Fabula Obscrua

Broken

*NOTE

This piece originally appeared in my Bittersweets collection, though the characters are part of my "Fabula Obscura" storyline. It is a little 'thriller/horror' piece written some time back for a contest. Feel free to skip ahead, or enjoy! :) 

Broken

The old house creaked and moaned as the evening descended. She’d never been afraid of the dark, though now didn’t seem like a bad time to start.

Housesitting had been her roommate’s idea, and she cursed the older girl now for talking her into it. It had seemed like a fun change of pace, a little adventure, when it was one which they would share. With her roomie at work, and her alone in this old house, too far off the beaten path for her liking, it didn’t seem like much fun anymore.

A pair of dogs barked down the street, and she leaned over the sink to look out the window. Nothing but darkness and shadows of trees. The hum of vehicles on the road down the long gravel drive was just barely audible, and she listened for the familiar rumble of the beat up old truck her roommate drove.

The wind had picked up, howling through the trees. A rush of air slipped into the poorly insulated old house, creating a siren’s wail through the attic. The little brunette shuddered, and flipped on the TV, hoping to drown out the eerie whine. She yearned for her apartment, nestled in the depths of the city, the building filled with familiar hum of people and the routine of their daily lives.

The skitter of a clawed animal across the roof made her jump, and she went to the window again. She knew there would be nothing but shadows, but she couldn’t resist the urge to look. As she leaned over the window sill, she heard the faint sound of the door in the foyer. She turned, a smile spreading across her face.

“Reah!” She exclaimed, her bare feet padding noisily across the wooden floorboards. The entrance way of the house was dark, empty and still when she skidded to a halt, her heart thundering ominously.

“Bell, get a hold of yourself.” She muttered, and made her way back down the hall, fighting the urge to jump at every noise made by the boards beneath her feet. For each footfall, each logical creak of aging wood, there seemed to be several more she couldn’t account for. She put her hand to her chest, her heart fluttering like a trapped bird. With a deep breath, she attempted to calm herself.

The distinct sound of breaking glass shattered her effort to calm herself, and she stood wide eyed, gasping for air in the hallway. Something in the kitchen. Her mind ran over the logical explanations.

Something had fallen. She’d left something out. The wind that howled and screeched through every crack of the old house must have knocked it down.

With a faint nod to herself, she made her way towards the kitchen. A glass, the one she’d used for water, lay in sparkling fragments across the polished floorboards. Dim light filtered in from the den where the TV still carried on, causing the shards to twinkle like a tangle of Christmas lights.

She glanced down at her bare feet and sighed. She’d need to fetch her shoes from upstairs to clean it up. Shaken, her legs wobbly, she ran for the stairs as quickly as she could manage, flipping on lights as she went.

The trail of lights did her little good. She failed to notice the attic hatch hanging open from the ceiling in the upstairs hall, just low enough to catch her across the forehead. Everything went dark before she could register what had happened.

Pain blossomed across her vision in the form of dancing orbs of light. The light faded into black, and she moaned, her head and neck aching from the impact. She stared up at the ceiling, barely making out the lines of the wooden beams. The dangling pull cord of the attic door finally registered in her sight, and she pieced together what had happened.