A little something spooky for the season! Hope you all enjoy :)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
© Kassandra of Knossos
The door to Wychwood Manor swung shut behind Marion, rattling against its frame until she turned to lock it, pressing a hand against the dusty lace curtain-covered window and sliding the deadbolt home. Turning around, she leaned against the oak and sighed, eyeing the mess of moving boxes laid out in front of her.
The foyer was in disarray. Marion had spent all day driving boxes of her things back and forth between the apartment to here, her new home. And now, nearly eight hours later, she was too tired to unpack anything. The fridge was empty, too. She'd just have to make do with the takeout she'd picked up on her final trip back.
Tomorrow, she thought, looking at the boxes. At the very least, she had furniture. A dining table, a couch, television stand and television, her bed and nightstand--all of that had been moved to the manor earlier in the morning, thanks to her brother. Other furniture was less important. Wychwood Manor came with its fair share of installments. Bookcases lined the walls of the living room and study, as well as the master bedroom upstairs. Two guest bedrooms already possessed beds and wardrobes, not that she had plans to sleep in the previous owners' beds.
And, perhaps to her greatest surprise, the pantry was completely outfitted with new shelving and rollout spice racks. Not that there was anything in it.
"Grocery run," Marion said to herself, adding it to the list of things she needed to do tomorrow.
In the middle of the old manor, the pantry had seemed out of place, all white shelves and steel fixtures where the rest of the house was made of dark wood and brass handles. But it didn't matter. Marion was going to strip this place near to its beams. She was on a deadline to get this place spick and span so she could turn it into a bed and breakfast within a year.
A haunted bed and breakfast.
Wychwood Manor had been on the market for a while. At the time of her walkthrough, the agent told her it'd been up for sale for nearly three months, an unprecedented time for such a large house so near to the city. So, of course, Marion had done her research.
Leaves turning in the heat of summer, the chimney smoking with no one home, creaking coming from indistinct locations throughout the house. All of this contributed to the local rumours, and all of it had simple explanations.
The trees out front were dead and had been for a long time, judging by the state of them. The previous owners were old, forgetful, and enjoyed turning in for the night by the fireplace. And the creaking was expected of any old house.
But the idea of a haunted bed and breakfast had been too good to pass up.
Drifting forward through the foyer, Marion let her fingertip trail along the balustrade of the primary staircase. It was covered in a thin layer of dust and Marion let out another sigh. Mentally, she added dusting to the list of things she'd need to do soon.
Slipping her shoes off and leaving them next to the stairs, she padded over to the dining room, dropping her takeout bag onto the table before dropping into a seat. She sagged against the back of the seat and rolled her shoulders, trying to work out the kinks in her neck. It was only nine at night, but she fully intended on going to sleep after wolfing down her meal.
Reaching for the bag, she paused when she heard something deep within the house groan. Partway through the groan, there was a metallic clunking noise and then silence. Marion grinned to herself.
"Haunted house," she said under her breath.
Unwrapping her meal, she dug in.
That old familiar, indistinct fast-food taste burst across her tongue. Her jaw tingled at the first bite, a sign she hadn't eaten in too long.
The window across from her rattled violently in its frame.
Marion coughed, almost choking on her food, her eyes narrowing on the window. The frame was old and stripped of most of its paint. No doubt the panes needed to be replaced, too. It wasn't going to be cheap fixing this place up.
Shivering, Marion noted a drop in temperature and made a mental note to check the seal on all the windows, too.
Pushing back from the dining table, she grabbed the rest of her meal and started in the direction of the staircase, intending to finish her food in bed. She wasn't usually the type to eat where she slept, but tonight could be an exception.
On the way there, her footsteps creaked across the floor. She'd leave the flooring, she thought. The creaking just added to the ambience.
When she got to the staircase, she stepped up to the first step and stopped, foot hovering above it.
It must have just been her tired mind playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn the creaking had gone on a second too long. Like someone else was walking behind her.
Her shoulders tensed, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, a slow shudder rolling through her extremities to the center of her spine.
Marion shook her head and hurried up the steps, not stopping until she was in the master bedroom where she locked the door behind her.
Her overnight bag was on the center of her bed, essentials splayed out on the bedding. She pushed most of it over, grabbing her hairbrush and setting it on the nightstand along with her phone charger. Climbing into bed, she paused a moment to listen, heaving a sigh of relief when it was silent.
To hell with it, she thought, wrapping her food back up and setting it down on the nightstand, tucking in under the covers. She'd eat tomorrow, she'd lost her appetite. Reaching up beside her, she hit the switch above the bed, plunging the room into darkness. Squeezing her eyes tight, she willed the morning to come.
*******************************************
It was the scratching that woke her. A persistent skrch, skrch, skrch, like something sliding along the hardwood floor.
Marion shot up in her bed, comforter clutched to her chest, breath coming hard out of her lungs. Pausing, she listened. There was nothing now. Scraping her teeth over her bottom lip, she laid back down with a huff, reaching up to wipe her forehead with the back of her hand. She was driving herself halfway to insanity with this house.
That's it. Tomorrow she was calling the contractor to sort everything out. She'd wanted to wait to strip the house, but she couldn't put up with the noises anymore.
Closing her eyes, Marion tried to will herself back to sleep.
Skrch. Skrch. Skrrrrrrchh.
"What the fuck?" Marion hissed, sitting up in bed and throwing her covers off. She reached for the light switch at her bedside, the overhead lights flickering to life.
The sound was muffled, like it might've been in the walls.
"If I have rats to deal with, I'm going to scream," she muttered, squinting at her surroundings.
Skrrrrrrrrrccccchhh THUNK!
Marion made a noise halfway between a gasp and a yelp, swallowing the sound.
