Monday morning

Faith flipped on the light switch.

The colors washed out of the curtains and carpet as the dim winter dawn light gave way to a washed out gray glow from the overhead light.

As she fumbled in her bureau for matching socks, and struggled to identify their colors in the gray gloom, she noticed the light beginning to waver. Shadows ran up and down the walls.

As she left her room and headed to the bathroom, she heard a "shhhlllluuuuurk" from the light fixture. She glanced back and saw a number of long, thing tentacles sleazing their way out of it and elongating toward the floor.

She put her hand on the railing as she walked down the stairs. It was sticky. The wall above the stairs had cracked, and was oozing blood.

The laundry room was dark and full of eyes and nasty gurgling laughter when she passed it on the way to the kitchen.

As Faith ate a cold, limp breakfast of tea and mulberry scones, her mother walked through the kitchen. "Here, Faith, you need some clean hair -- let me get you some..." she said, as she headed into the laundry room.

There was a crunching, gurgling sound from the laundry room, and a brief yelp from Faith's mom.

As Faith was finishing the last of the scones, her mom shuffled back into the room. She looked tired, and seemed to be missing some pieces.

"Brrrraaaaaaiiiins!" said Faith's mom.

Faith didn't feel much like arguing with her, so she just picked up her backpack and headed out the door to the bus stop.

The rose bushes had been replaced with a series of holes. The tips of some branches were sticking out of them. It looked like something had grabbed them from below and pulled the bushes straight down into the ground. They smelled vile.

The bus was late. But eventually, she saw it humping its yellow mass down the street, moving awkwardly on thousands of tiny legs. As it approached, its mouth yawned open, revealing a sticky tongue dripping slime. "Hi, Faith!" called the sepulchral voice of the bus driver. "Hop in! First day of the week -- don't want to be late!" It was followed by a nasty, scratchy, sticky laugh.

"God!" Faith thought. "I totally hate Mondays!"