Bringer of Bad Luck

Chapter 11

At first none of the other orphans noticed that there was a new inhabitant in the house and didn't notice that one of the caretaker's rooms was unused, however, later on it came to the attention of one of the older children. That child had just happened to pass by the corridor that led to Crimson's room at a point where Crimson's empty plates were being collected. No one supposedly used that room, so why were they collecting evidently soiled dining items from outside the door, was there actually a person residing in that supposedly abandoned room?

As the caretaker walked back with the items, she was confronted by a fifteen year old brunette that gazed at her with curiosity, throwing her eyes between the items in the woman's hands and back at the caretaker a few times. Then she shot a glance at the door, and as the teenager looked at the door, unbeknownst to others, the raven-haired girl on the inside, her eyes also skimmed up and down the practically bolted shut door, her eyes gave away nothing, yet it still seemed to say that she knew, knew that they were just outside, knew that the woman would avoid the topic of a human being behind the doors, such all-knowing eyes that seemed to see through any and everything.

Outside the door, the woman wore a stiff smile as she followed the teenager's line of sight to the door behind her, then she turned back around to face the teenager in front of her. Unfortunately for the woman, the child then said what she wished she could pretend to not hear. The girl said that she'd thought that the room was unoccupied, and then she stared at the woman with suspicion, as though she would get an answer just because she continued to stare and mentally probe the aunty in front of her. But how wrong she was, what right did a child have to know everything that went on in the orphanage. Therefore, in a practiced manner, the woman methodologically avoided the question but still made sure to remind her to not venture into the room, and finally, she scurried off before the young girl could even think about making another remark about the questionable and ghost-like inhabitant of the supposedly uninhabited room. The girl, unable to do anything, only briefly looked at the door once more before leaving the scene.

Of course, what sort of adolescent would she make if she didn't share her suspicions with others, thus, eventually; all the children knew that an unknown person lived in the room.

Some children, mainly the teenagers in the orphanage, made several speculations like the probability of a sick person who was unable to venture outside being the resident of the room, while others jokingly said that perhaps the caretakers were feeding a ghost, or that they made a deal with the devil and the food they usually left outside was the 'sacrifice.' Either way, they made very far-fetched and immature jokes, however, those jokes turned real in the minds of the curious, gullible younger children.

One such child was a seven year old buy who resolved that he would solve the mystery of the mysterious resident. He'd watched several movies dealing with mystery and infiltration with the older kids; therefore, based on that, he did a 'stake-out.' At night, he would sneak to the corridor that led to the room, purely to observe. The first thing that was strange was that the lights of the corridor were always off, however, inside the room, a dim light, perhaps form a lamp, eased from the room through the crease at the base of the door. With this, the boy knew that someone was definitely inside.

After multiple 'stake-outs' and building his courage, he decided to make and entrance to completely solve the mystery, as even when he stayed for quite a while, the person never exited the room. He went with a torch light to go along the seemingly never-ending, dark corridor. On this day however, the boy did not see the light that usually crawled between the cracks of the door, instead, the room seemed completely dark. This was his chance, the person inside was probably sleeping, he could be in and out without the person knowing, however, the darkness, even with the aid of the light, still made the immature boy a little frightened, therefore, the passage that should've taken a few seconds to cover, for the boy, became quite a few minutes. As the boy approached the door, his outstretched hand that held the torch light trembled as though hyperthermia was affecting that hand alone.

Before he reached the door, from beyond the door, a series of sounds engulfed him. It was a series of sounds that sounded like strings being plucked, then a 'shrong ' sounded, it was not a bad sound, however, to the boy, it sounded like the sound of ghosts and ghouls crawling out of the abyss. The boy froze and couldn't seem to retreat or move forward, he was stuck in place. Then, more sounds escaped from the walls.

It sounded like the solemn lullaby of death, either it was to raise the dead or put the souls of the dead at rest, nevertheless, the sound was extremely sad, anyone who earnestly listened to the song would be moved and depressed at the same time.

Outside of the orphanage, as far as the sound reached, the streets were clear, the nocturnal insects stopped their calls and songs to perch themselves in a spot where they could listen. The wind too, stood still, as though it were afraid that its howl would drown out the song. The night was deadly still as though it was a ghost town; it only allowed that portentous song to play.

In Crimson's room, she stood at the open window, with only the moon's light brightening the room. Her eyes were closed as she seemed to pour her unspoken feelings into the violin that was grasped in her hands. Perhaps she truly was sad, or maybe this was just a practiced song, in either case, for any who listened, the song would've struck a chord in one's heart.

After the song had ended, a long howl sounded from outside, the wind screeched like sad souls crying for another song, for more comfort, however, that song never came and so, the insects went back to their own songs and the wind seemed to understand, because the wind settled down after a bit.

Outside Crimson's door, the boy finally seemed to regain his soul after the song ended and with that he regained a bit of his composure. He stared at the door for a few seconds before he made his resolve, no matter what, he had to know who was behind the door, even if he was caught, therefore, he proceeded on with his plan. When he was about three steps away from the door, the door knob rattled, the person on the other end was about to open the door. Instead of running away, the boy panicked and became like a statue in the middle of the corridor, though subconsciously he still shined his light at the door.

The door creaked open, it had a crack that was now big enough for an oversized rat to escape through, and between that crack, the boy saw it. That ruby-red eye peeking at him, as though, if he came a few steps closer, whatever mystic being it was that was staring at him, would fully open the door and gobble him up. A 'forever-existing' earthquake set off inside that boy's body, the epicentre being his heart, and then seismic waves affected his entire body. He couldn't scream, his voice was clogged and his teeth chattered, ready to shatter themselves against each other. His grip on the object in his hand loosened, and with a thud it fell to the floor, and due to its cylindrical shape, it rolled till it stopped by the wall of one side of the corridor.

The scarlet eye still didn't stray from the boy, even with the loud sound of the light hitting the floor. The light of the torch flickered till it extinguished, and by this time, the child couldn't take it anymore, he'd nearly had a heart attack.

After the light of the torch had been off for about thirty seconds, it flickered back to life. The seven year old boy was in a dead faint on the floor, with his eyes wide open as though he couldn't accept what he'd seen, and even in unconsciousness he wished to see what was in the room, and that mysterious room's door, it was shut tight once again.