Follow the Rules

3 - Exploring the House

I woke up by a knocking voice on my room's door. I got up and opened the door. I saw Mr. Heelshire standing in front of it.

"Miss Woods, I'm going to be out for today. I invited Evan, the grocery boy, to accompany you. He's in the kitchen." he said. "Well, I better get going. See you later, Miss Woods."

"Okay, see you later, Mr. Heelshire." I replied.

I changed my clothes and went down to the kitchen to greet Evan. He was making a breakfast when I got there.

"Anna Woods?" he greeted.

"Hi, you must be Evan."

"Here, I made you breakfast." he said, offering me a sandwich.

I accepted the food and smiled at him. "Thank you."

Having Evan here with me makes me less worried. I can't imagine being left alone in this house, especially after all the things that went missing. Since I have Evan here with me, I'm going to ask for his help to find out more.

"Can I ask for a favor?" I asked.

He looked up at me with his mouth still full of food. "Sure, what do you need?"

"Will you help me explore the house?"

He thought about it for awhile and I looked at him expectantly. "Um, yeah, of course." he replied.

"Great." I said.

We both then finished our breakfast. After eating breakfast, I led him to the library and asked him to look for any information about the house. The only thing that we found was only about the fire, it's ALL about the fire, nothing else. I'm still not sure that it's the only thing that ever happened to this house, the others must've been hidden somewhere else.

After searching the library, we moved upstairs. We searched Brahms' room, but there's nothing, only a broken lamp and painting.

"Does this house has any attic?" Evan asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out." I said.

We left Brahms' room and checked the ceilings. Finally we found something that looks like an entrance to the attic. I looked around and found something to pull it down. I pulled it and it revealed a ladder.

"Are you coming with me?" I asked, looking at Evan expectantly.

"Y-Yeah." he said.

We climbed up and searched the attic. It's quite dark but there's a bit of light coming in so we could still see. I found a box with a photo album in it. I opened the album and saw pictures of a boy. Some of it has a little girl in it. On the back of the picture was written, 'Brahms and Emily Cribbs'. Was she the same girl that was found in the woods?

"Hey Anna, look." Evan called.

I went to him and saw a box of women's clothes and some magazines. On the box was written, 'Greta's'. What's up with Emily Cribbs and Greta? Who are they? They must've had something to do with Brahms.

"Evan, do you know anything about the Heelshires?" I asked.

"I don't know much, I've only heard about the fire." he said. "Why are you so curious about this house?"

"I just, I always feel like someone is watching me."

After hearing my answer, I can see that Evan is a bit frightened. "Let's just leave this attic, okay? It's kind of creeping me out." he said, heading towards the ladder.

Just when we were about to leave, the ladder closed itself. I stomped it but it won't open.

"Shit, we're locked!" I panicked.

"Calm down, there's gotta be a way out." he reassured me.

We both pushed the windows but they won't open. We tried to hit it with anything heavy but they still won't break open.

"Evan, I'm scared." I whispered.

"Ssshhh... I know." he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I heard footsteps, let's hide." he then grabbed my arm and led me with him.

We hid inside a cupboard and waited until the sound was gone. I knew there was someone else in this house.

"It's gone, let's get out." Evan said.

We got out of the cupboard and the ladder was opened. We climbed down and went to the kitchen. I was so scared at that moment. First, it was the doll. Second, the missing things. And now, this? I think I should leave this house for good. The kitchen was already in a mess as soon as we got there.

"What the hell?" Evan said.

"Someone was here."

I looked around and saw the doll with the cracked face sitting on one of the chairs, with a paper on the table in front of it. I approached the doll, and it was the same paper, the rules. This time there's another note at the bottom, it says, 'why don't you follow the rules, Anna?'.

I can feel the fear rising in me and I started to tremble. "No, no, no, no. NO!" I said, running away.

"Anna! Wait!" Evan called and ran after me.

I left the kitchen and ran to my room. I locked the door as soon as I got inside. I change into my pajamas and went straight to sleep, trying to forget everything. How come I've ended up in this hideous building? What does the doll want?