𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

BATHROOM OF BROKEN HEARTS

☀︎

VICTOR CREEL WAS ONCE A FAMILY MAN. What once was a magnificent home held a family— the Creels. Victor Creel loved his family, sworn to protect them and love them until the end of time, only for the horrors to unleash within and consume them all. A triple homicide left the once stunning home to become an unloved, abandoned house. Now in March 1986, a group of teens set to uncover the mystery of the Creel's gave that house a chance to welcome in new visitors and bring truth to the horrors inside.

At the front step, Steve and Nancy worked to take the board off the front door. Holding her breath, Alex wondered what evil they would uncover just beyond this piece of plywood. Victor Creel believed that this was no man, no animal that tortured the family, but a spawn of Satan. Tortured within the walls, a family was lost, haunted, and killed by the evil being that believed they were tortured by humanity and its simplistic ways.

When the plywood fell to the ground around them, dust lifted off and opened a way into the nightmares inside. Chills ran down their spine to be greeted with the stained glass window, lost of its color as if it too had lost its light because of the dark hold the monster had on the Creels.

Taking hold of the doorknob, Steve attempted to pull it open, breath held and chest tight. With a rattle, the door refused to open and his head turned back to the group. "It's locked. Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" Taking his hand off the knob, he gave a sigh, a part of him wishing this meant that their journey was coming to an end and none of them would have to enter such a haunted home.

Standing in the back of the group, Robin devised a plan of her own. "No need," she called out. Holding on tight to a brick she found laying about, she held it for the others to see. "I found a key." Exchanging grins with Alex, she approached the door and didn't hesitate to send it sailing through the window. Glass scattered inside and the stained glass was broken apart, never to be whole again. For Max, it was a relief to see something that was once in her nightmare world crumble, no longer existing in reality.

Steve gave a small shrug and nodded as he extended his hand back out towards the door. Reaching in, he was left to trust his touch as he felt around for the door handle. Once his fingers grazed it, he held on tight and turned the knob, slowly pushing the door open. A slow creak of the door broke through the silence of held breaths as the group peered through the doorway. Within was a darkness that none were keen on entering.

As the others began to file inside, Max took the strap of Alex's backpack and began pulling it off her shoulders. Unzipping it, she retrieved several flashlights and began passing them out to those that entered. Taking one from Max, Alex left her in charge of her bag and clicked on her flashlight before entering.

Steeping into the Creel house, they were greeted with cold and stale air. Shining their lights around the room, the group refilled the dark landscape with their dull lights. As those passed him, Steve watched their hands, all of them occupying a flashlight while his were left empty. "Where'd everyone get those?"