Violate

6. Something Goes Bump in the Night

LAUREL

It's 12 o'clock and I still can't sleep. The clock downstairs chimes loudly every hour and I can hear it ticking from my room. And the stupid house won't stop creaking and settling. Which is pretty unsettling. It feels like someone is watching me, even right now. Marcy did say the house was haunted. It'd be cool to see some real ghosts.

The door to my room slowly creaks open. I sit up, thinking to see my mom or dad, but I see nothing. I flick on the lamp on my bedside table, and wince as the room is illuminated with light. After blinking a couple of times, I notice that the door is shut. Could I have imagined that? My first night in a 'haunted house.' It's not surprising, really. I flick off the lamp and close my eyes.

I feel warm air on my cheek, like someone's breath. It could've been a draught, I say to myself. Old houses have draughts. I close my eyes tighter and think of happy things. As a goth girl, I totally shouldn't be afraid. But I am. Which is probably why the goth kids back home shunned me.

"Just go to sleep, Laurel. Go to sleep," I whisper to myself.

"Yeah Laurel, go to sleep. Go to sleep and have pretty little dreams."

Now I am scared. I lay in my bed, petrified, trying not to make a single sound. I'm sure that whatever is in here can here my pounding heart. The blanket is ripped off of me, exposing me to whatever is in my room. I let out an involuntary whimper.

A hand claps against my mouth, preventing me from screaming.

"Wanna see what happened to me? Do you want to see what the house did to me?" the voice snarls. "Come and see what happened to Violet Harmon."

Violet Harmon...the Harmon's were the previous owners. I think back to what Marcy said earlier today. Violet Harmon is the girl who had disappeared. And now I am going to find out what happened to her.