Why so serious??

Ebony made her way quickly through the rain and into the small wooden bookshop. She waved politely at the elderly woman standing behind the counter. More out of habit than anything else, and made her way to the back of the shop. Ebony scanned the shelves for anything of interest, but however it seemed she had already read just about everything in the shop. (Which wasn’t difficult given how small it was). She put her hand through her damp hair in agitation.
She usually wasn’t that upset about being unable to find a book she hadn’t already read or didn’t like, normally she would have just have found something else to occupy her mind with, but her friends were all away for the holidays (which ended tomorrow) so that didn’t leave her many people she could hang out with. And to make it worse, her parents were arguing a lot these days. Ebony sighed at this thought. This was the reason she had read so much this holidays. She hated it when her parents arguing all the time.
She sighed again, knowing that she would only have to face more of it when she got home. At that moment her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket.
“Hello” She answered
“Hi Ebony” Said a female voice.
“Hay mum”
“What time do you think you will be home…I’m going out tonight”
“Um, I’m not sure, an hour maybe, where’s Dad?” She asked gingerly.
“Your Father is not home at the moment” Her mother, Tarissa, answered stiffly. “ Anyway, you’ve got keys, dinners in the fridge, bye “
“Kay Mum, Bye”.
Ebony hung up the phone quickly. Her parents had been arguing again. Great. But at least they wouldn’t be there when she got home though. She picked a book randomly of the shelf, now not in the mood to be bothered to look for a good book, and headed for the counter.
After paying for the book. She left the shop quickly. Immediately regretting it. It was pouring. Ebony ran quickly down the path to her car, stumbling a bit. After fumbling with her keys she dived into the drivers seat as quickly as possible, as to avoid getting more wet then she was, and to no trip over again.
As she got comfortable she glanced, for no apparent reason, across the street. She noticed a girl, roughly her age, with red hair, sitting alone on a bench chuckling to herself. Ebony scowled at the girl, guessing that, because there was no one else in the street she must have been chuckling at her. Then without warning, the girl stood up, in a fluid motion so quick, it was hard to believe it happened at all, and looked directly at Ebony. She smirked, shook her head once then stalked away, leaving Ebony staring in bewildered amazement as her black skinny jeans and baggy jumper rounded the corner.
Recomposing herself, she shifted her old, faded black, Holden Monaro into gear and began to drive herself home through the rain. Quickly forgetting about the red headed girl.
When she arrived home she found, as she expected, to have it all to herself. She darted inside and trudged up the stairs to take shower, to escape the cold.
Ebony let the warm water run down her face. She closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair allowing the steam to relax her muscles. After relaxing as much as she could she dressed quickly, eager to keep the warmth of the shower with her. Downstairs she heard heavy footsteps walk through the door, Dad must be home.
“Hi Dad” She called walking back down the stairs to meet him.
“Hi sweetie” He sighed. Ebony sighed to, at the defeated look on her Fathers’, John, Face.
“Hungry?” He asked.
“Yeah, Actually, I am” She was surprised at how hungry she actually was.

They both sat in silence as they ate dinner, Ebony suddenly feeling to exhausted too talk. And John, with his balding black hair, brown eyes, thin mouth and tanned skin, too depressed to say anything.
Ebony glanced at the clock that hung above the stove in the kitchen. Eight thirty already
“Dad, I’m pretty tired I think I might call it a night,” She said getting up out of her seat.
“Okay, I won’t be far behind you anyway” Was his response.
Ebony smiled at him, then rinsed her plate off and placed in the dishwasher before sluggishly walking up the stairs, suddenly very tired, and into her room.

Ebony’s room was not big, but she didn’t mind that. A Bed was placed in the corner opposite the door, nailed to the end of the bed was a desk that was built by her father, books over flowed from it’s shelves. A window that ran along the far wall opened up to the back yard. Along the rest of the walls were posters and pictures of her favorite bands, and drawings as well as vampires.
She waked over to her bed and slipped lazily underneath the sheets.
She didn’t fall asleep as quickly as she had planned. Mostly because she was exited about returning to school tomorrow and seeing her friends. She tried to stop thinking about that and instead tried focusing on what had happened today. Her thoughts immediately bought up images of the red headed girl who had laughed at her before, staring at her intently and shaking her head and then disappearing.


