The morning broke with heavy dew and a clear blue sky. The silicone valley awakens as Don grabs for the clock sitting on the side drawer of the bed to turn off the alarm. It slips from his hand and falls to the ground. He just falls back to sleep never noticing his wife Rachel getting out of bed. Rachel walks over to the room of her six year old daughter Joanna. She watches her daughter soundly asleep but the temptation to kiss is too great. Joanna wakes up to her mother's caressing and good morning kiss.

"Mommy is daddy gone?" Joanna says almost in a whisper as she wipes the sleep off her eyes.

"No honey he's just woken up" Rachel answers.

Joanna jumps out of her bed and runs to the master bedroom where her father still lie sleeping while the alarm clock rings. She shuts the alarm off and walks over to the corner of the bed were Don clings to his pillow like it was one of those lifesaver flotation units. She places her hand over his shabby hair and whispers in his ear.

"Daddy you have to wake up now."

"Uh?" Don says grudgingly.

"Daddy its time to get up." Joanna shakes Don's shoulder.

"Whaa, uh?" Don's eyes barely open.

Rachel walks in and turns on the radio. She looks over to Joanna and smiles as she sees her trying to get her father up.

"Joanna its time to brush your teeth." Rachel's voice is almost a song.

"I can't mommy" Joanna wines.

"Why honey?" Rachel tips her head.

"Because daddy won't wake up!" Joanna's voice raises.

"Daddy won't wake up because he has that warm comfy blanket and pillow."

Rachel grabs the blanket and pulls it off Don, she then justures to Joanna to pull the pillow out from Don.

"Ok, Ok I'm getting up!" Don slowly rises looking toward his Daughter. Both Rachel and Joanna are giggling very near hard laughter.

" Joanna go brush your teeth like your mommy told you too." Don's voice is grumpy.

"Ok." Joanna walks out of the bedroom.

"You know you're teaching her some very bad and dangerous habits." Rachel says as she watches Joanna leave the room.

"I guess so, waking a giant sleeping daddy can be hazardous." Don says looking up at Rachel. Rachel climbs onto the bed on her hands and knees, a she lien forward and kisses her husband. They both look at each other smiling. Don grabs her ass and squeezes it; she lets out a small cry. Rachel looks into Don's eyes, the queue of the pause sets the moment.

"I swear I could just eat you right now." Rachel caresses Don's face.

Don sighs, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry but painful as it is I must get to the brilliant minds of the mother ship and report my findings of the strange mating habits of humans."

"Do you think they really care?" Rachel says smiling.

"No, but it makes them feel important." Don gets up and heads for the shower.

From the kitchen came the smells of coffee and warm pastries. Don's income combined with Rachel's could provide for a house, two cars, Joanna's education and an illegal house keeper, Conchita. Joanna spoons her cereal in a playful manner gulping each mouthful. Conchita frowns at her but Joanna just smiles. Don walks into the kitchen giving his usual good morning to Conchita. He grabs his muffin and she pours him a cup of coffee. The morning paper lay like always on the kitchen breakfast table. Rachel walks in fiddling with her left earring not paying much attention to Joanna's sloppiness.

"Eat like a lady!" Conchita exclaims with frustration as she watches Joanna play with her food.

"Joanna! Listen to Conchita" Rachel liens over and kisses Joanna. "By the way Don, Joanna has a recital this weekend, Please be there!"

"This weekend?" Don looks at Rachel in that way Rachel knows he can't make it.

"Don, no, you will be there!" Rachel says sternly.

"Uh? Well honey I'm not sure, you know this project, it's taken just about all of the weekends for the past six months." Don says with his hand behind his head.

"Well not this weekend…. I insist, this is very import to Joanna." Rachel's stares sternly at Don.

"Yeah daddy it's very important to me." Joanna says.

"All I can promise is I'll try." Don leans over to Joanna and kisses her.

Rachel sighs and Conchita shakes her head, Don takes a sip of his coffee and returns to reading his paper…

As Don drives onto the parking lot he notices a sign change on the opposite side of the building were his offices is situated. The odd thing is though he couldn't remember what the name of the company that was there before. Don's boss Bob Marino makes his way in as well. Bob's a nice guy but likes to keep a distance from the employees. He's not one to chum with anyone, who is subordinate, unless of course that individual makes his way to the president. Don's pretty much a straightforward kind of guy doesn't really like the politics of corporate life. The two men walk together in the parking lot making their way to the office.

"Good morning Bob, looks like another neighbor has left us again."

"Good riddance is all I can say. That firm was just another Over the Counter dot-com rip-off!" Bob says cynically.

"Was that what it was?" Don asks.

"Believe me the shop was a scam to get investors money, nothin but meaningless PRs and pie in the sky dreams." Bob shakes his head.

"Hugh" Don responds.

"Anyway Don did you finish the DLLs, I need to show that this application is three tier today. We're having a demo with all the sales reps form a national distributor."

Don opens the door for Bob. Don hesitates to answer.

"Bob…Just because the DLLs are done doesn't mean the front end is done. I mean you can demo it with an adhoc GUI, that we would have to put together, but that's all!"

"Don…Don don't give me this BS. We spoke last week and you swore the project would be demonstrable by this week!"

"Yeah, but I didn't say when this week!" Don's frustration was much too obvious.

Bob frowns and with disgust turns his back on Don. Don looks as if he has gotten a shorter rope than the short rope he just had. Don takes a deep breath and sweeps the office looking for familiar faces. Sally walks in from the break room with her usual coffee mug and bright smile.

"Morning Don." Sally's southern accent comes out with that certain twang that's just special.

"Morning Sally"

"Don did you know that management has this strange idea that the project can be demonstrated today?" Sally asks.

"Yeah I just herd it from Bob" Don says then sighs.

"Well just how is that supposed to happen?" Sally says frustratingly.

"Sally you're just going to have to do one of your miracles again." Don pleas to Sally.

"I thought we would have had at least by Wednesday to have something ready." Sally shakes her head.

"Just do an ad-hoc GUI, I'll deal with the heat." Don walks off to his cubicle shaking his head. The maze of cubicle in the office makes for a very sterile and bland environment. If it weren't for Don's fanciful Heavy Metal Posters by Luis Royo of scantly dressed women, the place would be barren of human decadence, other than incompetence. Don's peers and boss' have all criticized him for such art work hanging on the cubicle walls, once almost realizing itself as a sexual harassment suit. But Don is good, he is very good and so when push came to shove Don stayed, his posters stayed, and the sexual harassment issue was forgotten.

"I finally realize what I love about my life and sure isn't this place." Don says to himself, while he stares at the picture of Joanna. Don 's pause is interrupted.

"Don! Hey how's it goin.".

"Hey Mike, whatz up."

"Same old thing, but look uh don't tell anyone, but this is my last day." Mike said it in a very low tone.

"What?"

"Yeah, just gave my letter of resignation to Bob, should have seen the look on his face. Oh man, then he says; well you don't know what you'll be missin, this organization is going IPO real soon, I heard management is going to give all the hardworking loyal people of the firm some shares."

"Ssssh, yeah right." Don says with sarcasm.

"Yeah, I mean nobody is doin IPOs now and probably won't be for some time." Mike says candidly.

"Tell me about it I lost a bundle last year." Don exclaims.

"Anyway guy it's been a real pleasure working with you, wish I could say that about everyone here." Mike smiles and Don laughs.

"Well hey, we gotta celebrate your new found freedom, where are you goin anyway?" Don asks.

"Right next door!"

"What?" Don asks surprisingly.

"Yeah and something real far out, AI. I mean real AI, army contract and stuff!" Mike says with enthusiasm.

"Wow I'm impressed!" Don says, again surprised.

"Look I could put in a good word in for you if you like?" Mike says almost in a whisper.

"Appreciate it Mike but I…." Don answers.

"Just think about it, ok?" Mike interrupts.

"Yeah, thanks" Don responds uncomfortably.

"Talk with you later, and I'll take you up some time on what you said, we need to celebrate."

Silence engulfed the office as Mike walked off only to be interrupted by the Don's phone.

"This is Don."

"Hi Don Look I need you to explain to Jim why we can't do the demo today and…." Bob's whining was really getting on Don's nerve.

"Woo…who said we couldn't do it today?" Don asks.

"You did!" Bob responds confusingly.

"No I said we could only use a basic GUI to demo what we've done so far." Don says in a very methodical and stern voice.

"Ok, so we're functional but the GUI hasn't been done."

"That's correct." Don responds.

"Ok…Don I want you to do the demo today, do what ever you need to do to get ready. I'll have my secretary give you the address…"

Don rolls his eyes. "That's EMCR right? I know were they are."

"I'll get you the address anyway… and Don when you come back I want to talk with you." Bob's voice sounded concerned.

Don knew what Bob wanted to talk with him about and he wasn't sure if Bob could do anything about it. One thing for sure Don needed more time to spend with his family...

The demonstration went flawlessly the distributor couldn't wait to get their copies. Don looked at his watch it was too late to go back to the office Bob usually takes off around 6, it was now 6:30. As Don drove home he thought of Mikes move to the firm next door. Working on something as weird as AI is risky to one's career, especially if your specialty is IT. Don's thoughts then drifted to his family; he thought how surprised Rachel will be to see him home early. Joanna will actually be awake; he just might be in time for dinner too.

The fall season was darkening the evenings sooner and traffic is still heavy despite the time. Don thinks to himself;

"Its funny how California atracks so many people, millions, it's like California is the only state in the US with jobs." A black SUV pulls in front of him, Don sways to avoid a collision, and he honks his horn. He can see the driver through the side view mirror of the SUV flip him the finger. Don shakes his head, knowing not to respond for fear of some mad retaliation of road range. Don finds his exit and makes his way home…

Joanna is eating her dinner when she notices headlights coming up the driveway. She jumps out of her chair and runs for the door.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Joanna exclaims.

"Joanna come back here and finish your dinner!" Conchita calls out.

