The House

Sunday Afternoon

It was Sunday afternoon,the big hand on the 4 and the small hand on 9. Merida sighed as she looked at her watch and continued walking. She normally come across an interesting sight on her walks,but she hadn't this time and she was quite fed up about it.

She walked more,humming the tune of the song 'can't help falling in love with you',when in the distance to her surprise she noticed a dark,tall,intimidating-looking building. As she approached it,Merida could make out it was clearly a house.
"But why is it here? Why is it abandoned like this?" she thought to herself.

Merida could just about see that all the windows were boarded up with old wood and old rusty nails. The roof was almost hanging onto the house by a splinter but yet,it had managed to stay put. It hadn't collapsed. It hadn't broken. No nothing. Merida stood there,lifted up her camera that was hanging around her neck on a strap,muttered the words "stay still,smile" and took a photo. She looked down and stared at the dark image on her camera screen. She peered at her watch and saw that half an hour had gone by. "Very quickly" Merida thought. She stood and pondered whether she should start heading back to her house,which needless to say about a minute later she finally decided to do so.

When she got home,her mother started to question her whereabouts,of course she didn't want to tell her mother what happened so she had to come up with an excuse,and fast.
"Merida Jones,where have you been? I know every Sunday you go on a wander but where have you been all this time?" Merida's mother,Susie,asked.
"I got lost,but then I remembered my way back!" Merida had to sound as truthful and as confident as possible.
Her mother sighed. "Just go to your room,Gladys will come and sort you out soon" Her mother waved her hand towards the stairs and went into another room.

Merida's family was quite wealthy and so had a maid,name - Gladys.

Merida climbed up the stairs and clambered into her room. She sat on her bed,took everything off,and put some pyjama shorts and a loose top on when Gladys knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Merida shouted.
"Hello Merida" Gladys said as she entered. "Your mother said she wanted me to come and see if you're okay and also to put your clothes in the wash" Gladys spotted the pile of muddy clothes on the floor,picked them up and dropped them in the laundry basket.
"So where did you go earlier?" Gladys asked.
"You cannot tell anyone Gladys! I found an old abandoned house and I took a photo of it and it was the most prettiest but creepiest house I've ever seen!" Merida clapped her hands.
"Do you mean ... North Hill House?" Gladys' toned turned from cheery to suddenly concerned.
"I think it might have been called that,why? Do you know the house?" Merida started getting jumpy and excited because she had found someone to bond over the house with.
Gladys didn't answer for a couple of seconds. "Yes,I .. I do know of the place." Gladys smiled and quickly changed the subject. "Oh .. I must get this washing on now,haha." Gladys turned around and cautiously exited Merida's room.

Merida was extremely confused,she didn't understand why Gladys was trying desperately to avoid conversation about North Hill House. Merida didn't think much about it as she got distracted by a random ray of sunshine that beamed through her window. She ran to peer out her clean glass window and stared at the sunshine,feeling amazed. Merida always found nature was beautiful.