissed at him, rubbing his head as he wiggled out from beneath the bed. "Don't hit me either!"

"What are you doing under my bed? You are lucky I didn't hit you harder!"

Chiro finished pulling his legs out and climbed up to sit on Sam's bed with him. "Don't worry, nobody saw me come in here."

"Why would I worry about that, Chiro? Also, WHY WERE YOU UNDER MY BED?" Sam flinched when his mouth was covered, but he sheepishly nodded when he realized he was getting older than a whisper. "Sorry," he continued in a much lower voice, after removing Chiro's hand from his mouth.

"It was my room last night."

Sam stopped the words that were trying to come out and thought. He pursed his lips and looked at Chiro closely. "You were the one making the noises?"

"No I was ready not! Last night I woke up when my door unlocked. It was way too early to be morning. A few minutes later, something tried to get into my room."

"Come on, if your door was unlocked, then how did you keep them out? There was so much noise."

Chiro grinned, but there was no humor in it. "I moved the dresser against it and then pushed the bed behind that. But when I got to my room I saw all the furniture has been secured in its original spot. So I snuck in here."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Someone anchored your furniture? But why? What would be the point?"

"The door was unlocked, Sam. And someone tried to get into my room in the middle of the night." Chiro spoke slowly, watching as understanding lit in the boy's tired eyes. "It isn't a sickness, and people aren't running away, Sam. Something is killing people while others sleep, and it is being helped."

The fair-haired boy closed his eyes and pulled his knees tight against his chest, wrapping his arms around them. "I can't...Why would anyone do that, Chiro? It doesn't make sense."

"I don't know for sure, Sam. But if you don't believe me, then stay up and wait with me until after midnight. I bet that my door will be unlocked again, and whatever it is won't be happy I am not there."

Sam said he would do it, not because he didn't believe Chiro, but because he felt like Chiro needed to prove it. His eyes drifted shut and he took a much-needed nap, waking up when Chiro shook him, knocking his head against the wall in the process. A cold hand clamped across his mouth.

"It is there..."

Sam strained his ears. Strange noises were indeed coming from the other side of the wall he shared with the other boy. Chiro crawled off of the bed. When he reached Sam's door, he pressed his ear silently against the wood. Sam watched him, wringing his sheet between his hands. Eventually, Chiro came back, pushing Sam over on the bed so he could sit right next to him.

"I heard the footsteps, they sounded angry. They went down the stairs. With all of the rest of the doors locked they probably think I am hiding down there somewhere. That is a lot of rooms, hopefully it will take them all night."

"What if they figure it out and come back?"

Chiro yawned and closed his eyes, resting his head on Sam's shoulder. "No. I think the doors get unlocked, and then Butler locks himself up somewhere to be safe. Nobody will unlock this door until the morning. We can get some sleep, Sam."

Sam was astonished when Chiro did just that, his breaths slowing almost immediately as he fell asleep. Sam had no idea what was going on, and he wanted to wake Chiro up and make him explain. But, with the steady breathing of the boy next to him, and despite the fear trying to glue his eyes open, Sam managed to fall asleep as well.