The front door opens and Joanna's wide eyes and big smile greet Don. Rachel walks hurriedly down the stairs.

"Daddy!"

Don picks up Joanna and kisses her.

"Have you been a good girl for daddy?"

Joanna nods her head.

"Well then daddy is goin to take his favorite little girl…." Don turns his head.

"Excuse me?" Rachel interrupts.

"I mean favorite girls to some ice cream!" Don returns his look to Joanna.

"Yey!" Joanna exclaims.

"Honey she hasn't finished dinner yet!" Rachel says with concern.

Don leans over and kisses his wife.

"Well I guess dinner is going to be ice cream!" Don swings around in circles holding Joanna as if she is flying in the air. Rachel gives in to Don's suggestion with a smile. She goes to the closet and grabs jackets for Joanna and herself.

"Conchita we're going out! Just save the dinner in the refrigerator we'll eat it tomorrow." Rachel calls out.

"Very good Mrs. Stevens"

The entire family walks out living the house in total silence. As they walk to the car Don mentions Mike resignation:

"Mike?" Rachel asks.

"Yeah you know that guy you met at the Christmas party last year." Don responds.

"Oh that Mike! Well?"

Don sits Joanna in the back seat securing her seat belt. Rachel closes her door just as Don sits in the car.

"Well?" Rachel asks again.

"Well what?" Don asks.

"You know what I'm thinking." Rachel's says in a coying manner.

"Well it's AI honey, I mean that's like so much more interesting than stupid dumb business applications."

"So leave, go work for the HAL company." Rachel smiles.

"It's not so…." Don starts the car and backs out of the driveway and drives off. "Easy. If this project flops I'll be out of the loop of IT. That could be dangerous."

"Out of the loop? I don't get it." Rachel questions.

"Out of the loop, no longer current, things change so fast in this industry, if you're out of the business two years you can have a hard time getting hired!" Don emphasizes.

"Oh that loop" Rachel's voice carries humorous sarcasm.

"Come on, this is really bugging me, I wanna do something important, something that helps humanity." Don knew he was opening the door for Rachel's humor.

"Oh yeah helping humanity by making an artificial brain for the military." Rachel responds with even more sarcasm.

"Ok maybe not the right group to work for, but the technology would bleed over to the civilian side, and we could see things like the cure to cancer, alternative energy sources, heck maybe even how to create and maintain world peace!" Don says with an almost pathetic self-righteousness.

"World Peace! Wow we're really getting altruistic." Rachel's voice is now more serious.

"Yeah, I mean they're just next door, it's not like I'd have to leave town, the drive will be the same." Don responds.

"Let's stop talking about this for right now, ok?" Rachel says as she looks away from Don.

"Daddy are we at the ice cream place yet?" Rachel asks.

"No honey we're not there yet but almost." Don responds sympathetically.

"Oh my god! Look out! Stop the car!" Rachel yells out with shear fright on her face. Don slams on the brakes skidding the car nearly hitting parked cars in the street.

"What!?" Don yells.

"Oh my god I thought I saw someone jump out in front of the car!" Rachel shouts.

"What? There's no one out there!" Don yells.

"I swear there was a boy that jumped out between those cars." Rachel says more calmly.

"Ok just calm down." Don catches his breath.

Joanna starts crying and Rachel's slows her breathing, but she looks confused and very disturbed about what had just happened.

"Are you ok Rachel?" Don asks and then turns to his daughter. "Joanna its ok mommy just thought she saw someone in our path."

Joanna sniffles while wiping the tears from her face.

"You ok?" Don looks at Rachel and places his hand on her shoulder. Cars behind them start honking their horns.

"Yes, go, go! I'm ok!" Rachel's face is still pale from what she thought she saw.

"Look we get the ice cream then we go home. Ok?" Don looks over his shoulder to make sure no cars are behind him as he pulls out.

"Fine" Rachel says just under her breath...

By the next morning all was forgotten of last nights near collision with park cars and the daily routine once again started. Don is still considering to leave the firm. He knows that's what Bob is going to talk to him about. Don felt the dreary of going to work, given that it's just Tuesday, it seems so far from the weekend. Don kisses his wife and daughter good-bye as always and drives off to work. Don's thoughts of artificial intelligence are cynical; nobody takes that the subject seriously in IT. As Don approaches the office parking lot he recognizes Bob by his walk, Bob is an over weight gentleman that waddles. Don once joked about it and heard from others about Bob's car accident that left with a bum knee. The parking lot is full, as usual, at this time of the morning. Trying to find something near the front door is impossible, but as luck should have it someone began backing out as Don drove up. He was so close that if he hurried out he could beat Bob to the front door.

Don makes his way to his cubical just as Sally walks in the office. Don's phone rings, he picks up on the second ring.

"Morning Don here ." Don says with a sigh.

"Don this is Bob I'm in the parking lot, on my cellular. I wanted to catch you before you got busy, we need to talk come into my office in ten minutes." Bob's voice seemed concerned. Though it wasn't like Bob to show that much emotion, he thought Jim is putting a lot of pressure on him.

"Hey Don!" Sally's cheerful upbeat tone can place a smile on just about everyone.

"Hey Sally!"

"Did the demo go ok, I mean I didn't have enough time to test it?" Sally asks.

"Oh everything went well, yes thank you. Look Sally I gotta go to Bob's office right now. We'll talk later, I need to go over the project documentation with you." Don walks off.

"Ah, ok, good luck!"

"Yeah I think I'll need it." Don's voice sounds very cynical.

Bob could be seen through his office window sitting behind his desk on the phone. Don walks in and interrupts Bob's conversation.

"Hold one sec, Don come on in, have a seat." Bob's voice seemed upbeat. Bob's office looks that of a loyal employee. All the annual manager of year planks on the wall, even a coffee mug with the company logo. It made Don sick, how droll he thought.

"Ok, yes sir, yes sir, that's correct, I'll be sure to tell her, thank you, bye." Bob hung up the phone and took a deep breath and smiled at Don.

"Don, how are you?" Bob expresses.

"Just as good as I was yesterday." Don responds with suspicion.

"You sound cynical. How come, are you happy here?" Bob says grinning.

"Funny you should ask." Don's obvious frustration form over work comes out.

"Well Don I just want you to know that Mike is no longer going to be working here."

"I heard" Don responds.

"What are your plans, I mean here at CoreComp?" By the look on Bob's face Don could tell something was up.

"Well I have had my doubts about my future here." Don's tone becomes forward.

"Doubts in terms of money, position?" Bob asks.

"No more along the lines of something meaningful, significant." Don says in frustration.

"Significant? Don how old you?" Bob asks.

"41" Don responds.

"Ha ha ha ha ha you're going through a mid life crisis! You're supposed to dump your wife not us Don!" Bob's grin got wider.

"Excuse me?" Don felt Bob was to forward.

"Look Don I know a really cutie, she not that expensive, as a matter of fact we'll foot the bill, it's on us!" Bob invites.

"What?" Again Don feels Bob is much too forward.

"Look Don you're getting promoted, Jim wants you in management. I was going to tell you about the hookers later, but since you seem to be in great need…."

"Hold on, we hire hookers for mangers?" Don exclaims.

"Well no, not officially, but I can always help a fellow manager in need." Bob responds sympathetically.

"How much more pay?" Don asks with greater interests.

"Ah that's something Jim will talk to you about…but you also get stock options."

"Stock options? We're a privately held corporation!" Don voices.

"Look we're going pubic real soon, as a matter of fact the way the economic situation looks, I mean the Fed lowered rates, optimism coming back in the market. We're looking at 6 to 8 months max." Bob explains.

"Manager of which department?" Don's puzzled face made him look almost boyish.

"New department, as a matter of fact a whole new technology." Bob responds.

"What?" Don is now more curious.

"Yeah we got a contract to uh design software for a new type of computer. It's uh some kind of three dimensional chip." Bob explains.

"I don't understand?" Don asks.

"I don't either I was just told to tell you that this is your last week in my department and you will be debriefed on Monday." Bob smiles.

Don was left speechless, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. The company had been a rather stagnant business with a stable clientele. The notion of using cutting edge technology rage havoc with his adrenaline levels. To top it off he would be getting away form Microsoft boredom…

Rachel sat by her manager during the department meeting as she usually does when her cell rang. The embarrassment on her face as she answered the phone was obvious, but she managed to regain her composure and excused herself from the meeting:

"Hello."

"Honey it's me, you're not going to believe this!" Don voice is very excited.

"Don! I'm in a meeting can this wait?" Rachel questioned.

"I'm sorry but I was so excited when they told the news!" Don answered apologetically.

"What? What news?" Rachel's curiosity peeked.

"I'm being promoted to management." Don exclaimed.

"Well congratulations! That's great! We definitely have to celebrate." Rachel was ecstatic.

"Yeah, I…I love you." Don said uncomfortably.

"I love you too." Rachel sighed.

"Look go back to your meeting and I'll make reservations at …better yet I'll make it a surprise!" Don responds.

"Oh and honey please tell Conchita she can take our last night's dinner home with her."….

Don knew of just the right place to celebrate and when Rachel finally realized were they were headed she became excited. She turned to gaze at her husband and felt her life complete. Don pulled into the valet parking and stepped out of the car and ran over to the passenger side to open the door for Rachel. Rachel was dressed stunningly in a low cut black well-fitted dress. The black dress contrast well with her blonde hair and red lipstick. Don wasn't as elegantly dressed typical of the computer geek. His attempt though didn't go unappreciated.

"Look Don, isn't that Mike, I'm sure that's Mike, the one that left right?" Rachel points.

Don looked over and smiled as Mike spotted them as well.

"Hi Don" The two men shake hands. "Rachel haven't seen you since the last Christmas party."

"It has been a long time." Rachel extends her hand to shake Mike's hand.

"So you must be celebrating, what's the occasion?" Mike asks.

"Don's being promoted!" Rachel spurts out before Don could speak.

"Well congratulations are in order!" Mike pants Don on the shoulder.

