When Things Turn Dark

Chapter one

THE BEGINNING: WHEN THINGS WERE QUIET

Nat walked through the large gates, stealing a glance back at Nerezza, grey mist circling her from the waist down. There was only quiet as her friend carried herself behind Nat, softly they entered the house. The house was silent with only the slightest creaks and cracks around. The door itself was shedding pieces of wood and grey paint, the handle was rusting off. There was a slight echo throughout the main hall as Nat opened the door, the two girls walked inside, both shaking slightly.

Spiders crawled by Nerezza's head as she looked to Nat with a face that said "I want to leave now" and Nat quickly looked around. Nat was fearful, but kept high spirits since it should just be a quick in and out. It shouldn't take too long for them to find Nat's bag and get out of this haunted house before someone jumps out of the shadows and says boo. Nat then realized they were just standing like idiots inside of a creepy place with seemingly no reason at all, not her "coolest" moment she'd admit. Nat and Nerezza started to make their way to the dining table.

Nat sighed, pulling out a small blue box from her flannel pocket. She instinctively touched a hand to her now very short hair. She had her hair cut extremely short last week, much to the disapproval of her younger brother and Nerezza. At this point though Nerezza didn't even mind any more. It seemed normal now, as normal as the transition between night and day. Nat flicked open the box and hung one of the cancer sticks lazily from her mouth. This, Nerezza never got used to. She hated the fact that Nat smoked. Nat knew of course, and was trying to limit herself, but right now they had a pretty good chance of dying or something so she had a pretty compelling argument to use the stupid thing.
Nat pushed open the door, hearing a sickening crack as the dining room door door swung open. Spider webs floated down in a snow-like haze. The spider webs mixed with the chipping grey paint as the two girls walked in, their shoes thudding on the old wooden floor.

Both girls had their mouths open making Nat's cigarette fall to the ground, Nerezza stomped on it immediately making Nat jump. The dining room had a blue-tinted glass chandelier which hung loosely over a smashed table. The table seemed to have been made of elm and the seven chairs were either stuck in a broken window or strewn about the room. The door to the kitchen seemed to be gone, perhaps this was why there were pieces of oak wood sprinkled in with everything else. Nerezza was extremely jealous of the decor even though it lay in pieces, Nat didn't seem to care about the design choices of the house. She was more worried about why the dining room was in shambles, and how the rest of the house may fare.

"What the hell happened here?!" Nat shrieked slightly. She really hated creepy houses, and she was pretty sure this seemed like a monster had done it, even if it was probably the partygoers from the night before. She grabbed onto Nerezza's arm for comfort, it was a bad habit she should probably shake.
Her and Nerezza had known each other since about fourth grade, they both had to go on a field trip that went to the Library of Existential Literature. The goddamn place was like a maze, especially because, at the time, Nerezza was on the shorter side and couldn't see over the 7 foot shelves. Though luckily this problem was solved easily because Nat had always been on the lanky side, so she simply lifted her friend onto her own shoulders so they could see over the tall shelves. They had barely left each other's sides since.