Honestly, I tried really hard.
I spent three hours in that library. Three intense, paper-cut riddled hours. I pulled down volumes that clearly hadn’t been touched in generations and lovingly wiped them down before entering them into my catalogue. I got an entire shelving unit finished and organized before I found myself here.
Standing in front of the forbidden door.
I don’t even know how it happened. One second, I was elbow-deep in leather dust, and the next I’m exactly where I swore I wouldn’t be. With my lock pick tools in hand.
It’s just not fair. Honestly, it’s really not. Dangling this door in front of me is like shoving a bloody fish carcass in a shark’s mouth and telling it not to feed.
This is my nature.
I can’t help myself. I’m a deeply curious person. If it weren’t for my mom’s sickness, I never would’ve been able to stop urban exploring, despite my little run-in with the police.
Now that I know she’s safe and being taken care of, it’s like the part of me that’s been smothered and silenced is finally waking up again.
“Don’t do it, Lena,” I mutter as my hands move on their own. I take out the picks and shove them into the lock. “You’re better than this, Lena. Remember how much fun you had with him yesterday?”
I jiggle the picks and force the tumblers into position.
“Damn it,” I groan as the door makes a click and opens. “It’s not too late. Close it, lock it, and walk away.”
I put the picks into my pocket and step forward.
The carpet on the other side of the door is different. It’s older, more like something from the ‘70s. There’s wallpaper in an odd outdated style. Everything smells musty and unused, like this part of the house hasn’t been touched in years.
It’s fucking creepy.
A hallway stretches ahead of me. Doors jut away from it. The hall ends in a junction and I can’t see beyond that.
“Great, this is it, just a normal hall. No need to explore.”
My feet move forward all on their own.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I moan, trailing my fingers along the wall.
Most of the doors lead to empty guest rooms. The windows are covered with paper and they’re filthy from not being touched for a while, but they’re basically unremarkable. I feel like someone’s watching me though as I explore a part of this house that clearly hasn’t been touched in a very long time.
At the dead end, I come to an abrupt stop. To the left is a bathroom. It’s covered in pink tiles with a huge, chunky vanity.
To the right is more hall ending in a door on the right and a door straight ahead.
The floor here is stained. Something dark was splattered across the wall. I step forward and my stomach twists. It smells bad here—like an old, ancient rot.
It takes a minute to realize there’s blood everywhere.
It’s old blood. It’s more brownish-black than red. But it’s definitely blood, and it’s splashed all over the carpet and the wall like someone went insane with a chainsaw. Terror fills me and now I realize why Arsen didn’t want me to come in here.
He didn’t want me to see this.
“Just turn back,” I whisper to myself.
But I can’t help it. I move forward, legs stiff and heart racing. I’m scared and shaking, but this is what I am. Curiosity always wins, even when it definitely shouldn’t.
The first door opens into a bedroom. This one’s been trashed. There’s more blood inside, splattered on the walls. And god, this whole place stinks like something fetid and fungal.
But I notice an odd pattern on the floor, like something or someone was dragged through the muck, down to the final door at the end of the hall.
I feel sick. I don’t want to keep going. This is a horror story and I’m making a very dumb mistake. Except I walk on, hand reaching for the knob, trembling like it might fall apart.
Beyond the door is an office.
It looks normal. Outdated, but not covered in blood at least. The carpet is green and shag, and the furniture looks like it was purchased thirty years earlier. There are books on the shelves and a big fireplace against the right wall.
Five skeletons are neatly laid out in front of the desk.
I stare at them. It’s hard to make sense of the bleached white bones. They’re human and big. I’m guessing these people were all taller than me when they were alive. Their skulls gape at me, their eye sockets empty and dull. Five corpses, five bodies, sitting in an empty, unused office, and a whole sea of blood staining the hall leading up to it.
“What the fuck is this?” I whisper.
What did Arsen do here? Why is he keeping it like this? What sort of weird, sick place did I just stumble into?
Fuck my curiosity. Fuck my stupid brain. I never should’ve gone through that door.
I never, ever, ever should’ve come in here.
I want to throw up. I want to start crying. I can’t even move.
A man’s voice breaks my paralysis.
“Oh, Lena, you really disappointed me,” he says.
I whip around. My mouth opens to scream, but Arsen’s hand presses over my mouth as he grabs me roughly. His face is inches from mine, horrible and beautiful at once, his expression mournful.
Like I’m about to be the next victim.
Fuck that. Fuck all this. I struggle, fighting and shoving and kicking, trying to get away, but he holds on tighter. “Don’t make this hard,” he says. “Lena—”
I claw at him like an animal. Bright red beads of blood appear on his throat.
I break free enough to yell. “Help me! Help, please! He’s going to kill me. He’s going to—”
Maud appears behind him. Her face is pinched as she rushes toward me. I shout, flinching back.
“Hold her still,” she hisses.
“What are you—” Arsen starts.
A needle sinks into my arm.
“Fuck,” I moan as Maud hits the plunger. I look up at her in horror, my mouth hanging open. She quickly pulls it back out.
“Damn it, Maud,” Arsen snaps, moving me away from her. “What the hell did you do?”
“You’re sick,” I mumble, feeling heavy.
“Protecting you,” Maud says as Arsen’s arms wrap around me tighter. Squeezing the life from me. Crushing my bones to dust.
The world lurches and everything goes black.