"Hey Mike why don't you sit and have dinner with us?" Don invites.

"Love to but I'm here to meet some of my new bosses. So what's your new position?" Mike responds.

"Manager of a new department, a whole new technology, a three dimensional chip!" Don says enthusiastically.

"Wow, funny the place I'm working for has got a similar technology." Mikes says curiously.

"I'm not totally familiar with my job function yet but I'll be debriefed on Monday." Don continues.

"I'm sure you will, well good luck I gotta go I can see my party coming in now. Take care." Mike walks over to Rachel and kisses her.

"I will and you take of yourself Mike." Don waves at Mike.

Mike waved his hand and walked off. Don looked over to get a glimpse of Mike's new bosses. Even though Don was elated over his promotion the idea of greener pastures is still in the back of his mind."

"Don, honey let's go." Rachel tipped her head into Don's view. Don looked over into Rachel's eyes and suddenly found himself in his life again.

"Don I can't believe you're going to be able to make Joanna's ballet recital." Rachel leaned her head against Don's shoulder as they walked into the restaurant…

The Joanna readily felt the absence of her mother. She had wondered why she wasn't able to be with her father and mother, especially with her father who she doesn't see often enough. Conchita brought up a class of water that she always places by her bedside before she tucks Joanna in bed. She looked at Joanna and could see the disappointment that she couldn't be with her parents.

"Don't worry Joanna, you'll be with your mother and father on the week end. Your daddy isn't going to be working so he'll see you dance your ballet!"

"Why doesn't mommy and daddy want me to go with them to the restaurant?" Joanna yaws in the middle of her sentence.

"Well mommies and daddies sometimes need to be alone with one another. It doesn't mean they don't love you. Don't you sometimes just want to be with your friends?"

"I'd rather be with my daddy." Joanna's eyes could barely stay open. She was always a fast sleeper. A blessing much appreciated by her parents. Conchita kisses Joanna good night and closes the door behind her.

The full moon lit Joanna's room to an Erie dark blue. She lie somberly sleeping dreaming of her mommy and daddy in a restaurant eating hot fudge sundaes. Soon her mind drifted to chaotic swirls of color. The colors then faded to darkness and a cold enveloped her body. By some instinct she tried to awaken but something stopped her. She could hear footsteps around her room but every time she tried to wake the sleep became stronger. Finally she woke, to her surprise was a body tall and thin. Its eyes glowed red like the reflection of a dog's retina. It's face looked dirty as if it had worked in some coal mine. The fear came slowly as her mind try to assess what if anything was real. Her eyes blink to clear her vision but the sight doesn't disappear.

"Mommy!" Joanna screams shouting for her mother.

The figure moved from right to left then up and down. It moved toward her then away. She continued to scream. Suddenly a bright light shines behind the figure making it look like a dark shadow. As Conchita lay on her bed watching television, she could hear Joanna's screams, and quickly gets out of bed and grabs her robe, rushing out of her bedroom. As she runs down the hallway the walls distort causing her to loose her balance and she falls to the ground. She finds it difficult to get back up.

Joanna very frighten and confuse continues to scream for her mother. She then hears sounds, which then turn to words.

"D-a-d-d-y, m-o-m-m-y, J-o-a-n-n-a." the words echo and then in her own voice she hears singing. "Twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are…."

Conchita hears the singing too but thinks its Joanna. The walls look as if they're moving Conchita becomes nauseous and throws up burying her right arm in vomit. She manages to lift herself up. Closing her eyes and using the wall as a guide she struggles to the bedroom of Joanna. As soon as Conchita opens the door the figure disappears and her nausea leaves as well. She opens her eyes and turns on the light. She looks towards Joanna and finds her fast asleep.

"Dios mio que pa so aqui, Dios mio!" Conchita signs with the Catholic blessing. Don and Rachel return form their evening out. Conchita hears the car driving up into the driveway. She lets out a sigh of relief. Don opens the door for Rachel, as she stepped in there stood Conchita with a look of death on her face.

"Conchita what happen?" Rachel said with much concern, noticing her right arm.

"Dios mio, Mrs. Stevens I think the devil is in your house!"

"What!?" Don couldn't believe what he heard. Rachel looked up at Don. "What the hell happened?" Don exclaimed demanding an answer. Conchita couldn't speak she just started crying.

"Don please." Rachel gave that look that meant he was to back off. She helped Conchita back to her room. As they walk down the hallway Rachel saw the vomit on the floor.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." Conchita cried begging for forgiveness.

"It's ok, maybe we should get you to a doctor?" Rachel opened in the door to Conchita's room and helped to her bed.

Don made his way to Joanna's room he found her sound asleep. His relief opened a smidgen of hope as far as his regards for Conchita, but when he saw the vomit on the floor that sympathy evaporated. He grabbed a mop from the kitchen and cleaned up the mess in the hall…

Rachel finally left Conchita's room. She found Don in the living room pouring himself a drink.

"I had to give her one of my valiums. My God what could have happened?"

"I cleaned up the mess in the hall…Honey…maybe we should reconsider Conchita, she made not be the right person for us. I mean the devil?"

"Enough!" Rachel raised her hand showing her palm. "Let's first find out what happened first before we go firing anyone!"

"Fine, but it's a waste of time. Look I don't want my daughter around some who believes in devils! For God sakes Rachel she could traumatize our daughter!"

Rachel shook her head with a cynical smile. "Conchita has been with us since Joanna was born. I just can't believe you can let her go like that!"

"Well I can!" Don's voice is very decisive.

"Well you won't. I don't even want you talking to her, do you understand me?" Rachel's stern look meant she was taking control and Don could do nothing about it, at least not for a while…

Joanna woke up at her usual time on Saturday, it's always before anyone else wakes up. She runs down the stairs and turns on the living room large screen television to catch her cartoons. Concita would usually be up by this time cooking breakfast. The sound of the television woke up Rachel, she looked up at the clock, sighed then fell back to sleep. She immediately woke back up, remembering that conchita wouldn't be in any form to cook breakfast today. She got up and grabbed her robe walked down stairs to Concita's room. It seemed strange that Conchita wasn't up before everyone else. She was the anchor of consistency and normalcy in her life. Rachel couldn't image running the house without her. Joanna was intently focused on her cartoons so much so she didn't notice her mother walking into the living room.

"Joanna." Rachel kissed Joanna. "How is my little princes this morning?"

"Ok" Joanna never broke her gaze from the television.

"Joanna honey…. Please look at me when I'm talking to you." Rachel's voice turned stern. Joanna turned to face her mother. "Did anything strange happen last light?"

"No." Joanna said it briskly and quickly turned to watch her cartoons.

"Are you sure…Is there anything you want to tell mommy." Joanna just shook her head and never stopped looking at the television.

Rachel left Joanna to her cartoons and went to the kitchen to start breakfast.

By ten o'clock Don was still asleep. Conchita was up but very upset about her experience last night. She walked up stairs still in her robe and found Rachel and Joanna in Joanna's room. Rachel had already started dressing Joanna for her ballet recital.

"Good morning Mrs. Stevens." Conchita smiled.

"Morning." Joanna replied.

"Conchita how are you feeling?" Rachel smiled.

"I must talk with you Mrs. Stevens"

Rachel could tell that Conchita was still upset about last light. She knew that time off would be the best thing for her now.

"Mrs. Stevens I would like to take a few weeks off to see my son in Phoenix." Conchita's face still expressed fear.

"I'm sure we can work something out." Rachel felt that Conchita was thinking of permanently staying with her family but didn't understand why.

"I will pack my luggage today."

"Ok, we'll get you a plane ticket with a flight that leaves after Joanna's ballet." Rachel patted Conchita on the shoulder then gave her a hug. By this time Don had woken up and made his way to the hallway and to Joanna's room.

"Conchita Good morning." Don looked with a sense of guilt. "I'm truly sorry if I seemed insentive last night…"

"Conchita is going to visit her son in Phoenix for a few weeks." Rachel interrupted.

"Well I think that would be a good idea." Don looked at Rachel and Rachel's look meant back off and just be polite. So he did.

By noon everyone was ready for the ballet. Conchita opted to stay at the house and leave for the airport when they came back from the ballet. Rachel had dressed up her little girl like a lady. The rouge, sparkles, mascara and lipstick changed an innocent little girl into want would look like, at first glance, a grown women. As they all were entering the car Don paused at what he saw. What he began to think up set him. He cleared his mind and suggested that everyone hurry.

Rachel would not be satisfied with just any ballet studio. It had to be the best for her little girl even if it were twenty miles away. As they made there way to the on ramp of the freeway a dog could been seen defecating. Don imagined himself eating the dog's feces, it was as vivid as the road he was driving! He tried to clear his mind but the thought would not leave. He shook his head and then focused on the road but the smell and taste of the dog's feces still remained the focus of his mind. Don changed the radio station to a punk rock channel. Rachel turned to Don with a puzzled look, but now the thought of licking the dog's rectum became vivid, the more he tried to fight it the stronger the thought became. Don turned up the volume of the music to a deafening level.

"Don! Don!" Screamed Rachel. She turned the music off. "Don what the hell are you doing?"

"I just wanted to her the music!" Don exclaimed.

"You don't have to raise the volume so high. And you know I don't like that kind of music."

"Excuse me, I forgot we have to do things Rachel's way!" Don pressed on the gas pedal.

"Don…Don you're driving too fast! Rachel's voice now sounds scared.

"Ok now you want to tell me how to drive!?" Don's voice is very angry and Rachel's bickering began to annoy Don. "Look when I'm driving you shut the fuck up!"

"What has gotten into you? Is it Conchita?" Rachel asks.

"No shit, can't you just tell her to fuckin leave!" Don shouts.

The anger that Don felt melted the perverse thoughts in his head. He calmed down and slowed the card down to the speed limit. Joanna seemed unaffected by her parents out break. Calm and collected she just looked out the windows and enjoyed the ride…

The ballet studio was filled with kids and all their family members. All the little girls were dressed and made up just like Joanna. As everyone found himself or herself a seat, Rachel noticed a neighbor just in front of her.

