The Haunted Mask Part 3

Chapter 5: Consequences

Adriana heads upstairs with her backpack on her shoulders and skateboard in hand and goes to her room, the furthest at the end of the hall. She pushes it open to see the boxes and her furniture skewed everywhere. She'd have to get her mom and Michael to help her move them into the positions she wanted.

She flops down on her empty mattress and shuts her eyes. Not exactly the best way to end her first day at a new school, but at least she learned a few of her classmates' names.

She checks her wound sustained in the accident before rolling over to gaze at the ceiling.

Cobwebs and a few spiders are inhabiting her ceiling and down in the far corners of her room. The ceiling is supposed to be a white colour, but with the thick layer of dust that's covering it, it appears grayer and grimy. This house was pretty disgusting and who knows what else is living in the attic or the closets... mice probably or other creatures that made a place like this their home.

Her mom was having people come in and do a thorough cleaning, industrial-strength if Adi had anything to say about it. The problem was cleaning would still be a slow process because her historian mother would insist on checking every inch of the house to see if it was antique or historical in some way and might require extra attention or care. While living in old houses wasn't a bad thing, it's just that they ended up being pretty dirty and also in need of a lot of repairs. It's too bad her dad was out on base for another week. He'd be back after that and he could help with moving things around and fix what needed to be fixed.

"Has anyone seen my reading glasses?" Mrs. Walton calls out. "Adriana?"

"On it," she moans, getting up from her bed and heading to the master bedroom.

She looks for the box marked Bedroom and digs through the one filled with clothes and other soft objects. A weird habit her mother had was to put things in strange places to keep them safe... although it was more likely that she was always so scattered-brained that she put objects in weird places and forgot about them. For example, her reading glasses, instead of keeping them in her purse or briefcase for the move, she likely had them wrapped in some soft clothing to keep them from being broken. Her toothbrush was often in her slippers because both were things she needed at night and her paperclips were always connected in a chain in her jewelry box... well usually, due to Dr. Walton's constant research and historical documentation, stocks of paperclips were always scattered around the house to stay organized. There was even a stash in the bathroom somewhere. Fortunately, despite this habit, Adriana was always there to find them.

Adriana opens the box and digs inside.

Sure enough, in a rolled-up pair of socks, she finds them.

The girl exits the room and begins to head for the stairs.

Suddenly...

*Creak*

A sound comes from the nearby linen closet... or what will be the linen closet.

At first, Adriana ignores it and continues to the stairs.

*Creak* *Creak*

The girl pauses at the top of the stairs and looks back over her shoulder.

Probably a rat, she thinks and shrugs.

She's about to take the first step when.

*Creak* *Creak* *Creak* *Creak*

Something was inside the closet because that sure wasn't a creaky door.

Then there's another noise: