July 16, 2020
She felt her hand tremble as she held the wheel. Trying not to steer the car into a tree felt like an impossible task with how bad her shaking had become. Sarah couldn't help but feel her home was in danger. Whether it was someone trying to break in, someone trying to mess with her family, or something else, she didn't feel safe.
The laughter still echoed in her ear. There were so many voices. How could a person make it sound like a hundred people were laughing at once? And how did they make the room so cold? Sure, it was getting dark out, but there was no way that it dropped down to winter like temperatures.
Last night left her confused and frightened. Both her and Edward sealed up the window with cardboard and placed Lillian's old baby monitor on the dining room table, to ensure no one broke into their house. They locked every door and window in the house and made sure their children kept their door locked. Her son seemed to be the most affected by it out of all of them. Shortly after saying "It's where the fun begins," he passed out for about a minute. His face turned a pale white and sweat drenched his whole body. Once he woke back up, he forgot that he even said anything.
Shaber hid under a couch and Lucy barked and whined at the window, up until Edward locked her out of the dining room. Everyone was terrified. Everyone... except Lillian.
Sarah looked over to her daughter, who was playing with the same wooden sheep. Today, she only brought the wooden sheep and not the stuffed one.
"Where's Reggy?" Sarah asked, her voice slightly shaky.
"She got in a fight with Sir Billy last night. So I'm only bringing Sir Billy today until they stop fighting," She replied.
"Oh? Why were Reggy and Sir Billy fighting?"
Lillian kept her eyes focused on the sheep. "Reggy was blaming Sir Billy for breaking the window last night. I told Reggy that Sir Billy was with me the whole time but she kept saying Sir Billy broke the window."
"Why would Reggy think Sir Billy broke the window?"
"I don't know," Lillian said, shrugging her shoulders. "She said Sir Billy was going to hurt daddy but I said 'No Reggy, Sir Billy would never hurt daddy.' She wouldn't listen to me so I had to put her in timeout."
Lillian looked up to Sarah and frowned. "You don't think someone's going to hurt daddy, do you?"
Sarah smiled at her daughter, a smile that was hardly genuine. "Of course not, sweetie. No one's going to hurt daddy."
If only she could actually promise that to her daughter. Sarah had already hurt him, more than she could have ever wanted to. But it had been so long since her affair that she felt it was time for Edward to begin to learn to move on. Not that he could totally forgive her, but he could begin to work towards it. Despite having a fight last night, she hardly felt like she remembered it. The window smashing and the terrible laughs that swarmed her made her, mostly, forget her fight with her husband. It had been a long time since she had fought with her husband. But, for some reason, it felt right last night. Not that she wanted to fight with him but, if there was a time to confront him, last night was the time to do it.
"Mommy?" Lillian said.
"Yes, honey?"
"Do you think Isaac is okay?"
"Of course, honey. I think he was just scared is all. We all were."
"Me and Sir Billy weren't scared!"
Sarah smiled at her, seeing the little wooden sheep that made her feel uneasy. "Well you are both very brave."
"Does Isaac have friends?" Lillian asked.
Sarah chuckled.
Not the kind of friends I would prefer he had.
"Of course he does. You've met some of them."
"Oh," Lillian replied. "I don't remember them."
Perhaps her daughter didn't have the best memory or maybe, like Sarah, she didn't really consider them to be friends. In Sarah's opinion, they used Isaac's money to buy weed and nicotine. They leeched off of him but told him they were his friend so they could keep getting money. Only now, Isaac no longer had a job to help pay for their drugs and the only time Sarah saw him talking with them was when he made the call.
"I don't think they were around very much, Lily. They kind of liked to stay out of the house a lot," Sarah said.
"Were his friends over last night?" Lillian asked.
Sarah shot a puzzled look to her. "No, no I don't believe so."
"I heard them calling his name last night. I think they were trying to get in his room but he must have fell asleep."
Sarah stopped the car and put it into park. She felt her hands tremble greatly now and a sick feeling sit in her stomach.
Oh my god, oh my god.
"Mommy, is everything okay?" Lillian asked.
"Fine, sweetie. Just, umm, sit in the car okay?"
She quickly exited and reached for her phone, pulling up her contacts and scrolling to Isaac. She pressed call and held the phone up to her ear, hearing ring after ring.
"C'mon Isaac, pick up. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." She said while tapping her foot.
"This is ya boy Isaac, leave a message."
There was no time to leave a message. Sarah pressed call again. And again. And again.
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Today, Edward drove his own car to the manor. Rather than driving through Matthewsville and then another half an hour to get to the manor, he took a shorter route off the highway. It was a narrow dirt road with nothing but trees surrounding it for miles but, it was much faster than driving the full hour.
Standing at the front door was Gabriel and Rebecca, both staring into each other's eyes, failing to notice Edward's arrival. It had only been a day since he had seen Rebecca but it felt like weeks. Something about being at the manor distorted his perception of time. That and, with everything that happened last night, Edward was having a hard time keep track of time. He had only returned to work for two days and he already felt like he needed another rest day.
"Ahh, Edward," Gabriel said, smiling as he hopped down the stairs. "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up."
Edward looked past him, seeing Rebecca stand at the top of the stairs. Her hair absorbed the beating sun as it slightly blew in the wind. She stood with her back arched, her hands on her hips, and her white chiffon shirt not tucked into her black skirt. Why it wasn't tucked in, Edward had an idea.
"I'm ten minutes early," Edward said.
"Yes, well..." Gabriel cleared his throat and gazed up at Rebecca.
Having an unfaithful wife is no excuse to be unfaithful yourself.
"I was just worried you'd be too scared to return to this place," Gabriel finished.
Edward gave a slight chuckle. The house made him uneasy but he just had to keep reminding himself that it was just a house. God would protect him if there were any evil spirits in the house.
"It's just a house," Edward responded. "Nothing, really, to be scared of."
Gabriel smiled. "I wish my family had your same optimism. None of them would dare step foot inside of it again. This place scarred them. I can only hope that it won't do the same to anyone else."
Rebecca walked down the stairs, elegantly placing one foot in front of the other, and joined in with Edward and Gabriel.
"Hello, Edward. Did you and Gabriel have a wonderful day yesterday?" Rebecca asked, smiling through her teeth.
He didn't tell Sarah how his day was last night, why should he tell Rebecca?
"It was a productive day, to say the least," Edward replied with a grin.
"That's wonderful. I'm excited to see how you two will get this place up and running again."
"Hopefully even more beautiful than it was before," Gabriel said.
The sound of his ringtone startled him as it went off inside of his jean pocket. It was very rare that anyone ever called him, outside of work. In fact, the last personal call that Edward received was from Jordan, when Edward tried to talk to him about what was in the forest. He knew Jordan saw it. He had to be lying.
Probably just wants to apologize. He shook his head. Probably just wants to argue some more.
He pulled out his phone and saw that it was Sarah calling. Edward stared at his phone for several moments, feeling irritation swell up in his body.
"Do you need to take that?" Gabriel asked, glancing at Edward's phone.
Edward kept his eyes on his wife's caller ID as it vibrated in his hand. He pressed silent and slid it back into his pocket. "I'm sure it's nothing," Edward smiled.
The three of them began walking towards the manor, ready to begin another day in its belly. Gabriel swung the doors shut, giving the house its next meal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Isaac!" Sarah yelled as she ran up the stairs. She would be late for work but her son's safety came first. Lillian kept yelling at her as she ran from the car, being left scared and confused. There was no time to explain, though.
"Isaac!" She yelled once more, coming up to his door. She attempted to twist the handle and pushed her shoulder into the door. It was still locked from the night before.
"Isaac, honey, please open up!"
There was no response. The only sound she could hear was the fan blowing around. Not even Lucy was making any noise, which brought Sarah to a panic. She pounded on the door and kept wiggling the lock.
Please, please, please.
She ran back down the stairs, out the front door, to the shed that sat by the driveway. Inside was a copious amount of tools that Edward stored there. She searched around, seeing his chainsaw, woodcutting ax, and machete. She slid open one of the toolbox drawers and pulled out a hammer and crowbar. Why men needed so many tools, she would never know.
Sarah ran back outside, leaving the shed door swinging behind her.
"Mommy!" Lillian yelled, now outside the car. "What are you doing?"
"Get back inside the car, Lily!" Sarah yelled, jogging through the front door and up the stairs.
Once more, she arrived at Isaac's door and began pounding, hearing nothing but the fan sweeping through the room.
"Isaac, honey? Are you there?"
No response.
"I'm going to open the door now, alright?"
She shoved the thin end of the crowbar in between the frame and door. She took a few quick breaths and felt the crowbar slip from the door as it unlocked and swung open. Standing on the other side was Isaac.
"Mom?" He said. "Wha... What are you doing?"
Sarah looked down at the crowbar and set it down while awkwardly smiling at Isaac. "I was just umm..." She took a deep breath to calm down. "I was just... well. Why didn't you answer your phone?"
