House of horrors

The Night Rule

Paco's bedroom is near the end of the first floor hallway. I walk out of the room and look down the long hallway. My heart suddenly pounds.

"Keep your wits about you or you'll trip and fall, Rae." Saskias worried voice snaps me back to reality. "Everything that's happened... it must be quite scary for you. Espeecially since all this is still so new to you, and your memory hasn't come back..."

"I can't focus on that. I have to keep moving, and focus on the problems I can solve." I say to her. "You're going to Hampus' room, right?"

"That's right. He's probably woken up by now." She says.

"Then this is where we split up!" I say to her.

"Are you sure you want to go to the second floor, Rae?" She asks me. "You can stay with us on the first floor if you want. It's safer here."

"I'll be safe with Zacharias and Garvey around." I calmly tell her. After hearing their names, Saskia looks even more worried. "Don't worry, Zacharias saved my life. I trust him."

"Let's go." Zacharias says to me.

"Okay." I answer back. This is the second time I've been in this dilapidated hallway. I don't feel as tense as I did the first time. "Well, let's get to it . I'll check this room. You guys check those two."

"...Aren't you going to keep an eye on us? Why do you want to split up?" Zacharias asks me.

"I just said that for Bill and Billy's sake. I trust you" I answer Zacharias truthfully.

"Why? Because I saved your life once?" He says.

"I don't think you're a bad person." I tell him. Zacharias seems like he's about to speak, but he stops himself. Even Garvey raises his eyebrows at me and gives ma an intrigued smirk. It's a little embarrassing, but I have an inexplicable faith in Zacharias. We follow my plan and split up. As I open the door to the room i chose, the chill and darkness hit me and I hesitate.

"Scared?" Zacharias, who is supposed to be checkin the other room, appears behind me. "If you do something stupid and get yourself hurt, the others will suspect me and Garvey."

"So you mean..." I can't even finish my sentence before Zacharias begins to talk again.

"Let's team up and make it quick."Zacharias says. With Zacharias by my side, I'm filled with courage. I'm no longer afraid of the dim, creepy room. I was worried about teaming up with Garvey, but he just looks bored and doesn't give me a hard time. The search goes smoothly, apart from the fact that we don't find the body. Nothing dangerous happens at all. We soon reach the end of the hallway. The crooked door sits before us. The door and the fragments of the broken candlestick lying on the carpet remind me of what happened this morning. I steal a glance at Zacharias beside me and his eyes meet mine. Embarrassed, I look away.

*Koff* "Well, this is the last room, I wonder how downstairs is going..." I say out loud.

"If they'd found anything, we'd have heard about it by now." Garvey says to answer my question. "Judging from all the quiet, I guess they haven't found anything either. Ha! What a day. What could make a body just... disappear?"

"Let's check this last room and be done with it." Zacharias says to the both of us.

"The door is stuck on something. Neither Coiseam nor I could open it." I say.

"Really? Let me try." Zacharias says to me. Zacharias raises his foot and gives a decisive kick. The door lets out one final groan and falls inward. (...Impressive, Zacharias.) The room is dark, but I see something small and white in the faint light streaming from the hallway. It seems to be fluttering about on some unseen wind.