Curiosity Kills

Chapter 5

We stood there, the scream still echoing in our heads, waiting for anything to suddenly swoop down and do to us what was done to Juliana and Heath.  Nothing was happening.  I turned back towards the center of the room.  The shadow I had seen earlier greeted me, except it was no longer attached to the wall.  It stood on top the table but I couldn't tell which way it was facing or where it was looking.  I only felt that sensation of being stared at that I felt earlier.   

The scream came again and my brother tore away from me and ran in opposite directions.  The arms on the shadows began to rise upwards and all the glassware and china rose from the table.  I watched cautiously as they began spinning in a circle around the perimeter of the table.  They spun faster and faster until they started to hurl in every direction.  

"GET DOWN!"  I screamed for my brothers to take cover to avoid the flying dinnerware.  We all crawled underneath the table and watched as plates smashed against the walls and fell to the floor in thousands of little pieces.  The forks and knives flew with such force that they stuck far into the walls.  Eventually, the clatter died down and I started to climb out from our hiding place.  Hayden and Luke soon followed.  We turned around to see if the shadow was still present and it was no where to be found.  I turned back to look at the mess on the floor.  It was clean.  All the glass was gone and even the holes created by the flying silverware were gone.  

"This doesn't make any sense!  What is going on!?"  

"It's like the house can heal itself."  Luke didn't look like he believed himself.  Hayden was looking at him like he was crazy.  Suddenly, I got an eerie feeling and, once again, turned to face that ancient table.  I was met with a close up view of the that accursed shadow.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?!"  I was shouting at it without thinking about what it might be able to do to  me.  Then it did something I didn't think it was capable of; it spoke.

"You.....will never.....leave this house......ALIVE!"  The last word came out as a high-pitched scream that rang through our ears to make sure we didn't forget it.  It was mocking our efforts to find an alternate escape route.  The shadow moved its hands and a small hole formed at the center of the table.  Slowly, an old book rose from inside the hole.  The hole closed and the book settled onto the table in a cloud of dust.  I looked at the shadowy figure and it looked to be rubbing its hands together as if it was eager for me to open the book.  I sighed and went up to where the book had been laid.  The cover was blank and was falling apart.  It was barely held together by a decomposing cord.  I untied the cord and open to the first page.  There was a bit of writing that looked like it had been quickly scrawled down.  I read what it said to the best of my ability.

"To die is to give permission to live."

"What does that mean?"  Hayden gave me a quizzical look.  

"I don't really know.  Death is permission to live.  That doesn't make any sense!"

"It's just a book.  It doesn't know anything."  Luke was grasping for any kind of hope he could find that we would successfully escape the demon house and the spirits that called it home.  He didn't sound very sure of himself though.  "Come on, lets just keep going.  We must be close to another exit by now."  

Hayden and I followed him into the hallway that led from the dining room.  To our left was a single door in an indented part of the wall.  It was like it was trying to be hidden.  To our right was the rest of the hallway.  It was so dark that I couldn't quite see to the end of it, but I could make out three separate doors.  I sighed at the thought of having to explore so many more rooms.  I didn't think I could take much more of this.

I figured we might as well start with the nearest door, so I turned and opened it up.  It never occurred to me that, maybe, this door was hidden back here for a reason.  At the time that I opened it up and saw what was inside, nothing stood out.  The room was small and empty except for a small cardboard box on the ground.  It looked fairly new compared to everything else we had seen.  The cardboard was clean and still sturdy.  I put my hand on the lid and started to lift it off.

"Wait!"  Hayden tugged my arm back a little.  "Don't you think it's a little odd for this to just be sitting in here all by itself?"

"Of course I do.  "We haven't got much choice though.  All our options have gone up in smoke so far, and I want to make sure we gave every bit of effort we could."  I tried to sound confident, but I knew I wasn't convincing in the slightest.  "Everything will be alright, I promise."

Luke and Hayden looked into my eyes and gave  me the go ahead.  I took their hands and put them on my shoulders so I knew they were still there in case anything did go wrong.  Then I lifted the lid once more.