I found a place where we can live. A place that is safe for her, a place far from her biological parents. I didn’t change our names and our identity for some reason. Pauline was still so young and I don’t want to confuse her with a sudden change of name.
“She will not remember anything, right?”
“I assure you, ma’am. She will never remember even a little detail of what happened”
I let out a big sigh as a sign of relief. My plan of making her forget about that day worked. I erased that part of her memory with the help of hypnosis. In that way she’ll never live having a fear of being taken away. I want her to grow up like other kids do, because if she still remember what just happened to her she’ll be confused for the rest of her life if the questions inside her head will never be answered.
“Thank you”, I said.
I look at Pauline who is sound asleep at the couch. An innocent child like her doesn’t have to experience what her sisters had experienced. No one deserved to be experimented on like an animal.
“HELP!” A shout from a room echoed all over the house.
“Where am I?”, I asked myself.
I walk and look around. The place was really not familiar to me.
“Where is this place?”
“Why do you have to be so annoying?!”, a familiar face suddenly popped up in front of my face. Her creepy looking face got me panicked.
“Rosemarie?”
“Give me back my child or I’ll kill you!”, she threatened.
I want to run but I can’t move my whole body, it’s like I was tied up. I look at my wrist and I saw chains wrapped around it.
“Let me go!” i shouted.
“I want you to experience what they have experienced”, Rosemarie said with a grin on her face and a syringe on her hand.
“AUNT CHERRY! Wake up”, a voice called out to me. My tears slowly drip and my heart beats so fast.
GASP! It was all just a dream! I took a deep breath and calm myself. I felt a hand touched my skin and I got startled.
“Why are you here?”
“I woke up and I didn’t saw you around so I look everywhere for you”
“Oh”
“You must had a bad dream”
“Yeah, kind of. Thank you for waking me up, Pauline”
“I’m hungry”
“Wait let me just get up so that I can cook for you”
Pauline showed a wide smile on her face.
“What do you wan to eat?”, I asked.
“I would like to have some spaghetti please”, she replied.
“Spaghetti coming right up”, I said cheerfully.
1 month later
It was Sunday morning. I got out of bed and put my robe on. I went straight to my front door to get my newspaper. When I pick up the newspaper I noticed a note that was under it. I picked it up and read it. I dropped the newspaper that was in my hand and my knees started shaking with fear.
“I WILL KILL YOU BOTH” was what was written on the note.
“That’s it! I’ve had enough of this nonsense!” I thought to myself. “This has to end”.
I don’t know what was gotten into me that day but I am sure I got a bit brave. The next thing I knew I was already at a parking lot. I saw my brother’s car at a distance. I don’t know what this place is but all I know is that they always come here everyday. I look around to make sure no one could see me, I also made sure there’s no CCTV. After making sure no one saw what I did, I immediately flew away from that place.
The next day the news was all over the newspaper.
“TWO FAMOUS DOCTORS DIED FROM A CAR ACCIDENT” that was what somehow caught my eye. A part of me was hurt. I cried a little actually. My brother’s dead, the only family I have left is dead and it was all because of me. I killed him. There was a little guilt inside me but I am relieved that they’re gone now. There will be no more threats in Pauline’s life and I can say that she’s safe now from them.
When I told Pauline about the news I am not surprised that she never showed a tear. I couldn’t blame her for not being sad since she haven’t met them. She never felt the love of her parents so what’s there to miss.
— end of flashback —
“If you just know how evil they are I bet you’ll do the same”, I said softly.
“I am not like you, Auntie”, she yelled. “You’re a criminal”, she continued. After that she turn her back on me and run away.
Pauline’s POV
I ran away and I don’t know where else to go. My only friend is dead and I don’t have other relatives aside from my aunt. I guess that’s the only thing we have in common, we are alone if we don’t have each other.
I don’t know why the thought of coming back into the mansion came into my mind. My feet are taking me there as if I have no control over it. It’s like someone or something is controlling me. Before I knew it I was already at the front porch of the mansion. My hand reaches the doorknob and twisted it. I felt a cold wind passes through me as if it was greeting me “welcome back”. The wind wasn’t like the normal wind, I know someone or something is happy to see me coming back here. It might as well say “ Atlas! I finally have someone to annoy”.
Later that night I was forced to sleep there because I have nowhere to go. I know how scary this mansion can get after the sun completely set. Unimaginable creatures will slowly creep out from the dark and roam this whole place and making the people who lives here miserable.
My fridge is empty so I went to sleep with an stomach empty. It keeps growling and growling as if it was saying “I WANT FOOD!”. I endure the hungriness I felt and tried my best to make it through the night. Thankfully, ghosts and what else they call it, didn’t bother me and annoy me even more.
I woke up that morning feeling weak. My growling stomach kept me awake until midnight. Even though I don’t want to get up, I still forced myself to do so. I need to go to the supermarket to myself something to eat. I can’t take this hunger any longer.
Later that night...
Cold water touches my face and my body as I shower. It really feels so good sometimes. The hot feeling that I have felt in my body for almost whole day faded after I took a shower.
“I hope they don’t bother me tonight as well”, I said to myself. I instantly covered my mouth with my right hand. I should have not said that. Now I have to expect that they will show up.
