✔ | PAINTED IN CRIMSON | T. SHARPE

THREE | LULLABY

❝ When I was a child, I heard voices, 
some would sing and some would scream,
you soon find you have few choices. ❞

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THREE | LULLABY

Breathtaking. That is the word I'd use if you asked me to describe the house in one single word. The foyer was incredibly large and you could see the three floors. I wished I could have seen it in its glory days. Romantic, Victorian and Gothic influences. It was like being transported to a whole different era.

Even with a hole in the ceiling, the mansion was majestic. I looked up at it and saw leaves and debris falling down and landing in the centre of the wooden floor, with no chance of getting out again. Like a press into a cage, a big and formidable rotting cage.

It was cold, dreadfully cold. The two layers of clothing and my jacket weren't enough to keep me warm. I put my belongings at the bottom of the stairs and then rubbed my hands together as I made my way into the house.

I took off the old drape that covered the smudgy mirror in the corner and threw it away. Dust flew everywhere, making me cough a couple of times. My hand went to the mirror to clean it a little and see my reflection on it, but it all was in vain, I barely could see myself and I was just inches apart.

The house moaned and creaked all the time. I could have sworn that it would fall and bury me alive at any time. Rubbing my arms from time to time with the hope of getting warm, I kept walking to the back to meet a large hall with a piano on one side and a library on the other.

"'Ad montes oculos levavi'." I brushed my fingers over the inscription on the fireplace's header as I read it, "'I have lifted up mine eyes unto the hills'." I smiled to myself, "Latin lessons, I knew I'd use them someday," I said, turning around.

My eyes met a very deteriorated portrait of a grey-haired woman in dark clothes. I walked closer to have a better sight of it. The look given by her faded azure eyes was cold as ice, it was only a portrait, but it was so good, so realistic at the point of making me uncomfortable and want to look away.

My heart skipped a beat hand my eyes widened when I heard a movement on the other room, I walked past the piano, and found a door to the kitchen. The small window above the cooker was broken and the cold wind filtered through it, "Hello?" I stupidly asked, and swiftly picked up a pan ready to use it as a weapon. There was a large table in the middle, with pots, knives and forks. I walked closer and a soundless scream came out of me when a black cat jumped onto the table dropping every pot on it and making a lot of noise, I threw my head backwards and chuckled while rubbing my chest in an attempt to calm myself down.

"You almost give me a heart attack!" I walked towards it and reached to touch it. It quickly came to me and rubbed his chubby body against me, "This is a good place for hunting, isn't it?" I scratched its head and it purred, "Oh, goodness . . ." I looked at my hands, they were covered with coal dust, "Where have you bloody been, huh?" I looked at my surroundings and noticed how dark it was getting, quite dark and quite fast, so I
caressed the cat one last time as a goodbye before returning to the stairs to collect my stuff and look for a place to sleep.

"This is four times my bedroom!" I said when I found a bedroom on the second floor, it looked like a hotel suite. I proceeded to unpack my pillow and the sleeping bag -that I also got from Josh- and threw them on the carpet. I made sure I had enough batteries for my torch, enough food and bottled water.

Sitting on the floor by the king size bed with a half eaten sandwich, I pulled out my laptop and I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, it was Josh, he made me promise to call him when I arrived and I totally forgot, "Roommate, how was your day?" I asked.