House Of Horrors

Working On Maple St.

"I'm kind of nervous." Elle says, patting down her dark hair.

"Don't worry, it'll fine. You two are super smart, you have PB&J for lunch, and you'll meet a ton of new friends during recess." I say.

"Now, have a nice day." I say. Elle and Elliot hugs me goodbye then rushes off towards the building. I walked them to school, a huge pristine brick building covered in ivy. I start walking away, looking for places where I can apply for jobs while being close to their new school. After a mile or two I spot a dinner and straighten up, flattening my dark hair, and my clothes. I walk in through Nina's Home Cooking dinner, looking around. A bell softly chimes off above my head, signaling a customer just entered. The restaurant is full to the brim, each table, and seat filled. I luckily find a chair at the counter between a mail man sipping on coffee, and an woman in a suit eating waffles.

"What can I do for you?" A waitress asks. A middle age woman in a blue uniform, with blonde pined up curls waits on me. She has a pen and notepad in her hands, and a bored expression on her soft face.

"Nina?" I ask.

"The one and only. Whose asking?" Nine asks. I swallow quickly. sliding my resume across the counter.

"I'm Emme Baker, and I would like an application." I say. Nina's bored expression turns hard.

"As you can see I'm busy, I don't have time for a kid." Nina says, pushing back the resume.

"I have experience." I state firmly, I'm not backing down. I need this job, Elle and Elliot need me to have a job.

"With those little baby hands?" She scoffs, jutting her chin down at my small hands. I sit up straighter, trying to look confident.

"Let me prove it," I say. "Let me work a shift, and you won't even to have to pay me for the shift." That got her attention.

"Heads up." She tosses me an apron and I barely manage to catch it, that isn't the impressive start I wanted. She sighs in annoyance as I hurriedly tie the apron, clearly she didn't want me to have that "impressive" start either.

Later

"How was your first day?" I ask my siblings, holding each of their hands as we walk home.

"Like any other first day," Elliot shrugs as we walk up the steps of our house. His words immediately make my heart tighten, I pray that today didn't go awful, hoping to hear about how great their day was.

"Is your teacher nice? Our your classes interesting? Was lunch good?" I bombard my siblings with questions, letting go of their small hands to fish out my keys. I hesitate at the lock, worried that red eye guy is waiting on the other side of our door.

"...If you leave by tomorrow night, I'll let you live peacefully.." His angry voice ringing in my ears, my hands tightening around the little bronze key.

"The school is really pretty, and classes aren't boring anymore." Elle answers.

"Anymore?" I ask, confuse, my hand still on the key.

"In our old school the classes were to easy, but now we're really paying attention because these classes are actually fun." Elliot explains, and I can't help the huge smile on face. Elliot and Elle are smart kids, to smart for their crummy old school. With this school Elle and Elliot can actually go to college, and a good college.

"That's great to hear." I say, opening the door. I'm not taking Elle and Elliot from here, so that red eye punk can suck it because this is our house now.

Later

"When can we go grocery shopping?" Elliot asks, opening the only cabinet with food. I tense at my little's brother words, after buying the house we're really tight.

"Um... maybe this weekend?" I question more than answer, making Elliot sigh. I try to keep my face straight, I hate disappointing them, I hate burdening them with our budget. They're just kids, they shouldn't even be aware of fiances.

"Are our rations low?" I ask, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

"I finished the last can of tuna today," Elliot starts "but we still have enough macaroni and cheese to last till the weekend." Elliot finishes.

"Key word cheese meaning it is a great source of calcium." I say. "Okay, its time for bed, Elliot." I say.

"Go take a bath, and hit the sack." I say, pointing to the backstairs in the corner of the word kitchen.

"And don't forget to brush your teeth!" I call after him as he bounds up. With Elliot gone the heavy silence settles, so quiet that my ears ring. Not a sound; the house doesn't groan with creaks like usual, the wind doesn't even blow, it likes the world just turned off. I've been on edge all night, that pricks's threat in the back of my mind all night.

We're not leaving, so what's he going to do when he since we're still shacked up here.

"You should have died..." I flinch at the raspy croak, spinning around to see the old woman from Halloween grinning at me with lifeless eyes across the kitchen.