The House On That Road

Chapter 1

I whimpered as I tripped over a torn mat- red and purple- and reached for the overflowing bathtub and just stared in... awe. In the sanguine water, lay the lifeless body of a young girl with lips turned blue and hair floating around her face like loose strands of ebony wood being scraped by a carpenter. As I glared, I realized that the water had soaked my shoes, so I timidly turned the tap off. Traces of blood were on her wrists; slit almost to the muscle, the pain and distress were somehow not evident on such a cold, innocent face. I noticed the blood churning with the soft movement of the water and dissipating into swirls of darker crimson and black like a barn roof in Tennessee that was repainted too often without removing the previous layers. Not a single bubble drifted out of her gently parted lips in all the time I spent observing her as she lay there, unconscious- dead. Her arms lay submerged, graceful, like a synchronized swimmer at the Olympics. She wore a cream nightgown with puffed sleeves and small frills at the knees. Her toes were painted a dark shade of green, like the rare leaves on a tree during winter, matching her fingers. Her eyes were closed with long lashes she could show off. I noticed every little detail of this strange, unknown girl, until it finally struck me that I was admiring a corpse, lying in a blood stained bathtub in a ruined house, on the side of an isolated street. What on earth was I doing in a greasy, pungent, dark house in the blackness? I started to panic. Where was Aleisha? And Tanya? And Naomi? And the rest of the girls at camp? Oh God, what kind of hell had I put myself in?

Amidst my confusion, I heard a faint cry of a little girl in another room. My heart was pounding against my chest and beads of sweat were forming across my forehead and back like early morning dew on a fresh sapling, except- warmer. With water leaking out of my shoes, I slowly walked towards the muffled cry, using the walls as support to guide myself through the dark. My shins suddenly hit the beginning of a staircase and I involuntarily yelled out in pain and started to cuss. The cry stopped, and I looked up cautiously. Standing atop the staircase was a little child clad in a black gown, holding a black teddy bear in her arms, staring at me emotionless. I struggled to spit out “Uh… Who are you?” and she chuckled, twirled around like a clumsy ballerina and sat herself down on the last step. She gestured for me to sit with her by patting the wooden floor, and I accepted the invitation and made my way to her. She made the teddy bear do a little jig on her lap by holding it by the ears and swinging it around. She offered it to me, but I politely refused. She giggled again. I smiled at her, confused but somewhat comforted. She stood up, pointed at a door in the corner and skipped away to swing it open. I hurriedly followed her and immediately covered my eyes with my hands and groaned. There was a bright light in the room, blinding me because I had gotten used to the dark. I gradually uncovered my eyes, and noticed her open a seemingly old, teak wardrobe. She tip toed, and reached in, and pulled out a tattered diary of some sort. She handed it to me and I took it from her. I flipped through the pages and noticed that it was full of scattered words, here and there, without even a single meaningful sentence. “Flower” “Red” “Cloud” “Sun”- most of the words pertained to the exploding beauty of nature. Every page had similar words, except one. The last page had a dirty red blot in the very centre of the page and around it were the words “Red” “Nife” “Rist” “Ded”. I thought they were words in a different language and looked at the little girl in a questioning manner. She smiled and pushed the diary towards my chest, as if to say “It’s yours now, keep it.” I shrugged and closed the diary. She sat down on the floor and shoved the teddy bear into my lap and pointed at it. Maybe she wanted me to make it dance this time, so I held it by the ears and made it prance around. She laughed quietly and I grinned. She got up and clumsily did a somersault and gestured for me to try it too. I hadn’t attended aerobics in seven years! However, I gave it a shot. I ended up hitting my head on the wall and falling to the ground. She didn’t laugh. She just looked angry and like she was about to scream. And suddenly, she looked outside the door and looked remorseful. She marched out, shut the door and walked across the hallway. I wondered if someone else was there, and a chill went down my spine. I wanted to follow her but I didn’t. Maybe I should have. I heard a slap and I mindlessly yanked open the door. She was gone. 

One moment she was across the hallway, and the next, I was with a middle aged woman in a waitress’ outfit in a mediocrely lit room. Around me were trays of dental equipment, surgical equipment and other sharp objects. The woman pushed me down on to a wooden chair and picked up a knife from one of the trays. My mind was going round and round, heart pumping blood as fast as it could, and my stomach felt like a bag of rotten food. I gulped and looked around, fear evident in my eyes. I pleaded with her as hard as I could. I started to cry and scream for help. I realised that my hands were tied to the chair and I was immobile. She approached closer and closer, with the knife pointing at my wrists. She pulled the knife back, and was about to cut them hard. My whole life flashed in front of me; Aleisha, Naomi, Tanya and I were eating sand from the sandpit as four year olds, swinging on the swing set, climbing up the slides and showing off… then suddenly I heard Aleisha scream, “CORI! CORI WHERE ARE YOU? CORI! CORI COME OUT!” I breathed heavily and screamed through my sobs, “ALY, ALY I’M HERE! ALY!” I heard her footsteps, hurrying up the stairs. The woman angrily shouted and pushed all the trays down in fury. She opened the door and stomped. I heard Aly call out to me, “CORI COME ON, WE HAVE TO GO!” I then screamed for her to untie me between sobs, and she came running. She didn’t ask any questions. She just undid the knots and dragged me out. We scrambled down the stairs and exited the building. Outside, were Tanya and Naomi. “Oh my God, what the hell were you doing in there Cori?” Tanya shook my face and gave it a slap. “We were so worried about you, idiot!” Naomi hugged me and flung me away soon. “We need to get out of here. Let’s go,” said Aly, quite seriously. I agreed, and we walked down the road. The sun was just rising and the road ahead was getting wider and clearer. I was relieved. Although, I still had distinct images of whatever happened in the house, and the diary was in my hand.