Don't Go in the Attic

Hair Dye and Horror

Alex walked up the driveway of the house.  The car was gone.  So it must be in the garage.  As Alex approached the house the front porch light came on.  It made Alex jump a little.  She walked up to their front porch.  When she went to reach for the doorbell, the door opened quickly, before she could ring.

"Hello Alex,"  the mom said with a grin.  She gestured for Alex to come into their house.  Alex stepped in gingerly.  "Kids, come downstairs please," said the mother.  Alex could hear the sound of the kids running down the stairs.  When they came, they looked different.  There hair looked different and I they looked sleepy, almost restless.  In fact, they looked like they had been crying.

"Do you guys remember Alex?  She was here a week ago," the mom said.  Megan and Riley shook their head.  "Come on guys!  She was here just last Friday."  The mother looked ticked.  

"Is she our sister?"  Megan asked.  

"No, she's your babysitter.  Why would she be your sister?" the mother said with a worried grin.

"Because she has blonde hair like us," Riley stated.  The mothers weak smile faded to a frown.  

"No.  You're hair is brown." The mother said angrily.  Megan pulled her braids forward to look at them as if she needed to double check.  Alex stood there watching in confusion.  Their hair was definitely brown.  It kind of looked more brown since the last time she was there.  "How do they not know their own hair colour?"  She thought to herself.

"She has blonde hair and blue eyes just like us though," Riley exclaimed pointing at Alex.  The kids clearly had brown hair and brown eyes.  The mom turned to Alex and said, "I'm sorry, let me talk to them."  She ushered them into another room.  She appeared several minutes later with the kids trailing behind her.  The kids went into the family room.  

"All the rules are the same.  So we didn't need to tell you them again."  The dad came downstairs.  "Hello Alex," he said.  Afterwards the parents left the house and Alex was in charge again.  She didn't know if she was afraid of the parents, what was in the house or both.

Alex went into the family room where Megan and Riley were sitting.  The TV wasn't on.  They were just sitting and whispering.  When Alex walked in, they spun around quickly, as if Alex was not meant to hear what they were saying to each other.  "Hey guys," Alex said sheepishly, "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

"It's fine," Megan said quietly while looking down in her lap.

"She was lying you know," Riley stated.  Megan shot him a look.

"Who was lying?"  Alex inquired.

"She said our hair is brown but it isn't," he responded.  Megan turned around and looked at Alex in fear.  She quickly turned around to Riley and whispered,"stop it Riley."  Riley immediately went quiet.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.  The kids sat quietly looking at each other and at Alex.  "It's fine.  You don't have to say."

Several minutes had passed and everything seemed to be normal again.  "Let's play hide and seek!" Megan exclaimed.  

"OK Megan!  You're it!"  Riley yelled.  Megan signalled for him to be quiet and then agreed.  Riley grabbed Alex's hand and pulled her through the house to a hiding spot.  They sat quietly as Megan counted.  "She lied," Riley whispered.  

"Who?"  Alex whispered back.

"Our mom.  Our hair isn't brown."

"Yes it is."

"It wasn't before.  One day we fell asleep and they brought us here.  When we woke up my hair was brown.  And my eyes were brown too."  Megan continued counting.  Alex had a feeling of her gut dropping.  "It's OK.  He does'nt know what he's talking about.  He's five.  He made it up," she decided to herself.  "Want to know something else?"  Riley asked.

"Sure."  Megan was finished counting. She would be finding them soon.

"Me and Megan don't remember you.  We remember going to bed.  Megan told me not to tell you or they will take us to the skeleton man and he will hurt us.  Megan says he will hurt us just like the other girl."  Riley said this with a the most serious face you could imagine.  Alex no longer felt safe in this home.  The kids were insane!

A matter of seconds later, Megan found them and the kids continued playing games.  The kids played with Alex for a very long time.  "Where's the washroom?"  Alex asked.  Megan led her to where the washroom was.  She wasn't sure if the kids could be trusted alone in the house, even though she would only be going to the washroom for a minute.

Alex saw the toilet paper roll was empty.  She decided to check under the sink to see if they had anymore.  There under the sink was four bottles of brown hair dye and two boxes of brown contact lenses.  There was also another small bottle of Rohypnol that was half empty.  Alex went to look in the garbage of the bathroom.  There was an empty bottle of hair dye.  Suddenly it all made sense to Alex.  "The kids are given Rohypnol when there hair is dyed and when they get the contacts put in, so they don't remember.  And they were on the 'medication' the last time I came over so that's why they don't remember me."  Alex really wanted this to not be the truth but it was the only logical explanation.  It was really quite depressing.  "What kind of parents would do this to their kids?"

Alex came out of the washroom to see Megan and Riley sitting on the couch again.  They weren't whispering this time.  Just sitting there.  It was 8:30 and Alex decided it was time for them to get ready for bed.  The kids walked upstairs with out a complaint.  Alex had told them if they got ready quickly, she would let them watch a TV show. 

The kids were upstairs for about thirty seconds when Alex heard a muffled scream.  Then she heard the noise of someone running.  Alex was terrified for the kids life but was more scared for her own.  Alex ran up stairs as quickly as possible.  She could hear the someone crying  She ran into Riley's room to find it empty.  She sprinted into Megan's room and found Megan and Riley clutching each other on the ground sobbing.  Just then there was another scream.  It sounded like a girl's scream.  It was coming from above.  It sent chills down Alex's back and caused the kids to let out another cry.  Don't go in the Attic rang through Alex's mind.  "What is going on in here?"  Another scream went out from above but was cut off midway as if the person was knocked out or worse, killed.  Alex went to comfort the crying mess of kids on the floor.  She was definitely not imagining things.  They had heard it to.  As soon as she could collect the kids and herself, she would call the police.