They Haunt Us

The girl watched as her father was being laid to rest, tears started to slide down her face. She stood there along with her family members as they said a prayer for her father. The girl kept standing there, even after the funeral. She just stared at her father’s tomb stone, in a daze almost. The sound she heard was complete silence, no birds, no voices, not even her own thoughts could break away her silence. When her father died, she felt a piece of her was taken with him. “Why him?” she repeated over and over in her head as she clutched the bouquet of flowers she had picked for her father. Matthew Smith had killed himself with a gun on a Sunday morning, the cops told her mother.

Her mother told her that it was only a matter of time before he killed himself, he was going crazy anyway. It irked the girl about how her mother did not show any emotion towards her father. She resented the girl’s father and blamed any inconvenience we had on him. The girl’s father was a scientist, he studied all kinds of things, but he mostly studied psychology of the human brain. He wanted to see how much of the brain we use and to see what extremities the brain would take to preserve us as humans. The girl adored her father and view’s he had on the world, she did not care if everyone else thought he was crazy and hated him for abandoning us. She was lost in thought when she heard heavy footsteps from behind, it was her big brother Jonah. He stood beside her, “I worry about ye,” Jonah muttered. “Ye were the closet too pa.”

The girl knew her brother was just trying to console her, but she did not want to be pitied. “No need to walk on eggshells round’ me. I’m not a little girl.” The girl remarked. With that she put down the bouquet of flowers for her father and made her way into the house. She tried to avoid her mother and sneak up stairs, but she was stopped dead her tracks by her. “Ah darling, how bout’ ye come enjoy dinner with us?” Her mother asked. The girl shook her head no, she would rather be alone than be around people that disliked her father for his craziness. She walked upstairs to her room and quietly shut the door; her eyes widen as she noticed a brightly red box with a white bow sitting proudly on her desk. She found a note card, on it said “Riddle me this: if you want me, you’ll have to share me but if you share me, I will be gone. What am I?” A smile slipped crossed her face, her father left her riddles to solve as a game all the time when she was younger. Tears rolled down the girl’s face as if she remembered a painful memory.

She wiped them away as she started to unwrap the box, it was a beautiful white cape with a wolf sewn onto the back. She was a bit skeptical about the gift at first, “Maybe it was a prank from Jonah.” She thought. Because it was impossible for her pa to send her that, she skipped downstairs and slipped into the kitchen where her brother was. “Did you put that box in my room?” The girl asked. Her brother gave her a dumbfounded look, “No ye wanker, I dunno what box you’re talking about.” Jonah replied. His facial expression remained straight; he was telling the truth. The girl hurried back upstairs to find the box mysteriously gone and the cape hanging on the back of the chair. “Maybe it was nothing, I’m just tired that’s all.” She thought. She stuck her hand in her pocket and found the same note card from the box, she couldn’t piece it together so she decided to lay down to reconvene her thoughts.

Whispers and cold winds filled her room, a door suddenly slamming awoken her. She was breathless as she tried to adjust her sight to see in the dark. Her room was swallowed by darkness, she felt as though her dolls and her stuffed toys were watching her every move. She places her feet on the cold floor and lights up a lantern, the house gave off weird noises as she crept around in the dark. Light snoring echoed through the halls; she took a cautious step whilst going down the stairs; the stairs felt as though she was going down a thousand. Chills went up and down her spine as she turned the corner to meet faces with her brother, she let out a short scream, “It’s just me, calm down I just went to take a piss.” Jonah said.

Her heart slowly calmed down, “Was that ye who slammed the door?” She asked. Jonah shook his head no, “I thought it was you.” Jonah replied. The basement door creepily opened by itself and its creaks sent shivers up and down her spine. Jonah took her lantern and got in front of her, “Jonah I’m scared.” She said. Jonah bravely walked them back to his room and locked the door shut, he did not even look back. “If we don’t feed into the evil, the evil won’t mess with us.” Jonah protested. Jonah wrapped her up in his bed sheets and he stood watch to make sure no monsters got in, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, the sun found its way in through the drapes and lit up the whole room, she heard faint voices in the kitchen as she made her way through the hall. “I’m telling you ma, something isn’t right in this house.” Jonah proclaimed. The girl grabbed a seat at the table, “I didn’t hear anything last night.” Her mother replied. “Of course, typical adult.” She thought. She let out a sigh, “Don’t worry Jonah I know what we saw.” She agreed. Jonah flashed a smiled at her as he sat down. Her mother sat breakfast on the table, she turned on the telly and headed into the living room. “What do you think is in the basement?” Jonah asked. She shrugged her shoulders, “Dunno, pa always kept it locked, even when he moved out.” She replied. “So how did it even open when it has a heavy lock on it?” Jonah asked. She hesitantly took out the note card and showed Jonah. “This is definitely pa’s writing; he always curved his letters.” Jonah said. “But how? It came with a red box, but it disappeared when I came back to my room.” She said. Her mother walked back in and the talking ceased, “What are ye talkin’ bout?” Her mother asked. “Nothing mum, just small talk.” She replied. Her mother carried an orange juice filled pitcher to the table and filled their glasses high. “Look I know things are going to take some getting adjusted too but we’re going to your pa’s place today to go collect his belongings.” Her mother said. The girl and her brother flashed looks at each other and gave their mother a nod yes.

It was about noon when they arrived at father’s place, the stairs leading up to the small yet spacious cabin were broken up and moss started to grow on them. The girl jumped around in nearby puddles while Jonah and her mother carried empty boxes into the cabin. The air around the girl became hard to breathe in and then everything went silent as if the world stood still. She didn’t pay it much mind so she began collecting sea shells by the shore, she looked behind her too see that her foot prints were no longer in the sand as if she didn’t walk there.

Cold chills went up and down the girl’s back like needles, she rushed into the house, “Mum, how much longer are we gonna be here?” The girl whined. “Hun, we just got here, at least take a look round’ with yer’ brother.” Mother replied. The girl let out a big huff before stomping off to find her brother, she found her brother shuffling through father’s closet. “Ah, I found it.” He remarked. Jonah showed the girl a hunting knife that belonged to father, it had a stained blood marks on it. “Jonah, be careful with that!” The girl shouted. Jonah swung the knife around like it was a flimsy toy, “In case any monsters try to get us.” He protested. The girl grabbed a flashlight from father’s desk and swung it around, “We’ll be like monster hunters.” The girl said. Jonah nodded his head in agreement, all that excitement was shut down when the basement door eerily opened.

Mother was too busy looking at photo albums to notice, the girl and Jonah shared scared looks as they crept toward the door. “Something bad is down there.” She thought. Her feet walked her to the door even though her body was saying no, “No don’t go any further!” He yelled. Black tentacle like hands reached out from the door and dragged the girl down. The door closed shut and she was enclosed in darkness, she could still hear her brother screaming and faint banging on the door. She felt like the darkness was going on forever as soon as she lost sight of the door, like it just disappeared.

She then hit the cold ground, she felt like her arm shattered in pieces and she screamed out in pain. It was cold and whispers were heard from every corner like they were mocking her, she turned on the flashlight and scanned the room. The girl clutched her arm in pain and tried to look around for something useful, but it was nothing, just some rocks and a dark tunnel. There was no going up considering the fall, so she decided to go in the tunnel. There was bound to be a way out for her waiting. The girl was scared and the pain coming from her arm was making it no better, she was getting weak from the blood lost.