"Linda! Linda!" Rachel called out.

"Rachel! How are you I have seen you in weeks!" Linda exclaims.

"I guess we just don't sync up." Rachel responds.

"I guess not. Where's Don?" Linda looks around her.

"Don's here which is a miracle in itself. He just got promoted so they gave the weekend off." Rachel explained.

"Wow, well things seem to be going well for the Stevens." Linda smiled.

"Yes and No, I think I'm going to have to find a new domestic for the house." Rachel sighs.

"Why? What happened to Conchita, she's been with you awhile." Linda questioned.

"I know, it's complicated. I'll explain it some other time." Rachel responds.

Don found Rachel amongst the crowd trying to find a seat. He noticed Linda and how well she has kept herself. Linda's breasts were well endowed and Don just couldn't help himself. His gaze was almost offending.

"Don honey this is Linda our neighbor." Rachel's eyes again giving Don that look to back off and be polite.

"Oh hi Linda." Don said calmly.

"Don congratulations I heard about your promotion!" Linda's voice goes up a few octaves.

"Thank you." Don suddenly imagines Linda and his wife together making out. This thought he didn't mine. In fact he began to extrapolate upon it and placed himself with them. His arousal gives him and erection.

"Don…Don!" Rachel called out.

Don woke from his fantasy only to find that Linda had left. The lights in the studio darkened and both Rachel and Don sat down. The music started and the girls paraded around in their leotards dancing.

Don's impression of Linda started him fantasizing again. As he imagined her taking off her clothes he groped her breasts and placed his hand over her clitoris. He could feel her moistness between her legs. The imagery seemed so real. His erection is so hard, it is to the point of pain. As the erotic fantasy continued the imagery shifted. Linda turned into Joanna. His daughter now lay before him with his penis very near her mouth. He tried to stop the imagery but it continued. Don finally felt an enormous amount of guilt. The thoughts that went through his mind he had never had before. The thoughts now turned his arousal to anger. Don's body begins to shiver as if he is in shock. He grits his teeth.

Everyone including Rachel is intently watching the ballet no one notices Don's condition. Later he feels a sense of awakening and notices himself gritting his teeth. But he has no recollection of what happen. The memory of his fantasy vanished, all Don feels is a sense of lost time. The gritting stops and Don rationalizes his amnesia as sleep form boredom. But in the back of his mind he is not sure why he was gritting his teeth...

The drive home was uneventful, as soon as they got home Rachel helped Conchita with her bags. Don headed directly for the bar and served himself a drink. Joanna went right for the television and powered up her video game player. The chirps, whistles and electronic music could be heard throughout the house. Conchita couldn't hold back her tears, she felt bad and began to regret leaving so suddenly.

"Mrs. Stevens I'm really sorry, maybe I don't go see my son, I stay with you here." Conchita's face had such a look of sincerity that Rachel felt guilty as to what she might have to tell her.

"Conchita don't worry you go visit your son and have a good time." Rachel didn't have the heart to tell her she might not be coming back.

Rachel dragged Conchita's luggage to the door. She looked for Don to help take it the car. Conchita walked over to Joanna sitting by the television and knew she would miss her very much. Rachel looked over at Conchita and began to cry, soon Conchita starts to cry and Joanna starts as well. Rachel placed her arm around Conchita and Joanna does the dame. Don walks in and finds them all crying.

"What the heck is wrong now?" Don voice sounds annoyed

"Shut up Don! I swear you don't have a sensitive bone in your body!" Rachel scolds.

They all escort Conchita to the airport crying all the way except for Don. As Don takes out the luggage Joanna grabs the smallest of the bunch and tries to carry the bag to the receiving desk. Rachel looks over to see Joanna, she couldn't help but laugh as she dragged the over size bag.

"Don look" Rachel points toward Joanna.

"Ha ha! You think she'll make it?"

Conchita rushed over to help Joanna. When they all finally reach the gate the crying starts again. Rachel hugs and kisses Conchita, Conchita steps toward Don and gives him a hug.

"Good bye Mr. Stevens, I know you don't like me much, but really love you and your family. I don't know what I would do without your family " Conchita wipes the tears off her face. Joanna starts to cry, Conchita lowers herself to Joanna and hugs and kisses her. "You be a good girls while I'm gone. You listen to your mommy and daddy." Rachel could not stop crying she simply nods as she wipes her tears…

Monday morning is Don's debut with the president of the company and his new department. It almost felt like a dream, all the years of school and hard work have now paid off. As Don walked the hall everyone congratulated him, he felt the elation of being the center of attention. This will be the first time in months, maybe even a year, that he has had to use the elevator, and that was to help a secretary to use a simple application. Now Don is going to be playing with all the big boys of the company.

The sixth floor had a completely different look than the first floor. It is has a quality that always sets it apart from the rest of the floors in the building. The furniture looks like it belongs in some magazine of the rich and famous. The secretaries are always attractive, and from the last conversation with Mike, Don now wondered if there was more to the ladies than just secretarial work. Don announces himself to the secretary and she acknowledges his appointment.

"Mr. Arlington will be with in a second, please have seat." She then buzzes Jim Arlington's desk

From where Don is seating he couldn't hear Jim's voice as the secretary announced his arrival. He did feel more comfortable when she turned to him and told him he could step inside. The doors to the president's office are of mahogany with gold handles. He opens the door and steps into a very large suite. The room has even nicer furniture than what is outside. The office is on a corner of the building so half the room walls are large windows. Don thought of how spectacular the view is at night here. On the side of the desk are two large Lions carved out of some kind of black marble. As he approached the desk Jim stood up and extended his hand.

"Don how are you?" Jim's handshake is stern and his voice sounds much heavier in person than it does over the phone, which, despite working in the same building for years with Jim, as been the only means Don has ever talked with him.

"Fine, How are you sir?" Don's voice is a little shaky but Jim liked that kind of respect.

"Just fine? Don as you know we, and I mean Bob myself and others of the firm have been noticing your work and believe your potential and experience have a better place in this company." Jim's hands connect finger to finger as he speaks. "What EIDS is moving into is a whole knew technology. Are you familiar with 3 dimensional chip sets?"

"I'm afraid not sir." Don answers respectfully.

"Ok this is a new technology were the processor chip isn't the traditional flat 2 dimensional wafer. We have a manufacture, or really a supplier, that can build 3 dimensional blocks of microcircuits."

"That would increase the number of transistors in a processor by a factor…" Don punched out the numbers in his head. "Assuming of course a .11 micron cubed volume… ah eleven million times the capacity of a standard chip."

"Some where of that order." Jim replied.

"What kind of development are we doing with this technology?" Don asks.

"We do what we've always done." Jim responds.

"GUIs, Database and multi tier systems?" Don doesn't follow where Jim is heading.

"That's right, only now what will be using our interfaces is much smarter than a human being." Jim says with enthusiasm.

"Smarter?" Don tips his head.

"AI or Cybernetic agents as they're called by our supplier. These systems need to access information, a lot of information. That's our specialty getting that information and making it accessible."

"Who exactly is buying this?" Don questioned with deep curiosity.

"Every one will be!" Jim extends his arms away form the center of his body.

"Everyone…will be?" Don now shows concern. "You mean we're moving into untested waters?"

"This one is a no brainier, now you are either in or you're not." Jim looked Don square in the eyes.

Don diffidently knew Jim picked up on his wariness. Jim's voice and wording gave Don the impression that if he turned down the position there wouldn't be any other place for him. But to Don the issues are about be current with technology that's marketable, if he goes too far off the standard market of his career, his new skills in this techno brain gadget could be difficult to market. Not to mention that Don still didn't believe the machines would be that smart. He could just imagine the delays and revisions of this super chip taking years! Don knew Jim wanted him to make a decision right then and there. If he tells Jim he needs time to think it would blow the whole deal, after all this is a brand new department, and Jim's brainchild. Jim wouldn't take in anybody unless they were a hundred percent behind the idea.

"Well what kind of compensation package are we talking about?" Don put on his poker face. Jim smiled.

"Don all the managers are pretty much on the same salary scale. That's the way I like to do things, you get more if you do well. The more you can get done the more you'll make." Jim's quick talking sent Don red flags.

"Ah, stock options." Don tried to hold back his disappointment.

"A very liberal stock option agreement at that!" Jim exclaimed,

"So what kind of salary would I be making?" Don asks.

"Don the salary is a standard twenty percent increase to a cap of one hundred twenty thousand a year."

Don could tell Jim had his roots in sales, he felt the same pressure when buying his last car.

"So I would be at…." Don's though his gaze toward the ceiling.

"One hundred five thousand per year." Jim interrupted Don.

Don maintained eye contact with Jim until it became uncomfortable. When he looked down Jim became concerned.

"Mr. Arlington this sounds like a very good opportunity…" Don's voice drops a little and Jim's face almost frowns from anticipated disappointment. But I think we're going to have to radically change our approach from our standard modules for this to switch over smoothly."

Jim's smile spoke volumes as he heard Don's implied commitment.

"So what floor am I working on Mr. Arlington?"

"Jim…Don you can call me Jim. Ah…the fifth floor. You're office is right below this one." Jim points to the ground.

Don couldn't help but smile….

With Conchita gone Rachel took over the duties of cooking, although not the best at it. She kept Joanna in the kitchen to keep an eye on her while she cooked dinner, even though Joanna begged her to let her watch TV in the living room. Joanna wanders around the kitchen looking for something to do. She begins to hop and sing, she then laughs out loud. This play goes on for ten minutes then she stops. The silence disturbed Rachel's focus. As Rachel walks around the kitchen table to find Joanna, she can hear her talking in a whisper. The words aren't clear, Rachel gets closer and sees Joanna starring into space talking to her self.

"I don't know when he will be home." Rachel speaks just under her breath. "No I don't want to go outside."

