Karma

Chapter One

I woke up to a scream. This was bound to happen eventually. I allow my stiff body a few seconds to soften while my hazel eyes quickly survey the lamp-lit room. The heavy atmosphere seems to give everything a dark wash, even my rose-pink walls look dull. I pull myself out of the warm covers and manage to drag my feet towards the cracked-open door. I hear sobbing from downstairs and I can just make out the sound of our step-dad, Kieran's voice reassuring my frantic mum."Is mum alright?" Carousel's voice shook as she cautiously sits up in her bed, wrapping her quivering arms tight around her knees. We call her Car for short, not ideal but she loves it and will start making engine sounds and zoom off pretending to be a world-famous driver doing all sorts of dangerous stunts. Usually at the cost of scrapes and bruise but she'll just shrug it off and say it's all part of the job. She's only eight but she's the toughest kid I've ever known. "She's alright, Car, she probably just thought she saw something in the dark, you know how it is." I gesture to our lamp that we keep on every night since we moved here a week ago. I pull the door open a little wider and hear mum's muffled voice crying over and over again, "There was something in the corner, there was something in the corner!" She stays down there late at night sometimes, doing her jewelry-making for commissioners.

"You're just tired, Skyler! What with all the unpacking and those naughty kids with their silly stories. I have the right mind to ground them for scaring you like that." Kieran said harshly. I quickly close the door furious. They are not stories. Kieran never believes us when we try to tell them about the nightmarish things that have been going on in this house. He just snaps his fingers in our faces and shouts, "I don't want to hear it!" He has a strict "no-nonsense" policy, I don't know what mum sees in him, she's the complete opposite. Or was. She used to always play pretend with us and tell magical bedtime stories before he started commenting on how I'm getting too old for that stuff and urged her not to encourage me anymore. She would have believed us straight away before she met him but now she just laughs and says, "Imagination is a powerful thing, never lose it, kiddo!" I hear them walking up the stairs so I quickly dive into Carousel's bed and turn off the lamp. I always make sure to turn it off when Kieran passes our room. I think he'd go nuts if he knew we've been keeping it on all night. We stay quiet while we hear shuffling and sniffling pass our bedroom door and into theirs. We release a breath we didn't know we were holding and Carousel rolls up closer to me.

"What do you think she saw, Karma? Do you think we'll get to move house now?" She whispered, sniffling a bit although she would forever deny it if you asked if she was crying. "I don't think so. I think she's just tired." I sigh, wishing more than anything Kieran would have at least believed her and we could just pack up as fast as possible and get back to our old house in Chester. I know that's not possible though. Someone else has already moved in, a nice couple who were looking around while we were still there. They said they were adopting and starting a new family and needed a bigger house. They absolutely adored Carousel and even complimented my drawings with genuine amazement. And yet I can't help but resent them. It feels like they're stealing our perfect home away, our perfect life. I wanted to yell and tell them to look elsewhere and that I refuse to move. But what difference would that have made? Still, I like to imagine that our house is still there waiting for us, exactly how we left it. That we'll somehow wake up back there again in the morning and we'd jump into mum's bed and dad would be there too. Dad. I start to feel my eyes swell. "Um, Karma? The light. "Oh, right, sorry Car." I click the lamp back on and give her a warm smile as I hug her reassuringly but she couldn't smile back. "Look, I'll stay awake until you fall asleep, okay?" I whisper. Carousel gave a small appreciative smile as I began to sleepily play with her short messy blonde hair and allow the horrors of our new house to intrude my mind.