The Wicked Within

4. The First Rules

If it stays too long, it strangles you. If it fades away, it takes you with it.

*****

Two full trash bags of dead rats lay on the floor of Finn's bedroom. The rug was stuffed into a third one. It was completely ruined because of the blood stains. His father had remained deadly quiet throughout the entire cleaning. He refused to say a single word. He sometimes glared at Finn, or stared down at his now stained Family Guy shirt.

After the rats and the rug where in the trash can outside,  Finn and his dad cleaned the entire room. For hours. Finn's dad had always been a bit of a germ freak, and his eyes seemed to be bulging out of his head in shock and disgust as he cleaned the floor and even the wall, where there hadn't even been any rats.

Finn's sister would occasionally walk by wanting to know what was going on, but his dad would put on a fake smile and shoo her away.

When they were finally finished, his dad spoke for the first time, voice slightly more controlled than earlier, but anger not yet absent from his eyes.

"Why were there a bunch of gutted rats in your room, Finn?"

Yes, his voice was way more controlled. It was calm. Deadly calm. Deadly calm like the moments before an earthquake. Finn tried to form a response in his head, but the only thing released from his mouth was unintelligible stutters.

His dad's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Tell me what in the fuck this is!"

"Dad, I really didn't do it! I woke up and... I promise!"

His dad just stared at him for a second. "Then who put them there, hmm?"

"God, dad, I don't know!" Finn yelled it out, partly from annoyance, mostly from sheer disbelief at the whole absurd situation. It took him a second to realize that he had just shouted out loud at his father, and maybe that was a bad idea.

"You're really testing my patience nowadays, Finn," the normally coolheaded man rubbed his temples. "I- we'll talk later. I need a drink."

And with that, the man disappeared out of his room and down the stairs.

Finn sighed, crashing onto his bed. As his back hit the freshly laid out sheets, he felt something crackle against his weight. He got up again, looking down at his bed.

It was piece of notebook paper. Simple, normal notebook paper. Finn picked it up and found a note written in messy handwriting with pen.

Rule #1: You don't mess with us, we don't mess with you.

*******

Finn ran down stairs. The note was crumbled in his fist. The words made no sense to him, they only succeeded in freaking him out. So someone had been in his room that wasn't him or his family or friends. Twice. Once with the rats, and once with the note.

And with the note, they would have had to been in the room after his dad put the new sheets on the bed, which means they were there fifteen minutes ago or less. This was the only thing in Finn's head as he busted into the living room. Someone's inside, in our house, possibly still here. The feeling of dread and fear ate into Finn's insides just thinking about it.

His dad stared at him, wide eyed. He had a beer in one hand, the TV remote in the other.

"Dad," Finn breathed, staring at his father, who was sitting on the couch in the living room.

His dad sighed. "What is it now?"

Finn forced the note into his dad's hands. "Read it. I found this on my bed. It's some kind of... note." He stuffed his hands into the pocket his blue jeans. If whoever left the rats and notes was still there, his dad had to get the cops there immediately. As quickly as possible.

His dad eyed the paper suspiciously. Then he turned to face his son. "There's nothing to read, and you know it." He gave the paper back to Finn, and sure enough, it was blank. Finn's eyes widened.

"No-"

His dad shot him a look that said he needed to shut up.

Finn sighed and walked away. He didn't even know the direction he was walking, he didn't care, he just walked away.

When he was in a different room, the kitchen, he looked back down at the note.

He wished he hadn't. It read, in the same messy handwriting:

Rule #2: Never tell anyone, not a single soul.

*********

The next day at school, Eddie was absent. In the back of the biology classroom, Finn whispered to Allison about the rats and the note. Class hadn't even started yet, and the teacher wasn't even there yet.

When he told her, something inside her eyes flashed. Finn didn't know what it was, but something changed about them, her mouth pulled into a thin crease, and she looked at Finn intently, like she was thinking something important. Finn felt his body tense upon seeing this. She didn't look shocked or surprised, just worried. Completely, one hundred percent worried. As if something similar had happened to her....

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, the door of the classroom flew open, revealing a middle aged man in an emerald green robe. There were weird designs on it- symbols Finn didn't recognize. It was certainly not normal school attire. It was unsettling, to say the least. The man's face was long- almost in an unearthly way.

And even worse: none of the other kids seemed to notice what he was wearing. They didn't look concerned about it at all. One of the kids even complemented his shirt.

Allison looked over at Finn, confused. So she could see it, too. Weird.

"I'm Mr. Alva. I'll be substituting for Mr. Dobber today. Please everyone, take your seats."

A few students who were up having conversations or trying to find paper or pencils scurried back to their desks.

The weird robed man, Mr. Alva, wrote his name on the board along with page numbers to read in the text book. Some groaning, the students pulled out  their biology books and began reading (though the word skimming would be more accurate).

As Finn opened his book, he got a strange sensation. The same one he had gotten at the store the other day.

The sensation of being watched.

He looked up, and Mr. Alva was staring directly at him, a small smirk barely visible on his long face.