"Joanna honey who are you talking to?" Joanna doesn't respond to her mother's inquiry, she just stares into space. "Baby who are you talking to." Rachel now dips on her legs, so she can get almost face to face with Joanna. "Joanna, Joanna?" Rachel looks toward the phone thinking that she should call Don.

"I don't want to go outside!" Joanna yells.

"Honey who wants to take you outside?" Rachel asks.

"No! No! No!" Joanna breaks from her stare, turns to Rachel and breathes a sigh of relief.

"Honey what's wrong?" Rachel pets Joanna.

"I'm scared mommy." Joanna's tears fall down her red cheeks.

"It's ok baby mommy is here." Rachel hugs her daughter wondering if Conchita's ranting about the devil was having an effect on Joanna. "There's nothing to be scared of, everything is ok."

Don's day was over and he couldn't wait to tell Rachel about his new office and the great view. He thought of going out to eat be was to busy to call Rachel to make plans earlier and knew she would have already prepared something. Having Rachel prepare a meal definitely made his skin crawl but a husband's duties sometimes requires sacrifice. Don notices the sun set light setting a strange glow to the house, almost as if some strange energy engulfed it. It was pretty but at the same the time Don imagined something was wrong.

When Don entered the house it was strangely quite, usually the television in the kitchen would be on, playing Conchita's Spanish soaps and Joanna would be watching the television in the living room.

"Hello, Rachel, Joanna I'm home!" Don looks in all directions. The light in the kitchen was on so he walked over to take a look. No one is in the kitchen, so he walked up stairs, as he approaches Joanna's room, he could hear her faint crying. He opens the door and finds Rachel comforting Joanna.

"Hi honey what happened?" Don asks sympathetically.

"Don, I'm not sure…Joanna honey I'm going to talk to daddy, is it ok if you stay here a rest a little bit?"

"As long as Mr. Dimples can be with me?" Joanna still has tears rolling down her face.

Rachel walk over Joanna's collection of stuffed animals and grabs the Paige teddy bear with a red ribbon tie.

"Here you go honey, mommy and daddy will be just outside." Rachel escorts Don out of the room. She looks up at Don and shakes her head in disbelief. "I think your right about Conchita, she may have given Joanna some ideas."

"Why, what do you mean?"

"About twenty minutes ago I caught Joanna talking to herself, she was just starring into open space and talking to her self. Something about not wanting to go outside." Rachel exclaims bewildered.

"Did she say who she was talking to?" Don asks.

"No when she came out of her trance she became freighted about something, she couldn't remember talking to anyone." Rachel explains.

"Oh God, I told you, I told you!.." Don scolds.

"Look Don I don't need it hear now." Rachel reprimands.

"Ok, fine, I think I know someone who knows a good child psychologist." Don says.

"Do you really think its that serious?" Rachel looks over at Joanna's room.

"I'm not taking any chances." Don responds…

In the early morning night everyone in the Stevens family is asleep. Rachel held on to Mr. Dimples in her sound sleep. Rachel turns to face the opposite side of Don's side of the bed. Her dreams were incoherent neural firings at first not real sequencing of actual real or imaginary events. She awakens abruptly looking at the north wall of the room, she then falls back to sleep but only now she really isn't fully asleep. Her mind now can imagine anything in a surreal sense. Reality is now virtual and Rachel finds herself running through fields of flowers. The sky then melts and turns to darkness, she feels very cold, she now tries to awaken but the more she tries the deeper her sleep becomes. She wants to leave but she can't her arms and head become heavy. In the darkness she hears foot steps, at first she thinks they're burglars and wants to wake Don, but her arms and head fell to heavy for her to move, she tries to scream but she can't. She thought it strange that she knew she was dreaming. Still all she could see is darkness. The smell of fruit cake now became the focus of her mind, she savors the taste in her mind and then the cake visualizes. She takes a bite, it is the best fruit cake she ever tasted. When she got to her fifth bite a dog appeared, it's a German Shepherd. Rachel pets the dog and gives it a piece of cake. The imagery of the dreams shifts to a nude man, not someone she knows. She looks at his crouch and his penis is soft and shriveled, she thought how disappointing. As man's penis grows her impression of the man changed. When he finally had a full erection she began to pet him all over his chest and then his buttocks. Rachel finally completely aroused orally copulates what appears to her as a six-inch penis. As she puts the penis in her mouth it gets larger; she gets even more aroused. Finally the penis is in the order of ten inches, she masturbates the stranger and herself. Then in an instant the man turns into a horse. At first the idea amuses her, but then she felt a presence force her to orally copulate the horse. She tries to stop herself but the impulse became too strong. She felt so badly about herself committing such a disgusting act.

"What would everyone think of me." She thought to herself. She begins to gag as the horse enters her throat, as suddenly as the animal appeared it disappeared. Still in her sleep she looked over to her left and saw Don masturbating. After what she had just experienced, she wasn't in the mood, were her first thoughts. But suddenly Linda appeared nude. Don began to grope her. Rachel thoughts are now jealousy, but as she watched them make love she began to feel aroused again. As she approaches them Linda turns into man, she stops and literally speaks out:

"It's ok Don, do it, do it!" Rachel says as she masturbates herself. As she's climaxing, the man turns into the German Shepherd that she saw earlier. She tried desperately to stop her orgasms but it's too late. The guilt she feels as she witnesses her husband sexually copulate the animal brings her out of her sleep. Rachel wakes up from what could only be described as a nightmare. She couldn't believe what she was dreaming, it felt real and she wondered what it meant. She immediately turns to her husband who is sound asleep and puts her arm around him. She felt so much more secure holding him. She ran her hands down his body to his crotch. Don was completely drenched; she pulled her hand away. At first she thought he had urinated in bed, but the smell of semen soon gave Don away. She couldn't believe it, she didn't know whether to wake him up, or leave the issue alone. Then she thought it unusual that this coincided with her dream!

The wait for morning light was long for Rachel. She couldn't sleep after she woke from her dream. The alarm sounded at the usual time and Don slowly woke up. Rachel turned the alarm off.

"Don, Don! Honey wake up its morning." Rachel nudges Don.

"Wha, uh?" Don slowly gets up.

Rachel puts her robe on and walks over to Joanna's room to wake her. To her surprise Joanna's blanket and sheets are on the floor and her hand was between her legs. Rachel began to think sexual thoughts, the arousal freighted her, but the thoughts persisted. She tried to clear her mind, but the image of the Dog appeared with its penis erect. Rachel's response to this image is a very strong sexual arousal. Rachel's body begins to shake and quiver; she falls to the floor and grits her teeth. Joanna is still sound asleep as her mother lay on the floor helpless. As Rachel fights the thoughts in her mind she looses track of what is happening around her and looses consciousness. Rachel wakes to find herself gritting her teeth and with no recollection of what happened. The gritting stops and she tries to get up from the floor. Don walks down the hall to Joanna's room and finds Rachel on the floor; he rushes to help her.

"Honey! Are you ok? What happened?" Don helps Rachel up, but she is too weak. He picks her up and carries her to their bed. As Don lays Rachel down She holds on to him. "Honey its ok, I'm going to call the doctor." Don pulled Rachel's arms off his neck and briskly walks to the phone.

By the time the ambulance came out to the house Rachel had fully recovered from her experience. The paramedics were suspicious thinking that perhaps it was a prank, but Don assured them that Rachel had some kind of episode and wants her taken to the hospital. When she finally arrives she is taken to the X-ray room and then they place an EKG and EMG on her. Don arrives with Joanna holding her Mr. Dimples. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, her mother with wires on her forehead and an IV in her arm. It was difficult for her to understand.

"Hi honey!" Don places his hand over her face. Rachel leans her face toward her husband's hands.

"I'm fine, or at least I feel fine." Rachel assures.

"Mommy are you ok?" Joanna places her hand on her mother's thigh.

Rachel looks down and sees Joanna holding Mr. Dimples. Rachel felt guilty, since Joanna only holds on to Mr. Dimples when she's scared. She could only imagine how frightening this must seem to a six-year old.

"Joanna honey, baby when I get out here you and I are going to Disney Land!" Rachel smiled.

Joanna smiles mildly and then looks down.

"Honey? We are going to Disney Land, I promise you!" Rachel reassures Joanna.

Don looked over at Joanna and nodded his head.

"My God Rachel with what happened with Conchita and now this I hope she going to be ok." Don says in a whisper."

"I know, I know." Rachel responds.

Rachel places her right arm around Joanna. She wipes her own tears from her face and wonders what and why this is happening to her family…

The following Friday Rachel makes preparations to take Joanna to the psychologist. She looks over to Joanna as she holds on to Mr. Dimples. Joanna has had difficulty making eye contact with her mother or father, since Rachel was at the hospital.

"Joanna after we see the doctor we're going to Disney Land!" Rachel hugs Joanna, but Joanna still looks depressed. "I promise you it will all be ok"

When Rachel enters the reception area of Doctor Johnson only the secretary is in the waiting room. Rachel walks up tot he desk holding Joanna's hand.

"Hello I'm Mrs. Stevens I have an appointment with Dr. Johnson."

"Yes Mrs. Stevens, this is for Joanna?" The secretary looks over to Joanna. Joanna lowers her head and squeezes Mr. Dimples. "Just have a seat and I'll tell the doctor you are here.

Rachel found a seat and sat Joanna next to her. Joanna sits swing her legs and hugging Mr. Dimples so hard that if he were living she would have strangled it. The reception area is small with dark green walls and there are no windows. The furniture is not impressive which is very typical of medical reception areas. The paintings on the wall are Picaso prints. "How disturbing the paintings could be for children." Thought Rachel, she places her arms over Joanna's shoulder. Joanna made no comment as she usually does. She wasn't quite sure why she was feeling fear. She could not even find comfort with her parents. The secretary answers her phone then looks over to Rachel and Joanna.

"The Doctor will see you now." The secretary points to the office door.