It was 8 in the evening and I was tired of scrolling up and down at my social media. Scrolling down and then refreshing it again hoping to see something interesting, all I get is disappointment. I stopped what I was doing and I just closed my eyes.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU KILL HER?!”, a voice spoke. I opened my eyes to see who it was. My whole body gone frozen, I was petrified. I look around to see who it was but I saw no one. I turn my head onto my left side and there, I saw a woman. I don’t think I saw her before, her face wasn’t familiar at all. She’s not one of the ghosts I have seen before.
Her face was so close to mine and every detail of her face is very clear to me. Her eyes were as black as the moonless night. Her face was full of broken glass, looks like a car window broken into pieces.
“W-who are you?!”, I asked stuttering, could even barely speak.
“You forgot about me already?”, she she answered with a question. “You can’t kill her then maybe I’ll do it myself”.
I was gonna say something but I suddenly woke up.
“What a weird dream”
Its been 2 days but ghosts didn’t show up like I expect them to. I am not hoping that they’ll show up, I was just wondering where they have gone. I had a weird dream last night, but I don’t think that woman was one of them. I bet she’s new or it was really just a nightmare and nothing more.
For almost 2 weeks I kept having the same nightmare. And I would wake up before I could utter a word and ask questions. The woman’s face went from terrifying to 10 times terrifying. She has this voice that would always give a chill in my spine. Its like every hair on my body would stand up.
One rainy day, I was just in my room drinking some hot chocolate. I was about to take a sip when I heard a loud knock on my front door. It was so loud I could hear it in my room. Even though the rain is quite noisy I could still hear the person calling out to name.
The mansion’s inside is really gloomy because of the weather. But even though the sun is out this place will always be gloomy and terrifying.
I went downstairs with a baseball bat in my hands, holding it like I could swing it around in an instant. The voice became louder and louder as I went near the main door. It was even louder in a near distance, obviously. I peek at the door hole to see who could be calling my name. To my surprise no one was there. I realize that it stopped calling my name after I peek to see who it was.
My knees tremble as I felt this familiar feeling again, the feeling of fear.
“Who could it be this time?”, I asked myself. I turned around and I examine the living room, I saw that the place went darker compared a minute before. In the corner of my eye I saw a shadow passed by.
That moment I felt like I could pee on my pajama. I look at the direction where I somewhat saw the shadow and then I examine the whole place again. I was about to run towards upstairs and lock myself in my room, but before I could even step my foot I saw a headless man in front of me.
I got startled and petrified. How did this thing get here? Is he new too? How many terrifying ghosts does this mansion have? The blood was still so fresh from what saw. Its like he was killed just a minute ago. Blood dripping from his neck and his head was nowhere to be seen.
“W-what do you want?”, I bravely asked. And since he was headless all I get was silence, I realized that it was so dumb of me to ask a headless man a question.
He stood there and so am I. We stood there for about a minute until he did something unimaginable. He dipped his index finger on his sliced neck to purposely put blood on his finger. I was confused and scared. The headless man then walk towards a wall, surprisingly it didn’t bump into any furniture. The man started writing something on the wall.
“BEWARE OF HER”, that’s what it said.
“Beware of who?”, I asked. I did not get any respond. The man walked towards the kitchen’s direction and then slowly fade in the dark corner.
“What the hell just happened?”
The whole afternoon, I was just laying on my bed overthinking about the warning I have received from a headless man. When the night came I decided to get up and went downstairs to make dinner for myself. I look at the wall where he wrote his warning, and strangely, it was gone. The kitchen was so dark and even though I am a bit scared I still managed to go there and conquered my fear. I turned the lights on and proceed on making my own dinner. I went upstairs after I finished cooking. After eating I didn’t bother putting my dishes at the kitchen or even thinking of washing it. I was brave an hour ago because I was hungry but I will never come downstairs again tonight.
I was getting ready to go to sleep. I was doing my night routine like doing my skincare routine. I was in front of the mirror, looking at my face while I was cleansing my face. Minutes of staring at the mirror and I started to see a figure behind me. I was squinting because I could not really see the figure well. The figure looks like a woman wearing a white dress. I could only see the body since its reflection could not fit on the mirror. I turned around but I saw no one behind me, yet every time I turned to the mirror there will be a figure standing behind me.
I brush it off and told myself that they were just fooling around to scare me. After I was finished with I am doing, I immediately throw myself on the bed and closed my eyes. After closing my eyes I hear a whistling sound just near me. I did not open my eyes but instead my brows met.
I moved my right hand, searching for my blanket. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes because I don’t wanna see what or who is making that whistling sound. I know it wasn’t the headless man for an obvious reason.
The whistling sound didn’t stop, it went nearer and nearer until I feel like it was close to my ears already. My hands didn’t stop from searching for my blanket as well. Strange because I couldn’t find my blanket when I just saw it a while ago that it was just here. I was constantly moving my hand, I suddenly feel like I grab on to a person’s arm. The arm was so cold, cold as an ice. I froze, and I don’t know what to do next. My hand was still holding on to the person’s arms. It stopped whistling for a while. I thought it was over. I slowly took off my hand and then covered my face with my two own hands.
I was about to open my eyes when suddenly, a painful scream was heard inside my bedroom. Its scream was so painful I feel like my eardrums are going to burst. I opened my eyes to see who it was screaming and to my surprise it was a woman, and it was facing me as it was screaming.