Mary took a deep breath and pushed open the ancient, wooden door.
It swung easily on its hinges. She paused in the doorway for a few
seconds while her eyes became accustomed to the darkness before
stepping over the threshold, into the dark room inside.

The floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she walked across the
old wooden floor. The house had an old musty smell to it and felt to
her like no one had lived here for years.
She halted in the middle of the room as a cold chill ran down her
spine. She glanced around the old house as she shuddered in the
dark.

In front of her stood two large arched doors with stained glass
windows on either one. She stared at the doors as a feeling of dread
took over her, what was on the other side of the doors, she did not
want to know and was determined that this was the last room she
visited on her tour of the house. On either side of the room, two
grand staircases arched up in a majestic like manner and met in the
middle of the top floor, above the stairs, portraits of the houses
previous occupants were hung.

Mary took another deep breath and slowly started to ascend the
stairs, disturbing the dust on the handrails as she went. Her footsteps
seemed to echo throughout the house as she walked, and with every
step her feeling of unease grew stronger.

As she reached the top of the stairs, a second cold chill raced down
her back. She paused again and starred down the corridor in front of
her. Single wooden doors lined both walls and at the very end of the
corridor stood a door that resembled the stained glass one
downstairs only smaller. The corridor was lit by a series of dimly lit
chandlers and up here the old must smell seemed to be stronger.

Sighing slightly Mary opened the first door on her left. Inside she saw
nothing unusual or out of place, it was just a single plain room, with a
single bed and bedside table. gloomy grey paint covered the walls of
the room. Closing the door she began to search the adjacent room;
to her dismay this room was almost exactly as the first, with one
exception, there was an old mirror standing in the corner. After
thoroughly examining the room for anything of any value or interest ,
she examined herself in the mirror. Her pale face seemed at home in
the eerie darkness and her blood red hair that ran down to just above
her elbow stood out against her pale complexion, she brushed her
fringe out of her face to reveal creamy brown eyes that had a look of
certainty about them. Deciding that she was happy herself in her
black skinny jeans and baggy black jumper, she left the room.

She stood for a moment in the doorway and looked around at the
other half a dozen rooms or so that she had left to search, she
assumed to herself that they were probably more or less the same
and that there seemed no point in even looking in them, so instead
she walked towards the door at the end of the corridor.

She turned the handle but the door remained shut, she then tried
pushing against the door with her shoulder but to no avail. The door
simply would not open. She stopped and judged the door for a few
seconds, before smiling to herself and gently turning the handle and
giving it a slight push. Mary's pulse quickened as the door swung
effortlessly open.

A sudden wave of fear swept over her as she entered the room. She
wanted to get out but for some reason she couldn’t move, her legs
felt as if they were about to give out on her, but still she remained
rooted to the ground. she tried to scream but her voice was lost
because of the fear that coursed through her. She looked in panic
around her, the room appeared empty, colder, some how different
from the rest of the house and then from somewhere within the
darkness of the room came a voice, a soft alluring voice, it was only
a whisper, but for all the compassion it held it had an icy touch to it
that sent terror through Mary’s entire body.

‘So glad you could join me tonight’

Mary tried to run, but in vain, her legs simply would not move.

‘I’ll let you know I’ve been waiting for you’ the icy voice whispered. ‘I
have our entertainment lined up for us this evening, you’re the.. main
attraction one could say’

Mary, as scared as she was, could tell how much he was enjoying
this. She tired to speak but her whole body seemed paralysed by the
terror that had enveloped her.

“ What’s the matter, you seem a bit....tense’ He laughed. ‘ Allow me
to calm you’ As he said this she felt his icy breath on the back of her
neck, his hands slipped around her waist, she couldn’t breath, she
could feel his check brush against her trembling skin, his breath
quicken, All she could feel was his grip tighten around her waist, his
teeth on her neck and then........