Rachel and Joanna enter and see a brunet woman about the age of thirty-five. Her office doesn't have any of the Picaso paintings, but has images of Mickey mouse and Bugs Bunny. They look like expensive cell renditions. Dr. Johnson stands to greet them.

"Hello I'm Dr. Johnson." She smiles.

"Well hello, didn't think we find a Bugs Bunny fan, with all the Picaso paintings outside!" Rachel voice seems relieved.

"Yes I know, I've talk with the management here but it doesn't do any good." Dr. Johnson extends her hand to shake Rachel's. "And who is this?" The doctor leans down and faces Joanna. Joanna just turns her gaze away from the doctor.

"Joanna, say hello to the doctor, she is here to help us! Baby its not polite not to say hello." Rachel scolds.

"That's ok I'm sure we'll get to know each other very well." The doctor smiles. "Please have a seat. They all sit. "Now what's going on."

"Well doctor we had a house keeper, a live in house keeper, who has been with us almost since Joanna's birth. And well we had an incident and since then Rachel has not been acting like her self."

"Not like her self?" The doctor asks.

"Well I caught he talking to her self and crying." Rachel's tears roll down her face. She tries to wipe them with her hand.

"Here, I'm sure these will help." The doctor hands Rachel paper napkins.

"She was starring into blank space and crying out: 'I don't want to go outside.' Well doctor I don't know what to do."

"Ok…well let me and Joanna have a talk for a little while, ok?" The doctor stands up and escorts Rachel outside the office.

"Mommy, Mommy!" Joanna gets up and runs to her mother.

"Its ok honey, the doctor is just going to talk to you." Rachel assures Joanna.

"Honey, I'm not going to bite, tell me what's his name?" The doctor looks at Mr. Dimples.

Joanna wipes the tears off her face with her forearm.

"Ok, well then let me show you something." The doctor walks over to her desk and opens a drawer. She takes out a stuffed doll of a monkey with a red ribbon around its neck. "Say hi to Mr. Bongo. Hi Joanna, I'm Mr. Bongo!" The doctor says in a very high voice. Joanna smiles. The doctor walks over to Joanna holding Mr. Bongo. Joanna grabs the doll and immediately takes to it. The doctor looks over to Rachel. "It's ok just give us a moment."

Rachel walks out of the office and waits in the reception area. The doctor walks Joanna to a seat and sits her down. Joanna focuses only on the toy the doctor gave her.

"Joanna why to you like Mr. Bongo?"

Joanna looks up at the doctor and is hesitant to answer.

"My aren't we shy, are you always this shy?"

Joanna nodes her head.

"Well there's no need to be, I'm not going to bite." The doctor caresses Joanna's face. "Joanna tell me who was trying to take you outside?"

Joanna looks up and says: "I don't like it!"

"You don't like what Joanna?" The doctor asks.

"I told him I don't like him!" Joanna exclaims.

"Ok, so can you tell me who it is?"

"I don't know him, he just comes from the walls." Joanna explains.

"Ok honey." The doctor hugs Joanna and escorts her out of the office. "Mrs. Stevens can you step inside please." The doctor signs with her hand. "It's ok Joanna, me and your mommy are going to talk, just have a seat over there." The doctor points to the seat near the secretary. Rachel follows the doctor into the office.

"Mrs. Stevens are there any problems with your marriage?" The doctor inquires.

"No? " Responds Rachel.

"Do you ever notice your husband leave the bedroom for extended periods during you're sleep?" Asks the doctor.

"Well, no? I don't think I like were this is going." Rachel questions.

"Ok, from what Joanna told me she is seeing some kind of person coming through the walls…" The doctor explains.

"My house keeper claimed she saw the devil in our house, could that have something to do with this?" Rachel responds.

"Maybe, but since Joanna admits to having episodes of dementia I recommend we run some medical tests immediately." The doctor stipulates.

"Tests?" Rachel asks.

"Yes…ah MRI, blood tests…" The doctor explains.

"Why?" Rachel's voice is near hysteria.

"It would give us an indication of whether or not she has a brain tumor."

"I promised her we would go to Disney Land today." Rachel looks down wondering just how this all would end…

Several days past since Joanna was placed in the hospital. The test showed no signs of a tumor, and for that both Donald and Rachel were very grateful. Rachel kept a very close eye on Joanna, she even took time off just to be with her during the tests and while she stayed home form school after returning from the hospital. The doctor recommended that Joanna return to school. She hasn't had any other episodes and the doctors think that perhaps Conchita's had mention some religious beliefs that may have affected her. For that Rachel formerly fired Conchita.

When Rachel and Joanna finally arrive at Joanna's school the teacher, Mrs. Anderson, was there to greet Joanna at the door. Joanna still holds on to Mr. Dimples, so her fear may still persist.

"Hi Joanna, you're looking lovely as ever!" Mrs. Anderson smiles giving Joanna a hug. "Is she ok?"

"She's fine the doctors didn't find anything wrong with her." Rachel explained with relief.

"Oh thank God!" Mrs. Anderson responds.

"You know my house keeper was overly religious, started talking about the devil and such, and the doctors feel that must have influenced her." Rachel explained.

"Wow, that's really a shame." Mrs. Anderson shook her head.

"Yeah, just funny how you think you know someone and things just turn for the worst." Rachel says grudgingly.

"Well it's nice to have Joanna back." Mrs. Anderson looks down at Joanna and smiles.

Rachel lowers herself and kisses Joanna. "Ok honey mommy is going to leave you here with all your friends. Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah, I wanna play with Wendy, is she here Mrs. Anderson?" Joanna looked up at Mrs. Anderson.

"Yes she's here." Mrs. Anderson places her arm on Joanna's shoulder and waves good-bye to Rachel.

"Bye mommy." Joanna waves also.

Rachel walks back to her car thinking at the very least she's happy and that's all she could ask for. How fragile life is, she thought to herself and how grateful she felt having a family. No matter how uncertain she may feel about what had happened everything at least for today was alright…

The evening traffic is the usual problem, and Donald again felt the stress of having to deal with bumper to bumper traffic and the smell of exhaust fumes. He wondered what Rachel and Joanna were doing at home, he wasn't exactly looking forward to Rachel's cooking again. He thought that Rachel might be a little too paranoid now to hire a new housekeeper to do the cooking. He missed Conchita's cooking, for some reason Rachel just couldn't get a handle on spices. Her meals were always short on taste. Of course he always complimented her on her cooking.

Rachel kept Joanna close by at all times when she was with her. She didn't let Joanna watch television in the living room without her. Poor Joanna had to watch the smaller set in the Kitchen while her mother cooked dinner. As soon as Donald drove up the driveway Joanna got up and ran for the door.

"Daddy!" Joanna exclaimed as she opens the door. She ran towards the car just as Donald was getting out. She wrapped her arms around her father as if it were going to be the last time she would see him.

"Hey, Joanna" Donald wraps his arms around his daughter, the smell of baby shampoo is in her hair and her soft delicate skin smells of soap.

"Daddy I was playing with Wendy at school and I told her about what they did to me in the hospital." Joanna's voice is filled with excitement.

"And What did Wendy say when she heard you were in the hospital?" Don asks.

"She thought it was scary." Joanna replied.

"Well I told you that you are a very brave little girl." Donald walks her toward the house.

"I told her that I was scared and it hurt a little too." Joanna looks up at Donald with her baby blue eyes, holding her father's hand.

Rachel meets them at the door. She leans over and kisses Donald.

"Hard day?" Rachel asks.

"No, it wasn't bad at all." They all enter the house and Donald takes his coat off. He walks over to the living room coach places the coat on it.

"You'll never guess what I cooked for dinner!" Rachel's eyes and smile hinted at something extremely special.

"Ah…I don't know what?" Don asks.

"Oh come on Donald play along just guess!" Rachel says playfully.

"Pot roast?" Don knows his guess was way off.

"Pot roast? Doesn't sound special to me." Rachel responds.

"Ok…Pizza!" Don says as a last resort.

"Pizza?" Rachel looks at Donald as if he were insane.

"No Daddy not pizza!" Joanna laughs as she says her words.

"Your favorite, chipped beef!" Rachel says it like it's the best thing that could ever happen to anyone.

"Chipped beef! Wow…I haven't had chipped beef since…well since I was a kid. Don says.

"Your mother always talks about how much you loved her chipped beef." Rachel explains.

"Yeah, just love chipped beef." Donald couldn't believe Rachel really made chipped beef. It was the one thing he least liked and the only reason his mother thought he liked it is because he had to be polite when it came to things like chipped beef.

The dinner was just bearable to Donald, Joanna didn't finish her food, but that is typical for Joanna. Rachel felt a certain satisfaction cooking for her family. Donald wanted to hire new housekeeper as soon as possible.

"You know Donald I really don't think we need a house keeper. I mean I really like to cook. I know it's strange but I'm really finding myself, it's therapeutic." Rachel explained.

"Well honey if that's what you want, but you know you can get really busy at the office." Don says with that really polite voice.

"Well if that happens we'll just have to go out, I mean it doesn't happen too often." Rachel sounds determine to cook for her family.

"I suppose not." Donald thinks in the back of his mind that maybe Rachel will get better at cooking or he'll just get use to it.

All of the Stevens' have fallen asleep, the grandfather clock struck twelve. Its bells have a deep resonant bong that while not loud does penetrate the house. The house is lit, by only, the cold blue light of the moon. Joanna lay sound asleep, her soft breathing could barely be heard over the silence, as the clock bells dimmed. For some reason Joanna woke, she looked up at the window across from her bed. At first she could see nothing, but slowly a dark figure materialized.

"Go away!" Joanna cried out. "Go away!"

"Joanna I want you to be a brave little girl" The dark figure spoke with a soft masculine voice.

"No! Please go away!" Joanna cried, she tried to scream but couldn't.

