The Chamber Behind The Mansion

Mansion, Butcher, Escape...

The house was abruptly draped in silence; an uneasy feeling for me when my dog inexplicably stopped barking downstairs. The old mansion was lit only by a dim lamp on my bedroom table. I was too focused on my graphic novel that I didn't even hear footsteps approaching the second floor. That's odd, hardly anyone still visits this town.

I live with my mum and my dog named Jason. Ever since dad died, my family was forced to immigrate to South America into an old, abandoned, rundown town, where there were lots of rumours about ghosts and evil spirits. I wasn't scared of ghosts. In fact I never was afraid of them. Mum is an exorcist who hardly earns much; that probably explains why we live in such poverty. I don't mind having financial problems or missing out on supper sometimes; a loving family is worth way more than the world's valuables and treasures I think.

Mum has gone to the church in the neighbouring town this evening and isn't returning until the following night. She has gone to do an exorcism and the reward will last us for at least one year, ahhh... rich bastards. It's Thursday the 12th today and it's going to be the most terrifying day for all religious people when the clock strikes twelve. Friday the 13th, or Black Friday some would call it, when satan releases quadrillions of evil spirits into people's dreams, where happy unicorns sitting on rainbows having a lovely tea party, turn into black giant beasts ripping out people's guts and turning them inside out. Bad luck, bad dreams, bad mood and death.

Mum told me to prepare holy water and wooden crosses that afternoon. She said that our home would be the most comfortable place for them to invade and lurk around. My window suddenly flung open and a cold breeze flew past me giving me a shiver, I looked up slowly and scanned the area around me. I swallowed and picked up the wooden cross while I headed towards the window. All of a sudden, everything was quiet. I could hear every step I took and the creaky sound it would make against the wooden floor and every breath I took which started getting heavier. I had just tasted my own fear. As I reached out for the window frame a wasp struck me with its stinger, I quickly jerked back my hand along with the frame. I squeezed my injured finger tightly with my whole hand, like holding onto a stick, and I tried to push the poison out of my blood. I blanked for a moment, nothing had struck me and there weren't any holes on my finger. I gasped, mum said illusions were the first step of being possessed.

I took a deep breath and calmed down, forcing myself to imagine that it was just my mind playing tricks on me. But it felt so real I thought, there's nothing I can do to cover up the truth. Reading came to my mind, reading is a way for me to escape situations, a way to forget the unwanted and a way to live inside a fantasy and not in the cruel reality. As I sat down on my second handed seat and about to pick up my favourite novel, that was when I suddenly realised that my book was missing. I was sure that I left it on the table, beside my bookmark, before I went to close the window. My bookmark! My bookmark was also missing. It was a special bookmark, one from my dad when he left. I felt like sobbing and running out of this town to my mum. Something tugged my shirt. At the corner of my eyes, I saw a pale face which is faded in the darkness. It had black, long lips and ...hollow eyes?! My lamp started flashing, and there were rusty sounds on my bed which only could be created if something was moving on it. I stared down at my fingers and slowly reached for the wooden cross. I heard a sigh and then a whisper right next to my left ear.

"I'm watching you..." I froze.

I heard the door knob turn, trying to open my locked door. I couldn't move, it was like I was paralysed. I sat there stationary, couldn't move my body, couldn't even tense a muscle. I was in such a shock, I could feel my heartbeat trying to burst out of my chest. I hoped it was mum, but she always would greet me whenever she came home and called me down for a surprise. "Alan, Alan, Alan... why are you thinking about this now," I thought to myself. Something metal smashed onto the floor, I wished that it wasn't what I think it was... my doorknob. Someone was approaching me. A ghost?...No, A demon?...No. A person in black holding a butcher knife. Is he the serial killer that had been rumoured around the whole country? Breaking in houses and butchering people. In a few second I was sweating, I was covered all in sweat. Sweat from my hair, sweat from my knees, sweat from my body, sweat from my... I was knocked out cold.

I woke up in darkness, stranded, my left foot locked to a chain. My head was dizzy and my back was aching, but it wasn't long until I realised something buzzing in the corner. It was a timer, a timer that was ticking, a timer that read 1:35 hours, I knew that I needed to escape...