Try Not To Be Afraid Of The Dark (Very Short Stories) ~EDITING~

A Narrow Escape?

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As soon as me, my sister, Liv, my parents had drove up the freakishly steep hill to actually get to the gates of 'Burrowside Hotel', you could tell this was going to be a very long holiday. I mean, it looked more like an abandoned asylum for the insane rather than a place people would want to stay in for a weekend away from their families. The whole place was so dusty it had made my Dad's asthma much, much worse. The windows looked back at us like the eyes of a empty soul, and the whole front garden looked overgrown; you could just about make out the front steps that led up to this immense building. As my dad lift his hand to knock loudly on the wooden front door, as if by magic the door opened, to reveal a small, fragile looking woman, peering closely at my hollister jacket and magenta converse trainers.

 "Come in, come in. You have so much to see, and time isn't on our side today!" she exclaimed, a huge smile stretching across her face as she moved to the side to let us through the door.

 "Uh, thanks.." My father replied, looking awkward.

 "Your welcome! I just love it when I get to meet new people!" She exclaimed. She laughed.

 "Yes, me too." Said my mum, looking at her with a funny stare in her pale brown eyes. Clearly, she thought this woman was slightly bonkers. In fact, I think we all thought it too.

 "Come on then, I'll show you around!" She practically shouted, nearly deafening me.

 The woman, who's name we still did not know, started to walk away, heading to what looked like the reception. And as we were new to our surroundings, all 3 of us just followed, like lost dogs.

 As we reached the reception desk, I noticed how old and rusty it looked. Many old fashioned looking keys with writing engraved on them in cursive hung behind on the pale green coloured wall.

 "So, can we like go to our room, to like, you know unpack and things?" My dad asked, looking around at this strange place.

 "Sure, sure, we could maybe have the grand tour later or whenever you want, if you want it that is!" She said, laughing, obviously thinking her little joke was funny. Which it wasn't.

 She then handed over one of the ancient keys, with a scary smile on her face. Written onto the key was the word 'Haunted'. That was it. How strange, I thought, what could she mean by that? But before I could ask this crazy woman, my dad swiftly walked towards the stairs by the entrance that we had came through before.

 The stairs were enormous, and covered in a dark blue carpet. By the time we had actually got to the top of them, I was exhausted. All around in the landing were decrepid paintings of noble people that must of lived in this mansion. Liv and I crept past them, as if they were sleeping and we didn't want to disturb them from their deep unconsciousness. Just as I was standing in front of a painting of a beautiful young woman from the 1700s, my hard stare gazing at her face, my dad appeared from one of the many corners of this hotel.

"We've found our room! It's very..." And before he could finish, the old crazy lady who was obviously the only member of staff there that day; in fact probably the only member of staff that was ever in this creepy dump, appeared next to my mum.

 "I'm so glad you like it here, it's just beautiful here isn't it?" She shouted, again screaming every word practically. And with that, she was gone, swiftly walking in the other direction.

 "God, she's creepy. She's like a witch, the way she always turns up around the place." Liv whispered, smiling as she said it. I laughed.

 We then followed my dad, going along many twisted corridors along the way. As we approached the room we would be staying in for the next week, I noticed the strange scratch marks at the bottom and side of the plain wooden door. It was large and splintered, but due to its careful workmanship had endured the test of time. Many years of wear had nevertheless taken their toll on its once delicate frame. My dad slid the key into the brass lock, and with a lot of effort trying to force the door to let us inside, it finally moved and swung open with a creak. As soon as it opened, I had a bad feeling about it. As we entered hesitantly, I knew that there was something else in that room. I don't know whether that was because of the atmosphere or because of the eerie chill that was in there, but I just know we were not alone.