Rachel suddenly woke, her vision is blurry at first, but as she gains focus the dark figure appears to her as well. She tries to scream but finds it impossible. Rachel turns to Donald, but as soon as she tried to wake him she couldn't remember why she wanted to. Her thoughts fill with sexual desire for her husband. Rachel begins to softly kiss him, she moves her hands along his body, as he lie facing opposite her bedside. When she reaches his penis she whispers his name. Don doesn't wake but does turn on his back. Rachel continues to make love to her husband. She ultimately makes her way to orally take him. Donald slowly wakes to see his wife going down on him. He tries to fully wake but he can't move his body. Donald turns his gaze to Rachel's side of the bed and sees the dark figure, he thinks it's an intruder but he can't move.

"Who are you?" the words barely came out of Don's mouth. Rachel didn't seem to hear him she just continued. Don couldn't figure out why she was unaware of the dark figure. Don's senses shifted from a waking sleep state to an intense climax. When he thought he would have an organism it didn't happen. Rachel continued for another thirty minutes, Don couldn't believe he could have a thirty-minute organism, but he just did. He again turned to see the dark figure but it wasn't there any more. Rachel made her way back to her side of the bed and fell asleep and so did Don.

The sound of the clock radio woke the couple. Neither wanted to get out of bed. Rachel finally took the first plunge and made her way to the bathroom. Don soon followed.

"Wow honey what got into you last night?" Don walks up and presses against Rachel, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"What do you mean?" Rachel smiled.

"Babe, I've never seen you give head the way you did last night!" Don smiles.

"We had sex last night?" Rachel looked confused.

"Come on! I know I wasn't doing much but I figured it was something you wanted to do." Don sounded surprised at Rachel's amnesia.

"No really we had sex last night? I don't remember doing anything." Rachel asks.

"Ok, Ok, I'll try to do my part next time!" Donald disrobes and walks into the shower.

"I guess…." Rachel responds.

Don can't stop thinking about how great his wife was the last night, as he walk through the hall ways of his offices at work. He sees Bob by the coffee machine and walks up to him.

"Morning Bob!" Don looks around to make sure no one is around to listen to his conversation. "Say Bob…have you ever had a thirty minute organism?"

"Please oh please tell me what you were on, cause I want some!" Bob smiles.

"You won't believe what my wife knows how to do, I mean she's amazing!" Don is ecstatic.

"Thirty minute organism? Your wife needs to talk to my wife." Bob laughs.

"Yeah…" Don nods his head.

Rachel couldn't believe she had performed sex and not remember it. She felt left out, it was almost as Don had affair with another woman. She calls Judith, her best friend.

"Hello" Judith answers

"Hey girl how are you?" Rachel's voice just isn't what it would usually be under normal circumstances.

"Rachel? Hey how's it going?" Judith asks.

"Well…" Rachel responds.

"Ok what happen I can just tell by the sound of your voice that this is serious." Judith acknowledges Rachel's uneasiness.

"Well, Don and I had sex last night." Rachel sighs.

"Well good for you, what's wrong with that?" Judith exclaims.

"Would you say that there might be a problem if you can't remember having sex with you husband?" Rachel asks sarcastically.

"Depends on how much I had to drink I guess." Judith says whimsically.

"Didn't have anything to drink last night. Don says he the sex of his life and I can't remember anything!" Rachel's concern brings her to nearly cry.

"Hey it's ok, look maybe you're just under some stress, look I know a doctor that can get you something." Judith explains.

"Ah, no…no I…I rather not" Rachel expresses.

"Look it's all right John fucks me sometimes when I'm asleep and I can't remember a thing." Judith laughs.

Rachel's boss walks into her office.

"Rachel I need the Henderson report."

"Hey Judith I gota go. I'll call you this weekend." Rachel hangs up the phone looks at her boss. Deep down inside she knows that something is wrong…

The workday for both Rachel and Don was long. Rachel didn't make dinner that evening so Don ordered pizza. Joanna's favorite pepperoni, onions, bell peppers and pineapple. Don had to add anchovies for Rachel.

"Daddy why does mommy like anchovies?" Joanna picks the anchovies out of her slice of pizza.

"Different strokes for different folks honey." Don responds.

"Hey that rhymes!" Joanna takes her slice and sits next to her daddy to watch TV.

Rachel walks into the living room and grabs a slice of pizza and sits next to Don on the sofa. Rachel takes a few bytes of her pizza. Her attention turns to Don's crotch, she reaches for it and rubs his groin. Don turns to her and whispers:

"Honey Joanna is here!"

Rachel sticks her tongue in Don's ear. Don pushes Rachel back.

"Fuck you Don, you are such a prick!" Rachel storms out of the living room.

"Joanna honey wait her while I talk with mommy ok." Don kisses Joanna and walks over to the bedroom.

"Honey what the hell is going on?" Don's voice is almost angry.

"Look you don't want a good fuck that's not my problem!" Rachel's voice sounds deeper than usual.

"Honey Joanna was watching for God sakes!" Don exclaims.

"You now I'm tried of loosing out on good sex because of that little brat!" Rachel turns her back to Don.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Don closes the space between them and he puts his hand on her shoulder. Rachel leans her face on his hand. She turns around to face him and slowly meets his lips. The kiss becomes more intense as she rubs his groin. Don's a little confused Rachel never likes to have sex while Joanna is awake. Don went along hopping it wouldn't take long and Joanna would stay in the living room. Rachel became more sexually intense her breathing almost like a panting dog. Don felt so aroused his penis hurt. When Rachel lowered herself to take him and unzipped his pants she cried out at the site and smell of his hard on. The sucking sound is so loud that Don's afraid Joanna will hear them. Rachel stops sucking and strokes him looking up into his eyes.

"Fuck me Don, Fuck me!" Rachel cries out. She gets up and embraces him. She guides him to the dresser in front of the mirror. She drops her blouse and turns facing the mirror and places her arm around Don's neck from behind her. Don kisses her neck pressing up against her anus.

"You like that? You want to fuck me in the ass? Fuck me in the ass!" Rachel begs for it. Don presses up against her anus but can't get it in.

Rachel looks at Don through the mirror.

"Just fuckin push it in!" Rachel yells.

As Don penetrates, Rachel sighs. Don works his way deeper and deeper, Rachel's sighs turn into cries. Dons moans as Rachel's tight asshole grips him. Don's excitement becomes very aggressive he grabs her hair and pumps violently. Rachel pushes back in synchronous with Don's pumping.

"Take it you bitch!" Don pumps as hard as he can.

"Fuck me! Fuck me in the ass…yes!" Rachel's voice is too loud. Joanna hears them as Rachel cries in ecstasy.

"Daddy why are you hurting mommy?" Joanna is in tears.

Don turns to see his daughter's face in total confusion.

"My God!" Don stops and pulls his pants up. "Honey I'm…I'm…"

"Joanna mommy is fine just go to your room." Rachel says with a stern voice. Joanna turns and goes to her room. Don looks at his daughter as she walks out he can only feel guilt and imagine the psychological scaring he may have caused her

"My God Rachel you didn't even put your clothes back on!" Don's voice is very harsh.

"What the fuck, it's time that brat learned about fucking. You wanna teacher?" Rachel smirks.

Don just couldn't believe what his wife just said. "You know I think we need some counseling, I mean that is just sick!".

Rachel laughs as he walks out of the bedroom.

The next morning Don left before Rachel woke and took Joanna to school. Her thoughts are much more sober now than last night and she felt regret. Her work soon took her attention way from last night. Rachel has always been a strong willed individual and her success at the firm is a direct reflection of it. The owners of the firm have full confidence in her, and is why she handles all the sensitive accounts. Today is an important day, the firm is maneuvering to take a big customer from a competitor. Rachel discusses strategies with one of the owners.

"Rachel I need you to speak with Harold and make sure he has his presentation is ready, go over it with him make sure it covers all the points."

"Harold is fine, I think were we need to focus is on Radford's work it might be a little weak compared to the Hartford group." Rachel leans forward on the desk.

"Radford's work…hmmm…ok do what you think is best, I've got a meeting with Gerald in five minutes."

"I'll take care of everything, will win this one." Rachel walks out of the office. As she turns to leave, she notices a dark figure run past the corner of her eye. She couldn't quite make out whether it was real or just her imagination. As soon as her suspicions rose her attention was forced toward the secretary almost as if something were guiding her. She undresses the woman mentally. The secretary looks puzzled but then smiles. Rachel runs to her office and closes the door behind her. She's still very excited, the sexual intensity increases, she touches herself. Rachel works her way to her crotch. She pulls her skirt up as her hand moves her panties to the side exposing her. She rubs her clit slowly at first then thrusting her fingers inside her. As Rachel reaches a climax her face frowns. Almost as if she had awaken from a dream she recomposes herself. Denying what she had just done, she returns to her work…

Don's worries about Rachel finally lead him to call Rachel at work. He knows there is something wrong but isn't sure how to deal with it. Of course after she had the spell a few months ago he thought it might be related.

"Honey are you ok?" Don's very sincere voice bellows with concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, just fine." Rachel is very insecure in her answer.

"Look I'm sorry I blew up at you last night. I just didn't know how to handle what happened." Don explains.

"No…it alright." Rachel responds with insincerity.

"Look honey I really think we need to take sometime and be together, just the two of us. We could leave Joanna with your mother and take the whole weekend." Don suggests.

"Ok…I think that'll be nice." Rachel responds.

"Good, do you want to call your mother or should I?" Don asks.

"You call her dear."

"Ok…I love you." Don says sincerely.

"I love you too."

When Rachel arrived home to her surprise she could smell French crapes, Don prepared her favorite for dinner. Joanna runs to the front door to greet her.

"Mommy, mommy!" Rachel stretches out her arms and wraps them around her mother's neck, squeezing her as hard as she can. Rachel closed her eyes, as she felt so complete embracing her daughter. Rachel could smell the sweet sent of the soap, she bought especially, to bathe Joanna.

"You just took a bath. You smell so good!" Rachel spoke to Joanna in that voice you only use for children. "Let's go see what daddy is cooking ok." Rachel held Joanna's had as they walk to the kitchen.

