Insolence

Stay the Night

The world is not always as it seems; thus was the story of this little house in the woods that had not seen life in what was assuredly a century--I could feel the age and creaking shifts in its bones and soul. No lights flickered on to welcome me. The cobwebs and darkness shrouded me with agonizing uncertainty and anxiety. The continued snapping of branches beyond the tree-line told me that someone was still out there... watching. Deciding that being swallowed whole by a demon house was better than being ravaged by a slur-spoken truck driver, I slammed the door behind me, barring it with a rotting, wooden chair to ensure he couldn't get in.

Haunted breaths laced their way down my spine and my eyes widened to adjust for the tar-black world to let some feeble rays of light come out from the hidden hallways and crevices beyond the foyer. It was empty. Other than the chair, no furniture gave hint to whom or what might have lived there prior to my rude entrance to its old, creaking door so many years later. Had there been a family here? A mom and her kids with a father to kiss their cheeks and bring home food and security? Or had it been the home of a lonesome old-timer with no family left and nothing to look forward to but Death?

I tried not to ponder such miserable things. Instead, I began to make my way forward in the hopes of finding a lantern or something to strike a light with.

Scuttling paws told me that mice were inhabitants of this ancient abode. So, in a way, I wasn't alone. There was only one problem with that: I hated mice. Hated them with a vile passion. Their slimy, disease-carrying hides were the last thing I ever wanted to run into. How had I not foreseen this coming?

"If I see you, you're getting clubbed!"

I hoped my thread would be enough. Just keeping them at bay was sure to sate my fears of them. Mice from a distance were less of a problem than mice up close.

"I know this is ridiculous, but is anyone home?"

Silence was my only friend. I dared not climb the spiral staircase that sat quite out of place in the empty living room--at least I presumed it to be the family room at some point. The shadows of burn toys littered the floors and I swallowed as the peeling, charring paint started to make sense. There had been a fire here; somehow, the house itself had not burned to the ground. Only the insides.

My breath came at a quickened pace and I dampened my thoughts of what might have happened to the family that used to reside here. Had they been eaten by the flames? And why had the house not burned? My foot caught the dividing bar between the living room and dining room and I shrieked, throwing my hands up and flailing them in surrender as I rushed into the next room where more of the dying light outside crept its way in. Why had I taken the Trash this far? I could have been curled up and cozy at home by this point... listening to the sounds of my parents bickering over how terrible I was and how great Lola was. Anything was preferable to this. Except whomever was lurking outside. Both the rock and the hard place sent lumps of ice through my nervous system and I swallowed the glacier with renewed determination. It was either this or be trapped by the creep outside. Unless he sneaked in here himself...

Why do you do this to yourself? Stop imagining those things... is the chandelier moving? Stop it, Hybris. You're making things worse. You know better than to do this to yourself.

My eyes traveled upwards to regard the chandelier above what must have been a dining-room table and I closed my eyes. The creaking noises swept me away into the walls of the house.

My body began to quake under the weight of everything that I realized all at once: there were spirits here. I wasn't insane and the chandelier was moving. Something... someone was here. The buzzing voices of the lost erupted and I couldn't stop them anymore. The whispers attacked me all at once and I realized that I was, most certainly, not alone. The chill of Death stopped moving from within my veins and whomever it was that did still reside in this house began to dip its soul within my own to feel about for treachery. How I knew this was a mystery to me, but I knew that something beyond this world had found me in this dining room.