Suffocation

CHAPTER 1: And So It Begins

The days were getting long in the nursery as of recent. With the merger happening and parents asking more senseless questions, the staff were growing more tired by the day. Sorscha, Charlotte, Winter and Carly were exhausted working in the rooms while the managers and their deputies were up to their eyes in paperwork for new applicants coming in while trying to get old ones sorted into 1 nursery. 

After a very long day, 6 pm hit which means everyone's shifts were over. All the staff had agreed to go out for drinks since it was a Friday and they couldn't wait for it. Everyone was going to be there, even Siobhan who had invited Vivian to be there with them all. As everyone made their way to the pub, Siobhan had stopped to talk to Charlotte briefly. The conversation looked serious so no one wanted to interrupt.

Once they all arrived at the pub, they all sat at their booths and ordered their drink of choice. Varying from Carly who was drinking MiWadi to Sorscha who was drinking 2 pints of guinness. Everyone was chatting to each other, swapping booths to talk to different people and generally having a good time. By 11 pm Carly and Eric had gone home and most people were drunk with a few staying sober, the sober ones being Charlotte, Siobhan, Reece and Vivian. They all sat at their own booth talking about their weeks and annoying parents. This was the usual group of sober people so they had all grown quite close with each other. 

They all shared laughs while every other drunk person started singing karaoke songs in their slurred voices, occasionally joining in. Charlotte and Vivian stoodd up and started dancing along to bar music,  Vivian extended her arm to Siobhan "Do you wanna dance Bon Bon?" She asks with that same warm expression she always has for Siobhan. "I don't dance Vivian" she says bluntly, but Vivian pulls her up and starts dancing with her anyways.

At around 1 am everyone calls it a night and they start to get drunk people home with carpooling. It was always the same system. Vivian had Siobhan, and Sorscha, Reece had Marjorie, Autumn and Winter while Charlotte had Deliah and Agatha. 

Everyone gets home safely and the last stop was Siobhan's house. Vivian parked outside of it and her and Siobhan finished up their conversation. "Talk to you Monday Bon Bon" Vivian says with a soft smirk on her face "Talk to you Monday" Siobhan says right back.

Siobhan gets out of the car and Vivian drives off. Siobhan takes a minute to appreciate how kind Vivian is to her and takes a deep breath before walking up the driveway and inside the house. Once inside Siobhan calls out "Roger are you home?" No response. Siobhan shrugs it off, thinking he's just gone off with Janice for a drink at her house or was working overtime. 

Siobhan steps into the kitchen and starts to pour herself a glass of water. She suddenly feels a shiver go down her spine. Siobhan quickly turns, she feels as if she's being watched. Siobhan tries to distract herself from the feeling as she wanders around the house, locking doors and turning off lights before she goes to sleep but she just can't shake it. She walks up the stairs and hears a thud come from the bottom. She turns on the light at the top of the stairs to see someone at the bottom of it in a wooden owl mask holding a knife. "Who are you?" she demands. Before she can ask another question the strange person starts to run up the stairs.

Siobhan instinctively runs away and towards her bedroom. What was going on? Who was this person?  She could hear their footsteps thumping behind her as she ran. Once Siobhan had reached the bedroom she went to slam the door as hard as she could, the strangers hand getting caught in the door. She slammed the door onto their hand again before they withdrew it. Siobhan locked the bedroom door before running over to the safe in her room. She found herself finding it hard to breathe as she slammed the numbers into the safe.

She opened the safe and pulled out a gun that Roger had bought. "Get out before I call the police! I have a gun, I'm warning you!" She yelled out with a shaky voice. It was dead quiet, "Maybe they left" Siobhan thought to herself. She cautiously unlocked the door, the click practically echoing before she slowly walked backwards and aimed the gun at the door.

Her heart was racing. Her hands were shaking. After what felt like an eternity Siobhan lowered the gun and before she knew it the door swung open and the stranger was running at her. She lifted the gun trying to line up a shot before the stranger lunged at her and stabbed her in the chest. The gun fired upwards from her muscles tensing and pulling the trigger once the knife had pierced her.

The stranger stabbed and stabbed and stabbed all over her torso, over and over, each stab more ruthless than the last until they got up and off of Siobhan's lifeless body on the ground. The stranger took the gun lying next to Siobhan and looked at the bullet hole in the corner of the room. They looked back down at Siobhan

"What a shame" they paused. "You always had such pretty hair." The stranger walked out of the house and into the distance with no one the wiser. They weren't gonna stop at Siobhan, they had it all planned out. Including who was next.

And so it begins.