(18+) Someone in the dark

Ch. 1: Checking In

Author's note:

This story was written in 2018 and edited in 2023.
I hope you enjoy my very first scary story.

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"Hello, I'm Arielle Thomas. I'm here for the interview."

My fingertips were sore after biting my nails the thirty-five minutes it took to drive out here. I was a city girl and being this far out in the countryside was not something I did every day. It didn't make it any better that I was about to enter the biggest property I'd ever seen, the Silver Fox Mansion. Nervous didn't even cover half of how I was feeling.

"Yes, yes. Please enter, miss Thomas. Mrs. Lee will be with you in a minute," a young boy, probably some kind of servant, said and led me to a seating group right inside the main entrance.

The indoors looked just as sumptuous and impressive as the outside. A massive, brownish-red Chesterfield with a rococo coffee table was the center of attention in the big hall. Aside from the stairs up to what I assumed was the second floor, cupboards and pompous decorations completed the picture. It looked like an old-fashioned living room of the kind you can see in luxurious magazines. And that was just the hall.

I felt a bit intimidated by the atmosphere, but that was probably just because it was so far from the simple and predictable life I'd always led. Until recently. Now nothing was simple anymore, and predictability was only a vague hope.

They had to cut down on the staff at the library, and unfortunately, I was one of those who had got to go. I'd been unemployed for five months now, which left me unable to pay my bills. They'd already shut off the electric power, and I was close to eviction, so I was more than desperate to get a job.

I had several job interviews and had become a pro at copying and handing out my work application to everyone I could think of, but as far as this, to no avail.

I took a deep breath as I heard the loud clicking of heels on the hardwood floor until the sound changed as someone stepped onto the tiles in the hallway.

I quickly got up and reached out my hand to present myself to the slim and strict-looking woman who approached me.

"Pleased to meet you," the lady answered rather coldly, without telling me her name. I found that a bit strange, but because she seemed so authoritarian, I guessed she was the one running the household. And it wasn't only her attitude that made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Her appearance, too. She had a gray pencil skirt that matched her gray blazer. Even her eyes and hair were gray, and she'd combed the latter back into a sleek knot in her neck.

With little conversation, she led me into another room, just as huge as the hall. Red velvet curtains hung heavily from the ceiling to the floor, and the furniture and carpet were matching in the same color. It had several beautifully carved wooden ornaments, both on the furniture itself and at delicately placed decorations around in the room. What had to be really expensive giant portraits and framed art covered most of the walls. It was nothing less than astonishing.

We sat down on the couch, and I handed her my application. She skimmed through, hardly reading any of it, and then started asking questions.

"How are your cooking skills?" she asked, still squinting at my papers.

"Not too bad, I guess."

I bit my tongue and wanted to slap my forehead. I had to do better than that if I should have any chance of getting this job. I needed to sell myself and give her a good impression of my capabilities, which I wasn't any good at.