𝕯𝖆𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖉 ☽ 𝕒𝕙𝕤

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖔

𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚞𝚗 - 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚘'𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚕

☽

I finish decorating my room and head downstairs, where my parents are unpacking the rest of the boxes. As I walk down the stairs, I start to hear another voice - it sounds like an older woman.

I walk into the living room to see my parents standing with another lady in a bright floral dress, and a younger girl with brown hair and a pink dress.

My mom sees me and introduces me to her.

'Constance, this is my daughter, Evie. Evie, this is Constance, she lives next door. She was just telling us about the people that lived here before us.'

'And I'm Adelaide, but you can call me Addy,' she smiles and I smile back.

I give Constance a polite nod and she carries on speaking.

'Speaking of the previous owners...' she pauses, 'It's only right for me to tell you what happened to them here...'

'They didn't die in here did they?' My mum jokes, but the grin fades from her face at her reply.

'Yes, actually, both of them. Tragic, really. They were nice people, trying to fix this old place up. Thank goodness they covered up those horrible murals on the walls.'

'You know this house well then?' My dad asks.

'Yes, I guess I do,' Constance trails off.

'How'd it happen?' I ask.

'Murder-suicide. I won't go into details - you're too young to know about such things.' Try me.

'Anyway, I'd better be going,' she pulls out a small rectangular box from her purse and holds it out to my mum. She takes it. 'A little housewarming gift,' 'Sage,' says Constance as she opens it, noticing the confused look on her face, 'to scare away evil spirits.'

'Thanks,' My mum says hesitantly.

Without saying anything else, she leaves the house.

I hear the faint sound of Hallie barking from the hallway.

'I'll go see what that's about,' I say, going to check out what Hallie's barking at.

I reach the hallway to see her rearing up on her hind legs in front of a door that I hadn't noticed when I came in.

'What is it, Hallie?' I ask as I walk towards the door and try the handle.

It's not locked, but it's too stiff to open. After a few failed attempts to jerk it open, I push my bodyweight against it a few times. When the door finally swings open with a moan, it almost takes me with it.

Hallie has stopped barking, and a low growl is coming from her throat.

'Don't be a scaredy-cat, Hallie,' I say.

It looks like the door leads into a dark basement. I try to look around for a light switch, but I can't make anything out.

I start walking down the steps, running my hand along the wall, searching for something to turn on a light. When I pull my hand away it's coated in a thick layer of dust. The smell of rot is overwhelming. When was the last time someone came down here?

I make it down the next few steps before a third snaps under my feet. I manage to haul myself back up on to the banister. I hang over it, shaken and panting.

'Are you okay?' A voice comes from deep in the basement, coming closer.

I stand bolt upright. There's someone else here. I'm frozen, unable to move.

I take a sigh of relief when Tate steps into the light spot coming from the open door.

'You scared me,' I laugh.

'Are you hurt?' he says, making his way up the stairs.

'I'm fine.' I reply, 'What are you still doing here anyway?'

'Oh, my mom's upstairs, I'm just looking around.'

'That's your mom?'

'Yep,' he sighs, 'She tell you about what happened to the last people that lived here?'

'Yeah...'

'Well they died down here.'

'How do you know that?' I ask.

'My mom makes it her business to know everything that goes on in this house,' he says, rolling his eyes. 'Does that scare you? That people died here?'

'No,' I scoff, 'You're gonna have to do better than that.'

'Oh trust me, I can do better. Want me to tell you everything?'

'What else is there?'

'Come on,' he says, grabbing my hand and leading me up the stairs.

✧

𝚒 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚠
- 𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚣𝚒𝚎 <3