𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐄 || Jerome Clarke

The Attic

Iris had awoken that night to an empty dorm room.

The beds which were supposed to be occupied by Amber and Nina were empty; the covers thrown back in crumpled mounts at the foots of their beds. Iris rubbed the sleep from her eyes looking around for a clock.

12:00

Great. Only 2 hours of sleep, so far. Her first night here and the insomnia meds were already proving useless. Her irritation was soon brushed over, the two beds before her remained empty as the minutes passed. Where were they?

She sat still for a few moments before deciding to investigate for herself. As she pulled the duvet off of her legs, she met a wall of cold air that forced a shock of goosebumps to radiate across her bare skin. The shorts she wore were doing nothing in terms of insulation.
In order to face the inevitable chill of the hallway, Iris felt for her open bag where a navy, knit sweater sat on top. Throwing it over her head, she stood, putting on her fluffy, pink slippers as she went.

As she headed to the door, she gave herself a once over in the mirror. The low plaits she'd put her hair in had fallen out slightly and the sweater fell below the hem of her shorts, completely swallowing her. She let out a loud huff, irked that her roommates had decided to break house rules and go roaming, on the first night.

The door creaked as she pulled it open, making Iris's heartbeat in her ears. She was sure the entire school would've heard that. Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at it; betrayal of a door. Iris was not a rule breaker naturally.
Someone should really oil those hinges.

Her feet padded out into the hallway and she let out a load yawn, allowing her arms to stretch out as she did so.

Suddenly, someone jolted her shoulders, forcing a squeal out of Iris at the unexpected contact. Before a large hand covered her lips, commanding silence from her.

"Shush, Rutter. It's just us," his voice laughed quietly from behind her. She spun around quickly to see what was going on, and her eyes landed on half of the house members, who had also decided that midnight was the perfect time to walk around the creepy house.

Mara, Mick, Joy and Jerome all stood before her, just as confused as she was.

"Does everyone in this house think that this is the best hour for a midnight stroll, or is where I come from doing things wrong?" She deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest as she let a light scowl form across her features.

Mara and Mick both laughed, shaking their heads at her before Mara spoke up, "No. Why? Are Nina and Amber missing from their beds too?"

Iris just nodded, now hugging her arms around her torso; she was sure she could see her breath condensing in the icy air in front of her face.

"Yeah well, so was Patricia. So, me and Joy went and got Mick to come help us look, but when he woke up Fabian wasn't in his bed either," Mara's smile had fallen now as she explained the situation to the new girl.

"Alfie was gone too," she heard his voice chip in from where he stood against the wall, though he wasn't looking at her but at the floor.

"Well, this is fun," Iris said, her monotonous voice, humourless as looked around, "Do you know where they could be?"

"I have no idea, but this is really bloody annoying," the blonde boy, Mick said, though he was still smiling mindlessly.

"The attic."
His voice once more sounded from his position on the wall.

"There's a creepy attic in this house as well?" Iris asked, her voice dripping with tired sarcasm as she directed her question at Jerome.

"Mm," he murmured, pushing himself off of the wall and heading towards an even larger, wooden door at the end of the corridor, "And I'm willing to bet it's open for once," his long fingers reached for the door handle and a loud squeak emanated from yet another heavy door in the house as it flung open.