Little Rose

Prologue: Little Rose

-February 12, 2007-

   Creak. That was the sound of someone -or something- stepping on the left tile in front of the archway heading into the kitchen.

   Rose Jones knew every inch of her small home. After all, it was her home. She spent her whole life here-  whether she was clinging to her father's back while he sped around the house when giving her piggyback rides or baking chocolate-chip cookies with her mother in the kitchen. Sometimes, she was left to play alone, but she didn't mind. She imagined her home was a beautiful castle, and she was the princess. But as of this moment, her castle was being infiltrated. By who?

   Her castle didn't feel the same at night. The corridors seemed smaller- as if they were caved in. She shuddered at the thought of these walls falling on top of her. Rose crept through the halls of her home, she could still hear the pattering of footsteps in the kitchen- getting louder as she got closer. She almost wanted to scream for her parents, Mommy! Daddy! But alas, her parents were nowhere to be found. She had found their bedroom to be empty- very empty. The bedroom was as clean as it was in the morning. Rose was starting to worry about her parents gravely. Where were they? Who was in the kitchen?

   Rose stopped moving. She had heard a cupboard open and close in the kitchen very loudly. That was not her parents, they would be as quiet as a mouse. Especially because Rose was supposed to be in bed.

   "Mom?" Rose whispered, somewhat hoping her mother's head would peer out from the kitchen door. She would smile at her and tell her it was alright- maybe yell at her for being awake. That was unlikely though, her mother never yelled. Ever.

   The video-camera in her hand made a noise. Beep. She nuzzled the camera next to her chest in an attempt to muffle the noise. Once the noise had stopped, she put the camera in front of her again and continued filming. Her parents had bought her this video-camera for Christmas. It was a small, purple camera but it did its job very well. Why was she filming this? She didn't know herself, but she tends to film every single thing she does in her life. She began to draw long breaths- she was afraid.

   She had finally reached the kitchen archway. The lights were on in there, but for some reason that only made it more ominous. She adjusted the camera in her sweaty palms and made sure it was still rolling. Rose took several deep breaths, trying to pluck up the courage to walk into the kitchen.

   Rose couldn't hear the footsteps anymore. They had stopped. She couldn't hear anything anymore, besides her drawn-out breaths. Maybe she was overreacting, she was imagining it the whole time. Her parents had always told her she had a wild imagination. Although, she couldn't shake this feeling that someone was watching her.

   "Rose, c'mon!" She whispered to herself, "Stop being a baby!"

   Rose shut her eyes tightly. Convincing herself to turn around and face whatever was in the kitchen. Was it a demon? No, it couldn't be. Right? Rose hoped not. Was it a human who was the epitome of evil? Maybe... her mother had always warned her of these people; her mother despised them.

   A floorboard creaked, right next to her. That's it, Rose couldn't handle this. After all, she was just a child, she could barely handle the bullies at school. She could almost hear their voices echoing in her head, "Scaredy-cat! Rose is a little scaredy-cat!" The laughter of all the students came afterward, pointing in her direction, whispering to their friends. It was awful. She hated school.

   Rose started to run. She didn't know what was in the kitchen but she knew that something was chasing her. The pattering footsteps behind her were not her imagination. Her palms were so slippery, the camera slid right out of them. "Stop!" she wanted to scream, but her mouth was dry. Nothing would come out. It felt like those dreams people would have. The ones where they try to run but it feels like they'll never get away and the ones where they'll try to scream at the top of their lungs yet, no sound would escape their gaping mouth. But then, something grabbed her. Who was it? Why were they here?