Don't go into the Light

The House

Adira noticed the house as soon as they'd moved in. It was a dilapidated old thing. She was slightly scared of it and so she was immediately inclined to go ask her parents who lived in it.
"Nobody does." her mother replied.
"Then, can I go inside it?" She asked. "To explore?"
"No." her mother continued to stare at her laptop.
"Why?" Adira asked.
"Don't be difficult Adira."
"It's a valid question! In fact, I think that I'm perfectly entitled to an answer. Furthermore-"
"It's old, abandoned, the ceiling has partly caved in, it's dangerous and dirty. Even if you wanted to get in, it's locked. Rats and spiders infest the damned place. Also, there are rumours of a deranged homeless person who lives there. I want you to stay away from the house. Do you understand?" her mother turned around to glare at her. "Also, you shouldn't be reading my emails over my shoulder. It's extremely disconcerting."
Adira scowled and stomped out of the living room to the bedroom where her father sat working.
"Can I go to the house down the road?" she asked. "You know, the one with the crazy guy in it. I'm pretty sure that there would be some cool things there and I'd like to explore it –"
"What did your mother say?" he replied without turning around.
"It's disgusting, stay away at all costs you imbecile!" she mimicked in a squeaky voice.

"Hey, don't imitate me! And for the record, I didn't say that you were stupid." Came the voice from the living room. Adira laughed.
"Just like that, huh?"
"So... Can I?" she smiled sweetly even though he couldn't see her.
"No, Adira." her father chuckled. "Goodbye." He murmured sadly.
"What did you just say?" she asked.

Her father seemed to be busy thinking, his hands weren't typing and he was still. Adira had seen him do this many times before and sighed. She decided to check out her house in more detail.
"I'll start at the front door." Adira muttered. "Then, I'll make my way up. Maybe I'll even find a secret door or a box left here ages ago! Like in stories and movies! Then, I'll contact the owners of the box and go to the past! I do hope that it won't be in a war zone though..." Adira continued to imagine all the amazing things that could be lurking in the house. "...And then, I'll be famous and we'll be able to move back to our old home!"
As she passed the first flight of stairs, she caught a quick glimpse of two words near the bottom of a door. They were 'WAKE UP'. Curious, she walked over to the words and crouched down to look at it. It was carved into the bottom of the door frame in tiny letters. As she ran her fingers over the little letters, she could tell that they were deep cuts.

"How strange." She murmured.

The words were old and dusty, obviously not meant for her. She then began to imagine all the things it could relate to. By this time, Adira was all the way upstairs, nearing the attic. The attic was the only thing on the third floor.
"Well, this seems like a good place to begin searching!"
Adira entered the box room and stared up at the trapdoor. The boiler's hum was irregular and decidedly annoying. The wallpaper was scrappy and the paint-flecked floorboards were brittle. The ladder was nowhere to be seen. Adira ran to the top of the staircase and shouted down: "Mum, Dad where's the ladder for the attic? I want to explore up there!"
There were two responses:
"Be careful up there!" from her mother and "In the door on the left!" from her father.
Adira looked around her and shouted back: "There IS no door!"
"The one that matches the wallpaper!" came the reply.
She noticed a door that she haven't seen previously and pulled on the string-powered light inside the small closet. A tiny 20 watt bulb illuminated some of the items, casting hideous shadows on the others. She found the ladder. There was also a small trowel, a torch, a broken picture frame that had a closed eye inside it, several rolled up sheets of paper, an Icelandic – English dictionary and a large rubber duck wearing a top hat and monocle.
"Cool duck!" she exclaimed to herself. Taking another look at the eye, her hair stood up slightly on end as she realised that she must have seen it completely wrong. The eye was open but had no colour, just milky white, like a blind person's eye. Shuddering in its blank gaze, Adira backed away.