"Mommy daddy is cooking." Joanna explained.

"Really what's he cooking?" Rachel asks.

"Crapes!" Joanna says enthusiastically.

"Honey you didn't have to do this!" Rachel walks to Don and kisses him.

"I wanted to surprise you, but I ran a little late with all the traffic." Don says apologetically.

"I'm surprise." Rachel kisses Don again. She tears a piece to taste the crapes. "Wow this is good"

"Ok I'll get the wine and set the table." Don says.

"No I'll set the table!" Rachel responds.

"Ok I'll get the wine."

Rachel opens the cabinet where the good china is and gathers all the dinnerware. From the corner of her eye she catches the dark figure, she's startled and drops the dishes. The crash of the broken china can be heard through the whole house. Don comes running out of the kitchen with the bottle of wine in his hand.

"Honey what happen are you ok?" Don rushes toward Rachel.

"I…I'm fine" Rachel looks at the broken china in regret of what she had done. Joanna walks into the dinning room to investigate what had happen.

"Are you sure?" Don brushes her hair. Rachel nods. Joanna walks over to clean up the mess of the broken dishes.

"My mother gave us this china as a wedding present!" Rachel says in frustration.

"Its ok don't worry about the china, I'm not going to let anything spoil this dinner or the great weekend were going to have." Don looks at Joanna picking up the broken dishes. "She's daddy's little helper."

The late night fell on the Stevens house and by twelve, as usual all were asleep. The grand father clock rang its bells and the blue light from the moon gave the house an eerie glow. A breeze from an open window in Joanna's room lightly blows her hair and disturbs the stillness of the room by beating the curtains. Joanna sighs in her sleep in response to the subtle relief of the cool breeze. Joanna's deep sleep is interrupted by a soft feminine voice. She slowly opens her eyes, at first she could see nothing but the blue light bouncing off the white walls of her room. Slowly a figure of a woman forms, she's wearing a vale. Joanna's heart rate quickly jumps, but the woman smiles and some how diminishes Joanna's fear. Joanna looks around the room and refocuses back on the woman.

"Are you with that man, who comes hear?" Joanna asks the woman.

"Child do you know of God?" Answers the woman. Rachel looks up with her innocent eyes and nods. "What do you know of God child?"

"Mommy says God is love." Joanna speaks with a whisper.

Rachel and Don are sound asleep, Rachel suddenly wakes as if she had a nightmare. She looks at Don hopping she had not disturbed his sleep. For some reason she felt an urgency to check on Joanna. As soon as she tries to leave the room she can't move her body. She finds herself just sitting by the bedside and incapable of moving. Her heart rate surges. She looses her orientation as she sees the surrounding walls spinning around her. The spinning eventually makes her nauseous, she tries to hold it in but the sick sensation overcomes her. She vomits on the floor. Don wakes up to the sounds of Rachel vomiting, he tries to get up but his body won't move. As suddenly as Rachel started seeing the walls moving it stopped. Rachel's body takes on a rigid posture and her head turns right to left in a very mechanical motion. Then her arms rigidly move as if she were a puppet. She is fully aware of the goings on but can't control her own body. Rachel could hear Don talking to himself in some meaningless babble.

The woman in Joanna's room begins to loose form and she speaks senseless words. Her face retains though remains undistorted and all Joanna could see is fear on the woman's face. Joanna screams out, but neither her father or mother can help her. Joanna's screams get even louder when the dark figure appears.

As Joanna sees this figure in her room Rachel and Don see the same figure in their room. Rachel stands up and turns to face Don, but it's not on her own accord. She then is forced to walk across the room, again the motion is mechanical. Tears run down Rachel face as she is totally confused as to what is happening. Her body posture quickly changes from rigid to a more natural state; her walk now becomes more feminine. She walks towards Don's side of the bed kneels by him. Rachel moves her hair away from her face and fondles Don's crotch. As soon as Don gains an erection she orally takes him. Don still can't move from his position, but his babbling has stopped. His erection is so hard it starts to hurt. Rachel stops sucking it and steps out of the room. She walks into Joanna's room and catches Joanna crying.

"Honey why are you crying?" Rachel sits next to Joanna on her bed.

"He's here!" Joanna can barely speak while she's crying.

"You mean him." Rachel points to the dark figure. Joanna continues to cry.

"Honey it's all ok, you're going to be all right, mommy is here." Rachel comforts Joanna until she stops crying.

"Look why don't I let you sleep with me and daddy, will that make you feel better?" Rachel wipes the tears off Joanna's face. Joanna nods her head.

"Ok lets go." Rachel takes Joanna's hand and walks her back to her room.

When they enter the room Don still has his erection. Rachel looks at Don and stares in an almost hypnotic state. She then looks at the dark figure and then at Joanna. She kneels down to face Joanna.

"Honey let's play a game ok." Rachel smiles at Joanna.

"Look honey see how funny daddy is, look his wee wee is sticking out." Rachel walks Joanna to her father's side of the bed and kneels next to him.

"Watch mommy honey." Rachel orally takes Don in front of Joanna. Don can't believe what is happening. He tries to move but he just can't get any muscle to move. He felt as if he were in a nightmare where you try to move but you just can't.

"Ok honey I want you to do just what mommy does." Rachel forces Joanna next to her and drives her face on to Don's penis. Joanna confused isn't sure what is happening. Rachel grabs Joanna's hair and moves her head up and down, laughing while she does it.

"Hey Don look at your little girl, she's daddy's little whore." Rachel laughs even louder. She then picks up Joanna and mounts her on top of Don. She guides Don into Joanna. Joanna screams in pain. Don's eyes are red and tears run down his face. Rachel's face turns red with rage and she slaps Joanna as hard as she can.

"Shut the fuck up brat!" Rachel yells. Joanna yells out, her crying just won't stop.

"God damn you bitch, you've just fucked your father! If you think that hurts just wait tell he fucks you in the ass!" Rachel looks down at Don and spits on his face.

"What the fuck are you looking at ass hole! Just who the fuck do you think you are?" Rachel yells at the top of her voice.

"You love your little girl do you? She's too pure and innocent for you to fuck?" Rachel slaps Don in the face.

"Do you know what the problem is with your kind? You don't know your place!" Rachel turns to the dresser and opens one of the drawers and pulls a pair of scissors.

"Pretty little girl so sweet and innocent, so precious." Rachel grabs Joanna's hair pulling back her head. Rachel takes the scissors and cuts Joanna's throat ear to ear. The flood of blood drenched the bed sheets. Don still unable to move tries to close his eyes but they wouldn't shut. His babbling starts again and while he wanted to feel anger he could not, he felt nothing! Rachel let go of Joanna's hair and watched her limp body tip and slip to the floor.

"Oops I made a boo boo, I broke my baby." Rachel laughs kneeling down over her dead daughter. Slowly the laughter stops and she screams hysterically. Don suddenly starts laughing hysterically.

After a half-hour of crying, Rachel stops, she picks up Joanna's body and places it in the bed next to Don. She then dips her figure in Joanna's open wound and writes frantically on the wall with Joanna's blood. Exhausted Rachel lays herself to bed next to Joanna.

"Good night honey." Rachel kisses Joanna and turns to the opposite side. As Rachel closes her eyes Joanna's image appears.

"Good night mommy." Rachel says.

"Good night honey." Rachel smiles as she closes her eyes.

In the morning Don and Rachel awoke. Don is now able to move and walks over to Rachel, but never acknowledging Joanna's lifeless body that lie siting between them. He leans over and kisses Rachel. Rachel smiles and gets out of bed. The two walk to the bathroom and shower together. Neither seems to care what had happen, the shower wipes their blood stained bodies. The two get dress and leave the house. Rachel looks at down and says:

"Breakfast at Samy's?"

"Ok." Don answers.

They get in the car and leave their daughter's carcass in their bedroom, never mentioning a word of the horror Rachel committed.

Later in the morning Rachel's mother arrives, to baby sit Joanna, so Don and Rachel could leave for the weekend. She knocks on the door but no one answers. She tries to open the door, to her surprise it does open.

"Hello, I'm here, Rachel honey!" She walks over to the kitchen hopping to find someone. The house is completely silent, not even birds or any animals in the neighbors' yard could be heard. She makes her way up the stairs and checks Joanna's room. All she finds is an unmade bed and an open window. She then walks over to Don's and Rachel's room; she slowly opens the door, peeking through at first thinking that they she might be interrupting some love making. Her first sight is the bathroom; she opens the door wider and can then see the dresser. Perhaps it's denial but she doesn't notice the dead body of Joanna in the mirror of the dresser. She finally walks into the bedroom to face the bed.

"Oh my god! No, no please no!" She screams but no one seems to hear her, no dogs bark, no birds chirp, no neighbor comes to help. She then runs down the stairs to use the phone in the living room. She slips just before she reaches the phone and falls on a class table slitting a gash on her arm. Her bleeding is pretty heavy but she manages to get to the phone and dials 911.

"911 emergency." Answers the operator.

"Help Please, please help!" Rachel's mother yells…

Don and Rachel come back from breakfast and are puzzled to find the police at their house. They enter the house and a detective walks toward them. Rachel looks over into the living room and sees her mother talking to a police officer while a medic is treating her.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stevens?" The detective flashes his badge.

"Yes." Rachel answers

"This is going to be difficult…I'm sorry to tell you that your daughter has been murdered." The detective places his hand on Rachel's shoulder. Rachel looks over to Don and then walks over to find a seat in the living room. The detective is surprised by her reaction. Don avoids eye contact with the detective.

"It appears that some one slit her throat in your bed room, there are also signs of sexual assault." The detective looks over to Don. "Who was the baby sitter while you were out?"

Don couldn't answer the detective. Rachel finally broke down and cried but never said a word. Both Rachel and Don slowly remembered the course of events that happened last night. Dumb founded by their actions all they could feel is anguish and regret...