He looked to his nightstand and then back to his mother. "It was on silent and I was still sleeping."
"Oh, okay," She laughed, feeling embarrassed. "That makes sense. Well, I've got to go to work so... just make sure to let me know if you're okay. I..." She had no more words.
Isaac shot her a puzzled look and slowly nodded his head. "Okay... Bye mom." He slowly shut his door, leaving Sarah out in the mildly dark hallway.
He was just sleeping. Right.
She quietly laughed to herself once more before she heard a child's scream come from outside. Her heart sank to her stomach as she heard Lillian scream for help.
"Mommy!" The scream echoed through the house.
Sarah picked up the hammer and jolted out of the house as fast as she could. Outside, the car door was open and Lillian was nowhere to be seen.
"Lillian!" Sarah screamed, her breathing becoming frantic.
"Mommy!" The voice screamed once more.
It cam from the backyard. She ran to the side of the house and climbed over the fence, seeing her daughter standing further towards the back corner.
"Lillian!" Sarah yelled once more. She sprinted over to her daughter and swiftly grabbed her, embracing her tightly. Her breathing became still and her mouth fell open when she saw what laid behind Lillian. It was a deer.
Its stomach looked like it was ripped open, its neck was twisted, its eyes were hollow, its fur was blackened, and its blood smeared from back into the forest. Sarah slowly raised her head in horror, looking to the forest. Inside, a figure stood, watching.
"Li-Lily," Sarah struggled to say. "Get inside."
Lillian looked up to Sarah and expressed the fear in her body. Sarah grabbed on to Lillian and slowly walked back, watching the figure slowly walk forward.
"Lillian, go now," Sarah whispered.
The tall figure in the forest began laughing manically as it slowly inched closer to them. All at once, it sounded like dozens of laughs were coming from all around Sarah. This must have been the person that broke into their window. But how did their laugh sound like many persons at once?
"Come here little Lily," The distorted voice of the person said.
"Run. Go. Now!" Sarah yelled at Lillian.
Her daughter screamed and cried as she ran for the back door of the house. The figure laughed even more as it seemingly floated through the forest towards Sarah. Following behind Lillian, Sarah felt a force pull her to the ground.
"Mommy!" Lillian yelled.
"Lillian, go! Lock the doors!" Sarah screamed.
The laughter echoed in her ear as she saw more figures approaching towards the back door. Lillian slammed the door shut and reached up to lock it. Sarah let out a small sigh of relief before kicking her feet into the ground and jolted for the fence line.
She ran as fast as she could and climbed the top of the fence once more, making her way in to the shed. Sarah closed the doors and without hesitation, she grabbed the machete that sat next to the ax and tightly gripped it with two hands.
A faint sound of gravel being shuffled alerted Sarah. Whoever was stalking from the forest was right outside the shed. She slowly walked to the shed door and, as quietly as she could, rotated the lock. The only sound she could hear was that of her muffled breathing.
She looked around to see an open window above one of the tables. Watching the door, she backed up to the window and felt a cold breeze coursing through.
"Isaac! Lillian! Open the door, please!" A voice said outside.
It sounded like a female voice. Could it be Mabel?
"Are you guys in there? Please open the door!" The voice said again.
No, that wasn't Mabel. She thought about who it could be and then it occurred to her. That voice was her own. Somebody was using Sarah's voice to open the door.
Sarah unlocked the door and bolted out of the door. She ran for the door, hearing several feet kick up the gravel behind her. When she reached the front door, she realized that there was no one there. No one was calling for her children. They tricked Sarah.
Loud breathing came from behind her, as if the person had a mask on over there mouth. Sarah closed her eyes and felt a tear slide down her cheek. She didn't want to die. In that moment, she prayed to God. For forgiveness. For safety. For the well being of her children if she was to die.
She slowly turned around, hearing the breathing get louder. Sarah opened her eyes only to see nothing. There was no one standing behind her and no one within her vision. The lock to the door unlatched behind her as she heard Lillian yell, "Mommy!"
Her body didn't move though. She was paralyzed with fear, thinking only moments ago that she was going to die. Sarah slowly slid her hand into her pocket and dialed Edward's number. It kept ringing until eventually it went to the automated voice. Edward hadn't set up a voicemail.
It was useless to try again. If he didn't answer the first time, Sarah knew it was useless to try and call again. There was only one other number she could think to call. She pressed her thumb to the screen
9
They weren't safe. Somebody was watching them, possibly trying to kill them.
1
How did they vanish? How did they sound like Sarah?
1
She held the phone up to her ear.
"911, what is your emergency?"
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