“So that's the job you’re taking? Tutoring?” Mona scoffed, raising an eyebrow at her older sister. She knew Eva was getting a job, but she honestly expected it to be something interesting. Whenever Mona needed money, she always was hired for something dumb. The least she could do was hope her sister lived an exciting life. Eva, when she had found the flier advertising for tutoring positions, had made sure to brag all about it to her dad, who had said Eva would never get a job. Heck, the only reason Eva took the job in the first place was because she needed money, needed to impress her father, and the only other job fliers she could find were for babysitting. Despite being 19, Eva was immature, and the last time she babysat she yelled at the baby for throwing up in her car. She never took a similar job again.

     “I’m only taking that crappy job because dad told me it would be good for my health. Good for my health. Can you believe he thought that would be a valid reason? I should’ve asked for salad bar manager. That would be more entertaining than tutoring.” Eva’s face morphed into a disgusted expression as she remembered the horrible experience she had while working at a joint for healthy food. She regretted those meals she could never take back. The meals where she had to eat tomatoes and celery and protein bars. Eva threw up in her mouth just at the thought.

     “If tutoring is that bad, I’ll come with you.” Mona offered, putting down the book she was previously reading.. She knew she’d just be looking up strange things on the internet the entire time Eva worked, not that Eva would care at all.

     “Yeah, sure, that would be awesome. Just don’t distract the ten year-old kid I’m helping with Español. Who takes Spanish in fourth grade, anyway?!” Frowning, Eva raised her eyebrows when she realized that it was incredibly unusual for a fourth grader whose parents were supposedly from Russia to be learning Spanish instead of a language more similar to, well, Russian. She erased the trail of thought from her brain and took her attention back to Mona.

     “Doesn’t your session start in ten minutes? We should get going. We’ll probably be late.” Mona added ever-so-helpfully. Eva sighed in annoyance and grabbed a random coat from the coatrack, tying it around her waist. She tugged at her silver fish necklace, a habit that showed itself every so often. Mona looked at her own golden seal necklace and held open the door for Eva as they went on their way.

     Eva smashed the doorbell of the house at least twenty-two times before Mona stopped waiting for her older sister to be polite and just grabbed her arm mid doorbell-smash. Eva shot Mona a nasty look before simply using her other arm to point at the door and bring attention to the fact that it was cracked open just a peek. Looking down at Eva, Mona pursed her lips in a silent response.

     “It was left open, you idiot.” Eva said. Mona was angered easily by the insult.

     “Git.”

     “Jerk.”

     “Gopnik.”

     “Son of a—”

     “LET’S JUST GO INSIDE.” Mona used her free arm to shove Eva through the doorway, realizing a moment too late that it was considered rude to do that. Whatever. Their dad would have done the same had he taken a job like tutoring, right?

     Eva, glaring at her sister with her shiny brown eyes, shut the door behind herself with a loud bang. Mona rolled her eyes in response, but Eva didn’t notice. She was too busy staring at some sort of strange inscription on the wall and knotting her dark hair nervously. Eva had to break that habit. Because of it, her hair had more split ends then a feral cat. Mona was proud of her perfect bob haircut, even though in the last year Eva had tried to cut it with baby scissors at least four times.

     “Why did they invite us over if they need to clean this off of the wall? And what kind of sick child uses red crayon to draw all over their living room?” Eva, puzzled, looked at the inscription up and down. It seemed meaningless, and almost disturbing. She felt her heart leap when Mona tapped her shoulder, even though the situation wasn't dangerous. Something about the house felt...off.

     “Why was their door even open? It’s weird. I think we should leave.” Mona grabbed at Eva’s arm, but she pulled it away.

     “Dude, I need this job. I have like, ten dollars left in my possession. I don't care how screwed up the kid is.” Eva started into the next room, turning her head back and forth in search of the family. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a little girl in a pink dress appeared in the kitchen, a wide smile stretched across her face. Eva stepped back, startled at the girl’s sudden entrance.

