The Gruesome House

꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐨꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷

⛧☾༺♰༻☽⛧ ⛧☾༺♰༻☽⛧ ⛧☾༺♰༻☽⛧

"You're not safe here.."

"You're different from the others.."

Aeryn jumped out of her sleep. She placed her right hand over her chest, taking deep breaths. She had been startled by what she deemed whispers.

Aeryn turned to her bed side table & turned on her lamp. She glanced at her clock.

Sunday, 3:05 a.m.

She groaned, resting her head in her hands. 'Maybe it was just a weird dream..'  she thought to herself. She rose from her pink canopy bed, slipping into her black slippers.

She started walking towards the bedroom door, opening it, & stepping into the dark hallway. Her sister's bedroom was right next to door, whereas her parents room was across the hall, & Adonis's bedroom right next to theirs.

Amir had chosen the bedroom downstairs next to the basement door. Aeryn rubbed her eyes, still fairly tired. She headed toward the stairs, stopping in her tracks instantly.

"There's that fucking smell again.." she muttered, using her right arm to cover her nose. It smelled so rancid she nearly gagged. She used her left hand to turn on the light. She began walking down the stairs, never lowering her arm from her nose.

As she got to the bottom step, she looked to her right, seeing the clock on the wall near the parlor. It read 3:00 a.m.

She furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't understand why the clock had stopped at that particular time. Before they'd moved that clock had worked perfectly fine.

Aeryn felt uneasy. There was a feeling she just couldn't shake. It was heavy.

She walked past the parlor into the hall leading to the kitchen. She walked to the brown cupboards & opened it up, retrieving a plastic cup.

Her mother hadn't unpacked the boxes with the glass cups, mainly because she didn't feel like doing any dishes & wanted something more disposable.

She sat the cup on the counter & turned to walk towards the fridge. She opened the fridge to grab the minute maid juice, her favorite. She turned around to walk back towards the cup, but it was gone.

She paused, questioning her sanity.

'I know I pulled out that damn cup, I'm not that damn sleepy..'  She pondered.

"What are you doing awake?" Amir's voice rung in her ears, startling her so bad she nearly dropped the carton of juice.

Aeryn turned around to see Amir standing there. He was wearing red & black pajama pants with no shirt. She punched him in the arm, earning a groan from him.

"Can you announce yourself next time?? You scared the absolute shit out of me." Aeryn stated, audibly annoyed.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I just heard someone walk into the kitchen." Amir defended. He rubbed his arm, her punch packed some sting.

Aeryn rolled her eyes, turning back to the counter, only to see the cup she had taken out back on the counter. She placed her free hand on the bridge of her nose to massage it.

She began to question her sanity again, thinking maybe she actually was tired enough to be imagining things. She grabbed the cup, pouring the juice & filling it midway. She took a sip of it & turned back to her older brother.

"Why are you awake?" she questioned.

"The smell," he started to say, taking the carton of juice from his sister, "It woke me up."