Taylor pretended to sleep, but was shaking with excitement. Dancing with the Nighttime people was her absolute favorite thing to do. But she knew that her mom would come to her room to check on her. She had been doing that lately. Even if Taylor was asleep, her mom would sometimes stand in the doorway and talk. Taylor knew it was because they hadn’t really had the time to see each other lately, and it was different from when she was 14 and her mom knew everything. Predictably, there was a knock on the door, and light flooded the room.

“Taylor, are you asleep?” her mom whispered. She sighed, and then went on, “I just wanted to make sure you had a good day. I know you had the big test in Algebra 5th period. Well, I love you.”

With that, the door slowly closed. Taylor waited for a minute, and listened to the absolute stillness of Nighttime. Then she yanked her covers off of her, showing her jeans and t-shirt, and jumped out of bed.

“Ok, you can come out now.” Her closet door opened, and Brownie stepped out smiling. Usually, teenagers cannot see the Brownie’s that live in their houses, but because of Taylor’s particular and unique attitude, she could. This was no ordinary Brownie anyway. Besides being a keeper of the house, this Brownie had introduced Taylor to the Nighttime world.

“Are you ready?” asked the Brownie in a high pitched nasally voice. “Tonight should be an extra special dance.” Taylor sighed and said, “Every night is ‘Extra Special’, but yes I am ready.”

Both the girl and the Brownie crawled out the window and set off.



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If you had been walking past the Monroe Cemetery on that warm night in June, and if you had been paying attention, you would have seen a short, skinny blonde girl sitting alone on a hill. Maybe if you had good eyesight, or your mind was open enough, you would see her wave her hands as if talking, and a faint glimmering in the air near her. If you were a part of the Nighttime, like this girl, you would see that she was surrounded by little creatures.

“And that is how I passed my Algebra quiz.” Taylor smiled and finished her story. All the Brownies that were surrounding her smiled and clapped. The biggest one, (the one who lived in Taylor’s house) stood up and cleared his throat.

“It is time to begin the ceremony.” At this, everyone, including Taylor, took their places in line. Taylor sighed and smiled wider. This was her favorite part. She could swear that if you looked at the moon, it would get brighter. Music from a flute that someone was playing started. Taylor closed her eyes and felt the music. The notes that were being played coursed through her, and she started swaying in response. When the music started crescendo and became a faster tempo, a violin started up. Then some drums. Taylor started moving, dancing and swaying to the music. Love, happiness and dreams coursed through her. The music picked up, setting the tone for a climax and suddenly stopped. Shrieks filled the air.

Taylor jerked her eyes open, and looked around. All of the brownies were gone, and she was surrounded by the scariest creatures she had ever seen. They were tall and burly, and the mass of them was intimidating enough to pull a gasp from her. They had hoods on, and beneath you could see the bright yellow eyes. Taylor stepped back and looked at them.


“W-w-what are you doing here?” she asked. They continued to just stare at her. Then, out of nowhere, a voice said in her head,

“Taylor, just continue to dance. If you create enough happiness they will go away.” It was her Brownie, so of course she knew she had to listen. But how was she supposed to dance without music? ‘Oh well, I guess I can imagine it’ she thought and closed her eyes.

She imagined the music right where it left off. The violin was emitting a high pitched note beautifully, and the drums were banging away. She swayed her arms and gracefully jumped. She could hear the creatures start to snort, and stomp and she knew they were going to try to stop her. So she picked up speed. The music she was imagining also picked up speed, and very soon she was out of breath. But she kept dancing.

Right at the last moment, when the music had hit its final note Taylor jumped into the air. When her feet hit the ground, thunder shook the cemetery and lighting lit up the sky. Taylor, gasping and shaking, opened her eyes. The creatures were gone, replaced by the Brownies. They were all smiling at her, and motioning to her hair. She grabbed a strand and stared at it. The color had changed from dark blonde to a white blonde. Taylor smiled. She knew that this was a great thing, and I meant the world of Nighttime was ready to accept her in it. Smiling, she took her Brownies hand and said,

“Let’s go home. I think I need to explain this to mom.”