     “Are you Eva? We've been expecting you.” The girl tilted her head in such a way that it seemed impossible to do so without breaking one’s neck. Mona peeked her head into the room and raised an eyebrow at the girl’s questionable neck angle. She almost screamed when a cold hand rested itself on her shoulder. She turned around, afraid of what she would see when her eyes met what was attached to the hand.

     “Hello, I presume you are Eva’s sister? We were not aware you were….coming with her.” A pale man accompanied by an even paler woman towered above Mona at abnormal heights, scaring both her and her sister quite a bit more then they would have wanted to keep in good health. “Do you need to go to the bathroom? It's in the next room over, We need to talk to Eva for a few minutes.”

     Mona nodded nervously and walked at a fast pace into the other room, occasionally glancing behind her. Eva could hear her sister lock the door when she arrived at her more private destination.

     “So w-what did you want to talk to me about?” Eva asked, trying to avoid staring at the somewhat-creepy girl she was to tutor.

     “Our little girl loves people like you, and she really---” The adults’ voice faded into the background as Eva noticed that the little girl was now directly to the right of her. Eva tried to stop thinking about how the girl could’ve possible moved so quickly without anybody noticing. She brought her gaze back to her clients.

     “---and lastly, her name is Thánatos. Make sure that you pronounce the á like---”
Eva glanced to the side only to see Thánatos’ arm reaching, reaching, reaching upward. It didn’t make sense! A child’s arm should not have been able to stretch to such a length! Eva finally decided that she had finally lost the plot and ignored Thánatos.

     Until she felt a cold hand brush against her face.

     Eva swiveled around, half-terrified and half curious. How did such a small girl get her arm all the way up to Eva’s face?

     Thánatos’ arm was stretched from her small body up to Eva’s shoulder now, defying what a human could possibly do with an arm. It was as if the limb was rubber, extended beyond what muscle and flesh could ever do without some serious surgery or operation. Eva finally gave up on being polite.

     “SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOUR CHILD!” She yelled, and Thánatos’ arm shot back into a more-human position. Eva’s eyes went wide at the sight and she stepped backwards, terrified of...whatever that thing was!

     “Oh, yes, we know. She’s not the only one in the family.” Both parents smiled in such an unnerving way that Eva had to keep herself from grabbing whatever sharp objects were around her. On second thought, maybe she should’ve grabbed a knife, or something of the sort.

     “Wha---Get away from me!” Eva screamed, beginning to turn around and start a sprint. She would’ve gotten away, too, if it weren't for the moment she stopped when she remembered her sister was in the bathroom.

     “You’ll be great fertilizer for our garden. Won’t she, Thánatos?” The father said, and Thánatos smiled. Eva screamed as she was thrown against the wall by some unknown force. She struggled to break free, but whatever was holding her against the peeling walls wouldn't let go. Thánatos raised her pale hand up and examined it. She cracked her knuckles and took a step closer to Eva.

     “Thánatos, are you sure you want to kill her now? Her sister is still in the bathroom. She may….interrupt.” The mother said. The little girl turned around.

     “Mommy, don’t tell me what to do. You do not want me to hurt you, да?” Thánatos’ eyes dilated and her mother nodded, taking her leave and disappearing into the kitchen. The father followed close behind.

     Thánatos turned her attention back to Eva, who was screaming too loudly and making far too much of a fuss to be killed in an effortless way. Thánatos decided that she needed to get the job done fast. If she was fast enough, maybe she could get the sister, too.

    Jabbing Eva in the stomach with her icy hands, Thánatos noticed that she had rarely done the same in the past. Usually she’d just stab them. But not today. She wanted to see Eva suffer. Thánatos had punches stronger than any little girl. Than any man. Than any human.

     Slipping away and trickling elsewhere, Eva’s life force was leaving her body quickly. Where was...what was her name?...Mona? Was she dead? What was dead? Was it relief? Or was it pain? Eva couldn't think clearly with the violence of the moment clouding her mind.

     What if the reason her sister wasn’t helping her was because she was already dead?

     Eva decided to call it a day and give up. Who cared that it would be her last day? She sure didn’t.

