She needed something from the truck. She played with the ends of her ponytail, biting her bottom lip while she went through the calculations in her head. She would have to run out the door, clearing all three porch steps while having the key ready to slide into the lock.

But it wasn't going to be as easy as that.

She will be scared for no reason at all.

She knew nothing was out there that could hurt her.

But her imagination was running wild.

She always thought that the dark was a voided place. The fields that surrounded her gave in plenty of oppertunity for imagination, and the books that she read have opened up a wide variety of information that parents wouldn't want their children to know.

"Do I have to?" She wined, sounding childish towards her father.

"Go get it."

She clutched the metal keys in her fist and went to the side door.She opened the door, and gazed outside, gathering her fear into a ball deep inside her chest. She could do this. There was nothing out there. Nothing that would want to hurt her, right?

She stepped out, closed the door behind her. Then she ran. The truck wasn't ten feet from the house, but she took a running leap off the top step and had to come to a complete halt in front of the passenger door.

Her hand felt the smooth dark blue paint, then went lower, tracing the keyhole. She began to fumble with the keys.

A crashing noise from the field made her stop what she was doing and turn her head in that direction.

She screamed as a white shape bounded out of the field across the road and straight towards her. She ran back to the house, slamming the door behind her and locking it. She returned the keys to the living room, where her father stared up at her from the computer.

"What happened?"

"A deer," she replied, laughing at herself. "A damn deer came out of the field."

Her breath came out in quick rasps as she tried to calm herself.

Just a deer.

Just a deer, right?