The Madness Within ✓

II.

I'm pretty sure that if I still had my phone in my hand, I would have dropped it at that very moment.
I lost my balance and stumbled backwards before quickly leaning against the closest furniture around, which in this case was a pine storage cabinet.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, then looked at the rest of the photos to see if they, too, have something as frightening as this in them.

And they did.

Another photo - a photo of an empty field with the forest visible next to it - showed an exceedingly tall figure, hidden in the forest and peeking from behind the trees, staring right at the photographer with its pitch black, lifeless eyes. The rest of the photos showed something along the same lines. There was always either a strange shadow, or the same tall figure hiding somewhere within the range of where the photo was taken. It almost seemed like they were taken like this on purpose, as if the photographer knew that these creatures were there. Maybe they were trying to capture the creature itself on the photos, but they didn't want to make it obvious, so they wouldn't get caught.
No, no. What am I saying, that's crazy! That's obviously not true. It has to be fake.

Around these mysterious photos on the wall hung photos of flowers as well. There were four photos in total, all of the same red flower, just taken in different angles. 'Begonia' was written under each of the photos. I found nothing strange on these photos though. Since they were all close ups of flowers, it made sense why they wouldn't have any mysterious creatures roaming around in them.

After seeing what was hidden in all of these mysterious photographs, I didn't feel as welcome in this house as I did before anymore. I was stuck, paralyzed. My fear wouldn't let me move or do anything. Countless thoughts swam through my head.

Was it my grandma that took these photos, or was it someone else?

Grandma loved taking photos. She always talked about it and mentioned how therapeutic it is. She loved taking her camera over to us, since she always took photos of whatever she's seen on her way over. Most of the time, they were photos of the scenery or close-ups of flowers, just like the photos in the wall. So the possibility that my grandma took these was very high.

With so many questions in mind, I kept staring at all the photos again and again, trying to hold onto any kind of information that could answer at least some of them. There was nothing I could do. Grandma was gone, and all she left behind for us all were these mysterious photos without any answers.
I looked down at the ground and took one more deep breath, trying to calm my racing thoughts. It had to be fake. Right? Grandma used to like making all kinds of jokes, maybe this was one of them?

Yes, that has to be it. There's no way this could ever be real.

I might've said that to comfort myself, but my hands wouldn't stop trembling. I shook my head and walked back to the coffee table, grabbed my phone and walked into the hallway to look around more and forget about all of this.
This is the time when I can finally learn more about grandma, even though it's too late now. I looked to my right, where I saw a closed wooden door right next to a corridor that led upstairs. I opened the door and peeked inside. Inside the room was a neatly made bed, next to it a white nightstand with a black cloth and a single electric night stand on top. On the other side of the room was a white closet and the room was decorated with a fluffy black rug on the ground.
The room seemed kind of blank, yet still very modern for an old house like this. Did grandma really live here alone? By the way how empty the room looked, this room was most likely the guest bedroom in the past.
„I could probably stay here," I mumbled to myself and went back to the living room to move the bags. I grabbed the suitcase and the bags and carried them to the guest room. After putting them on the ground by the bed, I walked out of the room to check the rest of the rooms out.

I slowly approached another room and walked inside. This seemed to be another bedroom, but this one definitely belonged to grandma. Her clothing was neatly placed in the half-open dark brown closet, her bed was decorated with floral patterned bed sheets. On the side of the bed, specifically on the nightstand stood a picture frame with a picture of.. me inside it.
In the photo I'm six years old and playing in the sand on the playground. There's a bright smile on my face, as I've just finished building my own sandcastle. It doesn't really look like one when I look at it now, but at that moment I was so proud of myself for making it all alone without needing any help.
A bright smile appeared on my face as I sat on the bed next to the photo. While I don't remember much of my childhood, this is the one moment that brings me joy.
Sometimes I miss my childhood. It all used to be so easy at the time. I was so careless and so naive. But of course, things happen in life. We grow, we learn new things and slowly lose the spark that we used to have as kids. And sadly, there's nothing we can do about that.

A few tears began sliding down my face. Memories of my past quickly flooded my mind. Especially memories with my grandma. I missed her dearly and wished I spent more time with her.

My thoughts quickly got interrupted by a loud thud.

I jumped from the bed that I was sitting on and wiped off my tears, then looked towards the door. It came from another room, a room that I haven't been to yet. I left grandma's room and followed the direction where the sound came from.
I eventually entered the kitchen. Decorated by all sorts of marble furniture, it also looked very modern, like the rest of the house. At the other side of the kitchen was another white door that led outside.
That door was wide open.

Could it be a thief?

Or could it be...
No..
That can't be..

I looked around to see if any damage was done to the furniture or the appliances, but found nothing. Probably because I haven't been there yet before, so I had no idea what used to be there, or whether something went missing or not.
I shut the door right away and looked around once more. Could there be an intruder inside the house? I instinctively grabbed a knife from the counter to use as a weapon and stayed completely silent, trying to hear anything that could indicate that I'm not alone in the house.

The silence prevailed and the only sound I could hear were the sounds of my own heartbeat and breathing. I carefully walked to the hall, trying to keep my steps as silent as possible, then looked around. There was no sight of a human being around.
I took a deep breath and ran to the living room as fast as I could.

What the hell am I doing? I thought to myself, but at that moment it was too late to change my mind. What I thought back then was that if I could scare and attack the intruder before they attack me, I might catch them off guard and stop them. Soon after I started running, I realized just how stupid that idea was. Especially when I had nowhere to run if it didn't go according to plan.
I stormed into the living room, fully ready to attack and protect myself, but there was nobody there. I looked around the living room: nothing.

I let out a sigh of relief. In that case, the door was probably open before I even got here.
But what was that loud thud that I heard, then?

I shook my head and chuckled to myself, then turned around to go back to the kitchen. When I walked inside, I glanced at the window for a second, where I saw something move by the window. But when I fully focused my attention on the window, there was nothing there.
Was my mind playing tricks on me?
I walked over to the window and leaned out to look around the window more, but I still saw nothing.
I sighed and sat down on the chair near the window, covering my face with my hands and letting out a loud sigh.

I really need some rest after all this.