     Suddenly, Mona came sprinting down a hallway with a frying pan. Eva thought she was imagining things. Why was her sister so late?

     Thánatos was fast, but because she didn't know Mona was there, Mona was faster. Mona brought the frying pan down on Thánatos’ head as forcefully as she could, knocking the girl---or whatever it was---to the floor and taking her consciousness away. Eva fell from her position on the wall to her knees, panting and spitting blood. Mona grabbed her sister’s arms, pulling her to an upright position and holding her up.

     “Mo—na? How did you get out of the---bathroom? Where are the parents?” Eva coughed once more, blood making its way onto the floor.

     “Shhh, don't talk. When I went to the bathroom, let's just say that those creature forgot to take care of their last victim. I just took a frying pan and ambushed the parents. They were pretty slow.” Mona cringed at the memory of the dead body rotting in the bathtub. She looked behind her shoulder as the pair made it to the door, just in case someone was still there. Arms shaking with exhaustion and fear, groaned and opened the door.

     Mona dragged Eva’s weakening body around the block until she was sure that the murderous family couldn't find them quickly. To Eva’s displeasure, she was placed against a tree and told to wait. Mona dialled 9-1-1 on her phone, holding it to her ear with one finger, something she had done since she was a child.

     “Hello? Oh, thank God. There's a family that worked together to try and kill my sister. The address is—”

     Eva stared at her sister as she made the call. Mona had never been this calm in her life. Heck, when she got a B- on a test she almost died of a heart attack. The only situation close to this was five years ago, when a man broke in and had stabbed their mother to death, and Mona sure wasn't half this calm back then. Something was wrong. Eva could feel it.

     “Thank you. Please dispose of the family correctly.” Mona finished her call and hung up. Eva’s attention was brought back to her sister as Mona began to speak.

     “The police are coming to that house. They should be taken care of soon.”

     “Mona…?” Eva asked.

     “Yes?”

     “You aren't just a little freaked out by this?”

     “Of course I am. I'm as freaked out as a llama without her pajamas.”

     “A-alright then.”

     Soon enough, an ambulance drove right by, only to stop and back up. Two men hopped out of the vehicle, grabbing Eva from under her arms and hoisting her into the ambulance. They led Mona in with her sister and closed the iron doors. Both sisters couldn't help but notice the driver’s growing annoyance with one of the doctors in the back, a messy-haired, pale man with almost no concern for what was going on. Mona felt annoyance egging at her too, after a while.

   “Excuse me, but I would be more satisfied if you would stop acting as if my sister being hit multiple times in the chest by a psychopathic ten year-old was no big deal.” Mona scowled at the man, causing Eva to whimper. She wanted anything but a fight at that point.

     “I’m not worried, because this happens all the time.” Shiny black shoes tapping at the floor, the man said, “Isipoki have been running wild for a few months now.”

     Mona almost slapped the man. What the hell were isipoki, for God’s sake? Couldn’t this man give one damn about Eva’s health? The man extended his hand to Mona, raising his eyebrows. She did the same to him, but with more of a hostile expression. “What on earth are you doing that for?”

     “I’m asking if you want to shake my hand. Isn’t that what you do? Isn’t that polite?” He asked. “I’m simply trying to introduce myself, but it seems that you have no interest in that. I’ll just tell you right now that my name is Hans and that your sister will be fine.”

     Mona heard her sister breath in relief. She wanted to do the same, but why give...whatever his name was...Hans...satisfaction?

     “Anyway, we’re at the hospital. We’ll treat your sister. I’m going to go kill the isipoki. Wait here with the patient.” Hans shoved the ambulance doors open and hopped out, beginning to walk away. The driver sighed as he noticed what was going on.

     “You’d better go with him. He’s just going to get into trouble again.” The driver suggested. Mona glanced at her sister, who had apparently fallen asleep while everyone else was talking. Mona wanted to stay, but honestly, she wanted to know what the hell an isipoki was. She jumped out of the ambulance, stumbled and scraped her knee, then set off running after the strange man.

     “Are you looking for me?”