Curiosity Kills

Chapter 4

I stared at the blood.  I didn't want to believe it was real.  It just couldn't be real.  I bent down next to it, touched it, and quickly pulled my hand away when I realized it was still warm.  It was as if it had happened the moment before we stepped into the room, but it couldn't have or we would have heard something.  I looked down at the blood on my fingers and wondered, "Whose blood is this?"  

The room started to spin, the metallic smell of the blood became overpowering and I startled to stumble.  I heard a splash behind me.  I looked over and saw that Luke had slipped and fell straight into the puddle of blood.  He got up and tried to wipe the blood from his face and hands.  If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought he had just committed a horrendous murder.

"Well, this is just great.  Mom is going to kill me."

"Don't worry about it now.  If we do manage to get out of here, we can try to sneak your clothes into the washing machine when we get home."

I turned back around and ushered Hayden into the next room.  A similar scene greeted us, but, instead of a kitchen, it was one of the fanciest dining rooms I had ever laid eyes on.  There was more blood, but it hadn't even touched the table or chair, only the floor underneath.  The room looked like it could belong in the White House.  The table was set with extraordinary china, not one thing looked out of place.  It certainly wasn't like the rest of the house.  The china looked freshly cleaned and everything else, freshly dusted.  It struck me as odd since the other rooms appeared as if no one had touched them since the 1800s.  I walked towards the back of the room.  Hayden gripped my arm, too afraid to leave my side again.  A small ray of sunlight was all that could make its way into the otherwise dark room.  I followed it to the wall we had just passed.  I could see the shadows of the chairs, but something else was also there.  

I took me a moment to make out the shape of the unknown shadow on the wall.  I tried to match it up with something but there was nothing that could make that kind of form on the wall.  Suddenly, it moved.  Hayden saw it and let out a gasp.  The shadow slowly emerged from the wall.  It's shape began to resemble that of a young girl.  It reminded me of Tara but I couldn't be sure.  Even if it was, I never wanted to believe it.  It was just a shadow after all.  I felt Hayden start to tug on my arm.

"What is it?"

"Where did Luke go?"

I looked around.  Hayden was right.  Luke was nowhere to be found.  I almost went into panic mode.  I'd already almost lost Hayden and now I didn't know where Luke was.  I slid my eyes back to the spot where the shadow was, but it was gone.  I took Hayden's hand and went back into the kitchen where, luckily, Luke was still standing.  

"What are you doing?  Come on, we need to keep moving."  He didn't even look at me, didn't even flinch.  Then I realized he was staring at the ceiling.  There was a horrified look in his eyes.  His mouth was moving but it failed to make any sounds.  It was like he wanted to scream and run but couldn't move his feet.  I followed his gaze to the ceiling where I was greeted with the source of all the blood.  There, attached to the ceiling by thirty knives, was the body of Juliana Riddl.

The knives had been thrust through every part of her body except her head.  Her eyes remained open and seemed to stare straight into our souls.  I, too, couldn't help but stare.  I wanted to move away and forget what I had seen, but something held me there, forcing me to gaze upon the corpse of the woman I had only known for a short time.  The woman that was so intrigued by the idea of living in a new place and eager to make new friends.  A tear formed in my eye and fell into the blood below.  This just couldn't be happening.  Right now, I just wished it was a horrible nightmare that I could wake up from and find out that everyone was okay.  I tore myself away from the sight of her body.  I took Luke by the shoulders and led him out of the room.  He was startled when I touched him, as if he had been in a trance.  I wondered if it was a similar trance to what Hayden had experienced earlier.

"I can't believe this.  She can't be dead.  Who would want to hurt such a sweet lady?"  Luke looked like he was ready to cry.  I tried my best to comfort him.

"This isn't normal.  Nothing about this situation is right.  We will find out what happened, at least I hope we will."

We went back into the dining room and I made sure I had both boys with me this time.  I saw Hayden look up and then scream until his lungs almost gave out.  I grabbed him and he buried his head in my chest as if to try to escape from all the horrors contained in this cursed house.  I hesitated and then looked up.  There was a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling but, instead of candle holders at the ends, each end was sharpened to a point.  At first, I couldn't find what had made Hayden scream the way he did.  Then, I saw it.  At the back of the chandelier was another body.  It was a man this time.  I figured it must be Heath even though I had never actually seen him before.  His body had been impaled on some of the points of the chandelier.  It almost looked as if he had been caught by a giant fishing hook.  His head had also gone untouched and, once again, I felt his eyes burning into me as if to tell us we shouldn't be here.

I grabbed Luke's hand and took Hayden's face out of my chest and started to lead them through the next archway to our left.  I had only gotten about five steps in when another scream filled the room.  It sounded a lot closer this time and I pulled the boys closer to me.  They wrapped their arms around me and each other and we all started shaking in absolute fear.  I expected the worst was yet to come.