The new house

The first few steps through the hall are always the best. The worn-down floorboards creaking under her feet and the grandfather clock echoing throughout the house. She walks down the narrow hallway keeping her eyes glued to the walls, seeing her warped reflection in every battered down mirror she walks past, the thick dust that has been collecting over the years creating a protective layer. Four altogether, two on each side of the hall, balanced upon hooks that have been hammered into the walls, put there by the owners before her, as well as framed pictures of the founders and people who originally lived here many years ago strategically placed around them, careful not to interrupt the beauty of the twisted golden frames hugging the mirrors. The further down the hallway she wandered the further she explored. She couldn’t believe that she had gotten a deal like this, a Victorian house quadruple the size of the apartment she lived in before, for only a slice of what it should of been selling for.

At the end of the hall stood a big grandfather clock staring at her like a statue, creepy. To the left there was a red door. Bit weird, she thought, the website didn’t mention that there was an extra room downstairs and not to mention the bright red color, she was sure all the doors in this house were brown like the pictures had shown her, why did they not show this one?

Cautiously reaching her hand out to twist the doorknob, her breathing becomes shaky and she flings the door inwards almost ripping the door off its hinges, creating a loud bang as it hits the stone wall inside. “AH” she jumps at the sound and finds herself laughing under her breath. Nice one Allie. One foot in front of the other she walks inside and is overwhelmed with feelings. The room is pure stone walls with red carpet matching the door, she turns her head taking a breath ready for whats in there. It seems to be a storage room, everything is covered with big, old dust sheets. She walks over to one side of the room stripping what could be a piano of its sheet. Swiftly treading her fingers across the keys as light as a feather would touch your skin, picking up the dust alongside, she places her thumb on what she remembers as the middle. Its been years since shes been this close to a piano and she had almost forgotten the nostalgic feeling it gives people like her. Her thumb lightly presses down on the key ready to hear a blissful note but instead makes a horrible screeching that echoes the room sending her eardrums into flames. That was not a piano key…that sounded like a kid.

she must be going insane. Allie is the only one in this house. All alone…in a huge…creepy…old house.

with her ears still ringing she moves to the other side of the room were there is a sewing mannequin that looks like someone has carved out its heart as if it were to have one. Next to the mannequin there’s a long body mirror, it looks the same as the ones in the hallway with the golden twisted frame but this one has a black corner as if someones stealing the life out of the color. It looks perfect. Not to mention brand new compared to everything else in here. She runs her fingers down the glistening frame and drags it just outside the door. ‘I’m so having this in my room.’ She brushes the small specks of dust off with her bare hands and something nicks her palm, there must be a broken shard of glass somewhere but she cant see any, she brushes it off as nothing and walks back into the room with the red door, taking a mental note to carry it up to her new room later. she walks to the last corner behind the door, pushing it shut behind her but keeping it slightly ajar to ensure there’s no way of her getting stuck in the room. A bit calmer and happier since finding that mirror and her eardrums have finally stopped ringing, she takes the last dust sheet off of something. Oh, its a rocking horse with a plush doll of a little boy sat upon it. Not creepy at all, she thought. She leans in taking a good inspection of the dolls face just as a door behind her slams shut. She covers her mouth with her still slightly bleeding hand and almost screams when her mum comes rushing in. “Allie what was that, are you alright?” Her mum asks skeptically

“……,” she stays silent trying to figure out what angle her mum came from. Staring at her straight in the eyes as she says the one sentence she never expected she would have to say. To anyone.

“your dead…”

My eyes snap open. My body still. I let my eyes wonder around the room disorientated about where the hell i am. My mum. My mum was alive. I’m lying in a bed in a cold sweat, feeling like i cant breath with my heart Pounding against my rib-cage as if it were a train on tracks. Where was i? Why was my mum there? And why did it feel so real? All these questions and I can’t find an answer to either one. I find the courage to turn over so my back is flat against the mattress, staring wide eyed at the ceiling while my arm reaches over, pulling the string to turn on the lamp that’s placed on my nightstand. The light fills the room before flickering off again but them few seconds was all i needed to know something wasn’t right. I warily push myself up into a sitting position when i wince at the pressure building up on my palm. Noticing that my hand hurts, i grab my phone and turn on the flashlight, shining the light over my hand. Blood. There’s a small patch of it under the lifted skin where i sliced it on the mirror in the dream. Thinking the worst i slowly turn my phone facing the blinding light away from me and it finds the golden frame of the mirror. Except this time its more black than gold.