The Haunting

Nine

Quinn

The sentence on the windowpane terrified me, and I tried to reassure myself that just a silly kid wrote it as a pathetic joke.

Deep inside me, I had an uncanny feeling that this sentence wasn't written by a human. I know it is such a ridiculous feeling, but I couldn't get rid of it no matter how much I tried. Staring at the window for too long, I saw a girl start to appear. Her tall brunette hair touched her waist and her flickering green eyes were fixed on me. I started to back away and then I started running.

Making my way over to Sharon's house, I found the door open so I pushed it wide enough and entered the house. I walked into the living room, where mom, Sharon, and my sisters sat. Mom was rocking back and forth as she sat on the couch; I could notice how befuddled she was just by looking at her facial expression. My sisters were all sitting on one couch, seeable trepidation spread across their faces. I wanted to know what happened so badly, so I had to interrupt mom and Sharon's conversation.

"Sorry for interrupting but may I know what happened?" I said, catching their attention. Mom looked at me with distraught on her face and sighed.

"Look," Mom pointed at Doris. I approached Doris and she lifted the tip of her shirt, showing me the words etched on her skin. Three letters that looked like were smoldered into her flesh, with dried blood smudged on them. What added more to my apprehension was that the three letters were forming a horrendous word.

DIE

I gasped at how terrible the scar was and how unbearably painful it must be. Doris started to cry and Lisa patted her back. I rubbed Doris's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Now I'm quite sure that there's something inhuman haunting the house, and whatever it may be, it's now targeting us.

"Do you have an explanation for that?" Mom directed her words to the female detective who had just walked in to question them about what happened. The female detective eyed Doris's scar in bewilderment then sighed.

"I'm not sure, but there has to be a reason. We'll investigate the house to make sure there aren't any burglars," The female detective retorted, looking as confused as us.

"We're coming," mom said, getting up from her seat. Me and my mom followed the female detective — whom I knew was called Polly — into the house, while another male detective accompanied us.

As we walked into the house, the disconcerting and unnerving silence struck us. Polly switched the lightbulb on, which flickered as she did so. My body began shuddering as the lights flickered, as I recollected that this usually happens at the beginning of horror movies. I hoped that this was just an ordinary flicker as the lights in our house are never stable.

As we walked with the detectives, they both scrutinized every inch of the house, the bathroom, the bedrooms, the dining room, the basement and attic, and the final room was the kitchen. As we walked into it, they began investigating it before we suddenly heard a bang. We all froze, and the detectives tried to determine the source of the bang but they seemed discombobulated.

"Did you hear that?" Mom almost whispered, as if she was scared someone would hear her. The detectives endeavored to determine from where the bang originated but they seemed to fail to do so.

Suddenly, I could hear the consecutive noise of aluminum pots against each other. Glancing beside me, my eyes grew wider and my jaw dropped to the ground.

Two pots were floating, by themselves.

It looked like there was an unseen force was holding them up in the air, and smashing them against each other. Though the scene was indescribably terrifying, none of us could move or react until the two pots plummeted to the ground. Speechlessness has taken over us and fear numbed our senses. When mom recuperated from the shock, she spoke up.

"See? I told you! Something is seriously wrong with this house and it's not a burglar," mom yelled at them, pointing at the two pots laying on the floor. Polly sighed and glimpsed at her colleague who was as baffled as her. Polly and the male detective started walking out of the house without uttering a word, but me and mom followed them.

"Huh? You saw what happened but you still have the guts to just leave?" Mom continued yelling at them as we made our way out of the house. If they aren't going to help us figure out what's wrong with the house, then we are probably never going to.

"Can you even hear me?" Mom shouted, making Polly stop in her tracks as she turned around and faced us.

"Sorry, Mrs. Smith, but this is not our job. We can't deal with ghosts or paranormal stuff, we are police officers. We handle crimes and burglary, not the supernatural. It's just beyond our abilities. I'm truly sorry." Polly apologized before she walked away. Me and mom stood there, helpless.

Right now, I realized that we truly need Alex and April's help.

***

Morning

Quinn

We spent the night at Sharon's house as we were too frightened to stay in our own house.

When we first moved into this house, I have never imagined that we would, for a second, feel terrified of it. I'm still now incapable of fully believing it, as what is currently happening is unbelievable. I thought our lives were going to be good in this house, but turns out I was wrong.

As dad came back yesterday from his work, he was confused as to why we didn't want to stay in our own house. Notwithstanding how much we attempted to convince him that something is horribly wrong with the house, he was insistent on denying it. He insisted to stay in our house after he and mom had a huge argument, and I'm really worried about him now staying in that hazardous place.

As I woke up to the sunshine gracefully touching my skin, I felt a little joyous until I recalled everything that happened. Distress made my head hurt and I clutched it tightly, struggling to stop it from aching badly. The thoughts and concerns have been keeping me up all night, furthermore the unaccountable presentiment that something was going to pop out of nowhere and attack us. Besides the uncanny feeling that someone was watching me all night long. Everything was just stressing me out.

As I got up off of the couch, I saw mom and my sisters still asleep, but it was weird that also Sharon wasn't awake. She usually wakes up early, and so it perplexed me that she was still asleep. I decided to check on her as I was starting to get worried.

Escalating the staircase, I eyed her closed-door skeptically. Outstretching my hand, I knocked on the door twice but received no response. The matter grew more worrisome so I decided to open the door myself, even though it sounded extremely rude. Twisting the doorknob, I cautiously pushed the door open. What I saw was surely going to be etched in my mind forever.