Anemoia // Sally Face

17: The Leader

-->Possible TW for violence and death

May 26th

An eventful start to my summer, Sal and Larry convinced me to explore an abandoned house with them. A house that's in the middle of the woods that only has a dirt road to reach it. But I was bored, and it was a chance to hang out with them, so I agreed against my better judgement.

Larry picked me up in his truck, and I told my mom we were just hanging out at the apartments. If she knew I was about to trespass on someone's property, she would be furious.

"So, Sal, why are we exploring this abandoned house? Other than being rebel teens who need something fun to do on a Thursday afternoon," I ask.

"I think the person who used to live in the house was a part of the cult here in Nockfell. I want to find any proof they were, and see if they possibly left anything behind," he explained.

"What happened to them? Did they leave town or disappear because of the cult-"

"They were murdered," Sal cuts me off.

"WHAT? Why would we visit a place where someone was murdered?" I'm completely flabbergasted by these two. No sense of danger in their bones.

"I mean, we already went into the apartment Mrs. Sanderson was killed in," Larry chimes in.

"That's different. Some scary, secluded house in the middle of the woods where a murder happened is a lot weirder and probably dangerous! They were murdered for a reason, weren't they?" I ask.

"That's the thing. I tried to look for any news articles about her death, but almost everything I found said it was a random break-in where the robber was looking for anything valuable and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that can't be the case. Who goes all the way out in the woods to steal something from a random lady. If there's a chance we can contact her spirit, I want to ask who actually killed her, and why," Sal explained.

"This is crazy..." I sigh.

We started down the dirt road and the sun was covered by the tall trees. It was already spooky, and we weren't even close to the house. I couldn't imagine how rundown the house must be now, with no one taking care of it, and probably no one who bothered to clean up the lady's personal belongings.

When the house came into view, you could already tell how horrible it must be in the inside. The wood frame of the house was peeling and dirty. An old car still in the yard, probably belonging to the lady. The roof has built up a layer of leaves and branches. The house all together was probably suffering from rain damage.

Sal took the first steps toward the house, Larry and I following. He took out his super gearboy and held it in front of him, just in case it detected anything. The door was unlocked, and we went inside. The inside was rough, but not as bad as the outside. I think Sal said this place had been abandoned for five years. I'm surprised no teenagers ever came out here and vandalized the place.

Everything looked normal, the living room a little messy because of a leak in the roof. The kitchen smelled horrible because of old food left in the fridge and cabinets, so we tried not to linger in the room for too long. But it was when we got to the bedroom, Sal's gearboy glowed bright green.

"She must have died in here..." Sal whispered.

I didn't want to step into the room, too afraid of what I might see. It reminded me too much of Mrs. Sandersons apartment, and how there was still an outline of her body on the ground, and the red tint of blood on the carpet, that no scrubbing could get out. How rough could this crime scene be? Would they even put an effort in to clean any blood left behind? The thought made me shiver.