When Violence Ensues: Slenderverse Short Stories.

Story Eighty One: Catching Up With Old Ghosts.

"Ruth?" Winona's hushed, sleep- tinted voice called out as her wife pulled herself out of bed and stood almost completely still- watching the bedroom doorway with obvious concern, "What's wrong?"

"Someone's in the house." Ruth quietly responded, the adrenaline from becoming aware of this danger was beginning to surge through her veins. However, unfortunately for the intruder, Ruth kept a steel bar under her and Winona's bed.

Fairmount had taught her many things- being vulnerable was a risk.

Winona and Ruth had left Fairmount together once HABIT and the others of the Miningtown Four were involved in 'the accident' regarding Dr Corenthal and someone unidentified by the authorities. Being in the place was haunting- Patrick was distraught and barely coping- seeing Ruth and Winona sent him into a flying panic.

It was safer for everyone involved if they both left. Or, so Ruth had thought.

It had happened ever so slowly- things in the house had begun to turn up in places that they hadn't been left in. Leaves and twigs showed up routinely under their front door and on their doorstep- and most recently, a note with purple duct tape had been left through their letterbox. By who- neither Ruth or Winona could work out. It did not have a return address, or even a name signed at the bottom. Due to this, the dark haired woman had reason to believe that the intruder currently in their home, was the one that sent the letter.

Crouching, Ruth reached under the bed and retrieved the long, steel bar, gripping it tightly in her hands as she took a breath and went to move out of the room, only to be stopped by Winona scurrying over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Wait, Ruth there's nothin-"

A slow tapping came from down the hallway; the downstairs hall. The females could tell, simply due to the echoing of the sound. It was eerie- rhythmic. Someone was knocking on the wall in the downstairs hallway, they had to be. The sound had a pattern; therefore it wasn't a random outside source.

It was calculated, and deliberate.

Ruth turned to her wife, whom of which was wide-eyed with fear and beginning to gently shake, "It'll be fine. Stick close to me, okay?" She insisted, before turning her attention back to the hallway outside the bedroom, and began making her way out of the bedroom- footsteps almost silent. Winona followed closely, tip-toeing just behind the taller female.

Clutching the steel bar, Ruth gritted her teeth as she peeked over the banister and caught sight of a man, dressed in shadows, knocking rhythmically on the hallway wall. There was no time to make any sort of plan up in her head- she had to act. This man was obviously trying to drag them out of their room, so he wasn't a thief. There was something much more sinister and foreboding about this, and Ruth was becoming more and more unsettled. Looking to her wife, she gave a little reassuring nod, and then forcefully slammed the steel bar onto the banister, "Hey!" Ruth called out, irritation in her firm voice. Winona jumped at the sudden sound, and flattened herself against the wall just up from the dark haired female.

The stranger gave a chuckle, and heaved a sigh as he flicked the hallway lights on, and adjusted the cap he was wearing, "Good evening! Or, shit, good mornin'!" He drawled, "Sorry to wake you at the untimely hour, but I'm not that fuckin' sorry."

"Excuse me, but what the fuck are you doing in my house?!" Ruth called, eyes narrowing in rising anger and confusion at the starkly familiar man standing in the hallway. The male raised an eyebrow, and shifted slightly; causing Ruth to grip the bar once more, "You come any closer, and you're going to hospital to get this extracted out of your ass. Heed the warning."